What graphic card do rec for my current spec?

[whodoyoudo]

My system is now just over 2 years old, I have a poxy Nvidia geforce mx4000 (OR IS IT MX400?) 64mb and want something a little better.

I run a 2 gig pentium IV. What is the best card I could get that will run with this? (Do you need more info from me?) I'm happy with everything apart from the graphics at the moment and I'm not looking to upgrade anything else unless I really have to, I'm wanting to improve the graphic performance for gaming.

I don't really want to spend too much over £150 if it can be helped, I don't think any of the more expensive cards would be compatible with my set up anyway :lol:

Thanks in advance.

[ohood]

Radeon 9800 pro, I am sure this would be the best one, it's been recommended in lots of other threads.

[gothmog]

You can get a 9800Pro for £130, won't do much better than that ;)

You might even be able to play Doom 3 :D

-- Jon

[rogeralpine]

You can get a 9800Pro for £130, won't do much better than that ;)

You might even be able to play Doom 3 :D

-- Jon


.....is this the one ppl are o/c to get close to X800 performance?

I've not looked into GFX cards of late, but I will need one for my new PC and as wdyd above, also wonder what's best value for my money.

After the 9800 Pro, what is next in the pecking order. I'm aware that there's the X800, an XT600 - anyone care to enlighten me a little pls? I'm happy with the Radeon cards - especially as I understand them to be superior with DVD playback and, hopefully, as good with things like WM9 and beyond - and on the games front, Doom 3 would be nice!! :suspect:

My main consideration though would have to be a card that is as future proof as possible for HiDef material - would a 9800pro (o/c'ed) be sufficient for HiDef 1920*1080? Is there a new "wave" of cards out in a few months that will probably further drop the prices of existing cards? As I said above, I will want to get a new card within about a couple of months and same as wdyd, my budget will be around 150.00 (Any more seems a waste as they drop in price far too quickly)

Thx in advance

[Ds3]

Ok, you can overclock the 9800 Pro but not to X800 speeds, only to 9800XT speeds. The next step up from the 9800 series is the X800 series which will be wasted in your spec and cost about £300.

The other new cards on the market are the X600 and X300 series - these are PCI-Express cards which need a PCI-Express socket to run in which your motherboard most certainly won't have. The PCI-Express cards aren't developed enough yet anyway, they are expensive and don't perform as well as they could.

There isn't going to be another wave of new releases for a while yet, so don't expect any more price drops in the market for a while now. Even if there is it will be using PCI-Express so isn't relevant.

To conclude, get a 9800 Pro. At £125 they are the best value for money cards on the market and the maximum your system will be able to handle. You should even be able to play Doom 3 etc on reasonably low settings ;)

People need to stop posting these "which gfx cards threadds", unless they have £300 to spend the answer every time if 9800 Pro :D :p

[rogeralpine]

People need to stop posting these "which gfx cards threadds", unless they have £300 to spend the answer every time if 9800 Pro :D :p


Cheers matey - so you recommend the 9800 Pro then? :p

As you probably know, the PC I've just bought (and just received an order no for!! :thumbs: ) is a P4-2.8 4600 Dell outlet machine. I presume this doesn't have a PCI-express socket? Is the X800 card PCI-Express as well? (Just in case I've 300 to spend ;) :p and would such a card be wasted on my machine?

[whodoyoudo]

Thanks people :)

[Ds3]

Cheers matey - so you recommend the 9800 Pro then? :p

As you probably know, the PC I've just bought (and just received an order no for!! :thumbs: ) is a P4-2.8 4600 Dell outlet machine. I presume this doesn't have a PCI-express socket? Is the X800 card PCI-Express as well? (Just in case I've 300 to spend ;) :p and would such a card be wasted on my machine?

