I need a new video card. Any suggestions?

[Elric]

I bought a new PC a while ago and like a dumb ass instead of just having Dell put a good card in it when I bought it I got an old, but still good at the time, video card off of a friend and slapped it in. It lasted until Thurs night when I was playing Doom 3 and, well long story short it doesn't work anymore.
So now I have to buy a new card and being somewhat of a noob I'm asking for suggestions on what I actually need. I want to play my Doom 3 and Oblivion games but I sure as hell don't want to pay 700.00$ for a Radeon X1900 and I'm hoping I can get away with spending maybe 150.00 to 200.00$.
My Comp has A Celeron CPU 2.60GHz/2.59GHz (That's how its listed on system info) and 512MB of RAM.
It still has the integrated video card on the mother board of course but no way can it handle any of the high end games like Doom 3 for longer than 15 to 20 minuets until it crashes.
So can you guy's give me some suggestions on good cards at a decent price? I don't mind spending some money but I don't want to go over board if I don't have to.

[jambog]

I got at Radeon 9550 a little under a year ago at Wal Mart for about $90. It works great, never played doom 3 on it though. Eitherway, if you buy it at wal mart and it won't work the way you hoped, just box it up and take it back. They will take anything back;) Haven't really paid attention but AGP cards probably have gone down in price (or will go down) with the new PCI Express video cards becomming more popular. You should be able to get a badass card for $200.

[savking]

yeh i spent about £60 (around $80?) on a nvdia geforce 2600 256mb
jus to be able to run medal of honuor. with this i can run bf2 on medium quality so for $200 whatever you buy will be good.

[jambog]

I think 60 pounds = over $100. Eitherway, $200 = badass video card, probably no matter what you would buy. I would go with either Radeon or Nvidia. But like you said, don't go overboard with it if you don't have too. You can get a good 256MB card for just over $100. No use spending the full $200 if you don't need too.

[Double///A\\\Ron]

I can play Doom 3 on medium settings with a reasonable framerate on a GeForce FX 5200. This card cost me 150$ CDN about a year and a half ago. I'm looking to upgrade it but it's gonna be a bit methinks. Should only be about 60$ CDN now.

[luclicane]

Im pretty sure i have an ATI Radeon 512mb vid card... i can play World of Warcraft and have absolutely no lag in some of the laggiest places in the game.

[bagus_saeba]

well, depend on your main purpose, whether you will focus on playing games or just mainstream....if your purpose of buying graphic card is for playing games, then get geforce 6600 or higher or ATI radeon 9600 pro or higher....
if you're just for mainstream, i think geforce 6200 or ATI 9200 is enough....
and don't forget the budget:D

[Elric]

Games of course! I also forgot to mention that my slots are all PCI-not express-( Damn Dell! ) so I'm looking for ATI or Nvidia exclusively.
The thing about the money isn't so much the spending of it but that I'm looking for something that gives good performance at a reasonable price and that won't be obsolete this time next year.

[jambog]

Im pretty sure i have an ATI Radeon 512mb vid card... i can play World of Warcraft and have absolutely no lag in some of the laggiest places in the game.

I've never seen a 512MB vid card for under $450, and thats a low end one so that would be way out of his price range. I've seen 256MB prices anywhere from $60 to $300.

You would need an AGP vid card if you don't have any PCI express slots. Don't get a standard PCI vid card, they are obsolete. Most AGP slots are 8x, but some older ones are 4x so find out what yours is. A lot of vid cards are made for both 4x and 8x so it wouldn't really matter what your AGP slot was if you bought a vid card that was 4x/8x compatible.

I would go to newegg.com and browse around there, there are a lot of good user reviews and a good selection of video cards that you probably won't find anywhere cheaper.

[admin]

If you are looking for a new video card, I highly recommend the GeForce 6600GT. It is in the $100-$150 range, and it can beat out $500+ cards in some benchmarks.

[Elric]

The AGP card that I have in it is an Intel Extreme Graphic 82845/GL/GE/PE/GV
Direct X 9.01b ( Or something like that )
Physical Memory 510MB
Max Graphics Memory 64 MB
Processor X86/ Speed 2591MHz

Even with just this I think I should be able to play games like Doom 3 but after about 15 min. it crashes to windows. And thats with every thing set at its lowest levels.

