13 réponses à ce sujet

[Stabbath123]

My video card I was using, Geforce 8500 GT died on me so I need a new one. I had to revert back to an old crappy card to even be able to use my pc. I know very little about these things and was wanting to ask people here for some recommendations. I want one thats better than the 8500 I had. It was ok, but not great. Below is some of my system info. most is gibberish to me. Let me know if you need any other info. Thanks!

HP Pavilion 061
       System Model: PJ481AA-ABA A767C
               BIOS: BIOS Date: 02/16/05 16:07:13 Ver: 08.00.10
          Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 3.20GHz (2 CPUs)
             Memory: 3072MB RAM
          Page File: 500MB used, 5486MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

Card name: RADEON X300 Series
     Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
        Chip type: RADEON X300 SE (0x5B60)
         DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
       Device Key: Enum\\PCI\\VEN_1002&DEV_5B60&SUBSYS_032A1043&REV_00
   Display Memory: 128.0 MB
     Current Mode: 1280 x 960 (32 bit) (60Hz)
          Monitor: Plug and Play Monitor
  Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
      Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
   Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6483 (English)
      DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
 Driver Date/Size: 9/9/2004 19:15:36, 216576 bytes
      WHQL Logo'd: Yes
  WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
              VDD: n/a
         Mini VDD: ati2mtag.sys
    Mini VDD Date: 9/9/2004 19:15:14, 798208 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71EE2-1820-11CF-A06A-2023A1C2CB35}
        Vendor ID: 0x1002
        Device ID: 0x5B60
        SubSys ID: 0x032A1043
     

[Stabbath123]

Ok, I'll narrow it down a little. Geforce the way to go? I'll be playing Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 in the near future. As well as maybe Vanguard or eq2. Oh, and the Star Wars mmorpg (not that swg CRAP) when it comes out.

[Gorath Alpha]

For anything on the high end, ATI's Radeons are way out in front. In the middle, the Radeons have the value points all covered. At the bottom, where your present card is, it's anybody's choice, other than Intel's.

http://social.biowar...58/index/128343

[Stabbath123]

I saw a thread where it seems ati cards are having loads of probs with this game. That not true?

[Gorath Alpha]

Many of the nVIDIA drivers are (or seem to be) problematic for the 8n00 cards.  ATI's drivers, generally, are (IMO) more dependable lately.  Of the various hardware parts, the Radeon HD 3870 is factory overclocked beyond what the game can work with, and has to be downclocked to run properly.  That may also be what is happening with some HD 59n0 cards, but there seem to be more Geforces having trouble, generally, than Radeons (but that may relate to the really huge numbers of 8800s that were being sold when that was their leading card, way ount in fronot of the HD 38n0 cards).  The 8600s and some of the 8800s are particularly afflicted, it has seemed to me.

Modifié par Gorath Alpha, 15 février 2010 - 03:50 .

[Stabbath123]

I had a geforce 8500 and some serious system errors and crashes while playing Dragon Age. Wonder if this somehow killed my card:( My system seems to no longer detect it, so I put in a old one so I can see my desktop etc. Currently playing Might and Magic 7 lol. Bout the only thing I can play.



Thanks for your input, it helped a lot I think.



One more thing of possible concern. Direct X issues. Seems the good ATIs are made for DX10 and even 11? I use XP, and DX10 is only for Vista right? Will getting a good ATI card geared toward DX10 be a problem for me a XP user? Just wanting to make sure, before I spend all this money.

[Gorath Alpha]

The average game player can get the best value from a Mainline Gamers card (relatively recent, and "n600" code in the name, usually), since not all of us have large, high resolution display devices that demand the use of High End cards with sizable amounts of high quality, high speed VRAM on them.  The average flat panel display tops out at a medium resolution for its default. 

The HD 5670 is an excellent card, for about $100 from better online sources, such as Newegg, Mwave, and their ilk.  (Stateside pricing, and Newegg does do business in Canada as well, but that $99 - $100 is in USD.) 

The prior year's value winner almost all year was the Radeon HD 4670, and while it is overshadowed by its replacement, it is available somewhat less expensively. 

If you do have plans for a high resolution display, your shopping list should include a new power supply, because the High End cards demand a great deal more current than an average branded PC system's PSU can provide, and it must be a quality branded power supply, for certain.  My current top card is the HD 4850, because I got a better price on it than I could manage for an HD 4870 when I was ready to move on from my HD 3870 (my current best Geforce in one PC here is just an 8600 GTS). 

You will need to size your power supply according to what your videop card's requirements are, and add a cushion of about 40% to extend the life of the PSU when its components begin slowly deteriorating (which all PSUs do, but in a somewhat slower fashion for the quality brands). 

Gorath

[ZootCadillac]

Gorath Alpha wrote...

