Another Noob and his video card...
By
Call Me Awesome,
Posted on: 2010-07-29 24:07 in ALL ACCESS Gameplay Technical Issues Bugs
If you were looking at a GTX 260 that would have been around $200 US.
For that price today you can get either a RadeonHD 5830 or a Geforce GTX 460.
At around the $200 price point, one of the Nvidia GTX460s is the best bet, imo. The next step up is to the Nvidia 470 or the ATI 5850, both of which have started to have some price drops. The 470 is louder and takes more power. The 5850 has been overpriced, but is finally moving back down towards its original release price of $250. The 460 runs about 8-1/2 inches long, and is the shortest of the three. If I was doing a 460, I would go for the version with 1GB of memory, as opposed to the 768MB version, but local prices might change that decision. The 1GB version goes for about $220 or so around here, the 768mb one, goes for under $200.
You will be astounded by the difference from your 8400GS, no matter what you choose.
The only other caveats are the size of your power supply (in watts, strength on rail,etc) and the monitor and resolution you are playing at. Those could change the equation or even require an upgrade as well.
Rend this space....
Oh yes, GTX 260, i paid about $200 for one a year ago, lovely card, but NOW, go the 460
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130563
I also like eVGA. I have never had one of their cards fail! (a friend is still gaming on my 5+ year old 6600GT hand me down)
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Quote:
I'll second the thought for eVGA, they make good stuff. I'd probably think about either an ATI 5770 around $150ish or the Nvidia 460 around $200. I don't know the better manufacturers in the ATI line but for Nvidia I'd stick with eVGA... they'll cost a few dollars more (maybe $10-$15 more than a cheapie) but they're much better quality.|
Originally Posted by kangaroo120y
Oh yes, GTX 260, i paid about $200 for one a year ago, lovely card, but NOW, go the 460
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130563 I also like eVGA. I have never had one of their cards fail! (a friend is still gaming on my 5+ year old 6600GT hand me down) |
Whatever you do, do NOT buy anything from Diamond Multimedia, those are the worst piles of steaming
on the market.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
Quote:
Actually I was say Galaxy or Sparkle were in line to be just as bad as Diamond Multimedia, but I've never actually been scared to power on a Galaxy or Sparkle card... the last Diamond Multimedia card I had in here basically came out of the box, went back in the box, and I had a nice joyful conversation* telling the client I wasn't about to install the thing. |
Originally Posted by Call Me Awesome
I'll second the thought for eVGA, they make good stuff. I'd probably think about either an ATI 5770 around $150ish or the Nvidia 460 around $200. I don't know the better manufacturers in the ATI line but for Nvidia I'd stick with eVGA... they'll cost a few dollars more (maybe $10-$15 more than a cheapie) but they're much better quality.
Whatever you do, do NOT buy anything from Diamond Multimedia, those are the worst piles of steaming on the market. |
As far as EVGA goes... well... when I bought my own GTS 250's, they were EVGA's. With BFG now gone from the market, EVGA and XFX are pretty much the only brands that are really "trustworthy" on the Nvidia side.
From ATi manufacturers... well... outside of Diamond Multimedia... none are really bad. That's also because they don't have to cut corners on production costs to make a profit on currently selling cards. That being said, very few are very good.
If it was my money on the line, I'd go for either Asus, XFX, or Sapphire.
*the terms nice and joyful may or may not be accurate
Thanks guys, this has helped a lot. I'm looking at the GTX460 at the moment and trying to work out whether it will fit onto my motherboard. The 8400 is 20mm deep and just about fits above one of my PCI slots whereas the GTX460 is 37mm deep so will probably overshadow it. I guess it means giving up one of my PCI slots really. Are all new cards this deep and is my 8400 behind the times in being a bit slimmer? Some sites list the card as being "dual width" which I guess means they just doubled the size of them in order to get a bigger cooling unit on top.
As for the other requirements, my PCU is 500W which seems to suggest I'll need to upgrade that too. I also play on a 19" flatscreen monitor but typically have CoX windowed for easier Alt+Tabbing. I think my resolution's not that high but I can push it higher on my monitor if needed. IIRC, it's about 1024x768.