[Double///A\\\Ron]

Elric, I'm very sure that your Intel Extreme Graphics card is an onboard chip. The purpose of an onboard chip is to enable a new PC to achieve the higher resolutions needed by todays OS's and monitors.

An AGP slot is about 3-5" long and dark brown. If you have AGP Pro it will be extended slightly to accomodate an extra slot/tab/whatever.

There's a good little write up on the BFG Tech's GeForce 7800 GS AGP which seems to be going for up to 350$. The article shows a couple other price ranges for some other cards. You may want to check it out here. (http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2006q1/geforce-7800gs/index.x?pg=1)

[Iconoclast]

If I ever get a new PC, I'll try to remember what admin said.

For now, though, I have NVidia GeForce FX 5200. I only have 128 MB RAM, though, and my PC crashes every time I write my N64 game saves to my floppy disk (controller pak) during NetPlay or sometimes after I've terminated EXPLORER.EXE using Ctrl+Alt+Del (to free up CPU for emulation).

But I don't plan on getting a Radeon video card, because I hear that Mario Party's Mario Bandstand mini-game has a problem with some Radeon cards. Maybe other games have this problem, so be careful about choosing a Radeon. Nevertheless, there may be disadvantages to GeForce that I don't know about. With a version like 5200, there are none. Looks just like MS-DOS resolution when playing at 320x200 pixels. (That's what DOS resolution is.)

Writing N64 game saves to your floppy disk is good so files can be organized better, but if you are not using Project64 to save the data to floppy disk, IT IS SO FRICKIN' SLOW. I mildly concern my hard disk space, so I use a floppy disk instead until I get a 1 GB USB disk. Much faster. ...Off topic.

[DarthBrady]

If you are looking for a new video card, I highly recommend the GeForce 6600GT. It is in the $100-$150 range, and it can beat out $500+ cards in some benchmarks.

Admin is very right on this! I purchased a top of the line GDDR3 256mb ATI Radeon retailed at 175$USD, and it blows so bad. There is a lot of screen tearing, and lagging framerate, not to metion bery poor sharing of DMA channels, making it even crappier, not to mention the ATI Catalyst control center, is the slowest video card firmware out there, not to mention very UN-user friendly.

a week later I pulled it out and replaced it with an Nvidia 6600 512mb DDR2 Xtreme edition, i purchases retail for 170$USD, from the same store. The difference is like night and day. Nvidia's Forceware Firmware is much faster to work with, and way easier and user friendly, it even explains the pros and cons of every changable option, making it SO much easier to tweak game performance, something that ATI cant say.Sure , the extra 256mb helped too, but in my opinion not as much as the ease of use I get from the Nvidia card. It even has a built in overclock utility!

Dont get me wrong, ATI is a good company abd has made good products for many years, but latley they really lack compared. Trust me I upgrade PCs in my spare time for a living and Ive benchmarked Many of the newest cards, and lets just say ATI cards are scoring seriously lower, on both intel and AMD boards. Of the two card i bought alone, the ATI's mhz spec was much higher on all fronts, it even packs dual-ram dac, and the Nvidia card didnt, but The Nvidia card still benchmarked 2,600 points higher! and that was with it only using 256mb of its 512mb, to make sure of an even score. using all 512mb it scored 3,300 points higher, a gain so serious it isnt even funny.

I hope this helps.

[psilonaut]

Here's another vote for the 6600GTs - I've got a pair of 'em in my machine and they can run pretty much everything out there.

[Iconoclast]

What about what Double///A\\\Ron said? I think he brought up version 7800, which is assumably better than 6600. Then again, the price is so heavy.

[Elric]

I picked up a Diamond Stealth Radeon 9250 for $ 75.00. My AGP card had all of the power I need but didn't have squat for memory. I picked this piece of crap up, slid it in and everything seems to be fine for now.

[Asathi]

Can the GeForce 6600GT handle oblivion?

If so, I have a new investment to make.

[DarthBrady]

Yes, But that title is one heck of a memory/processo whore. You should really use a dual card set-up. I wish I could but I only have one PCI Expressx16 Port

[Fierce Deity]

Ugh...how do you tell which sort of video car dyou have? mine came with my computer, and to the best of my ability, I can only tell that it is a Dell Express Chipset something or other followed by numbers and letters. Is there any sort of thing like a dxdiag I can use to see it's specs, or am I to assume? I can open it up and look if I have to, I have a panel that slides offf, no screws, so that is easy at least....

