Graphics Card

[Jockstar]

Just wondering if anyone knows of a good graphics card that supports shaded pixels 1.1. I currently have a Nividia Geforce 2 MX 400 and i want to upgrade. I recently purchased the game, The Thief. But card doesn't support shaded pixels 1.1. I downloaded the latest driver from Nividia but its the actual card. So any recomendations and price in Baht to upgrade.

[waldwolf]

You'll probably have better luck searching/posting in the "Thief" recommended forum HERE:

Note a similar question posted HERE:

and,

Microsoft site re: DirectX and Pixel Shaders HERE

I'm not a gamer, but I would think you should base your need/decission to buy a new graphics card, not on one specific program, but rather on what you may need for current as well as future games.

Good luck

[stumonster]

for an idea about the price check pantipprice.com

also you want to check your motherboard to see what agp speed it supports. eg. 4x , 8x

you might have to enable 4x in the BIOS. an 8x card will work in the 4x slot.

it might pay to check the date on your BIOS and go to the motherboard homepage and see if there has been any updates concerning the agp support. If you decide to flash your BIOS please make sure you know what you are doing.

and also make sure your processer can handle THIEF cause it does require a speedy processer to work also.

[Ian_B]

I have a Radeon 9600XT 128MB card, made by Asus. Handles all the games so far. It's fully DX9 and I have been very pleased with it.

[Wolfie]

I've got the 9700pro 128mg card, works like a dream with anything i've played.

Reccomend you go for the same card Ian_B has or the card i have, good solid cards (just avoid the saphire version, apparently they are poor performers)

I notice the gamers amongst us are coming "out of the closet"

[Ian_B]

Bear in mind that where video cards are concerned you can spend a fortune trying to get the fastest card.

When the first Voodoo 2 cards came out I spent about half my monthly wage getting 2 12MB cards imported from the US and had them in SLI.

I was reading that SLI is coming back to 3d Cards. This is when you connect 2 Video cards togther and each updates half of the screen, giving you close to double the normal performance.

2 of those babies and you're looking at 60,000THB , maybe more! But they'd be awesome for games!

[bartender100]

I upgraded to a nvidia g-force FX tornado 5200,cost around B3000 in Fortune tower,need the shaded pixels for a game.

But you might have to look at upgrading the sound card at the same time,the one on my mainboard was not good up to it.Doom3 sounds great with my Creative sound card

[igotworms]

I have a Radeon 9600XT 128MB card, made by Asus. Handles all the games so far. It's fully DX9 and I have been very pleased with it.

I ahve the same one and hasn't let me down yet. How much did you pay for it? I payed B8000 in Phuket for it about 2 weeks ago.

How much is a Creative Sound Card Audigy 2 ZS sound card running for these days? Pantip price has it listed at B5000, but that sounds a little pricey.

http://www.pantipprice.com/product.asp?ct_id=14&all=1

[Jockstar]

Went to Fortune on Saturday and had a look around and spoke to a few guys selling sound cards there. Took the missus for translation. Can get the g-force FX tornado 5200 for around 2800 baht. But didn't ask about sound cards. How much for a decent one? Surely the 5 grand that was quoted above is a bit steep.

[Firefoxx]

When I was younger, I was pretty much into 3d graphics cards. Bought the Voodoo 1 when it first came out, about 12,000 baht. Bought the Voodoo 2 when it first came out, again 12,000 baht. Got a bit jaded after that...

Recently I bought a Radeon 9600pro for 6,000... works well enough, and I can play Doom3 at 1024x768... (but I really prefer desert combat... any DC servers in Thailand?).

The MX400 cards can't handle newer games, no matter what CPU you have. The 5200 (nvidia) and 9200 (ati) cards aren't much different, performance-wise. For newer games, you would need at least a 5600/9600 level card. The 5800/9800/x800 cards are nice, but way overpriced.

[Jockstar]

Ian B. Any idea of a price for the same card as you?

[Jockstar]

Firefoxx. What price are we talking for the cards you mentioned?

[Firefoxx]

Depends on what you want... there are several different versions of the cards. Take the ATI Radeon 9600... there's the 9600se (slowest), the 9600 (standard), the 9600pro (faster, what I have), and the 9600XT (newest and fastest). The speed difference between adjacent cards isn't that much, but the difference between the 9600se and 9600XT is significant. The price is also fairly different.

9600se=3,000-4,500

9600pro=5,800

9600xt=7,000 or 8,000 with ViVo=video-in/video-out

I really don't recommend the se version, and the plain 9600 was discontinued.

The comparable Nvidia Geforce FX5700 is 6,500 (5700ultra=7,500)

Prices depend on the brand, these are just sample prices.

Keep in mind that the new high speed PCI standard cards (for the new BTX mainboards) are starting to come out. Putting too much into an AGP card might not be wise right now, so steer away from the top-end models (more than 10,000).

[monty]

extrtemely happy with my 9600XT, had a geforce 4 before and this is just a huge improvement...

