Video card question

Mufasa

Mufasa

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So my NVidia fx5500 just died and the old school replacement card that I have in makes it hard to even do normal internet tasks. So I need a new one, I don't really need anything that great, I would like to be able to play old school Unreal Tournament and Counter Strike once and awhile, but I don't need to play any of the new games at full specs or anything like that. I have been looking at this card, but it is out of stock, so does anyone have any suggestions?

http://www.buy.com/prod/visiontek-r...9-video-card/q/loc/101/209199998.html#cRevSec


Also does anyone know where I can find the CD not DVD version of "the sims 2" for cheap, someone has to know somewhere, where it is cheap it is a pretty old game now

thanks
 
yeah, i know that they are pretty easy to install, I just don't want to spend the money one one, maybe i'll talk to my roommate and see if he can get once from the 'puter lab that he works for.

any help on the vid card?
 
...It depends if your a hard core gamer/gamer/average PC user plus don't get ATi Cards they suck. here's a list

Good card for less than $200:

http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgr96512gtoce.aspx

It is nice and goes for around 13x-17x

Above good but not yet very good:
http://www.anitec.ca/product/11796/...op_896mb_pci_express_2.0_with_built_in_physx/

I own this one, once you get it i doubt you'll ever need a new card for a few years

Really good:
http://www.anitec.ca/product/11280/evga_geforce_gtx_280_1.0gb_pci_express_2.0_with_built_in_physx/

I have this on my other computer, it's good but i don't reccomend getting it, it costs too much and you can still get great performance and graphics if you spend less than $300
 
[quote name='RaisinBran']...It depends if your a hard core gamer/gamer/average PC user plus don't get ATi Cards they suck.[/QUOTE]
Flawless logic.
 
The ATI 4850 series card is amazing. I have one and it has performed flawlessly. Ran Crysis on medium/high settings and just about everything else on high+ settings. Runs like a champ and is dirt cheap these days if you find the right deal (look at Newegg.com).

I know you currently can only use AGP but you could probably find a combo deal for a new motherboard and ram and have a cheap upgrade overall.I built a brand new computer last summer for about $550 after rebates. That included optical drive, motherboard, gfx card, cpu, ram, case, power supply, fans, and other various small parts. So a mobo + ram/cpu combo should be cheap...
 
[quote name='Oktoberfest']at the moment, ATI > Nvidia[/QUOTE]
In price/performance, yes.

In part quality and drivers, no. If you get a 48XX card and it doesn't have any issues, then it is a fantastic deal. However, if you take a search around on google for ATI black screen of death, you'll find some very common problems with the card and drivers.

They can be fixed, but you have to know what you're dealing with.

A 9800GT sits between the 4830 and 4850 in performance and price, and gives you the much better drivers and a better chance of not having faulty vram sinks that the 4850 is known for.

I personally have a 4870, because I looked up the potential problems so I was prepared for them when they happened. I got my father a 4850 and he had one that had the black screen of death lockup after playing games for about 15 mins. If you asked about an error like this, people would probably say its the drivers, or your PSU isn't good enough, or are you overclocking?, or any number of general issues. Basically, a black screen problem could have a wide range of causes. But when dealing with a 4850, I knew that it was most likely the card itself since I had read so much about these black screens. You set the core to 600 and the mem clock to 900, and viola, your problem is fixed. It is a minor underclock used to combat two things. First is the heat on the vram. While your temp monitors might be well within acceptable limits, that is usually the core temp. Second is the drivers and games and their sensitivity to the memory clock.

So, if you are prepared for such things, it is no big deal. If you are unprepared, it can be a pain in the ass trying to troubleshoot.

No Nvidia card that I have had has had any such issue. Could be just luck, but thats my 2 cents. I'm happy with my 4870.
 
alright, well some of you did not read my original post where I said that I did not need to play anything too great, the highest that I went was Unreal 2003. So there is no need to spend over $100 on a card. Now I am looking at getting a decent MOBO with onboard graphics just to hold me over till I can afford a better card. Thanks to the guys who actually helped me.
 
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