Video/graphics cards

[Linton]

I have a notebook computer that has a rubbish video card embedded on the mother board.It only has a 32mb capability-does anybody know of any external video cards that I could use?

[kiwi_2005]

Did i read right "External video cards?

Dont think they exist yet no surprises if someone knows of one.

[Linton]

Well if they don't exist i hereby patent the idea perhaps then I will be able to afford my own avatar!

[Happy Times]

What would be a good card for me? Im playing SH 3 and now i ordered the IL 2 Complete edition. My current machine has a nVidia GeForce FX 5500.

[Bort]

@ Happy Times,

It depends what your price range is...

For around $200 bucks I got a Sapphire X850 XT at www.newegg.com.

This is quite an amazing card for the price. :up:

[CCIP]

Yea, price range is the question :yep:

My first advice, though, is get rid of that 5200 as soon as possible.

I used that card for a year, and had to stay away from IL-2 for that time, since it ran shall we say less than well on that card. Updated to a 6800 (1.5 years ago), and haven't had any problems with my games since. I'm sure you can get an even better card for a very reasonable price now.

[Happy Times]

Yea, price range is the question :yep:

My first advice, though, is get rid of that 5200 as soon as possible.

I used that card for a year, and had to stay away from IL-2 for that time, since it ran shall we say less than well on that card. Updated to a 6800 (1.5 years ago), and haven't had any problems with my games since. I'm sure you can get an even better card for a very reasonable price now. Max im going to use is somewhere around that 200e, though would be nice to find something good for a 100e. Anything come to mind?

[Happy Times]

BTW, CCIP, do you play IL 2 online? Im thinking of joining some FAF squadron. But im also thinking of finding a IJN squadron so that i can fly these. :D http://www.angelfire.com/fm/compass/hiryu.jpg

[Gizzmoe]

Max im going to use is somewhere around that 200e, though would be nice to find something good for a 100e. Anything come to mind?

ATI X800XL or Nvidia 6800GS. This review compares both cards:
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=505

[CCIP]

BTW, CCIP, do you play IL 2 online? Im thinking of joining some FAF squadron. But im also thinking of finding a IJN squadron so that i can fly these. :D

I don't play the IL-2 online, really (I'm just not big on multiplayer in general), though for those who like that kind of thing I really recommend it - the netcode is solid and a good server can be a lot of fun.

As far as the cards, Gizzmoe's recommendations are good.
Check around for some used cards, too - my brother managed to get himself a great used Radeon for almost nothing (it's a 9800 I believe - not a cutting-edge card, but very solid performance anyway).

[Type941]

GeForce 6800 GT

I don't own it since I still use my old poor Ati9500 pro (my PSU won't handly high end cards and replacing PSU is also out of question due to size of the box). But having said that, I know of 5-6 friends who say that for the money, this is the best thihg on the market and they all use it and are extremely happy. Hence, I'd recommned that. From reviews it also seems quite good card. ;)

And it would play IL and SH without any problems, obviously. $220 range I think it is, but can be +/- $30

[Happy Times]

Thanks guys, have to start makig decisions soon. :up:

[Linton]

My video card is so poor it would not even run enigma-rising tide..What is better ,buy a new mother board with a better video-card or buy a new laptop?

[Takeda Shingen]

Every time that I have upgraded, I have felt that once I would need a completely new motherboard it was time for a new computer. You are going to pay enough for a new board, so you might as well just take one more step and get a new machine. I'll be shopping for one of those myself this summer. My heavily upgraded Dimension 8200 is just getting tired. It served me well, though.

[Linton]

What would a mother board run to in the US?I was thinking of going for a 256mb card so the kids can play the boy wizard games on it.

[JSLTIGER]

Tak, it depends...I don't think that I need an entirely new computer, but I am ready for an upgrade to my motherboard (for PCI-e) and a new video card (thinking about a 7900GT or an X1900XT). I do not think that I need an entirely new computer though.

[GunnersMate]

I bought a vanilla BFG 6800 w/128MB at Tiger Direct but it was DOA. I RMA'd it back to BFG and they sent me a 6800GT w/256MB! :rock: I support this card 100% and recommend it to anyone if you can find it.
These are my reccomendations:

AGP systems
CPU < 2 GHz - Geforce 6600GT
CPU 2GHz-3GHz - Geforce 6800GS
CPU > 3GHz - Geforce 7800GS

PCI-X
CPU < 2GHz - Geforce 6600GT
CPU 2GHz-3GHz - Geforce 7600GT
CPU 3GHz-4GHz - Geforce 7800GT
CPU > 4GHz - Geforce 7900GTX

[JSLTIGER]

I bought a vanilla BFG 6800 w/128MB at Tiger Direct but it was DOA. I RMA'd it back to BFG and they sent me a 6800GT w/256MB! :rock: I support this card 100% and recommend it to anyone if you can find it.
These are my reccomendations:

AGP systems
CPU < 2 GHz - Geforce 6600GT
CPU 2GHz-3GHz - Geforce 6800GS
CPU > 3GHz - Geforce 7800GS

PCI-X
CPU < 2GHz - Geforce 6600GT
CPU 2GHz-3GHz - Geforce 7600GT
CPU 3GHz-4GHz - Geforce 7800GT
CPU > 4GHz - Geforce 7900GTX

Two quick things about this post:

1. It only represents the nVidia side of things, no ATi cards are listed. In most cases, the Radeon X1900XT and X1900XTX are faster than the nVidia cards.