[Jockstar]

Just a thought. Would it be cheaper to buy 9600XT in Europe than buy it here? If its much cheaper then i have friends coming in October and they could bring it over . What do you think?

[MadFrankie]

I have a Radeon 9600XT 128MB card, made by Asus. Handles all the games so far. It's fully DX9 and I have been very pleased with it.

I ahve the same one and hasn't let me down yet. How much did you pay for it? I payed B8000 in Phuket for it about 2 weeks ago.

How much is a Creative Sound Card Audigy 2 ZS sound card running for these days? Pantip price has it listed at B5000, but that sounds a little pricey.

http://www.pantipprice.com/product.asp?ct_id=14&all=1

Has anyone every actually ordered something from panthip price? I have contacted them on a number of occasions to purchase stuff that their site says is in stock and not once have they had it, from what I could gather its a guy running the site from his bedroom, buying the stock to order from hardware house and adding a few hundred baht on

[Firefoxx]

Hehe, Thai e-commerce isn't exactly booming.

What I'm wishing for is a Newegg in Thailand: Fast, ultra-cheap prices, awesome selection, and great service. It's a bummer they don't accept billing addresses outside the US and international orders.

From what I've heard, prices in Europe aren't that great. Seems like the tax structure tacks on a hefty amount to the price, along with weird taxes for certain things (ie. monitors with DVI are classified different from those without). The 9600XT is not outrageously priced in Thailand, so buying here is OK.

[JJDinsay]

Went to my local computer shop to get PC upgraded for DOOM3. Have a 2.0 P4 with 512 MB of RAM. Asked the lady to upgrade video card so that it could play DOOM3 with decent speed as I wasn't about to spend $180 for a video card. She got me an ASUS VGA RADEON 9200 SE with 64MB. I've read some specs out there for this game that says 64 is good provided I have a decent CPU and 512 of RAM. Will this card do?

[Ian_B]

I would aim a bit higher these days... I would say the 9600XT (my card at the moment) is the bare minimum for the cutting edge games

I've a similar spec CP but could only play on 800x600 on medium with 100% smooth FPS

Best to anticipate a few Doom 3 engine games in the next 18 months as well

[Jockstar]

So just to get this straight. Still a little confused.9600Xt or above. Price around 6500 baht up but not above 10,000. I think i gotta go and check out prices and availablity again at Fortune or maybe go to Pantip. Cheers guys for all the help. Will keep you posted. What about sound card prices and brands? Sorry for all the questions but dont want to fork out a load of money, only to find out later that i ###### up.

[JJDinsay]

I got a quote from da shop downstairs of 8000b for 9600XT. That's a bit steep for me to spend on a game as I'm more of a console person. Console is stable and usually the only costs after initial investment are the games. PC though requires a little more upgrades, think that's why I stopped playing PC games. Well, the best was willing to fork over was 3500b for a 9600SE with 128 MB, hope it works well

[Firefoxx]

The 9600pro and 9600xt aren't all that different, so either one would be fine. The next step, the 9800pro or the x800 series, would be double the price (or more) and nowhere near double the performance. The 9200se, on the other hand, is only a bit faster than the MX400 series, and therefore not something you would want to play doom 3 on.

I don't know that much about sound cards. I stopped being interested when on-board cards become decent enough and supported surround. Haven't bought an add-on in quite some time.

[stumonster]

t's worth checking out ATI's Radeon X700 and NVIDIA's GeForce 6600 series. Both are based on cut down versions of latest and greatest graphics chips, but at under $200, they sell for a fraction of the price of high-end cards. What's more, these $200 wonders outperform last year's $500 cards, sometimes by embarrassingly large margins. The Tech Report has in-depth reviews of both the GeForce 6600GT and Radeon X700 XT if you're in the market for a next-gen graphics card that's a little more affordable."

http://techreport.com/

http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q3/gefor...gt/index.x?pg=1

http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q3/radeo...xt/index.x?pg=1

[Jockstar]

This is an old thread. I think that a page has been lost somwhere. I have posted 2 replies regarding my progress on purchasing a graphics card. I finally bought the Geforce 5900 as the 9600pro wouldnt fit into the slot. Due to the board not having 3 slots on the card. It only had 2. Very happy with the one i bought.

[The Coder]

You had asked if cheaper to buy outside Thailand, and the answer is yes. For instance, you can either buy the ATI 9600XT for 8000 baht at pantip or you can buy its big brother the ATI 9700 Pro for 6000 baht including shipping in the US. And by the way, the GeForce FX5900 can be had for under 7000 baht in the US.

As far as gaming, I have a ATI 9700 Pro and it's not too shabby, but you can bring it to its knees by cranking up the quality & res of the latest games like doom3. In fact, you apparently need a video card with a half gig or more to run doom3 optimally!

[Mr_Happy]

Nvidia better for doom3, 9200 is too weak for doom3...