Video Card

[TheRealNaveed]

Hello! I have a PC I want to game with. The games I'm primarily thinking of are Star Trek: Legacy, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, and the upcoming Star Trek Online. Of course there are others, but those are the ones that are kind of on my must-play list. Legacy will not work correctly on any PC in the house, C&C3 will chug along on my boyfriend's PC, RA3 will work on lowest settings just fine, and I'm betting Star Trek Online is going to have similar requirements given the gameplay footage.

The PC in question is running XP with 1 GB of RAM and has a 3.06 GHz Pentium 4 processor.

I want to increase the RAM, yes, but the main issue is the video card for my PC. Thus, I've been shopping for one, but I really, really don't know what to get. I don't get computers. My boyfriend's PC is running a GeForce 7300 series chip, but I want something more. In theory, I would like to be able to play RA3 maxed out or close to it, because that'll keep me going for a few years. I also can't afford to replace my power supply or such, so I can't get a card that's overly demanding in that regard. As well, I think my only option is PCI cards with this PC.

The games in question tend to list the various GeForce 6 Series as minimum, I think the highest being 6700. Given that I'm a student, I want to get the highest performance I can with a strict budget of $200 CDN... though the lower from that, the better. I see a chip I want, it's a 512 MB PCI-E 8600GT for $130. Should I go with that? Or what about the 9600? Would this suit my needs?

 

[USS KG5]

First off - I doubt a PC of that vintage has PCI-E (PCI express), well OK it MIGHT but it is not probable, an AGP slot is more likely.

As for the card - you can go up to a Ge Force 5 series with no problems, and a Ge Force 6 will likely work well as well. Ge Force 7 and above are probably a bit OTT, and the newer chipsets which are mostly (I believe) PCI-E only, very unlikely.

PCI Express and PCI are very different. I bet you have an AGP slot in that PC.

 

[TheRealNaveed]

When I go to Control Panel, System, Hardware, Device Manager, under System devices it lists "Intel(R) 82801 PCI Bridge - 244E", "Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Root Port - 27D0", "Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Root Port - 27D4", "Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Root Port - 27D6", "Intel(R) 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller - 27DA", "Intel(R) 82801GB/GR (ICH7 Family) LPC Interface Controller", "PCI Bus", amoung other things. I took this to mean that I have three PCI-E ports, but as I said, I know little about hardware these days. I was into it as a kid, but as it is now, I'm only comfortable opening up my computer and installing/uninstalling stuff... it's what to install that confuses me.

The PC itself is three years old. When I was in buying it, I got the medium-end option with a bit of a better processor because I was doing video editing, but didn't get a good video card for some reason. I left the RAM pretty crappy because the machine was just going to be doing some editing, and I was just fine with 1 GB of RAM on other machines doing the same editing work.

As for 5 or 6 series, I'm worried that they won't do. In theory, I want this machine to be able to play the current games quite well without having to change my power supply or such if that's possible. If I go with a higher end 5 or 6 series, won't that be pushing the limit or going over for me needing to change my PS?

 

[USS KG5]

OK - does look like you have PCI Express then - which is good!

Opens up a lot of different options as regards card. I'm not a huge expert on the current ranges to be had for your budget, but you should be able to get a very good card.

 

[Chaos Descending]

I recently bought an NVIDIA 9800GT for $159 (USD) and I am very well pleased with it.

 

[TheRealNaveed]

Hmm... doesn't look like I have enough power to run a 9600GT anyway, not without changing my power supply. I opened up my PC though, I do have PCI-E, two PCI, and one PCI-E x1. I think I'll go with 8600 then, it looks like my power supply will be able to handle it.

 

[Deks]

what power supply do you have?
going with 8600 is not exactly the best course of action if you ask me.

settling for a higher end card which is cheap and a newer (more powerful) power supply would be a better option instead.

 

[TheRealNaveed]

A cheap Turbolink 350W unit with a 12V rail of 15A. In theory enough for the 8600GT, though the 12V is a few A short of recommended. Falls greatly short of the 9600GT requirements.

 

[Deks]

Alright ...
Look into Ati Radeon 3850 or Nvidia 9600 GT ... and a 500W or 600W power supply.

There is a good possibility that both the gpu and the psu will be within the designated price range of $200 (CAD).

Also ... you should seriously look into upgrading your ram from 1GB to 2GB or 3GB.
My recommendation would be 3GB ... and with RAM prices so low, you really have no excuse not to do it (although when you will do so, make sure your new RAM matches the one in your desktop to avoid compatibility issues).

 

[TheRealNaveed]

Yeah, was already planning on upgrading the RAM. The plan is to bring it up to 2 GB, and in a few months up to 3 GB if I'm not satisfied.

However, I really need to stay within budget... I'm upgrading to a 430W Power Supply with a 9500GT card I think, now that I've looked things over. That's all well compatible with my system and should do me for a few more years, since I'm not a huge PC gamer. There are just these few exceptions that have made me want to upgrade.