One other thing: the site I'm probably going to buy the card from states this:
REQUIREMENTS
- PCI Express or PCI Express 2.0- compliant motherboard with one dualwidth x16 graphics slot
- Two 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors
- Minimum 550W or greater system power supply (with a minimum 12V current rating of 38A)*
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...OV-GTX461.html
What's with the second item? The two 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors? Is this a secondary power supply I need to hook up?
Thanks again. Imaginary +rep all round.
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk
Quote:
All new gaming cards I've seen recently need external power directly from the PSU, apparently the 460 wants two connectors. It does sound like you're looking for a stronger PSU; most of the better ones I've seen have "modular" connectors so you only have the power lines you need cluttering up your case. I'd imagine that the vid card will come with adaptor cables to take two standard 12v power lines from your PSU and give one 6 pin PCI Express connector.|
Originally Posted by Dante
Thanks guys, this has helped a lot. I'm looking at the GTX460 at the moment and trying to work out whether it will fit onto my motherboard. The 8400 is 20mm deep and just about fits above one of my PCI slots whereas the GTX460 is 37mm deep so will probably overshadow it. I guess it means giving up one of my PCI slots really. Are all new cards this deep and is my 8400 behind the times in being a bit slimmer? Some sites list the card as being "dual width" which I guess means they just doubled the size of them in order to get a bigger cooling unit on top.
As for the other requirements, my PCU is 500W which seems to suggest I'll need to upgrade that too. I also play on a 19" flatscreen monitor but typically have CoX windowed for easier Alt+Tabbing. I think my resolution's not that high but I can push it higher on my monitor if needed. IIRC, it's about 1024x768. One other thing: the site I'm probably going to buy the card from states this: REQUIREMENTS - PCI Express or PCI Express 2.0- compliant motherboard with one dualwidth x16 graphics slot - Two 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors - Minimum 550W or greater system power supply (with a minimum 12V current rating of 38A)* http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/p...OV-GTX461.html What's with the second item? The two 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors? Is this a secondary power supply I need to hook up? Thanks again. Imaginary +rep all round. |
I haven't seen a gaming video card recently that didn't have a monster HS/Fan on the side using the slot next to the PCI Express slot so you'll just have to deal with using both slots for your video card.
Check out the length of the card though, some of the newer cards have been really long... you'll need to make sure your case has enough room. I ran into this with my 275GTX card on my allegedly roomy full tower case - it did fit, but it cleared by less than 1/8". Smaller cases may require some Dremel surgery and creativity in drive location to make it fit.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
Ok, so its finally time to take the plunge. I have upgraded my computer on a number of occasions and have no trouble with plugging components in and out etc. However, the one part I am useless with: video cards. Theres too much jargon that I cant get my head round and Im struggling to locate a card that can handle Ultra Mode in all its glory. And so I come to you, gurus of graphics card to ask for your recommendations.
At the moment, I can manage to play CoX on its most minimal settings and all shadows turned off. I dont need the top end of the range but I would like to make a significant jump and get the game to somewhere in the middle top of what Ultra Mode can provide. My budget is somewhere around £100 - £200 (thats $150 - $315 in US money) depending on what I can get hold of although I might go a bit higher if I feel its worth it. I also dont have the biggest case in the world so something thats not a monstrous bulk of a card would definitely be a bonus.
In terms of other games, I did manage to handle Age of Conan a while back but it struggled big time. Im also interested in checking out Knights of the Old Republic when it comes out.
This is my current computer set up:
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo 3.00 Ghz
Motherboard: Gigabyte G31M-S2L
RAM: 4 GB DIMM DDR2
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS
O/S: XP Home
This is the card I was looking at, based on the post Positron made a few months back although it appears to be discontinued.
http://www.dabs.com/products/gigabyt...ce%20GTX%20260
Anything that you experts can recommend would be appreciated as this is one area where my technical knowledge really does hugely suck. Ive tried to follow other threads on card recommendations but I tend to get lost very quickly.
Many thanks!
@Dante EU - Union Roleplayer and Altisis Victim
The Militia: Union RP Supergroup - www.themilitia.org.uk