Most of the time, yeah :p

You are right in assuming the 4600 doesn't have PCI-Express, only the 'just out' Dell models support it. The X800 series has both PC-Express and AGP versions, so if you did have £300 kicking around it would be an option ;) Whilst your new system wouldn't be pushing the X800 to it's limits (Don't think there is a system out that can do that yet!) it would still be worth buying for your PC. The performance jump up to the X800 is huge :D There are two versions, the X800 Pro and the X800 XT PE which is more powerful, it wouldn't be worth buying the XT for you I don't think, so if you do wanna splash out the X800 Pro would be most suitable! If you can find a VIVO version it can be softmodded to being a full XT anyway ;)

[rogeralpine]

Most of the time, yeah :p

You are right in assuming the 4600 doesn't have PCI-Express, only the 'just out' Dell models support it. The X800 series has both PC-Express and AGP versions, so if you did have £300 kicking around it would be an option ;) Whilst your new system wouldn't be pushing the X800 to it's limits (Don't think there is a system out that can do that yet!) it would still be worth buying for your PC. The performance jump up to the X800 is huge :D There are two versions, the X800 Pro and the X800 XT PE which is more powerful, it wouldn't be worth buying the XT for you I don't think, so if you do wanna splash out the X800 Pro would be most suitable! If you can find a VIVO version it can be softmodded to being a full XT anyway ;)

If you don't mind me asking, but what is a "VIVO" version?

My PC is not due to be delivered until the 9/8, we're then away for a few weeks, so it'll be prolly September before I make a GFX card purchase - so I've got a bit of time to decide and save up?

[cjb110]

Video In, Video Out...kinda like free capture card, not sure of the quality though.

[Ds3]

Not 100% sure what the difference is with the VIVO, I think it's something to do with having extra video functionality or something. The VIVO X800 Pros are really just cut down XTs and with a quick BIOS flash can be turned into full XTs ;)

If you have the cash and are going to play games such as Doom 3 and HL2 go for the X800 for sure :D the 9800 Pro will run them, but not at stunning settings.

[rogeralpine]

Cheers chaps - will keep my eye out on the X800 prices. The benchmarks for the X800 XT look rather good compared to the 9800 pro - quite a jump up in performance aren't they?

[Ds3]

Certainly are. I went from a 9800 Pro, to a X800 Pro, to an X800 XT. My 3DMark03 scores went from 6700 to 11000 to 13000 :D Don't expect the prices to drop much in the next couple of months though, having only just been released and that at a reasonable price, I imagine they will stay there for a while yet :)

[rogeralpine]

having only just been released and that at a reasonable price, I imagine they will stay there for a while yet :)


Reasonable price???
:cuckoo: :D

Just remember me when you come to upgrade in a couple of months time ;) I'll take your XT off you for a "reasonable" amount! :D

The whole PC I just bought cost me less than it would to buy an XT card!! :nuts: I know there is a price to pay for new technologies and they are tempting propositions, but to pay so much upfront to have the latest spec gfx card with only one or two games that really push the cards to their limits does seem a bit excessive - 'specially as within 12 months they'll be seen as last seasons fashion!! :nuts:

[Alanok]

Whats the difference between a 9800SE card and a 9800PRO?

[gothmog]

It's a crippled 9800Pro (Only has half the texture pipelines enabled), it's about the same speed as a 9600 give or take.

-- Jon

[msr]

Hey all....

What is the Radeon x300 capable off.... is it more powerful than 9800 pro ?

[thecheekymonkey]

doom 3 should easily run, in low mode quite nicley.

i had it runniing on my 2.2 gig laptop / 512 ram / 4200rpm 2meg cache hdd / 32 meg gforce4............it run, in low, quite smoothly, but its not meant to be run like this.

[Ds3]

The X300 is a very low spec card, it's no where near the performance of the 9800 Pro. ATI usually have 3 levels of cards in the range. Up to recently it was the 9200, 9600 and 9800. Now it's the X300, X600 and X800. The X300 is not much better than the 9200 to be honest, as it is the replacement for the 9200's market place.

[msr]

Thanks DS3..... Dam marketing ..... At least I know to steer clear of it..