Computer Science Canada

Graphics card questions
Author:  yuri [ Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Graphics card questions
AMD Athlon 1.25 GHz, 512MB ram
Excalibur 9250, 128mb is the graphics card I have now.

When I try to start up Battlfield 2, the opening movie plays, then the screen freezes when the menu is loading. Is this because of my video card?
If it is, what video card to you suggest I purchase? (I am looking for something that can play most of the games coming out soon and high end games like Oblivion.) Willing to pay up to about $600, or even $700 if needed.

I also realize that my comp is not "high-end". Is the 1.25GHz enough to run the up and coming games? If not, then what do you suggest? (I.E. buy a new computer or something that can improve it) I know my ram is low and i am planning to get more.

I would rather not need to buy a new computer to keep up with these games i love so much. If there is a way to get my computer strong enough to run these games smoothly then do please tell.
Author:  Ninja [ Fri Jun 30, 2006 4:08 pm ]
Post subject: 
well, from what i imagine your motherboard probably does'nt support PCI-express graphics cards so the best card you can buy for AGP is nvidia 6600 and higher and radeon 9800 and higher, depending how much money you have, also battlefield 2 requires a minimum 1.7ghz intel/AMD processor so that might be the problem too, the RAM should be fine for bf2, i used to run it for a month on my pc when i only had 512 it ran fine, also you can check out www.ncix.com they had a deal there where they were selling a evga motherboard with a evga 7800gt 256 MB PCI-e graphics card, but it was almost 400 bucks, tax not included. If you do buy a new motherboard you will have to change your whole computer and reformat windows so that might be a pain, the best bet i can say is to buy a better processor that will go with the socket type on your motherboard, another 512 stick of RAM and a 6600/9800 or higher card Very Happy
Author:  MihaiG [ Sat Jul 01, 2006 10:10 am ]
Post subject: 
i have a radeon 9550(9600 but capped) and i can run most of bf2 on med. settings

u can probably go buy one for 40-70 bucks at a non-chain-computer store...

bf2 is an awesome game....

and i do reccommend getting a better computer 1.2 Ghz is low....my 2.89Ghz celeron is barely good enough for my requirments Crying or Very sad
Author:  Blade [ Sat Jul 01, 2006 1:24 pm ]
Post subject: 
if you want a really good agp graphics card you can look into the agp models of the 7800 series.. like this 7800gs.. but sadly the 7600 and 7900 series isnt currently being produced in agp (as far as i know)
Author:  shorthair [ Sun Jul 02, 2006 2:56 pm ]
Post subject: 
I kid you not. But if you want to spent 600 - 700 on a video card.

I could build you this PC for that Price. with a kick ass video card.
i currently run the x700. it does bf2 at max settings with no problems.
at 1280x1024. at 1600 you have to turn a few things down. to get crisp gameplay. at absolute max it averages 25 frames

AMD 3500+ 64 Semprom
1024 MB Ram DDR 3200
250 GB Western Digital 7200RPM with 8 Meg Cache
x700 Pro PCI-X Saphire 256 DDR2
JetWay Socket 754 and 939 NVIDIA nForce4 ATX AMD (Motherboard)
A Nice Case and PSU combo.

i could do that for about 500$ with ease.

and thast without looking for deals.
Author:  Clayton [ Sun Jul 02, 2006 4:32 pm ]
Post subject: 
now how in the hell would you be able to build that computer for that price? i mean if you can whoah Very Happy
Author:  yuri [ Sun Jul 02, 2006 9:00 pm ]
Post subject: 
So i have decided to just build another computer. I was told that NewEgg.com was reliable and has good prises.

Is it safe to use? As well is there a better place to shop from online? As well, what are some good stores to buy parts, or even whole computers from? I have used futureshop for most electronic stuff, but I assume there are cheaper stores.

As well, lets assume that I buy a much more powerful computer. (Motherboard, ram, etc.) What graphics card would you recommend for PCI. (Would need to run all the latest games like oblivion on high-end settings.)
Author:  shorthair [ Sun Jul 02, 2006 9:53 pm ]
Post subject: 
i take it you just didnt read my message there buddy.
that is a high end computer as far as your needs are concerned. And i would recomend the 6600 - 7600 , or a x700 - x1600 . and anything inbetween.

ther eare great sub 200$ prices on all those cards.

buy most your stuff from TigerDirect.ca i have no idea why you would use newEgg, its American not canadian ( thus my assumption os either your very very new to this , or you are an american).
Author:  Clayton [ Mon Jul 03, 2006 9:19 am ]
Post subject: 
was that directed at me? if it was i was only saying that because a couple of my friends built computers similiar to that and it cost them in the range or $8-900 to build theirs, with deals. thats all
Author:  shorthair [ Mon Jul 03, 2006 11:46 am ]
Post subject: 
That was not directed towards you.

The guy who started the thread is who i was going for.

I will gladly post links to all hte products and their prices sometime this week. with a full guide on the prices and such.

