advice on graphics cards

[AlwaysAce]

hi,

i have just purchased a pentium 4 3.00ghz, 1024mb ddr computer today but the graphics card that it came with was very basic(an ati 128mb ?49.99 job).

i have been looking at getting a new card but i'm unsure of what to get?
i wanted to pay around the ?200-?250 mark. my tft is only vga at the moment but i'll be upgrading soon to a dvi set.

any recommendations would be great taking into consideration that i need vga to begin with.

thanks

[Hohum]

What type of graphics connector does your motherboard use - AGP or PCI-Express?

PCI-Express

AGP

For PCI-Express, I'd go for the X800XT... AGP cards are priced higher however, so if that's what you have I'd go for the slightly slower X800XL. Both are still exceptionally fast cards. That's just what I'd go for in that price range though.

[Kotatsu Neko]

I was recently in the market for a new graphics card as my Radeon 9800 Pro 256Mb just wasn't up to the job in Doom 3 and Riddick.

I looked at the X800XT PE, as I always like to support the underdog and I remember the bad press NVidia had over GeForce FX. Plus my 9800 Pro had been a good card on the whole. But I looked at the benchmarks and prices, and decided to switch back to NVidia.

I bought a 6800GT 256mb. The more I looked at the stats the harder it became to justify spending so much more on the X800 XT, as the 6800, despite being significantly cheaper... is actually a lot quicker.

I went for a single slot ASUS 6800GT, and it's been fantastic so far. Doom 3 absolutely screams along at a perfect 60fps with everything at max (including resolution), and I've also noticed 2D is better than on the ATI. Previously I would get sporadic slowdown in emulators, no more, now they're all a flawless 60fps.

Look at the benchmarks on HardOCP or Toms Hardware Guide. But TBH, the 6800GT is simply the best card around at the moment for value and performance. Plus I was able to overclock mine very easily to 6800 Ultra speed.

[simoran1]

yeah id agree the 6800gt is a great card and for the price range, its better speced than the x800 sries. however alot of people have told me that the picture quality on the nvidia cards is far inferior to the ati cards. would you agree with this Kotatsu? im gonna be upgrading my 9800pro and like you was going to get a 6800gt but the whole picture quality thing would defo put me off.

[Kotatsu Neko]

yeah id agree the 6800gt is a great card and for the price range, its better speced than the x800 sries. however alot of people have told me that the picture quality on the nvidia cards is far inferior to the ati cards. would you agree with this Kotatsu? im gonna be upgrading my 9800pro and like you was going to get a 6800gt but the whole picture quality thing would defo put me off.

Picture quality? They seem absolutely identical to me.

Maybe it depends which manufacturer you go for? I paid a bit more for the ASUS as it was single slot (which I need to fit into my Shuttle) and it had better cooling (the heat sink goes right over the RAM - on my Radeon 9800 the RAM would overheat when playing Doom 3).

[Ciaran]

Nvida previous range were well know for cutting PQ to increase the frame rate. But I think they stopped doing that with the 6800 range.

[sithlordx]

I also have the Asus 6800 GT and can confirm its an amazing card

Will last for years

[AlwaysAce]

ok guys been doing some home work, the card for me is the nvidia 6800gt(pci).

my only remaining worry is that my computers motherboard may not be compatible???

its this computer:


http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/product/seo/006697

can anyone confirm any possible probs i may have while trying to install? are there usually available power supplies within the system for the graphics card?

on the control panel of the pc the current graphics card is in a pci slot, but does this nessecarily mean there is no agp slots?

it would be great if someone could let me know what the motherboard is like for this system.

[Kotatsu Neko]

Accoding to the Packard Bell site your PC has an AGP slot.

A 6800GT is a wise choice. Go for the 256mb one if you can afford it, but the 128mb one will be fine for most things.

[AlwaysAce]

yeah it has 1 agp slot, and 2 pci slots.


which is better to go with? i was under the impression that pci was a newer technology.

what motherboards would you folks reccomend as the "SIS" motherboard my computer has is not that good apparently? N Force 3,4 etc?

[Kotatsu Neko]

yeah it has 1 agp slot, and 2 pci slots.


which is better to go with? i was under the impression that pci was a newer technology.

what motherboards would you folks reccomend as the "SIS" motherboard my computer has is not that good apparently? N Force 3,4 etc?

You're thinking of PCI-Express, which your system doesn't have.

PCI is an old technology which is no longer used on modern graphics cards.

[sithlordx]

Yup you need the SINGLE SLOT AGP version