ATI Video Card Discussion (November 2008)

[Zachstar]

Hello everyone!

As you know I am doing a 1k USD build. And you may have noted that I have not selected a video card yet.

The reasoning is simple. I have no frakking clue what to look for! Likely a standard in this wacky world of PC building.

Well instead of starting a new topic just for my situation I decided why not have a general topic where we can discuss what is looking good for ATI video cards for each month? So here it is! A topic where one can discuss what is a good buy for Budget, Mid, and Power for the month of November!

[Wreford-Brown]

I'm also in the market for a new graphics card (SH4 gives me 5 to 7 FPS:down: ) so thank you for starting this thread.
The advice I got from DivingDuck is: 'a new gc will definitely do the job. I assume you need an AGP card, don´t you? The fastest AGP I know is an ATI X1950 Pro @512MB DDR3. Should be a available for less than 150,-EUR'

[Zachstar]

Relating to my build...

Just to get started I decided to have a look around Newegg. trying to keep under 150 if possible one particular card has interested me tho I suspect at it's price there is something I am not understanding.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161251

Here is likely where I need to be "schooled" but I narrowed it down based on the assumption that "Higher number means better performance." So I clicked on this 4670 over a 4650.

Thoughts?

Edit: Well I managed to confuse myself even more looking at this one. Now we are into the 48's!!??!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102802

[Zachstar]

I'm also in the market for a new graphics card (SH4 gives me 5 to 7 FPS:down: ) so thank you for starting this thread.
The advice I got from DivingDuck is: 'a new gc will definitely do the job. I assume you need an AGP card, don´t you? The fastest AGP I know is an ATI X1950 Pro @512MB DDR3. Should be a available for less than 150,-EUR'
Well if using AGP I say go cheap and powerful if you can because if I remember right you are going to be seeing big performance drops regardless.

This one caught my eye because you get free World of Warcraft. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121273 I am not saying it's the best but you get that WoW that you can use or give to somebody which is like 20 bucks.

Edit: You know.. Looking at that card it really seems to be quite nice for 44 bucks. DirectX 10.1? Hell ya when you get WoW with it!

[CaptainHaplo]

Anytime you talk video cards, there are certain specifics you have to share when asking "whats good". First is how the card plugs in - PCIe or AGP - though your only going to see AGP in older motherboards (aka existing machines). Second is the power supply your going to use. Often people miss the mark on power and have all kinds of problems. Third is use - obviously gaming for most here - but are you wanting to push the envelope on the newest games? If so - share the CPU speed and memory you have in your box, as well as the planned OS. The reason for this is simple - if your running XP and not planning on moving to Vista (or 7 "when" its here) then spending extra bucks for dx10 compatibility is a waste unless you also get more performance in dx9. If your running a bottleneck at the cpu or system memory - the most expensive card isnt going to help you alot. Lastly, you have to have a price idea that you want to hit.

With all that said, I have to refer you to toms hardware.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Best-Graphics-Card,2033.html
Every month they do a roundup of cards in various price categories by both Nvidia and ATI.

Take what you know about your machine - the need you have - and the money you have to spend - and see where the list points you. You wont be unhappy with the results if you put in the time and effort.

[Wreford-Brown]

I've checked my system and am on PCI rather than AGP.
I'm running MS Windows XP SP3
Pentium 4 3.06 GHz
3.0 GB RAM
NVIDIA GeForce 6200 LE

I'm also in the UK so any stores this side of the Atlantic would also be appreciated.

@Zachstar - I'm in danger of hijacking this thread. Would you prefer me to start a new one?

[Zachstar]

If it is that modern it ought to have atleast a PCI express port on it.

[Wreford-Brown]

How do I find out if it's PCI or PCIe?

[CCIP]

How do I find out if it's PCI or PCIe?
Here, take a look:

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y122/Otohiko/stuff/800px-PCI_und_PCIe_Slots.jpg

You can see that the PCIex16 slot is somewhat larger than the PCIs at the bottom and has more pins. Usually has that clamp on the side for the video card. Unless you have a high-end motherboard with something like SLI, you also would normally only have one PCIe slot vs. several PCIs.

You also should normally have at least one PCIe slot, although some budget computers may come with onboard video only.

[Wreford-Brown]

Thank you, CCIP.

I've definitely got a PCIe x 16 slot and two PCI slots, one of which has a sound card in it.

[Zachstar]

Ok well you are pretty well off then.

If possible try to spend the equivalent of a 120 USD Video card. That will ensure you have awesome SH4 performance and future proof SH5.

Could try Ebay UK or amazon Uk or something.

Someone told me this is EU http://www.pcworld.co.uk

[Reece]

If you go for the HD 48XX series cards a word of warning, these get very hot, I purchased the HIS IceQ version & still runs hot, the latest cat version 9.10 ccc has a manual overide for the fan speed, I reccomend setting this to 80%.:yep: A better alternative will be ATI Tray tools, can do away with ccc, the new beta version is available & works very well with controlling the fan, a must have!:up:
http://cid-a50350ea7a969f0c.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/attsetup.exe

[Onkel Neal]

Hello everyone!

As you know I am doing a 1k USD build. And you may have noted that I have not selected a video card yet.

The reasoning is simple. I have no frakking clue what to look for! Likely a standard in this wacky world of PC building.

Well instead of starting a new topic just for my situation I decided why not have a general topic where we can discuss what is looking good for ATI video cards for each month? So here it is! A topic where one can discuss what is a good buy for Budget, Mid, and Power for the month of November!

Good idea! I'm in the same boat, I'll be watching along, thanks.

[McBeck]

Anybody got an idea of the image quality in SH4 in regards to ATI vs NVidia
A while back the ATI cards made the water look much better...any development in this area?

[Reece]

From what I gather from reports by other people the ATI X series (X1950) does not show any sun bloom in SH4, the HD 48XX series does & kicks ass at a reasonable cost, but they get hot!:yep:

[Zachstar]

Yes ATI cards get hot. Period. That is why they had to include fan control.

Yet the only people this affects are people in small, poorly vented rooms.

[CaptainHaplo]

The question of ATI vs Nvidia has been a long saga. Basically it boils down to this. NVidia tends to have the sharper image quality overall, with an average of VERY SLIGHTLY slower speed. With the current and new gen cards, this speed difference is either no longer there - or so small its irrelevant. Nvidia tends to be more expensive however.

In addition, you have to look at driver support. Both manufacturers have struggled with this at times, but it seems they both have gotten back on track recently.
If your looking at just what gives you "pretty" in SH4 - either chipset will do. However, if you play other games, I would suggest that given the current minimal price difference, I would go with Nvidia.

The heat issue of ATI is also one reason to avoid current cards unless you water cool.

**** In the interest of full disclosure - my current card and the 2 previous have all been ATI - prior to that were Nvidia. My next card will likely be an Nvidia for the reasons mentioned above.****