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hondarin

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Okay, I'm doing some research and looking into buying a video card.

SO, for those of you who have video cards: What kind do you have, and what do you do with your computer?

I currently have on board graphics(of course), AMD athlon 64 X2 4600+ dual core processor 2.4GHz, 2GB ddr2 ram, 460w psu.

I run 3D CAD software, I play 4x4 EVO sometimes, and I'm thinking about maybe buying Fallout 3 for my pc when and if the price goes below 30 bucks.

I was also thinking about maybe upgrading my ram to 4GB, but it seems as though a decent graphics card might forego the ram upgrade.

Here are two cards that seem to be in my price range and look decent (to me at least):
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!
 
You will need to be careful about what card you buy with only a 460watt power supply. 2GB ram should be fine if you are running XP, but it is so cheap that another 2GB is almost a given.

If you can, spend a little more and pick up an 8800GT, fantastic card for your dollar, probably twice the performance of either card in your link.
 
You will need to be careful about what card you buy with only a 460watt power supply. 2GB ram should be fine if you are running XP, but it is so cheap that another 2GB is almost a given.

If you can, spend a little more and pick up an 8800GT, fantastic card for your dollar, probably twice the performance of either card in your link.
thanks for the heads up. more replies would be cool; agree/disagree with battlepope

EDIT* and yes, i am running xp
 
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i have very similar specs:
amd x2 4200 @ 2.6ghz
ddr1 @ 450mhz
antec trio 650watt
pny 9600gso

if you get it (9600gso) for the right price, it cant be beat. if you dont mind doing rebates, i got mine for $43 after $40 rebate from amazon.com. and it looks like they are offering the promotion again.
Amazon.com: PNY Verto GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB Overclocked Video Card: Electronics

its about par with a 9600GT and under the 8800GT. however, these things like overclocking and i got very close to the performance of a 8800GT. 9600gso is a rebranded 8800gs which are harvested 8800GT which is renamed to 9800GT. harvest meaning some parts of the 8800GT failed so instead of thowing them away, nvidia disables the "broken" parts and sells them at a lower price. amd, intel, ati and everyone does this.

here is a link to a review:
techPowerUp :: EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GS 384 MB Review :: Page 7 / 25

there are many more, just google 9600gso or 8800gs. and as you can see, it runs circles around the 8600gts or 9500gt.

last two things, make sure you get the 96SP verison that comes in 384 or 768 version. the other ones suck badly. also, pny rebates come really fast. about a month or two max. just take care and follow instructions to a T. i also usually get a certificate of mailing for $1.50 so that why they cant lie and say they never got it.

lastly, if you real firepower, you can get the ati 4850 for about 100 bucks and thats about the same performance as an nvidia gts250 (9800gtx+,8800gts 512mb, i kno nvidia is retarded). but anything over a 9800gt is overkill because you will be cpu limited unless you overclock till 3.0ghz and get another 2GB of ram.
 
i have very similar specs:
amd x2 4200 @ 2.6ghz
ddr1 @ 450mhz
antec trio 650watt
pny 9600gso

if you get it (9600gso) for the right price, it cant be beat. if you dont mind doing rebates, i got mine for $43 after $40 rebate from amazon.com. and it looks like they are offering the promotion again.
Amazon.com: PNY Verto GeForce 9600 GSO 768MB Overclocked Video Card: Electronics

its about par with a 9600GT and under the 8800GT. however, these things like overclocking and i got very close to the performance of a 8800GT. 9600gso is a rebranded 8800gs which are harvested 8800GT which is renamed to 9800GT. harvest meaning some parts of the 8800GT failed so instead of thowing them away, nvidia disables the "broken" parts and sells them at a lower price. amd, intel, ati and everyone does this.

here is a link to a review:
techPowerUp :: EVGA e-GeForce 8800 GS 384 MB Review :: Page 7 / 25

there are many more, just google 9600gso or 8800gs. and as you can see, it runs circles around the 8600gts or 9500gt.

last two things, make sure you get the 96SP verison that comes in 384 or 768 version. the other ones suck badly. also, pny rebates come really fast. about a month or two max. just take care and follow instructions to a T. i also usually get a certificate of mailing for $1.50 so that why they cant lie and say they never got it.