2. A minor, but important mistake...PCI-X is NOT the same as PCI-e. PCI-X is a bus usually found on servers and is a PCI bus that has been upclocked by 100MHz (i.e. 133MHz to PCI's 33). PCI-e, found in most modern desktops is an entirely different protocol.

[GunnersMate]

I bought a vanilla BFG 6800 w/128MB at Tiger Direct but it was DOA. I RMA'd it back to BFG and they sent me a 6800GT w/256MB! :rock: I support this card 100% and recommend it to anyone if you can find it.
These are my reccomendations:

AGP systems
CPU < 2 GHz - Geforce 6600GT
CPU 2GHz-3GHz - Geforce 6800GS
CPU > 3GHz - Geforce 7800GS

PCI-X
CPU < 2GHz - Geforce 6600GT
CPU 2GHz-3GHz - Geforce 7600GT
CPU 3GHz-4GHz - Geforce 7800GT
CPU > 4GHz - Geforce 7900GTX

Two quick things about this post:

1. It only represents the nVidia side of things, no ATi cards are listed. In most cases, the Radeon X1900XT and X1900XTX are faster than the nVidia cards.

2. A minor, but important mistake...PCI-X is NOT the same as PCI-e. PCI-X is a bus usually found on servers and is a PCI bus that has been upclocked by 100MHz (i.e. 133MHz to PCI's 33). PCI-e, found in most modern desktops is an entirely different protocol.

In ref to 1 - I find the ATi naming conventions too confusuing and dont even try and no I'm not a fanboy.

In ref to 2 - Yeah I keep forgetting PCI-X vs PCI-e vs PCI x16.

Woudn't it be nice if they stopped developing nonsensical nomenclature?

[tycho102]

PCI-X runs on 3.3v, and has two speeds. 100mhz, 133mhz. It's a 64-bit parallel bus. The PCI-X slots are usually completely backwards compatible with PCI 64-bit slots (meaning that it has the slot extension to provide 5v to cards that require it).

PCI 64bit is 5v, and also has two speeds. 33mhz, 66mhz. It's a 64-bit parallel bus.

The vast majority of PCI-X cards made these days are "universal" cards. That means you can shove them into a PCI 64bit, or a PCI 32bit slot (both 5v and 3.3v). Same thing goes with PCI 64bit cards, and PCI 32bit cards; it's all a matter of voltage, and the majority of cards are dual-voltage. There are some "older" cards (circa 2002) that are locked to either 3.3v or 5v, and those you have to be careful with.


PCIe is a serial bus. Just like your ethernet port, your USB port, Firewire, IR, Bluetooth, Wifi bus. A parallel bus is kind of "analog", and a serial bus is kind of "digital". So obviously, you can't stuff a PCIe card into a PCI-X slot, nor vice versa.
------------------------------

On the topic of graphics cards, BFG has lifetime warranties on all their cards. In the case of the Geforce 6800 series of cards, it's highly likely you will burn out your VRM's on the card because Nvidia specified very low-tolerance VRM modules for each line (vanilla, GT, Ultra). They did this to keep their product lines seperate, so people don't have as much success with reflashing a GT card into an Ultra (at 1.4v core). The 5900XT line is notorious for being reflashed to a 5950 Ultra, and matching the card, clock for clock.

ATI still puts high-tolerance VRMs on their cards, and as such, you are far less likely to burn out the VRMs on their cards.



Just something to consider when you're out buying a card. I'd also tell people to stay away from Antec power supplies, as lately their capacitor quality is extremely poor. The supply will do fine for one year, and after that, you have a pretty high risk of burning out components. Such as your 6800/7x00 Nvidia video card, which all require very "clean" power since Nvidia is more interested in keeping their product lines seperate than they are putting robust and high-temperate voltage-regulator-modules on their cards.

Because ATI still puts high-quality, fault tolerant VRMs on their cards, the Radeons can take "dirty" power without burning out.

[Linton]

Tycho 102 perhaps you could translate your post into non-techno speak.Would i be able to plug your gizmo into my notebook through a usb and suddenly increase my graphics memory?If the answer is yes how much are they?

[JSLTIGER]

Cornwallis,

There is no way to increase video card power on a notebook short of buying a new one, unless you've got one with modular graphics. If you don't have modular graphics, than the video chip is soldered directly onto the motherboard itself. For example, in my sig, my laptop is equipped with a 64MB ATi Mobility Radeon 9600. There is no way for me to upgrade unless I get a new laptop because the 9600 chip is soldered directly onto my motherboard.

There is no such device similar to what you're inquiring about. External video cards do not exist, although external TV tuners do. Even if they did exist, the USB bus, even the USB 2.0 bus, is far too slow to support a video card with any decent amount of speed as bandwidth is only 480MBps, as compared to AGP 8x at 2.1GBps or PCIe x16 at approx 4GBps.

[Linton]

Unfortunately I believe the chip is an integral part of the board -so I am stuck with it!Perhaps some manufacturer will build an external link one day just like external hard drives.

[GunnersMate]

Usb video external devices are out there but they are more of a port replicator and are useful only for 2D desktop work.

Tych - I have my BFG 6800GT @ 400/1100 -stock ultra speeds :rock: :()1: