At one point I thought I could understand the PC videocard market. That moment has evidently passed.
I was at Fry's the other day browsing their ample video card section when I actually began to swoon at the sheer variety. I reached out my hand to steady myself and found I was leaning on a huge stack of what appeared to be perfectly good (and cheap) Asylum 256MB FX5200s that all had been returned for reasons completely beyond my ken.
Apparently I can't tell what's important anymore. It used to just be more memory==better card. I could do that. But now you've got your FX XT Pro Ultra MagDOS GDDR3 BFG OC 8:4 pipeline w/ DVI busta chops, and one of these is weak-tea while the other is a Vinnie Jones proportioned soccer hooligan on steroids even though they have the same friggin' number. I'm confused and bewildered again by the spectacle of the PC market and so again I seek your wise counsel.
Basically I need a new video card to play some newer games. (X2, Unreal Tournament 2004, HL2, whatever) I won't be spending more than US$200 and would prefer to spend around US$150. I think I want an NVidia card as those seem to play nicely with my stereo goggles (for maximal ultra-dorky 3D gaming). But maybe NVidia is deader than the Dewey decimal system these days. I am too old or too stupid. I can't keep up. You all were so helpful with the the processor question.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
I don't know anything about computers. I'm afraid I cannot help you.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
If you're looking for an older card, I really recommend taking at a look at the comprehensive VGA charts at TomsHardware. They do a big swath of cards, not just the newest ones so you completely sidetrack the big irrelevant debates between the high-end cards.
In short, it looks like a FX 5200 is roughly equivalent to a ATI 9600 so if you found on for $150, that seems like a pretty good deal. The 9600 is at the high end of your price range anyways.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
(Or, if you search right, a Radeon 9800 Pro, which is the only card you should really consider because it has the best price/performance ratio of any GPU on the market today, could be yours for just under $200.)
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
I picked up a 9800 Pro, despite family loyalty to nVidia, for $200 at Fry's the other week.
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
quote:Originally posted by Mucus: If you're looking for an older card, I really recommend taking at a look at the comprehensive VGA charts at TomsHardware. They do a big swath of cards, not just the newest ones so you completely sidetrack the big irrelevant debates between the high-end cards.
In short, it looks like a FX 5200 is roughly equivalent to a ATI 9600 so if you found on for $150, that seems like a pretty good deal. The 9600 is at the high end of your price range anyways.
More like the FX 5200 Ultra is more like the 9600 SE. The 9600XT is a pretty decent card, but hey, listen to CC and Cartman, the 9800 Pro 128 MB is your best deal right now.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
Indeed. I bought a 9800 Pro myself since it was one sale at Best Buy for about $300 CDN more than 5 months ago. A pretty good deal, but act fast because they're getting phased out.
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
I bought a XFX GeForce MX 4000 for ~$70 CDN. Because its all that I really need...
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
quote:Originally posted by Charles Capps: I picked up a 9800 Pro, despite family loyalty to nVidia, for $200 at Fry's the other week.
Family loyalty to a graphics card manufacturer?
Suddenly Jeff doesn't seem quite so sad.
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
quote:Originally posted by Cartman: I don't know anything about computers. I'm afraid I cannot help you.
You, sir, are a filthy fucking liar.
Wow. Thanks for the link, Mucus. I just looked up some stuff. My humble 32MB Viper V770 (w/ TNT2 Ultra) isn't on that list. I did mention I needed a new video card, didn't I?
This Radeon 9800 Pro is looking good. I guess I still don't understand about the pipelines (I mean aside from more generally being better).
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
That's pretty much all you need to know, really.
If we're doing an nVidia graphic card timeline, it would go roughly (from most recent to oldest):
GeForce Super Amazing I can't actually remember the name of the newest one sorry. GeForce FX GeForce 4 GeForce 3 GeForce 2 GeForce TNT 2 TNT
So yeah, you really were quite far behind. Still, at least nVidia have dropped that silly let's-try-and-con-people MX stuff, eh?
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
"6". They are all numbered 6800, and some have "GT" or "Ultra" or "Ultra Deluxe" or "Ultra Powerpack Ultra" tacked on to inform you how much your manhood will inflate and your budget will deflate when you buy and mount one of them inside your computer.
But I know nothing.
Posted by Charles Capps (Member # 9) on :
quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: Family loyalty to a graphics card manufacturer?
Suddenly Jeff doesn't seem quite so sad. [/QB]
My sister's husband's father is on their board of directors.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Unless he can get you cheap cards, I say screw him.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 24) on :
Pipelining isn't actually all that complicated. The standard analogy in class was laundry. When doing laundry with multiple loads, you don't wash one load then dry that same load. Then wash the second load and dry it. What you normally do is wash one load, then while you're drying it, you wash another load, so the second load is ready to be dried when the first finishes.
In short, by splitting up a task into smaller pieces, we can do more "stuff" at the same time, speeding things up.
In any case, the more important problem at hand is; if your computer is using a TNT2...upgrading to a new video card might not be the only thing you need to do in order to play the games on your list. What CPU did you have paired with a TNT2?
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
Oh, I think I'll be OK on that. It's an Athlon XP 2000+ or whatever. I asked about processors here before and based on the board's advice, I think I'll wait for cheaper Socket 939 motherboards. Might need more RAM inthe mean time, but that's cheap now too. I skimped on the videocard thinking I would be content with older games. (TNT2 Ultra seems ample for Total Annihilation, TIE and even Freespace)
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
"Seems ample for Total Annihilation"... teehee. Such innocence.
Posted by Topher (Member # 71) on :
What's up with a GeForce MX?
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
Well, if nVidia's graphics card lineup was a village, they would be the local idiots.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
nVidia releases the GeForce. It was good. They released the GeForce 2. It was also good, but expensive. They released a cutdown version called a GeForce 2 MX, for a cheaper price.
All that was okay. But then they released the GeForce 3, and GeForce 4, and realised that their budget card was rather out of date. So they released the GeForce 4 MX. Except that the GeForce 4 MX isn't a GeForce 4 at all. It's still a GeForce 2, albiet a faster one. People bought these cards. They thought that they had GeForce 4 cards. They were wrong. nVidia's money men laughed mightily. And then went home and watched some hentai.
Posted by Balaam Xumucane (Member # 419) on :
And there's all this shit about overclocking them which sounds vaguely dangerous and maybe slightly stupid. I am unknowing.
quote:Originally posted by Cartman: "Seems ample for Total Annihilation"... teehee. Such innocence.
Innocence? Ignorance, more like. Enlighten me, us all really. Incidentally, weren't we gonna cross Krogoth at one point. I've still not figured out what my new broadband service will be, but would you still be sporting when that time comes.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Well, what specs are you running Total Annihilation at? 640 x 480? Minimum detail?
And if you don't know what you're doing, then don't overclock them. You don't need to.
Posted by Cartman (Member # 256) on :
quote:Originally posted by Balaam Xumucane: Incidentally, weren't we gonna cross Krogoth at one point.
The enlightenment will have to wait until such time as your new broadband service is figured out by you. But if your TNT2 has so far been ample for Total Annihilation, then you probably haven't been totally inducted into the 1600x1200-OMG-I'm-dating-myself-5000-unit-limit-8-way-multiplayer-hall-of-fame yet. This could be fun.
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