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Need to pick at a graphics card. Please help

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by wheelstb, Apr 25, 2007.

  1. wheelstb

    wheelstb Regular member

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    I'm trying to build a new gaming PC. But I need a lot of help picking out a graphics card I'm looking to spend around $250 on the card. Here is the rest of the components I'm thinking about getting. Which card would you guys recommend.

    Components.

    ProcessorIntel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775


    motherboard Intel BOXD975XBX2KR LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard

    hard drives 2 Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 (Perpendicular Recording) ST3250820AS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

    graphics card ??? What would you recommend?

    Memory G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel

    Looking for any ideas please help.
     
  2. Spenman91

    Spenman91 Regular member

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    Do you want to have DX10 and Vista, or are you just going to have XP and stick with DX9 for a while?
     
  3. AXT

    AXT Guest

    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 25, 2007
  4. Spenman91

    Spenman91 Regular member

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    I was going to recomend that but I didn't know if it would do any good if he wasn't going to have Vista.
     
  5. wheelstb

    wheelstb Regular member

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    I think I am going to go with xp for a while.

    What exactly is Dx10 and Dx9? What differences will they make?
     
  6. Zeyf414

    Zeyf414 Regular member

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    Yes, by all means stay with XP. There are too many issues with Vista.

    DX - Microsoft's application programming interface collection, most commonly when referring to a specific version, e.g. DX9.0, DX10

    DX10 will provide the means to make games absolutely gorgeous amongst other things. Game manufacturers will be able to render games much more realistic. Just look at Crysis screen shots. That is a game designed with DX10 If you get that card as suggested you will be able to play DX9 and DX10 games. However, it will take Vista to utilize DX10 as XP will not.
     
  7. Spenman91

    Spenman91 Regular member

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    You could go with the 7950GT for the cheaper route for DX9. But if you plan to upgrade or want to be future proof for a while I would go with the 8800GTS 320MB version.
     
  8. smitbret

    smitbret Member

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    In that price range, the best bang for your buck is the ATI x1950xt. It easily outperforms any of the nVidia 7xxx series cards in almost any game.
    -Brett
     
  9. rulisky

    rulisky Regular member

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    Here is something to think about. What games do you want to play? Consider the game's requirements. That is, which cards are on the supported list.

    For example, here are the game requirements for Splinter Cell Double Agent:

    Splinter Cell Double Agent Download Minimum System Requirements

    Supported OS: Windows® XP (only)
    Processor: 3 Ghz Pentium® 4 or AMD Athlon™ 3000 (3.5 Ghz Pentium 4 or Athlon 3500 recommended). Game optimized for Dual-processor-enabled computers.
    RAM: 1 GB
    Video Card: DirectX® 9.0c-compliant, Shader 3.0-enabled 128 MB video card (256 MB recommended) (see supported list*)
    Sound Card: DirectX® 9.0c-compatible (EAX" recommended) - PC audio solution containing Dolby® Digital Live required for Dolby Digital audio.
    DirectX Version: 9.0c or higher
    Hard Drive Space: 8 GB
    Peripherals Supported: Mouse, keyboard
    Multiplay: Broadband connection with 128 kbps upstream or faster
    *Supported Video Cards at Time of Release

    ATI® X1600/X1800/X1900 NVidia® 6600 /6800/7300/7600/7800/7900

    Notice that 8800GTS is NOT on the "Supported" list. That means you probably won't get the game to run properly if you get the 8800GTS. That would be a major bummer!

    Just wanted to give you something to consider if you hadn't thought about it.

    Double Agent won't run on Vista. Halo 2 for the PC is planned as Vista only. Decisions, decisions.
     
  10. wheelstb

    wheelstb Regular member

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    I have a disability and can't use my left hand really well. I've had pretty much all the consuls but is kind of hard for me to use a normal controller so I'm switching to PC games because most of them will let you use a joystick. With the joystick controller in mind I'm not a big fan of shooters but I like to play pretty much anything else. Does anyone know of a good joystick that would work well for one-handed use. I'm kind of looking for one with a lot of action buttons on the joystick itself so that I don't have to deal with the buttons on the base of the joystick as much. This would make it as easy for one-handed use as possible. If anyone has seen anything that may work let me know. Most of the joysticks I've seen have between four and five buttons on the joystick itself. I was hoping to find one with six or seven buttons on the joystick.
     
  11. wheelstb

    wheelstb Regular member

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    I'm definitely going to go with the NVidia 8800GTS 320mb. But as I look around at the graphics cards online I see that some of the same models are made byNvidia BFG and Asues just to name a few what is the difference in these cards if they are all the same model?
     
