Graphics card

[Canuckkev]

Okay, I need a new Graphics card. My current ATI Rage lt Pro 8 MB is horrible. I get a 30 fps max playing Quake, and maybe 20 in Counter Strike. I would also like to play Tribes 2.

So what do you reccomend? Please explain PCI/AGP. I am looking to spend about $150. Not more than $200. There is a list here (http://http://www.futureshop.ca/catalog/subclass.asp?logon=&langid=EN&dept=1&WLBS=fs%2Dweb3&biasid=0B1BA933AE924A23BA36BEBB86BA4D40&catid=10524) of some.

Also, if you know where I can get a better deal, do tell.

Thanks!

[Bruce]

Is that $200 US or CA?

[Giancarlo]

I was wondering? Would you be okay if you payed in US Currency?

The Radeon LE DDR I have is $71.... (http://www.tcwo.com)

[Bruce]

ATI cards have great 2D graphics, but are lacking in the 3D area. I would go for a Geforce2. If you do get a Geforce2 though, just be sure to stay away from the mx and tnt series.

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by Phrozen
ATI cards have great 2D graphics, but are lacking in the 3D area. I would go for a Geforce2. If you do get a Geforce2 though, just be sure to stay away from the mx and tnt series.

I certainly do not think so, and my dad's computer has a Geforce2. I think the Radeon matches the Geforce in every area.

[Bruce]

Not in Quake 3.

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by Phrozen
Not in Quake 3.

Well, fine. But some people here play other games besides Quake III. I still recommend the Radeon... the Geforce is a good choice, if you got the cash.

[Theo]

Personaly i think GeForce2 MX is more than enough and you can get one for less than $50 .. but then again I don't play games all that much.

For less than 150 you can easily get a Geforce2 Pro, or even a cheap Geforce3 for less than 200.

For best price check http://www.pricewatch.com/

If you motherboard supports AGP then thats what you should get. Otherwise you should settle with a PCI one, or change motherboard.

[Bruce]

Originally posted by Giancarlo
But some people here play other games besides Quake III. Hell, I don't play any games, so beat that. I don't even have a graphics card! ROTFLMAO

[Weapon]

:rolleyes: ..... now wheres the beer emotion icon?.....

[Coolin]

Originally posted by Phrozen
Hell, I don't play any games, so beat that. I don't even have a graphics card! ROTFLMAO I didn't think that was possible...

[Bruce]

Coolin, it's called integrated graphics.

[Weapon]

are u trying to be 2pac there and smoking pot? crack?:D

[Akalon]

Originally posted by Phrozen
Coolin, it's called integrated graphics.

...and it sucks

[Bruce]

Originally posted by Akalon


...and it sucks
Yes it does, but it wasn't as bad back in '98 when I got this PC.

[Bruce]

Originally posted by Weapon
are u trying to be 2pac there and smoking pot? crack?:D
I don't think so. :confused2

[ozefrog]

for 88$ AUD u can buy a 32mb TNT2 m-64 gigabyte AGP, i recently built a computer for someone with it and its pretty fast and good.

[stu]

Originally posted by Giancarlo


Well, fine. But some people here play other games besides Quake III. I still recommend the Radeon... the Geforce is a good choice, if you got the cash.

I have the ATI Radeon LE, and it rocks for Quake III.. I can run the game at 1024x768 and get around 70-90 frames per sec with all the quality settings maxed out...

One thing that's good about the Radeon series, is that the image quality is soo much better than Geforce 2. The colors are just so vibrant. I bought it at a local PC shop for about $120 CAD..

Not sure how well it runs Tribes 2, but for the value of this card, it's unbeatable..

[Giancarlo]

Originally posted by stu


I have the ATI Radeon LE, and it rocks for Quake III.. I can run the game at 1024x768 and get around 70-90 frames per sec with all the quality settings maxed out...

One thing that's good about the Radeon series, is that the image quality is soo much better than Geforce 2. The colors are just so vibrant. I bought it at a local PC shop for about $120 CAD..

Not sure how well it runs Tribes 2, but for the value of this card, it's unbeatable..

Yeah I got the LE too... a very, very good and inexpensive card.

But $120? At tcwo.com you can get for $71... maybe you got it a while ago right?

[LastActionHero]

Stu said 120CAD which is 76USD

[Giancarlo]

Oh, my mistake.

[Canuckkev]

Originally posted by stu


I have the ATI Radeon LE, and it rocks for Quake III.. I can run the game at 1024x768 and get around 70-90 frames per sec with all the quality settings maxed out...

One thing that's good about the Radeon series, is that the image quality is soo much better than Geforce 2. The colors are just so vibrant. I bought it at a local PC shop for about $120 CAD..

Not sure how well it runs Tribes 2, but for the value of this card, it's unbeatable..

How much ram and what kind of proccessor do you have to get that qual? I have 128 MB RAM, and a PIII 450. I would guess 32 MB would generally be sufficient, but would a 64 be a lot better?

One more question, would there be any compatibility problems with things such as my motherboard? Or is that pretty rare for popular cards?

[Bruce]

Originally posted by Canuckkev
One more question, would there be any compatibility problems with things such as my motherboard? Or is that pretty rare for popular cards?
The only likely problem would be not having an AGP slot. A lot of the older motherboards don't have one (including mine :().

