what video card to buy?

[Adam_Glanza]

yeah my old mans got some stupidly big laptop with xp on it and he says its rubbish!

ok so would just be a better idea to get a new pc instead?

just thought it would be more cost effective as like i said its fine for everyday use but for that little bit extra it doesnt quite cut it

 

[Dub-Se7en]

if the card type is AGP then the system deffo ain't worth upgrading. if it's pci-e then you could try a better GFX card and if it's still too slow you could put the new card into another system.

 

[ChrisGT]

What benchmark software would you reccomend? I ran SuperPi with all 4GB in and then again with just the 2GB and it performed better when it was 4GB :S

Also, if the 32bit XP can only see 3.6GB of memory (and allocates the rest to video card or whatever it does), surely 3.6 is better than 2?

 

[Dub-Se7en]

if you're not breaking over 1024mb of used memory then what's the point of running 3+gb? it's just dead space that the operating system has to account for.

also, the 400mb that xp isn't recognising isn't being used by anything else, it's just sitting there dormant.

in my experience while testing different setups i found XP ran better with 2gb, however, if your system runs better with 4gb in though stick with it

 

[Dub-Se7en]

as you can see i've got over a gig of un-used ram sitting there, even with a lot of stuff going on.

 

[ChrisGT]

Just did a bit of an unscientific test but opened many Firefox pages, PKR online poker, iTunes, ran 2 movies in VLC, a Quicktime movie, Adobe Photoshop CS, Thunderbird, few MSN convo's, CCleaner, HJSplit and the Physical Memory - Available went down to 933020. So I'm not even using half of whats physically available to run all that eh! Madness! I'll try gaming etc with the 2GB in, see what its like!

 

[Big_Daddy]

He is cheap way to boost your pc. You seem to have the same cpu chip as mines. athlon 64 3200+ running stock at 2.2gz. Ive managed to clcok mine to a stable 2.5ghz.
the same with ati radeon card, the core running at 250 increased it 450. lol
Ive noticed 40% increase in performance and gaming is good for the spec.
Note u may need bigger fans

 

[Dub-Se7en]

He is cheap way to boost your pc. You seem to have the same cpu chip as mines. athlon 64 3200+ running stock at 2.2gz. Ive managed to clcok mine to a stable 2.5ghz.
the same with ati radeon card, the core running at 250 increased it 450. lol
Ive noticed 40% increase in performance and gaming is good for the spec.
Note u may need bigger fans

the old 3000+ and 3200+'s were very overclockable. but just excercise caution when doing this

 

[Big_Daddy]

the old 3000+ and 3200+'s were very overclockable. but just excercise caution when doing this

Most motherbaords have saftey feature, if exceed it return the vaules to default back to stock.

for your ati card try this tool:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=725

This should boost card siginifacly, Note the catalyst software will kick in if you exceed the card limits, plus every time windows starts you need reload the settings

 

[Dub-Se7en]

Most motherbaords have saftey feature, if exceed it return the vaules to default back to stock.

for your ati card try this tool:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=725

This should boost card siginifacly, Note the catalyst software will kick in if you exceed the card limits, plus every time windows starts you need reload the settings

in my experience they just cut out and you have to reset the cmos jumper :haha:

i overclocked my 3700 sandiego by around 600mhz. it ran fine but USB devices were well flakey so i reset it back in the end. now running a 4400x2 which is doing the job ok.

next upgrade will be to a good core2 duo. the last few intel pc's i've built have trounced the AMD x2's.

 

[Big_Daddy]

in my experience they just cut out and you have to reset the cmos jumper :haha:

i overclocked my 3700 sandiego by around 600mhz. it ran fine but USB devices were well flakey so i reset it back in the end. now running a 4400x2 which is doing the job ok.

next upgrade will be to a good core2 duo. the last few intel pc's i've built have trounced the AMD x2's.

dont even know were my jumpers are. lol too dust in there. i just disconnect the main and remove cmos battery for a few mins and reinsert.

What you think about the new amd quad?

 

[Dub-Se7en]

no experience as of yet of any of the quads (credit crunch, hehe)

but from a bit of online geekery seems intel is the cpu of choice right now.

at this point in time quad cores don't really seem to be necessary. 99% of games out there are only programmed to utilize one core, meaning 3 are sitting around doing bugger all. once 64 bit operating systems become more popular then they be worth looking into.

 

[Big_Daddy]

Any idea what spec the new: need for speed under cover would run at?

 

[ChrisGT]

in my experience they just cut out and you have to reset the cmos jumper :haha:

i overclocked my 3700 sandiego by around 600mhz. it ran fine but USB devices were well flakey so i reset it back in the end. now running a 4400x2 which is doing the job ok.

next upgrade will be to a good core2 duo. the last few intel pc's i've built have trounced the AMD x2's.

I'm running a 4600 X2 at the mo but want to get a Core2Duo as they seem so much better for pretty much everything! lol

 

[HYBRID]

well i dunno if its of any help but if ur lookin for PCIE id go for the XFX brand.. they have very good prices & ver ygood quality cards.. im running an XFX 8600GT 512mb pcie card & its fantastic!

with 2 gigs of ram & a pentium D 3ghz

kon

 

[GTti]

I've got a Quad Core with a 9800 GX2 - it's a beast, keeps you warm in the winter.

At the moment all I've been playing is Pro Evo 2009, perhaps I went a bit OTT...

 

[Gryzor]

Best way to decide what to buy...

1. Decide how much your going to spend.
2. Go here Tom's Hardware (no Joke) and pic a card.
3. Go here scan.co.uk (or what ever pc hardware site you prefer.) and search for said card you have picked
4. Repeat 2 & 3 and match the card to price, normally the quicker the card the more it costs so just go down the list until you get a match...
5. Check that it will work with your motherboard and power supply
6. If your not sure on compatibility post you hardware config here and I'm sure you'll get an answer.
7. As a final check search for reviews on said card just to make sure your getting something worthwhile.

Note about every 2 months there's a newer model better model and prices fall ...so it a choice of spending loads on something that will last a couple of years or spending a little on something you might get a couple of months out of...

the - end

 

[Dub-Se7en]

I've got a Quad Core with a 9800 GX2 - it's a beast, keeps you warm in the winter.

At the moment all I've been playing is Pro Evo 2009, perhaps I went a bit OTT...

you think? :homer: :haha:

i can't talk though, i'll be upgrading mine soon, fitting high spec gfx etc, even though the only games it'll see are old sega megadrive games via an emulator that'd run on a p3 :homer:

 

[AdDaMan]

i wish i didnt bother upgrading to Vista x64. It saps everything....such a waste....i used to hate apple, now after using one, and having an iphone i really want a mac. there sooooo much better!!