Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Everything for your PC, from case modding to OS discussions, come here to discuss computer hardware and software.
User avatar
2fast4all
Drift King
Drift King
Posts: 269
Joined: 05 Nov 2006, 04:23
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by 2fast4all »

weedman173 wrote:I need some information please, I want to go SLI but I'm not sure I will be able to with my current card. I have an 8800GTS 640MB graphics card now, and I want to get a second but Newegg no longer sells the 640MB version, only the 320MB version. Would it be possible to SLI a 640MB card with a 320MB card?
according to the nzone http://forums.slizone.com/index.php?showtopic=9420
you can just read the 4th post and down
Image
User avatar
weedman173
Professional
Professional
Posts: 1605
Joined: 25 Feb 2005, 01:27
Contact:

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by weedman173 »

Ok thanks for the info, I'll give it a try and if it doesn't work I'll just sell the card to a kid in school.
Image
User avatar
baumaxx1
Professional
Professional
Posts: 2163
Joined: 14 Dec 2004, 09:26
Location: Adelaide, Australia mate!

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by baumaxx1 »

vellu wrote:
baumaxx1 wrote:No such limit exists Yet.
Indeed!

Whilst 2^32 is "only" 4294967296 = 4GB

2^64 is an astronomical 18446744073709551616 = 17179869184 GB = 16777216 TB = 16384 PB = 16 EB

So the limit is there... way, way out there!
:lol: That's a lot of storage for "Movies"
Image
User avatar
t3ice
Professional
Professional
Posts: 1775
Joined: 26 Jun 2006, 18:48
Location: LaZy Town, Ohio

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by t3ice »

baumaxx1 wrote: :lol: That's a lot of storage for "Movies"
Idk if you were being sarcastic or not, but thats just address space, you could'nt store anything in that. :P

BTW does anyone have any news/info on an upcoming new graphic card by either Ati or Nvidia ?
Image
User avatar
2fast4all
Drift King
Drift King
Posts: 269
Joined: 05 Nov 2006, 04:23
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by 2fast4all »

t3ice wrote:
baumaxx1 wrote: :lol: That's a lot of storage for "Movies"
Idk if you were being sarcastic or not, but thats just address space, you could'nt store anything in that. :P

BTW does anyone have any news/info on an upcoming new graphic card by either Ati or Nvidia ?
Im guessing names but for real, I dont know

geforce 360/380 lol
radeon HD 5870
Image
User avatar
baumaxx1
Professional
Professional
Posts: 2163
Joined: 14 Dec 2004, 09:26
Location: Adelaide, Australia mate!

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by baumaxx1 »

I was kidding about the massive data size.

Oh... and part 2 of my GFX.
I have the 22" BenQ E2200HD primary monitor and a BenQ FP731 running on a 9600GT. In games, I run msn in the 17" screen, and the game in the main one, and that does not impact on performance the slightest bit.

Crysis: 1920x1080 - High: textures, objects, physics, particles, water, sound. Medium: shadows, shaders, post processing, volumetric. <- I may be able to fiddle around with those a bit... but the frame rate is perfect.

Portal: 1920x1080 - Maximum settings with 16x AA and 9 portal render depth. Easy to run.

Far Cry 2: 1920x1080- All very high apart from shadows and shaders which are on high. No AA... don't need it much at full HD.

Oblivion 1920x1080 - Maximised apart from exterior shadows @ 3/4 and no grass shadows.

Prostreet: 1920x1080 - Max with 8x AA

Fallout 3: 1920x1080 - High and 15x AF

I'll let you know how World In Conflict goes in dual screen mode.

My ASUS model with the Glaciator cooler runs a low 40 degree temperatures... and mid 40s under load... a friend has overclocked his Gigabyte nicely... actually a lot to about 900mhz from 650mhz. So the card looks quite over-clockable. Performance exceeds expectations, as I'm running demanding games quite nicely with 2 monitors, one being 1080p... considerably higher than the typical resolution on 22" monitors.
So.... a 9600GT as a consideration for a budget upgrade or for a midrange build... definitely a great card!

Now the rig.... E2180 (2x 2ghz Conroe cores), 2GB DDR667 RAM and a 9600GT. Hardly top spec.... in fact, the RAM and CPU are more like low end... and in 3D mark, the results are nothing to write home about. However... I run higher settings than the first 320mb 8800GT PCs. Real world performance is still great!

The screen. Nice and vivid picture, plenty of space for working, especially since it's so wide. The second screen's overkill, but I have it, lol. OSD is a little laggy, but not too bad... has a headphone port... DVI, HDMI, VGA... I'm running HDMI and no ghosting issues like with the DVI 17", but the supplied cables are useless. Waaay too short. I need an extension cable to get it to the power board even! Stand's basic... but not a big deal for me. Looks... classy.

