Video Cards
So I have been doing a wee bit of research and I have a little bit of money, so my question is: When shopping for a video card what should I be looking for, and what would you suggest?"
Thanks Guys, This should be a fun project.
posted by Jess Clark at 9:47 PM
12 Comments:
If you build a machine with older parts, make sure you at least have a PCI Express slot. While there is no meaningful performance difference between PCI Express and AGP, AGP support has been abandoned by Intel and the availability of AGP cards will dwindle. Eventually AGP will be extinct.
High-end: Right now the top end ATI cards are outperforming their top end Nvidia couterparts. The only exception is with Doom 3 but that game sucks anyway.
Midrange: If you are looking for a midrange card, the Nvidia 6600GT is a good buy and is fairly cheap.
For maximum performance buy an ATi Radeon X800XL. You can find them around the $260 price range. Even though this is the lower cost model in the 800 range (the highest ATi range) it outperforms some of its more expensive siblings.
For a midrange card buy an Nvidia 6600GT. You can find them in the $160 range.
5/03/2005 10:35 PM
Here is what I think we should I should do.
Buy a mid-grade machine for like $500 or so, Dell perhaps? I am thinking not Gateway, what other brands do you suggest.
Ok, then, I buy a $200-$300 video card, pop it in there, and then I need a second monitor (hopfully it may come with the computer)
Spend a $100 more on misc parts and I should be good, what do you think? Anyother parts that I need?
Again, what other companies for the basic computer? I have been searching on: newegg.com, slickdeals.net, techbarigans.com any others?
5/04/2005 12:07 AM
I was looking at Dell this morning and their machines seem to be priced pretty well. Plus they're having some deals (they are always running these things) where you get a free HD upgrade and a free memory upgrade. 1 GB of ram. If you upgrade to the Nvidia 6800 ($180) you'd have a pretty fast vid card.
I pulled a stick of ram out of my machine and played Half-Life 2 and Counter Strike: Source with 512MB and the games ran slower and took forever to load. 1 GB is about the sweet spot right now.
One thing to consider: The Dell Dimension 4700's use the 500 series processors from Intel while the Dimension 8400's use the 600 series. The 600 series processors are 64bit chips which doesn't matter now but might in a year or so...
5/04/2005 9:30 AM
So Doom 3 isn't streamlined...it still looks awesome! You showed me!
Anyways, I like the 6600. AGP's are still cheaper, but not by much...It seems they've switched over really quickly. Either way though, it won't make much difference. (They'll have AGP support for years to come). It does seem the overall price has been coming down. I remember when Radeon 9700 was $400...now they're offering two Nvidia 6600 PCI express cards for $370. TWO! That's insane. I guess that brings me to my next point...PCI express will be upgradeable, whereas AGP won't.
Oh, and Jess, there's a guy selling a Dell 1905FP (a 19" flat panel) for $319. If you're interested and he hasn't sold it, you could probably talk him down even more...I'll give you his # if you're interested. Back to homework.
5/05/2005 1:54 AM
Dude, that sounds good, what are the specs on it, and what would be a resonable price for it?
What do you think I would need to add to it? The 19in sounds pretty sweet, I can imagin that sitting next to my 19in I have now, Sweet!
I am in way over my head.
5/05/2005 11:18 AM
Wait, I just read your message again, It is just the monitor, that seams steep, I am going 2 do some research on that now.
5/05/2005 11:19 AM
Doom 3 sucks because it is boring as hell (not scary as hell as they'd like you to believe). It's the same repetitive gameplay and maps over and over again throughout the entire game.
Ooh look a dark hallway...hmm I need that key card on the floor over there...I'll just go get it. Oh no a bunch of monsters popped out behind hidden pannels in the wall and attacked me. Rinse and repeat. It's basically Quake 3 with a story line.
Yes it has good graphics...whoop de doo. Would you pay $50 for a graphically advanced version of Tetris? If the answer is yes by all means bore yourself to tears with Doom 3 and its craptacular expansion pack.
Oh yeah the Multiplayer is freekin weak too. Six player death-match or team death-match...have fun!!!
5/05/2005 3:03 PM
Well, I would also like to anticapate what is to come.
5/05/2005 11:50 PM
It may be wise to consider investing a little extra money and get a 600 series Intel processor or the AMD 64 bit chip. Longhorn will be a 64 bit OS and supposedly a lot more applications (games included) will support 64 bit memory addressing.
5/06/2005 11:41 AM
Is Dell a good place to look, or are there other companies that I should research?
5/08/2005 12:40 AM
Dell, HP, Gateway, they are all pretty much the same; black boxes with mystery parts. Dell as a company is the most stable and is doing the best so in terms of warranty they'd be the safest bet.
Alienware uses top quality parts but they pound you in the ass with a top level price...
5/08/2005 11:08 PM
Yeah, just for the hell of it, I looked @ Alienware, this maching I saw was like $4,000! Holy Cow!
5/09/2005 11:39 AM
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