ChickenSoup
Banned
I need a somewhat decent graphics card... my current is an ATI Radeon 9250 (ouch) and I'm low on cash. Is there something by NVidia that's decent and less that 175-200?
Graphics card question
- Thread starter ChickenSoup
- Start date
nattyg
New Member
what kind of slots do you have? a pci-e one? if so, there are plenty of NVidia 8600s on newegg.com that meet your budget. At the high end of that range (209), there's a 512MB card. Any more, the biggest limiter is expansion slots
Hescominsoon
CGA\TOJ Hosting Manager
slots are one thing..but your cpu is most important. If your cpu isn't fast enough to keep it fed then the gpu will remain unused. What cpu do you have?
ChickenSoup
Banned
My current card says "PCI Express Bus" on it.
Pentium 4 2.66 GHz
640 MB of RAM
Pentium 4 2.66 GHz
640 MB of RAM
ChickenSoup
Banned
By the way... I read a criticism of the 8600 series that it wasn't that great at all, but anything would really be an upgrade from an ATI Radeon 9250 sooo what do you guys think of it?
sooo what do you guys think of it?
Hescominsoon
CGA\TOJ Hosting Manager
you won't be able to use an 8800 to it's fullest with your cpu..however the 7600gt is right up your alley. if you can't find that go for the 8600gt..but no higher. You're borderline being able to keep an 8600 gt fed.
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Corpfox
Active Member
My Geforce 7900 GS is good, well within your price range.
Unfortunately, it looks like there is few of my kind of card.
From reviews, its a Mid-End card.
Though, for me, its a true video card.
That is weird, so you got a 512MB and 138MB?
Unfortunately, it looks like there is few of my kind of card.
From reviews, its a Mid-End card.
Though, for me, its a true video card.
That is weird, so you got a 512MB and 138MB?
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vibrokatana
New Member
It is likely 32MB x 20 chips or 64MB x 10 chips. They probably designed it and decided to shove some extra ram in there because it wouldn't cost much more.
Corpfox
Active Member
How does a Pentium 4 have 20 slots/10 slots of ram?
My current PC has only 4, my oldest and currently defected has 8 slots.
Hescominsoon
CGA\TOJ Hosting Manager
that's the chip configuration on each memory stick on the slots on the mobo..<G>
vibrokatana
New Member
Ram sticks usually have either 5, 6, 10 or 12 chips on them. Each chip has a set capacity that adds up to the total sum of the stick.
In video cards the ram is almost always soldered to the board (to reduce latency). The ram is usually the rectangular chips running around the GPU (so that airflow from the sink spreads out over the memory).
In video cards the ram is almost always soldered to the board (to reduce latency). The ram is usually the rectangular chips running around the GPU (so that airflow from the sink spreads out over the memory).
nattyg
New Member
My Geforce 7900 GS is good, well within your price range.
Unfortunately, it looks like there is few of my kind of card.
From reviews, its a Mid-End card.
Though, for me, its a true video card.
That is weird, so you got a 512MB and 138MB?
512 + 128...those numbers make sense
But ...I mean, looking at games like WoW, which run at around 5-600MB of memory, that leaves *very* little room for the system to operate which means you'll start paging to disk...which is a huuuuuuuuuuuge performance killer. Disk I/O = bad bad bad
Your CPU *could* be better, but not huge...depending on what games you're playing I'd look at the vcard + some new memory really bump things up. It's pretty likely that you *need* memory first, so you may want to go that way before investing in a vcard...2GB these days is pretty affordable...you can go in the low 100 range for a kit (heh...or like 300+ for Corsair Dominator!!).
Corpfox
Active Member
512 + 128...those numbers make sense
But ...I mean, looking at games like WoW, which run at around 5-600MB of memory, that leaves *very* little room for the system to operate which means you'll start paging to disk...which is a huuuuuuuuuuuge performance killer. Disk I/O = bad bad bad
Your CPU *could* be better, but not huge...depending on what games you're playing I'd look at the vcard + some new memory really bump things up. It's pretty likely that you *need* memory first, so you may want to go that way before investing in a vcard...2GB these days is pretty affordable...you can go in the low 100 range for a kit (heh...or like 300+ for Corsair Dominator!!).
These Corsair Domintor? They are quite cheap for DDR2.
Wow, CORSAIR Dominator 4GB(4 x 1GB)...
His CPU is ok, I use a Athlon 64 3800+, which isn't higher than his.
Though, yes, you will need more ram, mostly everyone has 2GB ram and the newer games require at least 1GB. I would think a P4 can max out to 2GB of ram since that is the limit from Windows XP. (Actually, its 2925MB)
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Hescominsoon
CGA\TOJ Hosting Manager
xp32 bit can handle 3 gigs..:0 xp 64bit can handle petabytes..<G>These Corsair Domintor? They are quite cheap for DDR2.
Wow, CORSAIR Dominator 4GB(4 x 1GB)...
His CPU is ok, I use a Athlon 64 3800+, which isn't higher than his.
Though, yes, you will need more ram, mostly everyone has 2GB ram and the newer games require at least 1GB. I would think a P4 can max out to 2GB of ram since that is the limit from Windows XP. (Actually, its 2925MB)
vibrokatana
New Member
While at the same time running slower because you cant get drivers for anything.
i thought they improved on drivers though
ChickenSoup
Banned
-_-
It's a 512 and a 128.
Yeesh, And then a 150-200 dollar graphics card? That's just GREAT.
Hescominsoon
CGA\TOJ Hosting Manager
rofl no. xp64 requires something that winders has not been good at..driver security and signing.
Corpfox
Active Member
Yep, Hes is right about that.
I'm still using SP1 because for some annoying reason, SP2 gives me
"The blue screen of death"
Yep, the budgets of upgrading your computer.
ChickenSoup
Banned
Well if you think about it... I could just take out the 128 and stick in a 1 GB and have 1.5 :\