  12. rulisky

    rulisky Regular member

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    Different manufacturers use the same chipset on their version of the video card. Other features may vary. Quality of workmanship may vary. Kinda like buying different cars with the same engine under the hood, if you will.
     
  13. REAM

    REAM Guest

    yuo will need alot of power when makign this rig...

    and one of the first things to think about getting is a very decent psu, if your making a gaming rig.

    you should go for a respected company, and look to get a minimum of 500W
     
  14. borhan9

    borhan9 Active member

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    Good games for playing with a joystick would be games like flight simulators.
     
  15. bigdragon

    bigdragon Member

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    Hi, I have an old system that I built about 4 years ago. It's an AMD athlon 3200, with 1.5 gigs of ddr ram, msi ms-7030 motherboard, and a radeon 9200 graphics card. I was wondering what would be the best graphics card to get around the $100 range? Nothing special as this is an old rig, just something that will make it run a little smoother. Something with atleast 256 mb of onboard memory. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
     
  16. mac74lee

    mac74lee Member

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    Hi i ve got roughly same rig up.. i ive just installed a Geforce
    6800GT 256mb AGP card..Works a treat playing Call of duty 2 and Battlefield 2.
    not a bad card for £50.
     
  17. trrkod

    trrkod Member

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    The recommendation of the 8800 GTS sounds good, in this price range but check out the XFX version for a few bucks more you get a souped up
    XFX 8800 GTS remember the mem on this card is only 320 and the GTS does come with 640(another version) which some games require for ultimate graphics. And then of course is the GTX. They also make a Ultimate but blogs say not really worth it. But I got a little off the cost issue the XFX 8800 GTS 320 should future proof you for some time you can find them for $339. Just ordered my new system and have spent quite a few hrs. researching these and other
    components. PS it is being shipped this Friday!!!

    -ASPIRE: X-SUPERALIEN-BK ALUMINUM MID-TOWER ATX BLACK 500W Bays:5/2/5/USB 6 FANs *
    -ASUS P5B SKT775 Core 2 Duo ATX DDR2 800 x4 PCI-E X16 PCIx3 INTEL P965 1066FSB A&GBL 51062 *
    -Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66GHz INTEL SKT775 Core 2 Duo 4MB Cache Retail W/ Heatsink Fan 50171 *
    -SUPERTALENT T800UB1GC4 1GB W/ Heat Spreader DDR2 800 Non-ECC 240-pin DIMM PC2 6400 CL4 T800UB1GC4 X2
    -200GB SATA WD2500JS 250GB 3.5-in Internal SATA2 7200rpm 8MB BULK 37515 *

    Let me know how your card works I am getting mine later,for now I will suffer through with on board graffics something like intels x3000? TK
     
  18. dazila

    dazila Regular member

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    Well you cant really say something with 256mb i know about 20 cards which are 128mb and perform better then the 256mb cards for eg if a card is the same model like a Radeon 9250 there is a 128mb and a 256mb the 256mb will give you about 5fps extra and cost about 25$ more not worth it this is what 100$ 256mb cards are.
    some good ones are:
    Radeon 9600XT 128mb,256mb look at these...http://search.ebay.com/radeon-9600_W0QQ_trksidZm37QQfromZR40
    The Radeon 9700pro is a great card its from 2002 back then no card could catch it and it kept the lead for about 1 year and its been said to be the longest GPU with it now you can run games like NFS Most Wanted on high setting with no drop in frames. its 128mb but easily outpaces most mid range 256mb's its a gaiming card.
    http://search.ebay.com/radeon-9700_...rgnZQ2d1QQsaslcZ2QQsbrftogZ1QQsofocusZunknown
    A radeon 9550 is a budget mid range only take it if you can find the Gecube Radeon 9550 Platinum Edition version it matches the 9600pro's perfromance with a nice stock cooler pretty big cooler i instaled on 3 weeks ago and runs Flight Sim 2004 on high smooth so its good but they are rare so i dont have any ebay links. search it on google and you will see.
    A radeon 9800 is good its a bit better then a 9700 and is also under 100$ and is 256mb.
    http://search.ebay.com/search/searc...action=compare&copagenum=1&coentrypage=search
    Geforce 6600 is good better then most of the above PCI-E version is cheap but agp one gets a bit pricey
    http://search.ebay.com/search/searc...ftrt=1&ftrv=1&saprclo=&saprchi=&fsop=1&fsoo=1
    Thats it from what ive got.
    all of the cards are much better then a 9200.
    order best to worst:
    1.6600
    2.9800
    3.9700
    4.9600XT,9550XT PE they are tied
    5.9200
     
  19. trrkod

    trrkod Member

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    I realize you are on a budget but if at all possible save your $ and wait until you can afford a card in the 8800 series D10x will then be your's and your system will at least not be obsolete for at least a few minutes. TK
     

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