Thanks for your help

 

[Alaedhros]

There's nothing wrong with your current proposal, but I'd suggest looking at ATI's most recent offerings as well. Their latest generation cards are quite good; the 4670 or 4850 might fit your needs quite well.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

What monitor resolution will you be gaming at? This is what will make the most difference to you.

If you have a standard 19" monitor at 1024x768 then you do not need much video card, you will be able to turn up all the effects and it won't stress even a basic card.

You need more card as you go up in size, resolution, widescreen, etc.

Games will actually look good a low res with a lot of effects turned down to medium as well, the high res makes it like you're looking through a maginifier, so you need the detail turned up. At a low res you can make any game run really snappy.

Here's a 4670 for a shade over $100, the trick is shopping around.

 

[darkshadow0001]

Hello! I have a PC I want to game with. The games I'm primarily thinking of are Star Trek: Legacy, Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, and the upcoming Star Trek Online. Of course there are others, but those are the ones that are kind of on my must-play list. Legacy will not work correctly on any PC in the house, C&C3 will chug along on my boyfriend's PC, RA3 will work on lowest settings just fine, and I'm betting Star Trek Online is going to have similar requirements given the gameplay footage.

The PC in question is running XP with 1 GB of RAM and has a 3.06 GHz Pentium 4 processor.

I want to increase the RAM, yes, but the main issue is the video card for my PC. Thus, I've been shopping for one, but I really, really don't know what to get. I don't get computers. My boyfriend's PC is running a GeForce 7300 series chip, but I want something more. In theory, I would like to be able to play RA3 maxed out or close to it, because that'll keep me going for a few years. I also can't afford to replace my power supply or such, so I can't get a card that's overly demanding in that regard. As well, I think my only option is PCI cards with this PC.

The games in question tend to list the various GeForce 6 Series as minimum, I think the highest being 6700. Given that I'm a student, I want to get the highest performance I can with a strict budget of $200 CDN... though the lower from that, the better. I see a chip I want, it's a 512 MB PCI-E 8600GT for $130. Should I go with that? Or what about the 9600? Would this suit my needs?

Search on E-Bay for graphics cards. I got an ATI Radeon 9800 256MB SE for $50, and it works great. I agree with what some other people have said, your PC is probably PCI or more then likely AGP. If you do a google search on your computer model you should find some place that would tell you what type of graphics card is needed.

 

[Amaris]

I bought a nVidia 8500GT, 512MB RAM, PCI-e 16x for $50.
It runs Crysis at medium settings and the gameplay is smooth. I play flight sims at their highest resolutions and they look very good. So far, this video card has handled every single game I've thrown at it with ease. Just a suggestion.

J.

 

[Tom]

Kind of a mute point now, for alot of the modern games you need to have a graphic card that supports Pixel Shader 3.0 , this is only availbale in Nvidia 6300 and up.

 

[Amaris]

Kind of a mute point now, for alot of the modern games you need to have a graphic card that supports Pixel Shader 3.0 , this is only availbale in Nvidia 6300 and up.

Which one? My card?


J.

 

[TerriO]

Kind of a mute point now, for alot of the modern games you need to have a graphic card that supports Pixel Shader 3.0 , this is only availbale in Nvidia 6300 and up.

Which one? My card?


J.

I'm not so sure it's a moot point, but I do think it sounds like your card might be a good way to go, J.

 

[Amaris]

Kind of a mute point now, for alot of the modern games you need to have a graphic card that supports Pixel Shader 3.0 , this is only availbale in Nvidia 6300 and up.

Which one? My card?


J.

I'm not so sure it's a moot point, but I do think it sounds like your card might be a good way to go, J.

Oh yeah, it's a great card. I was very pleasantly surprised when it handled all of my games. I think it gives you the best bang for your buck, and I am very, very tight with money when it comes to my PC.

J.

 

[TheRealNaveed]

Well... I've crashdived into computer specs and such. Now, I was considering the 8600 or such, but, I'd rather get the 9500 or 9600 for DX10 compatibility, since I will probably upgrade the PC to Vista or 7, depending on how things turn out. Between the two, I think I want the 9600GT after all, even if it means a beefier power supply than what I have. Then again, the 8600 would need a power supply of greater power than what I have.

Thanks for all the help, guys!

 

[Amaris]

Well... I've crashdived into computer specs and such. Now, I was considering the 8600 or such, but, I'd rather get the 9500 or 9600 for DX10 compatibility, since I will probably upgrade the PC to Vista or 7, depending on how things turn out. Between the two, I think I want the 9600GT after all, even if it means a beefier power supply than what I have. Then again, the 8600 would need a power supply of greater power than what I have.

Thanks for all the help, guys!

Just for the record, the 8500GT uses DX10.


J.