Many of the nVIDIA drivers are problematic.  ATI's drivers, generally, are more dependable.  Of the various hardware parts, the Radeon HD 3870 is factory overclocked beyond what the game can work with, and has to be downclocked to run properly.  That may also be what is happening with some HD 59n0 cards, but there seem to be more Geforces having trouble, generally, than Radeons.  The 8600s and 8800s are particularly afflicted, it seems.

more unsubstantiated nonsense. There is nothing in the above post other than a continued bias against Nvidia.
I've run the game on an 8600GT (nothing below this issuitable ) and 8600GT XXX and 8800GTS, two 8800GTS in SLI, a 9800GT and a GTX295 from Nvidia plus an HD4890 from ATI.

Absolutely every one of those cards ran the game perfectly, with no errors, on full settings ( with the exception of the 8600GT and that needed to have the resolution reduced to 1280x1024 in order to get aceptable frame rates. )



As for the OP. It depends upon your budget, what sort of life you want from it and what you expect to do with it. My honest opinion would be buy the best you can afford as it saves you money in the long term and ignore any unwarranted and unsubstantiated opinion from internet 'experts' regarding drivers and performance unless you see some cold hard facts.

in addition I'll just say that an nvidia 9800GT in my kid's room is running Dragon Age and Mass Effect 2 on full spec, all bells and whistles, at 1600x1200 with no discernable tearing or stuttering. Considering that they have been replaced by the GTX250 (rebadged 9800GTX) and are going for pennies on ebay, second user but less than a year old, then that is always my advice for budget gaming at high resolution.

Modifié par ZootCadillac, 12 février 2010 - 09:46 .

[Culdi]

I've just upped to a Radeon HD5850 and it is astounding. It's probably overkill for DA:O, and it's twice the price of a mid-range HD48xx ATI, but it is supposed to last and last. And if technology takes a great leap forward that games takes advantage of, we can combine this one and the one from my other half's machine into one box and get whatever new spangly tech is round the corner, so long as it'll go in a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot.



It does seem that right now ATI have managed to find the best price per performance in the gamer video card market, but nVidia have a new chipset out soo, I understand.

[Gorath Alpha]

You should ignore the fanboy enthusiasm.  I do. 

I've written about the coming APUs, and the problems that will bring for nVIDIA, on previous occasions.  Fermi right now is like the GTX280, truly huge, and that makes the possibilities of a broad-based line far more difficult, as we have seen the 200s taking literally two years to trickle down to the cheap and terrible G210.  There is no firm date yet for Fermi's release, other than "before spring". 

If you want the links to the previous discussions, I will look them up for you. 

P. S.  The following is Eurypterid's (moderator) comment regarding the fanboy excesses:

"Zoot, you may want to lay off the insults and name calling.

"For what it's worth, Gorath knows what he's talking about and he's definitely doing this guy a favor by steering him clear of that card. The current best value for money happens to be in the ATI line, not to mention the fact their latest cards run rings around similar nVidia offerings (I say this as an nVidia card owner), so there's no 'crusade' involved here either."

Gorath
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Modifié par Gorath Alpha, 15 février 2010 - 03:20 .

[Tyrax Lightning]

Give this Graphics Card & PSU research & consideration:

SAPPHIRE 100258-1GHDMI Radeon HD 4850. I see it's currently out of stock, but I would be suprised if NewEgg took long to restock them. If they do, ya can use this page to Copy the Card Name to Paste into the shopping/search engine of your choice.

Make sure your Motherboard has a PCI Express 2.0 x16 Slot before getting this card.

OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W ATX12V/EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply. Deep, dark secret of Gaming I learned here on this Site: To make sure your PSU will fully & correctly power your Graphics Card, you want a PSU that supplies no less than 18 Amps to the 12V Rails of your PSU. This one has 25 Amp 12V Rails.

Hope I helped.

[Hekynn]

If you can upgrade to a core 2 duo then do it and pick up a 750w from corsair and a GTX 260 I been running DA at Very High settings and getting smooth framerates around 60+

[Gorath Alpha]

I continue to feel that the Toms hardware "best card for the buck" articles are unbiased, and worth checking when looking for a video upgrade. With regard to power supply sizes, Tyrax is exactly correct. It is the AMPERAGE you need to look at when matching a PSU to a system.

Overall, for an entire system, Watts isn't a totally useless number, but this is my suggestion: visit somewhere that offers a "wattage calculator" -- several PSU sellers have them now. Add up everything, then add a 40 % overage number to the total.

With a good brand (very important), neither the gradual deterioration that all PSUs are subject to, nor the usual gradual accumulation of new parts, will add up to exceed that 40 % cushion for the lifetime of a system.

[Tyrax Lightning]

Oops, almost forgot to mention, the above Card I linked has a 1GB Memory Size, & a 256-bit Memory Interface. I can't help but to wonder if 128-bit Memory Interfaces are inadequate for handling DA:O. I think when Graphics Card shopping, aim for 256-bit Memory Interface or better ftw.

Modifié par Tyrax Lightning, 15 février 2010 - 06:03 .