EDIT: To the best of my ability, it seems I have two PCI express ports, one of which is being used by one of those network cards, like for dialup, so I can take that out, and the other is free. I also have one of those other ports, whose names escape me. It isn't normal PCI (PCI not-express), but that AGP or whatever.

[DarthBrady]

Ugh...how do you tell which sort of video car dyou have? mine came with my computer, and to the best of my ability, I can only tell that it is a Dell Express Chipset something or other followed by numbers and letters. Is there any sort of thing like a dxdiag I can use to see it's specs, or am I to assume? I can open it up and look if I have to, I have a panel that slides offf, no screws, so that is easy at least....

EDIT: To the best of my ability, it seems I have two PCI express ports, one of which is being used by one of those network cards, like for dialup, so I can take that out, and the other is free. I also have one of those other ports, whose names escape me. It isn't normal PCI (PCI not-express), but that AGP or whatever.


What? what are you saying? PCI Express x1, or x16? a MODEM in a PCI Express slot?? AND you have an AGP? Are you sure?? That doesnt sound right.
Why would a modem be in a PCI express port? maybe a PCI Express x1 slot, and if thats a case you're not getting video card for that slot anytime soon.
There are two types of PCI Express ports. PCI-E x1, and PCI-Ex16
a PCI-E x1 is only about an inch and a half long. a PCI-E x16 is the slot ype for video cards,sound cards, ect.; and is a little loger than a standard PCI slot.
And if you have AGP,there's a 99% you dont have a PCI express x16 slot. They replaced AGP slots.
Can you take a close up pic of the slot on your board and post them?

ALSO, it is a universal standard that the type of slot it is is clearly labeled (altough sometimes very small print) on the motherboard in print. THey will normally all be labeled in the same spot for each slot, like they will all be printed just above or below, or on the short side of every slot. so they should each have a name like AGP, PCI 1, PCI 2, PCI 3, PCI-Ex1,PCI-Ex16, ISA(very old pc slots) so check that first so you know what you have. You didnt mention a video card at all did you? if your monitor plugs into the motherboard, and not plug off of a board installed in one of the horizontal slots, then you have motherboard integrated graohics, and therefore you do not actually have a vidoe card ata all.

Slot color coding - here are some common color codes for slots, but they may ddiffer depending on where the PC is manufactured
PCI (standard) - Normally White
AGP - Normally Brown, sometimes Blue
PCI Express x1 - Normally Black, very short in length.
PCI Express x16 - Normally Black or Grey
ISA - Black, old pc card slot type only found in older systems but sometimes newer ones have one on the bottom of the board for kicks

[Fierce Deity]

Tahnk you for shutting me down so thouroghly. Anyhow, I tried to take a picture, but my camera sucks and it came out so fuzzy you couldn't tell what it was. Anyhow, I did notice a tiny port like an inch and a half long, but i idn't think that was a port before. It just says slot 1, 2, 3, and 4, on them. I haven't any clue what they ar enow. My faith in everything my friend told me is gone. One of them is skinny and black. one is really small. the inch or whatever. The other two are white-ish, and are about the same length a sthe black one, but the black on eis moved left a bit. The white ones are also fatter than the black, and one of the white ones has the dialup card in it. The other 3 slots are empty.

God, I sound like such an idiot when it comes to hardware....

[Fierce Deity]

Okay, from your color code dealie, I think I have a PCI express x16, a PCI express x1, and two PCIs. so, PCI express x16 is the best slot? could I put a video card in that? Also, yes, I think my video dealie xpress chipset family is integrated into my motherboard, but it still gives me video capabilities, it would have to right? My monitor plugs into near the top of my tower, and said input is the motherboar dif you look inside the thing. The only card I have is the dialup one, and I have ethernet capabilities, but that is a metal box built into teh motherboard. a small one. I always thought they had to be cards.

[DarthBrady]

Tahnk you for shutting me down so thouroghly.
God, I sound like such an idiot when it comes to hardware....

Sorry If I offended you you, that wasnt my intention.
And no, you dont sound dumb, we all gotta learn it some time or another, no one should expect you to just "know". But Anyway....

