Need New Videocard

[penzman]

My Tornado GeForce MX400 fried as I accidently yanked the monitor cable off it.

I was able to play Half Life2 with low details.

Any suggestions on what I should replace it with? I can't afford a high end card for now but still want one that can take some heavy gaming.

Thanks,

Penz

[Wolfie]

ATI Radeon 9600 pro EZ 256mg card cost me around 6,000baht

[Shola]

ATI Radeon 9600 pro EZ 256mg card cost me around 6,000baht

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You sound like you know your stuff Wolfie, I recently tried to play a game and it said I needed a 'tnl video card' so er what should I buy? How much$$?

[The Coder]

TNL would be texture and lighting. Get a card with a minimum of 128MB should suffice for any game out, though the sky is the limit on performance if you like running high detail, high res, high frame rates, and all the fancy options. Here is a link for US price references and another for performance to help find your right spot in the pecking order:

http://www.pricewatch.com/m/mn.aspx?i=37&f=1

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/2...tml#3dmark_2003

[Firefoxx]

I have a P4 3.0 and a Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB. I'm able to run HL2 on full detail, with 2x anti-aliasing, at 1152x864, with good frame rates.

If you're not willing to pay around 6,000, then the 9600SE goes for around half that much. Pay any less and you won't get anywhere near acceptable performance. Try to get the Radeon 9600 or better, or the Nvidia 5600 or better.

Keep in mind that HL2 is a memory hog. I had a lot of stuttering with only 512MB of system memory (and a lot of programs open). None with 1GB. More memory also means much less time spent on the "loading" screen.

[Wolfie]

I went for that card purely because its 256mg.

its an older chipset (9600 instead of 9700 or 9800) but that didnt bother me too much as i figured the extra RAM on the card will make up for the older chipset.

So far so good, Doom3 runs like a wet dream, and i just got World of Warcraft today so i will be testing it out with that tonight when the evil bosses let me leave the office!

[Shola]

So I spose I'll go to Seacon Square to get one of these cards but once I get it what are the chances of me being able to put it in the PC myself?

Is it just a case of poking it in the right hole?

[Darknight]

So I spose I'll go to Seacon Square to get one of these cards but once I get it what are the chances of me being able to put it in the PC myself?

Is it just a case of poking it in the right hole?  

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sort off , just make sure you have the correct board (agp, pci, pci-e) to go in to your motherboard

slide it in (old one out first) start pc , install drivers. simpel as that.

[Firefoxx]

It's pretty easy. There's only one hole (slot) it will fit into. Take out the old one, put the new one in, boot, install drivers.

[sniffdog]

It's a myth that 256mb cards are better than 128mb cards. It's well known that in general 256 mb memory is slower than 128 mb memory.

T&L is supported by (all) GEFORCE cards. I myself use a Asus Radeon 9600XT (128 mb VIVO) card and am quite satisfied with it.

It all depends on your requirements and. most important, budget.

If the latter is no object go for a X800 PRO priced at THB 25,000 .....

But in the 6,000 baht range the 9600 PRO (or a little more expensive) the 9600XT will do. But don't expect to rum doom 3 in better than 800x600 settings.

[Shola]

So I spose I'll go to Seacon Square to get one of these cards but once I get it what are the chances of me being able to put it in the PC myself?

Is it just a case of poking it in the right hole?  

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Sort off , just make sure you have the correct board (agp, pci, pci-e) to go in to your motherboard

slide it in (old one out first) start pc , install drivers. simpel as that.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's pretty easy. There's only one hole (slot) it will fit into.  Take out the old one, put the new one in, boot, install drivers.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

K, thanks, I'll give at whirl myself then, err how do I know if my Mboard is agp, pci etc.., The covers off my CPU and I just had a peek and all I can see is Voodoo 3Dfx written on the thing (which I presume is the old card, right? )

[Firefoxx]

Your mainboard, if it's not the absolute newest or really juraissic park oldest, should be AGP. The AGP slot should be the slot closest to the CPU, and is usually colored brown, in contrast to normal PCI slots, which are white.

I don't know which Voodoo you have... there were versions made for both PCI and AGP slots.

