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Choosing the right graphics card...

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  • 30-11-2007 12:19pm
    #1
    Vazelothir
    Closed Accounts Posts: 46 ✭


    Hi,
    I've been googling how to pick a new graphics card (since Medal of Honour Airborne won't play on my old graphics card)

    It seems I first have to decide whether PCI or AGP - (I presume that refers to the connections inside my box? I think my current card is an Nvidia GeForce PCI express, so presumably I have to choose PCI ?)

    However, having checked a bunch of websites I though I might get an 8800 card, but I'm really not sure what the difference between them is.... XFX, PNY, MSI etc.? I thought I could just pick another Nvidia, but apparently not..

    Does it matter who the manufacturer is, or are they (memory apart) very similiar?

    Is there anything else I should consider before buying - i.e. do I need to worry about the power, or do I need to worry if it is going to fit inside the case?


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    #2
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    What sort of PC do you have now - self built, or HP, Dell etc?

    If it's not self built, the chances are the power supply in the machine isn't up to powering any of the newer cards, not to mention the case design mind impede things too.

    Yes, you just need a new pci-e card, be it Nvidia or Ati. But first we'd have to known your current machine and power supply, as there's no point recommending cards without that info.

    Manufacturers - it depends. Some offer better warranties, better packages, etc. Others actually make a hardware difference, with different cooling options on the different brands available. It depends on the card you're looking at.

    You can also get the same model cards with different memory, though this only applies to the lower end cards (8600GT downwards). This would be ddr2 vs ddr3, and it can make a large difference in performance. Avoid DDR2 if it's gaming you're looking at

    But again. More info first would be good.


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    #3
    Vazelothir
    Closed Accounts Posts: 46 ✭Vazelothir


    Havok, thanks for your reply...

    PC is a Dimension 8400 tower, P4 3.4Ghz 800FSB, 2MB Cache, 2GB. Running on XP Pro

    No idea about the current power supply or internal config, didn't even realise until I started reading some of the threads that that might even be relevant...

    Checked Dell site, current card is: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 PCIe x16 256MB DDR1 memory
    Can't find any info on the power..

    Any advice appreciated

    cheers
    Vaz


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    #4
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    The 8400 comes with a 350w power supply. Should be enough to power a cheap budget card that'll easily outperform your 6800.

    An 8800 series card wouldn't be worth it as your processor is both old and slow. My recommendation would be this, will show a massive improvement over your old card and is still quite respectable for current games. Anything more powerful would be wasted, not to mention your power supply probably wouldn't be able to deliver enough power.

    Also depending on what you're playing a video card upgrade can only help so much, if you're playing the likes of Team Fortress 2 or Half Life 2, then the increase would be massive. If you're aspiring to run Crysis, no video card will make up for the poor processor. So again depending on your intended uses, it might be better to just sell the machine and get a new one. As for Airborne itself, your processor is always going to be a major bottleneck on the latest games. But it should run OK at medium settings. But that said, Airborne should work on your 6800, even if at lower settings....what do you mean by 'won't play on my old graphics card'. Won't start up, or too slow?


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    #5
    meanpeoplesuck
    Registered Users Posts: 165 ✭✭meanpeoplesuck


    I'm going to stick my head in here and post up a similar question of mine, feel free to delete it if it's deemed to be derailing the thread or anything.

    My PC:
    Dell Inspiron 530
    2.2GHZ Intel Core2Duo E4500 Processor
    2GB RAM
    Integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator 3100

    Here are the tech specs for it: http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspndt_530?c=ie&cs=iedhs1&l=en&s=dhs
    According to that, it's power supply is 300W.

    I'm looking for a graphics card that will let me play games like The Orange Box (Half life 2, Portal, Team Fortress 2), Bioshock, and Call of Duty 4 at decently high settings.

    Basically I can't afford a 360 and I'm checking out if there's a sanely priced graphics card that will let me play these games smoothly on my parents PC.


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    #6
    Vazelothir
    Closed Accounts Posts: 46 ✭Vazelothir


    thanks, I'll check out that card..

    Airborne won't start up, just dies on startup as if I never started the game at all... did all the usual things (updated drivers, checking running processes etc.)

    in the end I figured it was the graphics card that was the problem, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong...

    cheers


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    #7
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    @Meanpeople suck...the rest of your system is of good quality and will have no problems, but the power supply won't support much. This[/URL] one at an extra 12 euro will probably the best you can manage with your current power supply (18a on 12v). Will run Orange Box at high settings flawlessly, COD4 at mid-high settings, though Bioshock will struggle a bit more, it's still a lovely looking game at reduced settings. 1024x768 medium would sound about right.

    @Vazilothir...I've been trying to find out what the rails are for the 8400 PSU but I simply can't find anything. The closest I've come is someone saying 'I think it had combined 22a', in which case you'd be OK, but you'd really want to open up your PC, take a picture of the label on the psu and post back, just to make sure the card I linked to would actually work.

    As for the 6800, it should work with Airborne, I'm not quite sure what's causing that. It is just Airborne that that happens? Don't get me wrong, the 6800GS would run Airborne quite poorly, but it should startup at least, regardless of the actual quality of gameplay.