You description wasnt too bad, heres what it sounds like:
If the tiny short slot is on the bottom, it is most likely a PCI-E x1 (considering you have at least a Pentium 4 machine)

The white slots, are gonna be your PCI slots, with one containing a PCI modem as you described.

Now for the other slot. you say it black, and set off to the left, if its the one on top, is most likely your video card slot. The card slot the motherboard reserves for main video channels is normally the top slot, and it is normally moved over slighty, so it doesnt line up with the rest of them. If this is the case, we just have to determine wheterher its AGP or PCI-Ex16. I'll try to take a pic of mine and post it.

this help a little more?

[DarthBrady]

Also, keep looking, because often on the board it will list the "slot 1, slot 2,...." like you said, and ALSO print the name of the slot on another area around the slot. so keep looking and break out a flashlight, its there somewhere.

[Fierce Deity]

Yes, it is to the top, about the same size as the PCI slots, thin, black, and it is slot number 1, and it is offset to the left. I will go look and see if I can find a name again. My camera sucks, lol.

Anyhow, yeah, thanks for teaching me.

[Fierce Deity]

There only seem to be little letters and numbers around it labling nodes and such. Nothing that seems to apply to any of the slots aside from the slot 1 2 3 4 dealies. Also, on the side of teh thin black one is a blue spring loaded thing. I don't know what it does, but I suspect it might help hold whatever you insert in that slot in its place. That's all I've been able to discern.

[DarthBrady]

No Problem. By what you describe, sound like you have the same Motherboard layout I do. The common P4 HT(R) layout.

I've got:
one PCI Express x16 slot, top slot thin black, slighty offset to other slots.
two standard PCI slots, white, below the top slot.
one PCI Express x1, black and bottom slot (the short one)

I'm taking the pics right now they will be in my next post. or at least links to them , in case they dont fit.

[DarthBrady]

Also, on the side of the thin black one is a blue spring loaded thing. I don't know what it does, but I suspect it might help hold whatever you insert in that slot in its place. That's all I've been able to discern.

You got it. video cards have a "hook" shaped tab that locks in there.


Quick thought: you can also try to find the make and model number of your mother board (its printed on it... somewhere..) and google it. Its sometimes pretty easy to find a map of what your motherboard has on it, pictures, all that jazz.

[Fierce Deity]

no, my inch long slot is second. Right above the PCIs and below the 16. It is still an inch long and black though.

With my specs, what video card would you recommend I get? Keep in mind I want to stay around 200 dollars.

*Pentium 4 3.00GHz/2.99GHz Dual Core
*256MB RAM

[DarthBrady]

if you look you will see the top slot labeled (PCI Express x16)

http://img321.imageshack.us/img321/64/10005726fs.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/3634/10005745zs.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Fierce Deity]

Yep, same slots I have except that small one (PCI Express x1?) at the bottom goes in between my two white ones. So now I know what I have. Cool.

Thanks a lot.

How would I know what the AGPs look like?

[DarthBrady]

Yep, same slots I have except that small one (PCI Express x1?) at the bottom goes in between my two white ones. So now I know what I have. Cool.

Thanks a lot.

How would I know what the AGPs look like?

I will post a pic of an AGP slot too, I'll edit this post and add it into it in a few minutes:)

Here it is: a pic from a Pentium 3 Board, with one AGP, a couple standard PCI's, and one old ISA slot

http://img338.imageshack.us/img338/5633/10005766mk.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[Fierce Deity]

I see what you mean about the labeling. I don't hav ethat on my PC. They aren't labeled so efficiently like that. Although, I can't really see th ISA slot on that. It look ssort alike a piece of carpet right where the ISA label is....

[DarthBrady]

As for recomending a Video card, I would suggest anything smaller than a 256MB (512MB for stuff like farcry/doom3/oblivion) or anything older than an Nvidia 6600 model. You can currently get a PCI Express 512MB 660GT, for under 200 Dollars easily, nut dont trust ebay, some 3rd part knock offs suck balls, so get it from a local PC store if you can, where you can actually see the card in your hand before you buy it. There are a lot fo "fake" cartds solfd on ebay daily, that disguise themselves as legit, but are actually very waekly made look alikes. Make sure it s known 3rd party brand if you decide to buy 3rd party card; such as Sapphire,Asus,XFX, brand like that with good ratings. From personal experience I say DONT buy any card manufactured by MSI, they are soo crappy. I've got a box of new PCI express stuff from MSI, that I wouldnt **** on if it was dying of thirst. Thats why a day after spending 300+ Dollar at the PC store, I was back the next day to buy the XFX brand versions of the same products, and difference was like night and day. Amazing how bad the MSI cards sucked compared to the XFX brand identical cards.