[Shola]

Your mainboard, if it's not the absolute newest or really juraissic park oldest, should be AGP.  The AGP slot should be the slot closest to the CPU, and is usually colored brown, in contrast to normal PCI slots, which are white.

I don't know which Voodoo you have... there were versions made for both PCI and AGP slots.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah brown white slots, got it, must be AGP. Thanks for that

[Wolfie]

It's a myth that 256mb cards are better than 128mb cards. It's well known that in general 256 mb memory is slower than 128 mb memory.

T&L is supported by (all) GEFORCE cards. I myself use a Asus Radeon 9600XT (128 mb VIVO) card and am quite satisfied with it.

It all depends on your requirements and. most important, budget.

If the latter is no object go for a X800 PRO priced at THB 25,000 .....

But in the 6,000 baht range the 9600 PRO (or a little more expensive) the 9600XT will do. But don't expect to rum doom 3 in better than 800x600 settings.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Doom3 runs in a higher res than 800x600 on my rig, no problems at all. (except maybe a touch of gfx lag when theres a load of stuff going on, otherwise 95% of the game is as smooth as a babies bottom) I cant remember exactly what res (as i was playing around with settings, cant remember which i opted for in the end) but its somewhere around 1024x768 or maybe one higher with High Graphic Detail.

WoW runs very well, full graphics options set to max and not so much as a stutter... again res is around 1280x1024.

Very happy with my GFX card, ATI Radeon 9600pro EZ 256mg for a bargain basement price of 6,000baht. In fact i will go out on a limb here and say it is a much better card than my old (R.I.P) ATI 9700pro Saphire 128mg card (no actual benchmarks, just the feel of how things are working)

Just my 2 baht

[The Coder]

Very happy with my GFX card, ATI Radeon 9600pro EZ 256mg for a bargain basement price of 6,000baht. In fact i will go out on a limb here and say it is a much better card than my old (R.I.P) ATI 9700pro Saphire 128mg card (no actual benchmarks, just the feel of how things are working)

Nope. Not only is the 9600 Pro EZ 256MB way slower than the 9700 128MB, as someone else alluded to it also gets spanked convincingly by the 9600 Pro with just 128MB!!! Benchmarks:

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/over2003/

And by the way, that particular card goes for the 4000 baht range in the US. This reminds of of the Geforce 4 gimmik; people thought they were buying fast cards, not knowing low end Geforce 4 were so detuned they were slower than a good GeForce 2. Moral of the story is check the benchmarks because there's a lot more to the story than the amount of memory on it or the chip set level.

Edited February 3, 2005 by The Coder

[Wolfie]

Fully aware of that The_Coder, my my opinion here is going on my own personal experiences...

I've owned and used on Doom3 the following two cards...

ATI Radeon 9600pro EZ (PowerColour) 256mg

ATI Radeon 9700pro Saphire 128mg

And so far, in my perception, my 9600 out performs my 9700 by a long way, OK admittedly my 9700 got fried, maybe i just had a duff card from the start and didnt realise it.. thats possible as the 9700 fried itself within 12 months.

The point i'm trying to make is that the 9600 card is a good card, and cheap as well... if someone is on a low budget (like i was at the time) and looking for a reasonable card for games, i'd suggest looking into this card.

I can play Doom3 (one of the most resource intensive games around on the market today) and World Of Warcraft without a problem.

I paid 6,000baht (inc postage) from PanThipPrice.com about 1 month ago, maybe the card is only 4,000baht in the US but i couldnt find it at that price in Thailand.

Fully appreciate there are faster, better cards out there, but all the big performace cards i looked at were very expensive, and beyond what i was prepared to pay at the time.

[Firefoxx]

In theory, the Ez (or "se") has slower memory running at 400mhz. A 9600pro has memory running at 600mhz. There isn't that much difference, but the difference is there. The normal 9600 has a 325Mhz core (vs 400mhz on the Pro) and 400mhz memory. The 9600XT has 500mhz core and 600mhz memory.

Nice big benchmark page:

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/over2003/

[penzman]

Noted.

Going to TukCom in SiRacha.

I'll tell you what I found.

Thanks guys.

[tuky]

Noted.

Going to TukCom in SiRacha.

I'll tell you what I found.

Thanks guys.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, what did you find?

other than my wife at home