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    #8
    Lord Deco
    Closed Accounts Posts: 182 ✭✭Lord Deco


    meanpeoplesuck wrote: »
    I'm going to stick my head in here and post up a similar question of mine, feel free to delete it if it's deemed to be derailing the thread or anything.

    My PC:
    Dell Inspiron 530
    2.2GHZ Intel Core2Duo E4500 Processor
    2GB RAM
    Integrated Intel® Graphic Media Accelerator 3100

    Here are the tech specs for it: http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/inspndt_530?c=ie&cs=iedhs1&l=en&s=dhs
    According to that, it's power supply is 300W.

    I'm looking for a graphics card that will let me play games like The Orange Box (Half life 2, Portal, Team Fortress 2), Bioshock, and Call of Duty 4 at decently high settings.

    Basically I can't afford a 360 and I'm checking out if there's a sanely priced graphics card that will let me play these games smoothly on my parents PC.

    Dell psu's can handle much more than 300 watts,they are very under rated power supplies....I know for a fact that a vostro with a 300 watt psu can handle a 8600gts/7950gt with ease....

    (300W Dell PSU = almost 400-450W Generic Power Supply)

    http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/gpu_displays/powercolor_hd3850_extreme_pcs_-_amd_3850_performance_explored/8

    The much more powerful HD3850 draws very little power,a lot less than a 7950gt and is available for €155....

    Ive seen many guys like yourself with a dell inspiron/vostro on dell community forums asking about the power supply/graphics....And alot of them have went for a HD3850 because of its great speed and low power consumption....It will play Call of duty 4,bioshock etc with ease,and its cheap....

    http://www2.hardwareversand.de/7V-RoOmQWkL1MR/3/articledetail.jsp?aid=19139&agid=716 €157 inc delivery from germany,delivery 2 weeks....

    http://www.dabs.ie/ProductView.aspx?Quicklinx=4SRY&CategorySelectedId=11021&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11021&InMerch=1 €168 inc delivery Ireland,delivery 1 week

    You have a decent pc,you might as well add a very good graphics to it,than adding crap like a 8600gt or dated tech like a 7900gs etc

    Go to the below site and they will set your mind at rest...

    http://www.dellcommunity.com/


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    #9
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    Yes but the wattage has little to do with powering the card, the rails are far more important, and a lot of the basic Dell home PC's only have 18a on the 12v rail, which is insufficient for powerful cards.

    I have no idea what the rails are like on the Vostro though, and it varies from series to series.


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    #10
    Lord Deco
    Closed Accounts Posts: 182 ✭✭Lord Deco


    HavoK wrote: »

    @Vazilothir...I've been trying to find out what the rails are for the 8400 PSU but I simply can't find anything. The closest I've come is someone saying 'I think it had combined 22a', in which case you'd be OK, but you'd really want to open up your PC, take a picture of the label on the psu and post back, just to make sure the card I linked to would actually work.

    As for the 6800, it should work with Airborne, I'm not quite sure what's causing that. It is just Airborne that that happens? Don't get me wrong, the 6800GS would run Airborne quite poorly, but it should startup at least, regardless of the actual quality of gameplay.

    Agree with Havok get that x1950pro...Any higher video card will be severely bottlenecked by your CPU and general system performance..

    That video card will run all current games at acceptable settings.


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    #11
    Lord Deco
    Closed Accounts Posts: 182 ✭✭Lord Deco


    HavoK wrote: »
    Yes but the wattage has little to do with powering the card, the rails are far more important, and a lot of the basic Dell home PC's only have 18a on the 12v rail, which is insufficient for powerful cards.

    I have no idea what the rails are like on the Vostro though, and it varies from series to series.

    But alot of posters on dell forums have had no problems with a 7950gt etc...Some have even put a x1950 in and it ran fine....The HD3850 requires much less power than them...My friend has a 7950gt in his vostro 200,which I fitted and it runs perfect,it has the same 300 Watt DC Power Supply as the Inspirion 530....


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    #12
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭TerrorFirmer


    That's fine, I've never used one myself so I can't comment. But I have looked through a lot of forums that have people experiencing locks up and blue screens after gaming when using higher end cards on their cheap Dell systems, which points to an obvious lack of power to the card. Though most of the news ones, you can change the psu easily enough so it's not so much an issue anymore. 7950Gt actually has fairly low requirements, the X1950 needs more. It's just hard to find such cards anymore.


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    #13
    Lord Deco
    Closed Accounts Posts: 182 ✭✭Lord Deco


    HavoK wrote: »
    That's fine, I've never used one myself so I can't comment. But I have looked through a lot of forums that have people experiencing locks up and blue screens after gaming when using higher end cards on their cheap Dell systems, which points to an obvious lack of power to the card. Though most of the news ones, you can change the psu easily enough so it's not so much an issue anymore. 7950Gt actually has fairly low requirements, the X1950 needs more. It's just hard to find such cards anymore.

    All true,but Ive seen Dell selling Inspiron 530's with 8600gts's and they need more juice than a HD3850....I know it wont handle a 8800gt etc,but a 3850 is more similar to a 2600pro than a 8800gt in terms of requirements....

    http://www.hothardware.com/articles/ATI_Radeon_HD_3870_and_3850_55nm_RV670/?page=12


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