Suggestions on a new graphics card

[breadcatcher101]

My old one burned out and I was wondering about my options on a new one. I have a HP slimline model computer. Without the card I can play SH3 but 4 will give me problems.

With my old one I noticed in SH4 that the rigging on ships have a sawtooth pattern, also the masts "telescope". Is this normal or can it be corrected with a better card?

My old card was a Sapphire 100203LP. 256 Memory, 64 bit interface.

Thanks for your ideas.

[Arclight]

Wouldn't go lower than GTS250, GTX 260 is a nice card. Personally I'd go for GTX275, GTX285 just above that if you have a bit more to spend. GTX295 is a dual-GPU card; big powerdraw and heat, but big performance.

Radeon HD5750 and 5770 are the new mainstream from ATI, 5850 and 5870 for the high end (5850 would be my choice, 5870 if more cash). 5970 is their dual-GPU offering, same drawbacks as for GTX295.

Any of those cards should give you what you need to enable some anti-aliasing, which is what gets rid of the 'jaggies'. ;)

[wetgoat]

Am currently running ati sapphire 5770 with a phenom 2 quad 945 processor, win7, 4 gigs of 1066 ddr2 ram. I am convinced it is one of the best cards on the market at this time, if you consider price vs preformance. Have had this setup about 2 months now. So far, no jaggies, no driver issues, and all in game eyecandy including shadows maxed out. Cost about $150 from newegg. I know there are better cards out there, but not at a price I can afford !

[CaptainHaplo]

I can vouch for tthe 260 cards. I have one and there is not a game I run that it can't handle. Dirt2, Grid, World in Conflict, Supreme Commander and SupCom2, X3TC, etc.

[breadcatcher101]

I thank all of you for your help on this. The place I go may just have one of these in stock, if not I'll order one. Thanks again.

[Konovalov]

As per my sig I have a Nvidia 260 which pairs up well with my 22" widescreen monitor with native resolution 1680 x 1050. If you have a 24" or larger monitor then you may want to consider something a bit more powerful than a 260.

The fact that you have a HP Slimline machine and are replacing that old Sapphire 100203LP would indicate that you are looking for a budget card and not top of the line stuff. The GeForce 9600GT gives decent bang for buck and is an alternative to the GeForce GT 240. From the ATI stable I would consider the Radeon HD4850 or the newer Radeon HD 5750.

Good luck. :)

[rededge]

Just check before you buy that there will be physically enough room in your PC...

Newer cards can get rather big. Also, what power supply is your PC fitted with, if you get a lot better card than you had it may require 2 power leads fitted and some serious poke to run it..

If your case is a slimline type, will a newer (more powerful) card put out too much heat?

Overheating will cause no end of trouble!

Apologies if you are fully aware of these pointers! :D

[CCIP]

I can vouch for the Sapphire 5770. It's a superb and powerful card, and is probably your best pick if you're on a budget and are looking at an ATI. The 5750 is its younger cousin and is also a good choice - but is basically both 15% cheaper and 15% slower - so imho the extra cost of the 5770 vs 5750 is completely worth it, cent for cent (besides, you're only looking at about 20-30 dollars extra). With nvidia's recent driver problems, I'm not sure I can call ATI's drivers inferior anymore (which they traditionally have been) - and the hardware itself is a lot more powerful than comparable 260 cards that are in the same price range.

Another thing to consider if you intend to get SH5 is that nvidia, at the moment, has known problems with SH5 (you have to turn shadows off to avoid killing your performance) while I've heard very few reports of problems with ATI cards in SH5.

SH4 is perfectly solid. At 1680x1050, 4xAA, 16xAF, I get 50-70FPS exterior in all situations, and an average of 100+ FPS in boat interior. In general, that card is yet to cough on any game that I've tried - for the price, its processor is surprisingly snappy and the 1GB RAM isn't something that most modern games can overload. Great card for the next couple of years I'd say.

[Konovalov]

Just check before you buy that there will be physically enough room in your PC...

Newer cards can get rather big. Also, what power supply is your PC fitted with, if you get a lot better card than you had it may require 2 power leads fitted and some serious poke to run it..

If your case is a slimline type, will a newer (more powerful) card put out too much heat?

Overheating will cause no end of trouble!

Apologies if you are fully aware of these pointers! :D
Good points redredge. :yep: I'd be wary of the HP Slimline machine with regards to upgrades.