Graphics card questions

[yuri]

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.

[Ninja]

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

[MihaiG]

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

[Blade]

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)

[shorthair]

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.

[Clayton]

now how in the hell would you be able to build that computer for that price? i mean if you can whoah

[yuri]

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.)

[shorthair]

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).

[Clayton]

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

[shorthair]

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

[BenLi]

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...

[MysticVegeta]

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

[Andy]

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

[NikG]

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).

[Andy]

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