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New Graphics Card--Need advice
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skinnyb0y
Junior Member
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21. September 2006 @ 12:53 |
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Hi,
I think I need to buy a new graphics card.
I'm a pretty heay gamer and I'm sure my current oone isn't up to the task anymore. As there are thousands to choose from and as I don't know a whole lot about computers can someone please help me spend my £200 wisely.
I currently have a 128mb PCI express ATI radeon X300 and it will just about run everything (including elder scrolls 4) but recently Im getting error messages like "failed to find a working full screen mode" and I'm guessing it's my graphics card.
The rest of the spec is as follows
P4 3ghz, 800 fsb 1mb cache
1mb dual channel memory (2x512mb)
Anyone got some good advice or do I need to put some more info?
TIA people!
Skinnyb0y
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Senior Member
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21. September 2006 @ 14:37 |
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ok do u have agp or pci-e? how much do u wanna spend?
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skinnyb0y
Junior Member
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22. September 2006 @ 00:03 |
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Thanks for the reply, sorry to be a total noob, how do I check that as I have no idea
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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22. September 2006 @ 01:09 |
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skinnyb0y
Junior Member
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22. September 2006 @ 10:45 |
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Thanks Sammorris, it is PCI-E. I'll have a look now at your recommendations.....
Below is the spec for my card, do you think this is the reason why some games are saying "failed to find a working full screen mode" or is this another problem?
Thanks again for your help people, really appreciate it.
Graphics Card Manufacturer Built by ATI
Graphics Chipset RADEON X300/X550 Series
Device ID 5B60
Vendor 1002
Subsystem ID 0302
Subsystem Vendor ID 1002
Bus Type PCI Express
Current Bus Setting PCI Express
BIOS Version 008.015.113.000
BIOS Part Number 113-A33406-100
BIOS Date 2004/05/12
Memory Size 128 MB
Memory Type DDR SGRAM / SDRAM
Core Clock in MHz 324 MHz
Memory Clock in MHz 196 MHz
Primary Display Yes
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Senior Member
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22. September 2006 @ 10:53 |
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yeah the memory clock is 196*2=392mhz that is not good for gaming
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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22. September 2006 @ 11:05 |
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It's not really all about the speeds, the X300 just isn't a good card. I'd recommend a newer card whether that's the problem or not.
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skinnyb0y
Junior Member
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22. September 2006 @ 14:03 |
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Guys,
Thanks again for the help. Sam I just checked your recommendation on Dabs and only one thing concerned me;
"Optimized for performance at high display resolutions, including
widescreen HDTV resolutions - Crossfire compatible - Master Edition ATI
X1900 card required!!"
Does this mean I need another piece of kit in order for this to work properly?
Also, what does overclocking mean?
TIA...again
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Senior Member
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22. September 2006 @ 14:13 |
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if you want to run them in crossfire you need a master card but if you only have one pci-e slot on your mobo you cant do that. if you can you could get another at a later date when the price drops and get a big performace boost quite cheaply.
sam do you want to explain ocing as your rig is
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skinnyb0y
Junior Member
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22. September 2006 @ 14:25 |
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Thanks Marsey,
Unfortunately I don't have a clue what you are talking about, sorry man, I'm way out of my depth here....
What is crossfire and why would I want to run it in that?
I'm guessing crossfire is the ability to run two things at once? But as you say if my motherboard only has one slot, then I'm screwed. If that is the case will the above card still work?
Sorry for all the questions Marsey but I reckon if I'm spending £200 on this bad boy I'd better have an understanding of what it's going to do
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Senior Member
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22. September 2006 @ 17:37 |
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bang on the money. it will work on its own but it means it needs to be told how to work together"in crossfire" with another card by the "master edition" card. if you take the side off your case you will see if you have two pcie slots as they are longer and look different to the other pci slots.
i guess sams out tonight overclocking is basicly making your componants, cpu, ram, gpu, work harder than they do out of the box by turning up the core frequencies and sometimes by giving them more power to keep them stable. but if you want to learn more on this here, http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/83263
would be a better place to ask your questions.
and dont worry about it eveyone starts somewere
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 22. September 2006 @ 17:38
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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22. September 2006 @ 18:21 |
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@skinnyboy
Whats your price range? How many PCI-e slots does your pc have? And keep in mind that if you get a very powerfull videocard you most likely will need a new psu.
