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CelticFrog

CelticFrog

Almost Killed In Action
Joined
Jan 31, 2003
Posts
1,076
I know I can try Froogle or other random 'best buy' websites, but I have more confidence in our computer geeks on here to help me find a decent video card that actually supports Transform and Lighting.

Here's the deal. The current video card in my PC is the stock S3 ProSavage DDR, and very obviously cannot handle all the spiffy newfangled games that JUST came out. See, they require the video card to process the T&L instead of the CPU (you probably already knew that, but I neglected to pay attention until now). I can't afford to break the bank on a super expensive GeForce 4 or anything like that, but I still want a good graphics card that can survive through the next generation of PC games. After all, the bank broke on the games!!! :)

I would like to be able to get this card relatively quickly, but I'm willing to wait for regular shipping if I buy it online.

Help?

Ang

(TIA)
 
Pretty much all of the upcomin games will be needing a GeForce 5, minimum of 1.5ghz processor, 512SDR (1gigSDR and over I'd reccommend), and some 2 to 4 gig of harddrive space.

Buying a lesser graphics card now will be worse than purchasing a top of the line new one now, and not having any woes later on.

As for prices: If you don't have Computer Swap Meets there, then I'm really sorry to say that you luck out on some of the best deals ever available.

Otherwise, you can try poiting your browser to http://www.newegg.com/.

They have comparative hardware prices.
 
Pretty much all of the upcomin games will be needing a GeForce 5, minimum of 1.5ghz processor, 512SDR (1gigSDR and over I'd reccommend), and some 2 to 4 gig of harddrive space.

Buying a lesser graphics card now will be worse than purchasing a top of the line new one now, and not having any woes later on.

As for prices: If you don't have Computer Swap Meets there, then I'm really sorry to say that you luck out on some of the best deals ever available.

Otherwise, you can try poiting your browser to http://www.newegg.com/.

They have comparative hardware prices.
 
Thanks for the input, I'm always looking for more.

I know there are high quality non-namebrand knockoffs out there that are just as good as the newest GeForce... and here I was thinking 4 had just come out. I was hoping I could find something like that, but ah well...

I have no problems buying high end at this point -- I realize the necessity. God knows I've been on the low end of the spectrum with a 486 still when Pentium 3s had just come out. Tax season last year was our savior.

What irritates me is that with the whole nVidia thing making the card itself responisble for T&L it totally screws anybody that is just trying to update their drivers for a slightly older card. At least with games that search specifically for a card that can handle T&L itself.

Guess I'll just play the older games for a while... *sigh*

Ang
 
pricewatch.com is your friend like the other poster mentioned. I would go with a ATI 9600 Pro, they start at $82 on pricewatch.com. If you read the reviews on tomshardware.com you will see the 9600 shares the directx 9 support that the new games will need. You can probably get away with the 128 MB card for $82.
 
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I have just one piece of advice....

Never ever ever shop at FRY's for computer parts ( even the name brand stuff suck ass and dont work properly).
The return lines are usualy longer than the checkout.

But then again thats just my oppinion.. and what do i know.. i have only been around computers and their accessories since 1986.

Everyone who has used the original apple computers raise their hands...

how about a reverse polish logic calculator?

anyone here even know what Polishj logic is?
 
quickfoot said:
pricewatch.com is your friend like the other poster mentioned. I would go with a GeForce 9600 Pro, they start at $82 on pricewatch.com. If you read the reviews on tomshardware.com you will see the 9600 shares the directx 9 support that the new games will need. You can probably get away with the 128 MB card for $82.
Click to expand...

I think this person meant the ATI 9600pro. The geforce equivalant to that card would be the 5600. Both are in the $100 to $160 range (depending on added goodies) and both are directx 9 ready. It really depends on what games you intend to play as far as which vid card you really need. The geforce 4200, 4400, 4600 will still work great for non-directx 9 games and will be ok for newer games you just wont be able to have all the bells and whistles on in the newest titles. Doom3 and halflife2 seem to be the most demanding games coming out. If thats what you intend to play then go for a directx 9 card...if not save some money and get a geforce4400 or 4600.

I also recommend newegg.com. If you look at pricewatch you will see newegg has the cheapest prices on most hardware and they have a great reputation.
 