lastly, if you real firepower, you can get the ati 4850 for about 100 bucks and thats about the same performance as an nvidia gts250 (9800gtx+,8800gts 512mb, i kno nvidia is retarded). but anything over a 9800gt is overkill because you will be cpu limited unless you overclock till 3.0ghz and get another 2GB of ram.
+1. endlesszeal recommended the 9600GSO to me also last year when I built my comp, and it has performed great. I can go through large CAD drawings and models with no lag, and I've played a few games with decent performance. I'm not picky about games as long as the performance isn't too bad, but it seems to keep up just enough to where motion looks fluid enough for me. The frame rate isn't the best, but oh well, for the price it's a great card.

I also wanted to add, my 9600gso was the 384mb version.
 
the 9600gso runs games great on 1024x1280. most games decently on 1650 and anything above that, it will struggle. of course it depends on the game as well. and if you get the 768mb, it would allow some head room for AA.

another option is play the waiting game. ATI will be releasing their 5XXX series very soon and Nvidia will follow suit with GT300. This again may create another price change since the 5870 is rumored to be as fast as Nvidia's fastest GTX295 for half the price.

Either way, you cant go wrong


Dustin, have you tried overclocking your card? They respond very well to it because it uses the same 1000mhz DDR3 as the 8800/9800GT. I have gotten mine up to 950mhz and my core up to 620mhz. I havent pushed the shaders or upped the voltage, but i feel i may have some head room left.

If you decide to overclock, i recommend the following tools:
-EVGA Precision Tool or RivaTuner. Dont do both
-3DMark06.

I personally used Rivatuner to change the freq. and monitor my temps. I also jacked up the fan to 90% max to ensure my card doesnt exceed 90C. The lower the better. I got around 70C full load with my fan setting. And I ran 3DMark06 to look for artifacts.

It takes a little patience and time, but I thought it was fun and boosted my performance.
 
Okay, I'm bumping this thread because I never ended up buying a *new* graphics card. I bought a 7600 GS off my cousin for like 25 bucks or something last year.

I currently have $100 worth of gift cards to Best Buy, and I was thinking of upgrading to a GT 240, or more specifically:

EVGA - NVIDIA GeForce GT 240 1GB GDDR5 PCI Express Graphics Card - 01G-P3-1246-LR



I'm tempted to wait and see if this 9800 GT will go on sale again:

PNY - NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT 1GB GDDR3 PCI Express Graphics Card - VCG98GTEE1XPB

Opinions are welcome. Especially from anyone who has one of these cards. Thanks.




*EDIT: From the research I've done, the 9800 GT is a better card than the GT 240; but is it worth waiting for it to go on sale again?
 
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Don't get the gt240. That's a low power card. I'd get like a gts250 or something.
 
Look for one that has a dual slot cooler. I'm sure that card is fine, but I've used the ones with a fully enclosed dual slot cooler just fine. I think the brand was BFG or PNY.

Specs look pretty good on thatcard though
 
gts250 = 9800gtx+ > 9800gt > 9600gt > gt240

the gt240 uses GDDR5 while the GDDR3 thus the higher "effective" clock rate. but the GTS' bigger bus width, more cuda-cores and a much higher core clock destroys the gt240. also, 512mb of ram is plenty if you're gaming under 1650x resolutions.

the onyl down side to the gts250 is itll suck a considerable amount of more power.
 
Shouldn't use that much power. Compared to it's performance, the gts250 uses pretty low power. Pretty sure it only has one 6-pin plug.
 
as far as power goes, I have 460w PSU, and they recommend 450w minimum. Do yall think I'll be safe with the 460w? I don't have money to upgrade my PSU.
 
its not so much about wattage, but amperes.

as long as you have a decent "460 watt" psu from a good company such as:
-antec
-enermax
-seasonic
-corsair
-some OCZ
-etc...

you should be fine. whats your psu model? how many hard drives and cd roms you have?
 
I ended up getting an Asus ENGTS450. So far, it's pretty nice.
 
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