You see, most 3rd part acards dont have to actually produce the graphic power they say they do, If they are made in taiiwan or hong kong, the only have to be RATED to run at what it says on the box. So technically, no two identical cards will ever produce the same performance using this method. So your card might work descent, or not at all. That means you might buy a MSI 6600GT, and it runs slow and choppy like a AGP card from 5 years ago, because it was only designted to HANDLE the specs of a REAL 6600GT, not constantly produce them like the real card would. Remember this so you dont get screwed on a bogus card.

[Fierce Deity]

why smaller than a 256 MB card? Would my system not be able to handle it, or is it just the price?

[DarthBrady]

I see what you mean about the labeling. I don't hav ethat on my PC. They aren't labeled so efficiently like that. Although, I can't really see th ISA slot on that. It look ssort alike a piece of carpet right where the ISA label is....

My bad that old board was dusty, and I only about half of the giant ISA slot on the pic, I tried...Darn 5 megapixel camera......
;)

[Fierce Deity]

I have like a tenth of a megapixel camera, and it cost like 5 bucks. lol. stupid 5 megapixels....
EDIT: nevermind, I get it now. I couldn't see the picture before because the room I wa sin was too bright. I see the ISA now.

[DarthBrady]

why smaller than a 256 MB card? Would my system not be able to handle it, or is it just the price?

I'm sorry, what I mean to say was NOT smaller than 256MB, anything smaller than 256MB just plain sucks for todays games. Trust me. Besides, like I said, Why get ripped off buying some cheap 128MB, when you can get a sweet 256 or 512MB as I metioned earlier for under 200 Bucks. catch my drift?

[Fierce Deity]

Ah, I gothca. The smalle rthan wa sthrowing me off. Anyhow, it won't like conflict with my built in video card will it? And I will have to change where I have my monitor plugged in too, correct?

[DarthBrady]

Yes, you got it.

If you notice on my pic, you see the 512MB 6600 video card plugged into the PCI Express x16 slot (obviously :) ) . That is what my monitor is connected to; one of the plugs on the back of the card. (it has Two DVI monitor plugs and S-video TV plug)

If you look closer you will see a pink component at the top of the motherboard in one of the pics as well. This is where the monitor plug that was originally used is located , it is the one for your motherboard integrated graphics, the one your probably using now if you have no PCI Express video card.

Normally, with older boards (and a few newer models), you have to disable the motherboard integrated graphics by turning it off in the Bios setup, or by removing the drivers from windows and replacing them with the drivers for the new card (AFTER the new card is installed, you dont want to be without a monitor at all !!)

But the wonderful thing about PCI Express and Windows XP, is that this switch is done automatically about 98% of the time, when you unplug your PC and install the new card in its slot, and reboot. Your resolution may be different at this point, LEAVE IT ALONE, and install the drivers that come with the card, usually on a CD or disk that came in the box with the card, and reboot your PC once more after installation, if it doesnt do it automatically. Then your new card should now be the Primary Display device, and your resolution should be back to normal, you may have to set it back in your dispaly properties if it stayed different. Now you just have to tweak the setting to your likings(if you dont like the default settings, try them out first), and youre ready to go! I love PCI Express. So easy! So much more stable!

[psilonaut]

Can the GeForce 6600GT handle oblivion?

If so, I have a new investment to make.

I've got two of 'em and my rig can handle most of Oblivion. Sometimes when I'm in the open fighting multiple enemies it starts to chug.

[DXgeneration8]

i have good experiences with a geforce 6600, AGP that is, and that still kicks ***, i plan on gettin a PCIe, but for $99, you cant beat the 6600

[zolrak]

Try the NVIDIA 7950gx2 Is too cheap for it´s power: just $550
I have one and wónt regret. one thing is sure I was saving money since the 7900gtx to buy a nice card then that monster came. NOW I AM THE ENVY SOURCE OF ALL THE BARRIO WHERE I LIVE LOL!!!
TO HAVE NVIDIA CAUSES ENVY!!!!