Should be Fun.

we could have a contest. Who can build the best computer for the least amount of money
Author:  BenLi [ Sat Jul 08, 2006 11:04 am ]
Post subject: 
well than you would have the define "the best computer"

A pentium III 800 Mhz would be just as god as word processing as a 3 Ghz one...
Author:  MysticVegeta [ Sat Jul 08, 2006 11:57 am ]
Post subject: 
Hmm 600-700 on a graphics card is rather insane. Why not buy a Dual core desktop instead you can them by just adding a couple hundred bucks from tigerdirect... Some come with Ati X1600. which I think is ultimate Smile
Author:  Andy [ Sat Jul 08, 2006 2:29 pm ]
Post subject: 
i dont think you know what you're talking about... once you get into the high end range, cpu speed and RAM matters very little in terms of gaming, the gpu/ppu is what's the most important. Although x1600 is a good card, i would never get one for myself
Author:  NikG [ Sun Jul 09, 2006 12:51 am ]
Post subject: 
Andy wrote:
Although x1600 is a good card, i would never get one for myself
So what would you recommend?

I bought my Geforce 6600 for $200 about a year ago from Canada Computers and I recall very recently seeing a bfg gf 6800gt for less than 200. I'm sure the 6800 is more than adequate for current games but if you really wanna go nuts, the gf7000 series is great (7800gtx for $320 at that above site).
Author:  Andy [ Sun Jul 09, 2006 12:31 pm ]
Post subject: 
a connect 3D X1600 Pro 512 mb costs 190.99 cnd, while a connect 3D X1800 GTO 512 mb costs 253.99.

what exactly can 60 bucks more get you?

GDDR3 instead of GDDR2
625MHz core clock instead of 500MHz
725MHz memory clock instead of 400MHz
Shader Model 3
Author:  Blade [ Sun Jul 09, 2006 2:09 pm ]
Post subject: 
from what i remember all x1000 series cards have SM3.0 ... right?
Author:  Andy [ Sun Jul 09, 2006 4:10 pm ]
Post subject: 
oops yeah you're right.. my bad.. oh wells, still alot of improvements for only 60 bucks more
Author:  NikG [ Sun Jul 09, 2006 11:52 pm ]
Post subject: 
Andy, you said that you wouldn't get a x1600 though.
So what would you get?
Author:  Andy [ Mon Jul 10, 2006 12:09 pm ]
Post subject: 
read three posts ahead of yours
Author:  Ninja [ Tue Jul 18, 2006 6:04 pm ]
Post subject: 
hey guys, im having a slight problem with my 9800 Sad .Whenever i play WoW, my graphics card overheats and shuts down my system after 30-40 minutes average in the daytime and a couple of hours in the night/morning, but it can run bf2 on medium settings for as long as i play without any problems. Now im going to be buying a laptop when i go to college next year so i dont want to fully upgrade my system now, so i wanted to ask.Is a radeon x1300 256mb AGP a decent card to play WoW and bf2?And does it matter if i get an ATI or sapphire tech card?Because if i spend a little bit more then the ATI Radeon x1300 i can get a Sapphire Radeon x1600.Thank you Very Happy
Author:  Dan [ Tue Jul 18, 2006 6:27 pm ]
Post subject: 
I have the excate same problem with my 9700, but i do not think it is overheating. I blive there is a bug with WoW and the 9600 to 9800 radions that cuases the driver to fail. Noramly the computer just locks up competly for me but some times i can exit out of WoW and there is an error box saying that my graphics drivers have failed and to restart and reinstall them. Also everything is in the lowest rez and color affter geting out of WoW.

I have read a few threads about this on the WoW tech suport site but oddly they all seem to get delete, locked or magicly go away affter a conent mangaer posts a genreal reply saying the defualt tech suport tips.

Odldy thess problems only started affter patch 1.10 (maybe even 1.9) where they added graphics "enhasments" and tweeks for secrent graphics cards. Since patch 1.11.5 however i have not got this crash at all unlike befor where it whould do it all the time.

Also if this is a laptop in a house wiht out A.C. almost every good graphics card and p.c. no matter the cooling system will over heat on the high humanity and high tempatcher days. The best soltion i have found for this is a cooling pad and lost of fans. It is also good to keep the vents clean with compresed air but don't do that well the laptop is still hot or you could break it.
Author:  Andy [ Tue Jul 18, 2006 8:50 pm ]
Post subject: 
x1300 is garbage, the RV515 fails more tests than all fo the other RV5xx series combined (not including R580). I'd definitely opt for the X1600. ATI is fabless, they do not produce any thing of their own except the technology. Their chips are made in taiwan, and the boards are done by different OEMs. ATI branded product are made by saphire in the first place, so it wouldnt matter.
Author:  Ninja [ Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:06 pm ]
Post subject: 
thanks guys, and thanks andy, u the man!.Also, Dan i think you are right about the new patch coming out.Before my friend from my guild had a private server running before i got a WoW account set up and i could play a lot longer there but his server had the new weather enhancements added onto them.Also, before i checked in my error log files, everytime WoW crashed my pc would restart and and in the error log it would say "Event system- Ati Smart started" right at the time the system would shut down. So i uninstalled the catalyst control centre and now i have only the drivers running(no ati2sgag.exe). Now i seem to play longer and i am very sure its overheating on my card.Last night i played from 11 pm to 6 am without any problems, except that my room was soo cold i had to put on a jacket lol (i had 2 fans going Razz).And then in the afternoon i played and WoW froze after 2 hours but it was getting really hot at that time. So i guess andy, im going to get the Sapphire x1600 then, it is really a good card, even though im running the AGP version of it Very Happy. As long as my pc runs wow and bf2, im fine with it .THank you once again guys, much appretiated

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