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Time to upgrade the old video card, need advice


TalonX

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I just built a new system a month or so ago.

 

Athlon 1700+

512 DDR RAM

Geforce 2 MX 400

 

My video card is getting old now and that was one of the things I didn't get new in this system I built, I took it out of my old computer. I run JKII perfectly smooth on 1024x768 resolution with all the graphics on full except I have GL extensions off (I think it was causing me to freeze, not sure what it is anyways) the geomatry on high instead of very high and I am running it on 32 bit. If I try to turn these on I slow down. So my question is, what video card should I get. I want one good for gaming and not just this game. Those Geforce 4 Ti cards look awsome but the price is pretty high. So what shuld I get?

 

Thanks

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Get the Radeon 8500. I run it, and I can max out JK II at over 160 fps without full scene anti aliasing. I'm running FSAA at 4X Quality mode at about 50 frames, so it's definitely more than enough for anything coming out in the next year or so (overclocked card + processor, of course).

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Have a look at some reviews, hopefully fairly recent ones, of the ATI Radeon 8500.. I just replaced my older card (same as yours) and I am very pleased with it.. I am getting about 7000 3d2001SE points with it and my system could still use some tweking.. it handles D3D and GL very well.. the new drivers 6043 and 6052 are very good.. it runs very stable..

 

I did some comparisons beforehand regarding price and performance of the 8500 vs G3Ti500.. the 8500 did as well or better in most cases (based on the latest drivers V3286 in Dec. 01).. I was impressed with that.. here's the clincher.. I am a computer reseller so here are my costs on the different cards as of a couple weeks ago: 8500 $260 CDN, G3Ti500 $500.. to me it was a no brainer.. price is awesome.. my main concern was drivers but that has been resovled.. I can say I am very happy with my ATI purchase..

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I completely forgot to consider ATI, I think that may be a good thing to buy, and while im here can someone tell me what is the command to show FPS, how to take a screenshot, and how to record video to watch later.

 

Thanks

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GeForce4 Ti4400. The first guy telling you about the 8500 is lying his ass off, period. He doesn't know what "full SCENE anti-aliasing" is probably. Look at multiple benchmarks, it doesn't matter what your proc speed is, on a 8500, it'll become the bottleneck far before your proc can hurt you. Maybe if he's running at 640x480 he'd be getting those frames with a 8500, but I doubt it.

 

Get the GeForce4 Ti4400, if you're concerned about cash. You can get it for under $300 on pricewatch. You'll be able to run JO w/ Full Screen Anti-Aliasing, with eveything maxed, at at least 60 fps. Don't balk, 60 fps is faster than the human aye can see, yet you WILL be able to see the difference in quality of the maxed settings. You'd be foolish not to go with the GF4.

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Originally posted by TalonX

I just built a new system a month or so ago.

 

Athlon 1700+

512 DDR RAM

Geforce 2 MX 400

 

My video card is getting old now and that was one of the things I didn't get new in this system I built, I took it out of my old computer. I run JKII perfectly smooth on 1024x768 resolution with all the graphics on full except I have GL extensions off (I think it was causing me to freeze, not sure what it is anyways) the geomatry on high instead of very high and I am running it on 32 bit. If I try to turn these on I slow down. So my question is, what video card should I get. I want one good for gaming and not just this game. Those Geforce 4 Ti cards look awsome but the price is pretty high. So what shuld I get?

 

Thanks

 

GL extensions are extra features standard opengl does not support, and most often they would be useless to the Opengl api except for games. Companies like nvidia, Ati, and game developers like John Carmack create a sort of unoffical standard and they are called GL extension. For instance, opengl does not support Nvidia shader registers, but we would like to see them in games, so...........extensions time.

 

As to graphics cards,

 

depends on what you want, avoid nvidia MX cards, they are of substandard quality. If you want the kind of the hill card, Nvidia has it without a dount in the top of the line GF4, or it you want a card thats fairly prices, good performance, ATI [but driver support *is* a serious concern here], or if you want chapo cardo until you can afford one fo the previous cards, get a Kyro based card, for the buck they perform admirably. Of ocurse if your MR. money bags, go for a professional grade oepngl card, and leave these toys to us gamers. :)

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It's slowing down alot for me on multiplayer, and I have a k-6 400 mhz pile o crap with a 32 mb xpert 128 card. To upgrade to a pentium 4 2.2gig i'd need to get a new mother board and im too lazy to have to install one, could i just fix my problem by buying a geforce 2 mx 400? I don't care if i have to run the details low as long as it can run smoothly in 8 player lightsaber battles

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Originally posted by venoxile

It's slowing down alot for me on multiplayer, and I have a k-6 400 mhz pile o crap with a 32 mb xpert 128 card. To upgrade to a pentium 4 2.2gig i'd need to get a new mother board and im too lazy to have to install one, could i just fix my problem by buying a geforce 2 mx 400? I don't care if i have to run the details low as long as it can run smoothly in 8 player lightsaber battles

 

No, the CPU is your problem here, your essentially asking if you can take a 2 cylinder engine out of your geo metro, replace it with a 3 cylinder and make it a fun sports car, it ain't gonna happen.

 

Get off your ass and get that 2.2 Ghz!

 

I'd upgrade but I am saving for lasik surgery to get rid of these glasses, so my Athlon 750 and GF1 will have to limp along for another year, lets see I got this card Dec 1999, and the motherboard and CPU in June of 2000, hehe. Yeah time for an upgrade, but oh well.

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ATI ATI ATI. They make good stuff, I got the old Radeon 64MB DDR and i get horrible fps at points but thats cause my damn HP seems to have me stuck in 1x agp. I can put ne resolution my monitor can handle with the best details, and get the same as 640x480 fastest. Its quite queer, but shows that it can handle the graphics u are looking for. GO ATI.

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http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/seanconneryisthebest

 

There.

 

Of course the framerate fluctuates from level to level, but you can expect an average of, say, 100 fps throughout the game if you play with everything maxed out, sans FSAA (this is taking your processor speed and amount of RAM into consideration). Anyone with differing opinions, please input. I'm fairly new to the hardware game.

 

EDIT: BTW that's my practice level that you can download from Wesman's site.

 

Vorlagen:

 

1. You do not know the other specifications of my computer.

 

2. There is no way he will be able to run JKII at 60 fps at the MAX level of FSAA the Geforce Ti4400 supports. (8X Quincux, one would expect).

 

3. I never said the Radeon was a better card. It's a much better BUY.

 

4. The Radeon is SO much more overclockable.

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I would recommend either a Radeon 8500 or a GF4 Ti 4200 when it comes out probably later this month.

 

I am considering both of these cards when I upgrade probably this December.

 

But I saw a review at I think anandtech with the 8500 and the fsaa seemed to be much clearer and less blurred compared to the Geforce. But the sky on the geforce was better. This was in Quake 3. For me image clarity takes precedent over fps.

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