Author Topic: New Video Card...? (Read 1571 times)

Fulmar · « **Reply #30 on:** June 18, 2007, 10:39:53 AM »

I think its a good choice for your budget and system. Tell us how it turns out.

Roscoroo · « **Reply #31 on:** June 18, 2007, 02:31:34 PM »

Diamond S120 Radeon 9550 / 256MB DDR / AGP 8x / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Video Card

looks the same as my powercolour.

now the secret of this card ... its really a 9600pro thats declocked .

at its stock preset clocking it works fine though .. (thats were mine is set )

i have used the omega rad clocker in the 4.12 drivers and clocked it to the 333ram by 400 gpu speeds and didnt notice enough difference to warrent leaving it clocked at those settings . it slowed alittle in farcry and generals zero hour at the stock clocking ..but there wasnt any noticiable gain in Aces high at the 9600 clocking . so i returned it to stock for longer life.

now i doubt you will be able to max out Aces high ... but this should give you decient fps and graphics until you step up into a faster machine . the whole reason why i suggested that card ... if you go up to say a 7600 7800 your gonna end up adding a power supply and not gaining what you should due to the 4x MB /cpu speed .

note: use the 4.12 drivers with it or you get black dar dots in AH .

Denholm · « **Reply #32 on:** June 19, 2007, 01:21:29 PM »

Thanks for the tips, I'll let you guys know how it turns out. Not really aiming for maxing out the graphics in AH, just want something that runs faster and can possibly allow me to play with some higher frame rates in FS2004. I know it's still a low-end card, yet I might get back into LO-MAC, I did it with my other card, yet after 30 minutes of game-play, I got the blue screen of death.

Obviously because the game spilled off of the video RAM onto the system RAM. It was crazy, but fun.

THOR01 · « **Reply #33 on:** June 26, 2007, 02:42:13 PM »

Man after reading all of the techno stuff all day today that you guys put out

and I've been a systems admin guy since 1980. I've bought the following today (since my crt went down in flames last night).

Samsung 931C and a XFX GF7600GT 256MB DDR3 card. It's going into a DELL( be nice now!) Demension 8200(P4 2Ghz 1GB mem. I'd like (and HOPE) that it's better than my HP 6400 laptop that I've been using for the last month. Went with the monitor instead of wide screen based on a couple of opinions that I've read in here.

Thanks ahead of time to those that take your valuable time to post and help others.

Krusty · « **Reply #34 on:** June 26, 2007, 02:45:58 PM »

I am 100% sure it's better than your laptop. Most laptop cards are barely able to run Aces High. Even the "high end" are stripped down because you need to 1) conserve power and 2) limit heat in laptops, and most power vid cards require the opposite.

7600GT is a good card. It will treat you well.

Fulmar · « **Reply #35 on:** June 26, 2007, 05:34:09 PM »

In addition to Krusty's post, laptop processors are not as fast as their desktop counterparts. They may clock the same GHz but are again under the conserve power prinicipal and benchmark with lower marks. Hard drives as well, generally are slower RPMs (conserve power) and slower access times.

Denholm · « **Reply #36 on:** July 10, 2007, 01:30:23 PM »

Well, now I have some bad news. I could not buy what I wanted to (Was intended to go onto my Birthday wish list) because my family decided to buy me a $50 gift card to Best Buy. So, my question would be at this point. What type of a graphics card could I buy at Best Buy that would still offer extremely good graphics for my system specs. At this point I don't mind spending $100.

Krusty · « **Reply #37 on:** July 10, 2007, 02:30:10 PM »

If you're set on a new vid card, instead of saving for a new PC, go Ge 7600GS or ATI X1650. Both in the mid-upper $90s in AGP form.

Don't go Ge 7300 or X1550, those "in between" numbers, even if close numerically, are total crap compared to the full blown cards.

Denholm · « **Reply #38 on:** July 10, 2007, 03:16:32 PM »

Alright, I'll go for the GE 7600GS. I'm partial to NVidia.

Denholm · « **Reply #39 on:** July 10, 2007, 04:35:04 PM »

Here is the cheapest GE 7600GS I found at Best Buy (Since I'm going to use my gift card)

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8355978&type=product&productCategoryId=pcmcat107700050041&id=1177112455542

Price is fine, however, I was looking at the Requirements for the video card and it mentioned I needed:

Microsoft Windows XP (Have a Windows 2000); 256MB RAM (No Issue Here); 35MB hard drive space (No Issue Here); AGP-compliant motherboard (Have it) with available AGP 2.0 slot (Don't know if it's an AGP 2.0 slot); 350W AGP-compliant power supply (Have a MAX 350 W Power Supply, yet I do not know if it is AGP-compliant.)

Any idea of how I can find out if I do in fact have an AGP 2.0 slot and if my 350 W max power supply is AGP compliant?

Krusty · « **Reply #40 on:** July 10, 2007, 04:41:29 PM »

Look at your AGP slot. Does it have 2 breaks in the plug, or just 1?

AGP 2.0 = AGP 4x.

3.0 = AGP 8x.

Briefly skim this short page:
http://www.directron.com/15agpguide.html

If the slot has room for 2 teeth on the card, it is only AGP 2x. If it has room for 3 teetch on the card, you're set!

Denholm · « **Reply #41 on:** July 11, 2007, 08:35:11 AM »

I'd say one break, yet I'm not too sure, here's a picture of my Motherboard:

Found that image online, digit 9 leads to the AGP slot.

Krusty · « **Reply #42 on:** July 11, 2007, 09:12:09 AM »

Well, IF you have a K7S5A ECS board (name pulled from the image you linked) then this page says you have a 4x AGP port (which is AGP 2.0). You should be good, I think.

Denholm · « **Reply #43 on:** July 11, 2007, 09:31:40 AM »

Yes, that is my motherboard. Just my concern is that it mentioned nothing about being compatible with Windows 2000.

Krusty · « **Reply #44 on:** July 11, 2007, 09:38:22 AM »

I don't see why it wouldn't. If it runs XP it'll run 2000.