Picture quality? Well... compared to a $6000 Pioneer Plasma, this will not win, but I think it's a bargain for $240.
Colours look good, it's nice and bright, very clear images ingame and very smooth looking. Response times are good. HD TV though wasn't the best, but it could also be due to my TV card... may have to look into other decoders, but it was grainy, had some motion blur, but yeah, didn't experience that in games. At this high res though, consider increasing font sizes in your system interface, lol. You also need some huge res wallpapers. As expected with an LCD... you don't get true blacks... but they're not bad... only noticeable in dark scenes compared to the screen border.
Image
User avatar
Carcrazy
Unbeatable
Unbeatable
Posts: 4082
Joined: 28 May 2006, 05:08
Location: /// .Happy in Exile. \\\
Contact:

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by Carcrazy »

Can anyone make a suggestion? I'd be all over this fist idea, but I don't know how well the hacked Intel-SLI drivers are for the 8xxx series, or if they were even ever made. Since I have a 975X chipset, it's not like it's mindblowingly new, (or even anywhere CLOSE to being new,) but it is a Xfire enable board, so some simple drivers would do the trick...

Anyway, would you suggest two 8800GT's in SLI, or a single GTX260-Core216 on one slot? My board's 8x8, not that 12x4 mess, so it should do decent in SLI... I'm just wondering because they'd be around the same price, and I'm not so sure about the driver issue.

Thanks for the advice. :P
Image
User avatar
t3ice
Professional
Professional
Posts: 1775
Joined: 26 Jun 2006, 18:48
Location: LaZy Town, Ohio

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by t3ice »

A single GTX260 core 216 would be much better. Its very overclockable, and i haven't found a big difference between it and the GTX280.

Also, why do you want the hassle of running 2 cards when only one of the better card can do the trick. And like i said a million times... the STEP UP program will have you up and running with the next card if one does come out... ;)
only within 3 months time, and by EVGA.

And single card setup is much more stable, and im sure will consume less power than running 2 cards.
Image
User avatar
baumaxx1
Professional
Professional
Posts: 2163
Joined: 14 Dec 2004, 09:26
Location: Adelaide, Australia mate!

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by baumaxx1 »

Single upgrade is almost always better. Better going up a series. Unless you can get the same performance as a new card for less by SLI-ing an equivalent card with your existing one.
Image
User avatar
vellu
Valued Member
Valued Member
Posts: 1733
Joined: 04 Nov 2004, 23:20
Location: Finland

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by vellu »

baumaxx1 wrote:Single upgrade is almost always better. Better going up a series. Unless you can get the same performance as a new card for less by SLI-ing an equivalent card with your existing one.
True. And as said before less power consumption. And also heat: two cards is almost guarenteed to raise you case ambient temp more than a single one.

I noticed that myself when going crossfire. With the same amount of airflow through the case ambiet temp went up 10c. Had to add one more exhaust fan (which luckily was possible in my chieftec case).
Image
User avatar
t3ice
Professional
Professional
Posts: 1775
Joined: 26 Jun 2006, 18:48
Location: LaZy Town, Ohio

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by t3ice »

Omgwtf, i this review, the GTX260 core216 performs aswell as and some cases better than the HD4870... wow..i though the HD4870 compares to the GTX280? :-s

EDIT : evn moar pwn
Image
User avatar
PSZeTa
Unbeatable
Unbeatable
Posts: 4123
Joined: 07 Feb 2004, 19:26
Location: 30-12-1900

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by PSZeTa »

t3ice wrote:wow..i though the HD4870 compares to the GTX280? :-s
Uhm, no, as it isn't even in the same price range.
Image
User avatar
t3ice
Professional
Professional
Posts: 1775
Joined: 26 Jun 2006, 18:48
Location: LaZy Town, Ohio

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by t3ice »

oh does Ati have another highend card apart frm the X2?
Image
User avatar
baumaxx1
Professional
Professional
Posts: 2163
Joined: 14 Dec 2004, 09:26
Location: Adelaide, Australia mate!

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by baumaxx1 »

t3ice wrote:Omgwtf, i this review, the GTX260 core216 performs aswell as and some cases better than the HD4870... wow..i though the HD4870 compares to the GTX280? :-s

EDIT : evn moar pwn
Yes... ATI is better in some cases... Nvidia better in others... but the HD4870 is cheaper. Also... the HD4870X2 is PWN. This is coming from an Nvidia fan boy lured away due to a reality check and needing value for money. However, I run a 9600GT because either of those series aren't in my price range, lol.
Image
User avatar
Striker94
Professional
Professional
Posts: 1137
Joined: 25 Dec 2007, 09:17
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by Striker94 »

Hello people

I need some help deciding which graphics card to get...

I've got a Asus laptop with 2.1ghz processor, 3gb ram and some piece of crap Intel graphics accelerator X3100.