I don't really pay that much attention to computer fairs out here, as we've been here two years and so far the only shows I've seen have been gun or craft. Then again, maybe I'm wrong and someone near Boise knows of computer fairs that happen nearby. We're not too horribly far from there and it's about the only place I can think of within 300 miles or more that would have something like that.

I still have my old Commodore 64, by the way. It's in my hall closet, waiting for the day when I have enough room in my house that I can set it up and play Grog's Revenge. Or other equally stupid but fun games. Hell, I still have our old Intellivision too... and THAT is getting set up in February in our bedroom so I have games to play when I'm bedridden and not allowed to move once we get the next surgery scheduled.

Still, I feel bad that I didn't pay enough attention to the game boxes and so I'll make up for that this next payday and get us a nice spiffy new video card. I WILL run DirectX 9.0 and have Transform and Lighting capabilities because I don't want to have to upgrade again in a year.

And we like computer games.

So I'm back to Diablo II (for the third or fourth time) until payday and the new video card.

Ang
 
So I'm back to Diablo II (for the third or fourth time) until payday and the new video card.
Click to expand...

Hey i love that game! Do you ever play LOD? Am on the europe realm (casper_uk) drop us a line next time you are on :)
 
Sale

Just saw a sale at Fry's for a "Best Data"
64mb AGP Video Card with nVidia Geforce2 MX400 3D graphics chip in it for $29.99.
This could be something that could work for you!?
You may not have a Fry's around, but you could search for Best Data.
I have problems with an onboard video circuit not running games very well, so I understand why you need more power.
Next time, all separate, quality sound, video, everything cards!
Good luck.
 
Thanks, Magic,
but I need at least a GeForce 3 to be able to run T&L support through the video card. We're planning on getting a nicer one so we don't have to upgrade again as quickly.

Ang
 
well

MagicFingers

Just to make the point of it... I have yet to buy a single piece of
computer hardware from fry's the installation of which did not bring about a total appocalypse on my computer. This includes, memory chips, sound cards, scanners etc. All of which were on sale. The only thing in fact that has not done so thus far has been a flash memory stick i got for $20 or so.

By "Total Appocalypse" I mean me having to reinstall all of my software etc due to hardware and its software related problems,
having to replace the new part with the original one, returning the item i just had bought, wasting hours of time with the whole shitload of problems caused by their crap.
That me and my 15 years of experience with computers and trust me i always make sure that everything is compatible with my system.
I would just hate to see what someone less experienced would go trough.

I did have a big laugh when one of my work buddies tried to actualy build a computer from part he had bought from fry's.
He was cursing about it for weeks, he finaly got it to work but after having widows crash on him aproximately 15 times he gave it up and took the shit back.
 
1. Frys deals in seconds; that's how they get the prices. I quit buying from them when they gave me "remanufactured" claiming it was new.

2. There are several clone or "knock off" cards coming from Tiwian which look pretty much compatable to what they claim to be. However, I've had a couple of gamer come into the shop with "compatable" cards or cards with "the same chipset as the name brand" who couldn't get them to work.

In a couple of cases, I replaced thier card with the name brand one (which their card claimed to be, but wasn't) and things worked great. It wasn't the software; it was the card designer who couldn't clone.

3. In a couple of cases, there is "backwards compatability" software which will take a card like the G2 and let it work with newer directX features.

If you're looking at the most recent releases of games, this isn't for you. But if you have an older card and want to play a game that needs a card slightly more advanced than yours; some research might pay off.

4. I've done business with newegg.com, and was suprised to find that I can buy some things quantity 1 from them cheaper than I can buy quantity 10 or 12 from my normal distributor.

OTOH, we use this distributor because they have never shipped us culls, pulls, or batch fails like the low cost ones do. I'm not saying newegg does that; their prices seem to be low because they have positioned themselves right at the factory door.
 
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CelticFrog said:
I know I can try Froogle or other random 'best buy' websites, but I have more confidence in our computer geeks on here to help me find a decent video card that actually supports Transform and Lighting.

