Video Upgrade

skatergod · #1 09-24-2003, 02:09 AM

Hey everyone. I'm currently running a XFX GeForce4 MX420. I'm not quite sure how or why but i get green and blue dots when playing Counter-Strike. I've been looking to upgrade my video card but I'm always skeptical. help me out. My mobo only supports 4x AGP so keep it limited. thanx in advance.

Flyfsh · #2 09-24-2003, 08:14 AM

In my opinion I believe the Nvidia Ti4600 is one of the best bang for the $. Its getting harder to find now.

XP Home
AMD XP2700+
GeForce Ti4200 VGA
1 gig pc2700 ram
40 gig hard drive

Matphes · #3 09-24-2003, 10:40 PM

You can get a fx5200 for 102 bucks.

curtybob · #4 09-24-2003, 11:53 PM

On the FX 5200, try not to buy this one. Have to have one? get the Ultra version. And as much as I liked the 5200 Ultra when I first got it, the 5600 ultra is where I would start saving my money for. I run the 5600 ultra in my new box, and it is the least amount of card that I would recommend. But, the ATi fans here may want to interject their opinion, and it might be worth holding on to your money for.

PS. don't worry about the 4x capability of your motherboard, if you get an 8x card, it will still work. Plus, you will be able to migrate it to your next system, if you so choose.

skatergod · #5 09-25-2003, 01:08 AM

first of all thanx. I didnt know that 8x was backwards compatible. im looking for a "relatively" cheap card with ample kick. i would like 8x though. I'm looking for opinions on how the card performs. How does it play counter-strike is quite an important factor along with many other games.

curtybob · #6 09-26-2003, 04:15 PM

I don't play CS, but Splinter Cell is pretty hard on a card, and the 5600 Ultra does a pretty good job. The 5200 Ultra will get close to 30 frames if you turn some of the settings down and tweak the clock settings. The 5600 Ultra normally don't drop below 30 with a few less adjustments. But, on the other hand, I can set the clock speeds back to default, and turn all the pretties back on, and really bog the card down to like 15 frames a second.

skatergod · #7 09-27-2003, 02:33 PM

I believe it was the 5600 ultra that I was told ran very hot. Is that true? Also which new nvidia card requies 2 slots? I don't want that.

curtybob · #8 09-27-2003, 08:26 PM

As far a I can tell, no. I overclock it pretty hard and it hasn't defaulted back to factory settings (does this when it gets too hot). The 5800 and 5900 (and Ultras of both) take 2 slots. But, on the other hand, you normally would not want to use the PCI slot next to the AGP slot anyway. The 2 slots share resources and will sometimes cause problems if used at the same time. Just whatever you buy, do as much research on it as you can before you fork over the dough. Look for things like the nanosecond rating on the cards memory. Alot of manufacturer's put this close to the top of the specs. The lower the rating, the faster the memory, and the better the card will overclock. Also, look for heatsinks on the memory chips. This can help alot if you ever overclock the card.

skatergod · #9 09-27-2003, 08:51 PM

thanx again bob. so in your opinion would you recommend the 5600 ultra? is that a 128mb version or 256mb? I'm sure it will play CS ok if it is dX9 compatible. is the over all value of the card good? meaning is it worth the cheapest price i can pay?

curtybob · #10 09-29-2003, 01:24 PM

Like I said before, it is the least amount of card I will settle for. It plays all my games at a playable speed even with the image quality settings on high. It may be a little steeper priced than some of the other cards, but if I would recommend saving your money for this card ( or at least one in it's price range).

It is a 128 MB version. Here is a link to one like mine. Comes with all the stuff I mentioned before. and they have dropped about $60 from the price since I bought mine.

skatergod · #11 09-29-2003, 01:33 PM

thanx curtybob. i think I'll take you advice and save up. THis card looks like it should do the job it needs to do.

CornPopz · #12 09-30-2003, 03:54 PM

You can also pick up for about $20 cheaper a Powercolor Radeon 9600 (128MB) Pro

http://www.futurepowerpc.com/scripts...8TD&REFID= PW

From some benchmarks it should also outperform the FX5600 (CodeCreatures, UT2K3, RTCW), and REALLY beat it out when you turn on eye-candy (Antialiasing and Anistropic Filtering). The results I'm looking at are here:
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/....html?13880#p3

And just a note, to the extent of my knowledge theres not much of a point in buying 256MB video cards at this time, especially not the mid-range ones like the 5600 and 9600 since the GPUs aren't really going to make full use of all that memory.

skatergod · #13 09-30-2003, 06:10 PM

thanx for an ATi fan finally chiming in. Anymore info on Radeon cards that could be given would be greatly appreciated. I Know nothing about ATi as I HAVe been an avid Nvidia fan since before i can remember.

skatergod · #14 10-02-2003, 06:55 PM

ok well I've finally narrowed down my choices to Nvidia GeForceFX 5200 Ultra (128MB) for $149.99 or the ATi Radeon 9800 Pro for $159.99 it's only $10 more. Lets hear what you got on these 2 cards. Anyone done any testing on either GPU? Any info is much appreciated.

jammin · #15 02-20-2004, 12:33 PM

Mmmmm... not a tough decision. For me it would be the 9800Pro every time. I have a 9000 Pro and even though its a little lacking now I still think it would perform at least as well as the FX 5200. I've managed to squeeze 1500 3DMarks (03). The 9800 Pro would put the Nvidia card to shame. If you can really get one for $160 i'm impressed. The cheapest you can pick one up in the UK is about £180. If you're going to get one though, you may want to pay a little more for a quailty model from someone like Sapphire (sapphiretech.com) as you will be able to get more out of it.