So, I need something witg decent performance, but nothing too flashy. $100-$150 should do nicely.
oh snap
User avatar
Carcrazy
Unbeatable
Unbeatable
Posts: 4082
Joined: 28 May 2006, 05:08
Location: /// .Happy in Exile. \\\
Contact:

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by Carcrazy »

You do realize that only a very select few laptops ever had interchangeable graphics cards, and then they could only be added/changed within the same series, right? If your laptop's running integrated graphics, then you're probably not going to get far.

You're probably out of luck, I'd suggest building a 300-400 light-gaming PC dedicated for that purpose. On the other hand, my Acer Extensa has the X3100 chipset, and it has a lot more power than people give it credit for. If you don't feel like trying for a desktop (or upgrading to a newer laptop,) try tweaking that. I was always able to get a few frames each time Intel rolled out another driver upgrade, you might want to start there. :wink:
Image
User avatar
Stereo
Unbeatable
Unbeatable
Posts: 3942
Joined: 18 Aug 2003, 19:33
Location: Outside your window

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by Stereo »

I know ASUS or some other company offer external GFX cards, I think they run through USB but I'm not sure.
http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=2&l2=162

I have no idea where you could order it.
Image
User avatar
Carcrazy
Unbeatable
Unbeatable
Posts: 4082
Joined: 28 May 2006, 05:08
Location: /// .Happy in Exile. \\\
Contact:

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by Carcrazy »

Actually, I remember reading about those a few years back, totally never thought about it.

The problem is, if anyone ever makes them they quickly either drop the product, or go out of business if they're a no-name. For good reason too, they normally aren't very fast.
Image
User avatar
Stereo
Unbeatable
Unbeatable
Posts: 3942
Joined: 18 Aug 2003, 19:33
Location: Outside your window

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by Stereo »

Asus definitely isn't a no-name. The purpose of the external one isn't to be UBER FAST 280GTX QUAD SLI, but something like Striker mentioned, medium range. I read they have a 7900GT in it or something.
Image
User avatar
Carcrazy
Unbeatable
Unbeatable
Posts: 4082
Joined: 28 May 2006, 05:08
Location: /// .Happy in Exile. \\\
Contact:

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by Carcrazy »

8600GT. :wink:
Image
User avatar
baumaxx1
Professional
Professional
Posts: 2163
Joined: 14 Dec 2004, 09:26
Location: Adelaide, Australia mate!

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by baumaxx1 »

Yeah, go for the cheap PC... Mobo, E2200, 2 GB DDR 800 RAM, HDDS, 9600GT... voila. Will run Undercover on max @ 1080p, 6xAA very well with a bit of overclocking. Turn of AA and you won't need to overclock to have it playable most of the time. You'll be surprised how far your dollar goes. I have an E2180, 2gb DDR667, 9600GT and I get Fallout 3 playing perfectly on high @1080p and Undercover on max, Far Cry 2 Very high, no AA< shadows and shaders on high.
Image
User avatar
Striker94
Professional
Professional
Posts: 1137
Joined: 25 Dec 2007, 09:17
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by Striker94 »

You guys don't understand...

I need a good graphics card for my laptop because I frequently need to fill up time during spare periods, and so I can take it to my friend's house.

Anyways, my computer came with this piece of junk Intel Graphics accelerator X3100, so I definately need a new graphics card. Are you sure that I can't get a technician to replace it for me?
oh snap
User avatar
Stereo
Unbeatable
Unbeatable
Posts: 3942
Joined: 18 Aug 2003, 19:33
Location: Outside your window

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by Stereo »

No... again, you can try the Asus XG station. It's a USB graphics card essentially. You can carry it around and stuff and connect it whenever you need to. It's quite big but it's the only option you've got for a laptop.
Image
User avatar
baumaxx1
Professional
Professional
Posts: 2163
Joined: 14 Dec 2004, 09:26
Location: Adelaide, Australia mate!

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by baumaxx1 »

Striker94 wrote:You guys don't understand...

I need a good graphics card for my laptop because I frequently need to fill up time during spare periods, and so I can take it to my friend's house.

Anyways, my computer came with this piece of junk Intel Graphics accelerator X3100, so I definately need a new graphics card. Are you sure that I can't get a technician to replace it for me?
Erm... you're pretty stuck with laptops.
Image
User avatar
Carcrazy
Unbeatable
Unbeatable
Posts: 4082
Joined: 28 May 2006, 05:08
Location: /// .Happy in Exile. \\\
Contact:

Re: Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by Carcrazy »

Why do people keep putting down the X3100? ](*,)

Look, you pretty much knew when you got a laptop they're limited in terms of expandability. If you need a better one that much, you might as well buy a 1,000+ laptop and keep it for the next 5-6 years.
Image
Post Reply

Return to “The Hardware & Software”