Here's the deal. The current video card in my PC is the stock S3 ProSavage DDR, and very obviously cannot handle all the spiffy newfangled games that JUST came out. See, they require the video card to process the T&L instead of the CPU (you probably already knew that, but I neglected to pay attention until now). I can't afford to break the bank on a super expensive GeForce 4 or anything like that, but I still want a good graphics card that can survive through the next generation of PC games. After all, the bank broke on the games!!! :)

I would like to be able to get this card relatively quickly, but I'm willing to wait for regular shipping if I buy it online.

Help?

Ang

(TIA)
Click to expand...
Hit http://69.20.62.194/
They've got everything you want, great prices- 50% off in some cases and just about anything you could want. Have build whole computers from them and had no problem.
Good luck!
 
If you buy online, check out www.resellerratings.com to see if the company is listed. Its a good way to avoid a rip-off.

I'd avoid Fry's too on general principle. I've had some friends do fine by their stuff (I was amazed that a friend's ram has run fine the past 2 years or so) and others have problems up the wazoo as they are well known for reshrink wrapping defective crap. There have been websites bashing them for years. About the only thing I'd take a risk on is their cheap mobo/processor combos.

I've bought parts from newegg for over 2 years now and not had one problem (they have a good response rate though with returns etc.).
 
Comment about Fry's

I had just mentioned an ad from them earlier in this thread as an example. I am not a big fan of Fry's either.

I agree that if you don't know what you are doing you should avoid buying certain things from them, like anything that has been repackaged. I just showed a friend how to spot and avoid those.

And I would avoid certain kinds of hardware too. I have had a couple of items that were below par, however, I have bought many things that work fine. YES, you have to know what is ok and what is not.

Then, other items like CD-RWs, CD cases, software, brand name items sealed and not opened may be just fine.

Thanks for pointing out that some places are better than others to purchase computer parts. There are some good comments here about how to check that.
Caveat Emptor!
 
i didn't read through this whole thread ,forgive me if some one else said this .

1 ram < you can never have to much ram > it is the #1 reason for games slowing to a crawl and becomeing unplayable

2 video card. look for a Gforce 4 TI4200 < get the 64meg chip it's faster then the 128 > they sell veary cheap now i think 50 - 80 $$$

3 CPU the least important thing to worrie about for gameing . your CPU will always have to slow down to waite for the data to transfer through your ram . as long as you are near the system requirements or slightly under , you will be fine .you could also over clock your system a little to get up to min specs .

in short ... fill your comp up with as much ram as possable and your games will run perfect ,as long as your vidieo card is good enough to play the game.
 
It depends what games you are running and what type of things they do.

Most games are graphics and memory bandwidth bound but not all.

If you play a lot of games that involve large data files that need to be loaded you are going to want a well performing hard drive, the hard drive is still the biggest bottleneck on general system performance.

Once you get beyond a certain amount of ram it doesn't help to increase it anymore, instead of having 256 MB of memory not being used you have 512, no performance gain.

For most people that number is between 512 and 1 GB right now, most gamers tend to be closer to 1 GB if they are running XP, with older windows operating systems they wont address 1 GB of memory anyway so it is wasted.

At the moment you will get more bang for the buck with ATI than with NVIDIA but NVIDIA in the past has hasd less driver problems and higher satisfaction.
 
nekos

Well if you over clock your system.... youll have find a way to cool it off a bit better than that silly little fan thats there to begin with.
 
Thanks again so far. Still haven't bought the card, but it's getting closer to that point and I want to make a point that we NEED something that can handle the games that literally came out yesterday. Specifically, I bought J Gods and Generals and Once Upon A Knight. Both of them need a card that supports T&L, which only started being developed by NVIDIA for the GeForce 3s but didn't get really successful until the 4 or later.

I don't really understand the 5200 vs. 5600 cards, or the difference between the ATI/NVIDIA/whatever other brands are out there. Hence, I have a slightly harder time fumbling through all these options on the various sites you all have sent me to, although I'm getting better. And I'm getting a better idea of how much I'll have to spend. Might have to wait for taxes.

Ang
 
Take a look at Tom's Vid Card buying guide, it is pretty good, a few months old but will let you know the difference in a few of the chip sets and the top line cards in this write up are more affordable now.

9200 and 9600 are different generation cards, you will probably want a Pro card as well.

http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030714/index.html

And thats 100!
 
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