"Some people have no damn sense." - Nephilim, March 27 2007 @ 18:08 |
AfterDawn Addict
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23. September 2006 @ 03:33 |
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That's right, Crossfire is the ability to run two ATi video cards together. Don't do it, it's expensive, uses lots of power, and makes lots of noise, and you don't get that much performance benefit, 70% at best, never 100. The option is there, but you can run one card on it's own fine. You will only need the master if youw ant to run two. Peainapod has a very good point though, X1900s command relatively powerful PSUs. If your PC is a standard one from Dell, gateway, HP etc. then it'll likely only have a 250-350W unit, which isn't enough. I'd recommend (almost whatever the case) also buying another PSU, such as a Hiper 580W Type-R like mine (which rock) and are about £55-£60, available from most suppliers such as http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/98562
Not dabs unfortunately...
Overclocking? There's a whole thread about it, what do you want to know?
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skinnyb0y
Junior Member
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2. October 2006 @ 09:51 |
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Guys,
Me again needing more advice, Unfortunately my pay packet isn't going to stretch to this at the moment (especially if I also need a new psu), can you recommend a decent card for around £140? If not I'll hang back for a bit until I can afford the x1900.
Cheers
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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2. October 2006 @ 09:53 |
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skinnyb0y
Junior Member
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2. October 2006 @ 09:58 |
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What about this one?
512MB ATI Radeon X1600PRO PCI-Express Graphics Card
Or
512MB nVidia GeForce 7300LE PCI-E Graphics Video Card
Sorry for being a lazy arse guys but there is to much choice and I'm scared to throw cash away on something that will be poor, only to have ot buy another one a month later!
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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2. October 2006 @ 10:06 |
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Which is exactly what you'll do if you buy either of those. See the link I posted. That card can sometimes pull three times the performance of those cards (five times in the case of the 7300).
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skinnyb0y
Junior Member
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2. October 2006 @ 11:23 |
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sam as always, you the man, x1900gt here we come. Thanks again
Skinny
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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2. October 2006 @ 11:24 |
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You're welcome. My friend has recently got a system with that card (and also my CPU (albeit on AM2) and case). It rocks.
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skinnyb0y
Junior Member
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2. October 2006 @ 11:31 |
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Sorry Sam two more things, Will I need a new PSU for this card?,
and, is it worth buying another 512mb of memory (I currently run 1gb)
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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2. October 2006 @ 11:43 |
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1GB is alright unless you multitask like a mother trucker (like I do) and run a few apps in the background, The best games would ideally like more than 1GB, so 1536 may be wise, adding another 1GB is more sensible, but not as cheap!
What PSU do you use now?
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Senior Member
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2. October 2006 @ 12:10 |
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hell yeah 1gb is not meant for multi tasking i have 1.5gb and if i take 1 stick off i cant have 2 aplication at the same time without it going slow
so its worth it
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AfterDawn Addict
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2. October 2006 @ 12:11 |
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Mm, although this is all relative. Without a dual core processor I wouldn't recommend multi-tasking either. Don't know how I ever lasted without one.
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skinnyb0y
Junior Member
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3. October 2006 @ 09:26 |
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Guys,
good skills again... my current set up is as follows
Dell dimension 8400
P4 processor 530 with HT technology (3.00ghz, 800 fsb 1mb cache)
1024MB DDR400 Dual Channel memory
and then all the usual DVD RW CD RW etc
160GB HD
Haven't got a clue what the psu is (I guess it is standard with the 8400)
Although I use this system for doing everything on at the moment, I really want to optimize it for gaming. I have an old laptop that should pretty much do eveything else (I hope) then I can strip this one down and make it a lean mean gaming machine!
That's the plan anyway but as you can tell Im no technical guru so I guess I'll be on here a lot!!!
Thanks again guys, any opinions and recommendations on my current set up will be most welcome!
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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3. October 2006 @ 10:03 |
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1GB of RAM ain't too bad unless as I say you do a lot of multitasking. I can run a fair few games under the 1GB limit (recent ones too) if I don't multitask. Note that Doom 3 is not one of those games, however.
The 530 is alright, but a dual core would serve you much better, the graphics are probably either intel integarated or Radeon X300, so that counts gaming out until you get a decent GPU. The X1900GT and 7600GT are good bang-for-your-buck buys in the high performance sector (especially the X1900GT) these days. However, addition of either new CPU (and presumably motherboard and perhaps memory) or graphics card will require a new power supply. I'd recommend the Hiper Type-R series from personal experience.
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