[Canuckkev]

And how would I find this out? Read my motherboards manual?

Okay, I guess i have one. According to the diagram in the book anyways. Well, thanks for your help!

[Bruce]

Even though you've already found out someone else might want to know...

The AGP slot is a littel bigger than a PCI and is usually brown.

[stu]

Originally posted by Canuckkev


How much ram and what kind of proccessor do you have to get that qual? I have 128 MB RAM, and a PIII 450. I would guess 32 MB would generally be sufficient, but would a 64 be a lot better?

One more question, would there be any compatibility problems with things such as my motherboard? Or is that pretty rare for popular cards?

My Radeon LE is running on a comp with a P3 800EB and 256MB PC133 ram. But I recently upgraded the memory last summer. So when I was playing Q3, I had 128MB of PC100 installed, and getting around 70-90fps at 1024x768. I haven't tried quake3 with the new memory.

The Radeon LE (or any radeon/geforce) scale better in speed with faster cpus. So your scores with the same card will be lower..

If your motherboard has an Intel chipset, there should be very little compatibility problems.

[Canuckkev]

Something interesting as I was investigating the Radeon LE. It can be hacked by a registry setting up to a Radeon. Very interesting.

One more question, I can't seem to find the Radeon LE anywhere online. Not for sale. There are these:

ATI Radeon SDR (Video Out) 32MB PCI

ATI Radeon VE Dual Display 32MB AGP

ATI Radeon AIW 32MB AGP

ATI Raedon SDR 64MB AGP Graphics Board


But no "LE".

Also, I took 3dmark2000's test, and scored 613. Other similar systems scored 627, 620, 541 and 409.

What do your systems rate?

[stu]

Originally posted by Canuckkev
Something interesting as I was investigating the Radeon LE. It can be hacked by a registry setting up to a Radeon. Very interesting.

One more question, I can't seem to find the Radeon LE anywhere online. Not for sale. There are these:

ATI Radeon SDR (Video Out) 32MB PCI

ATI Radeon VE Dual Display 32MB AGP

ATI Radeon AIW 32MB AGP

ATI Raedon SDR 64MB AGP Graphics Board


But no "LE".

Also, I took 3dmark2000's test, and scored 613. Other similar systems scored 627, 620, 541 and 409.

What do your systems rate?

http://www.canadacomputers.com
That's where I bought my Radeon LE, but I bought it at their local shop, and not from their website.. Not sure how good their online shopping is..

And yes, I hacked it too.. Runs great... The Radeon LE shouldn't be hard to find at any online retailer. It has been a very popular card expecially since that hack was discovered.

It's been a while since I ran 3dmark2000, but I think my system scored around 3000-4000. It's a modest score, not overly high, and not too low.

[Bruce]

Originally posted by Canuckkev
What do your systems rate?
49. I'm guessing that's not too good, eh? :D

My maximum frame rate was .41 (yes, point 41) fps.

[Canuckkev]

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha....:D Wow, and I thought mine was bad. I did it again and got 646. And that was the highest rate out of any other published result with that card. My 450 MHz proccessor appears to work better than the 750 and 800 PIII's with this card. Hilarious.

[stu]

Also here.. I've heard good things bout this online retailer...

http://www.ncix.com/Canada/productlist.cfm?majorcatid=101&minorcatid=108

[ozefrog]

Originally posted by Phrozen

The only likely problem would be not having an AGP slot. A lot of the older motherboards don't have one (including mine :().

that is not always true, i have a Pentium 60mhz board sitting around with an AGP slot.

the main things you have to look out for when buying a new graphics adapter, is you have the rite version AGP slot for the card, and most modern AGP cards only support 4x where older boards only support 2x (i do not no wat this means but i no a 4x would not work on a 2x board but it would vice versa, this is just common sense really)

if you have a modern Pentium II or Pentium III board or equivilent you would not have to worry about this.

i dont know much about AGP (i am still runing a 4mb PCI in mine) but i have build computers with AGP cards.

[Bruce]

Keywords from my statement being "a lot."

[stu]

many "fairly new" motherboards (1999-2000) for Pentium III/Celeron don't even have an AGP slot. These are the motherboards that come with integrated graphics...

although many of the newer boards with integrated graphics now have an AGP slot...

[Canuckkev]

Okay, thanks for all your help. I am interested in the Radeon LE (if I can find it somewhere cheap). From reading about it at ATI, it says it is compatible with a 2X AGP slot, which I am pretty sure I have. But in my motherboard manual, it says this:
A.G.P is the new bus standard device that allows the bus speed to run at 66MHz with up to 133 MHz data transfer capabilities.

And in the Radeon FAQ's, it says:


The DAC frequency is 350MHz.

So, does it look like it will not work with my motherboard? Or are those two specs completely different? Thanks!

[Mekhu]

I got the ASUS V7700 32MB Deluxe card in this pc and when I play cs I get the max fps possible.

Pretty mint card.

Mekhu

[LastActionHero]

DAC freqeuncy is the frequency at which the graphics chip operates (something like the processor speed). The 66 Mhz or 133 MHz etc is the BUS speed that is the speed at which the card communicates with the main processor. My guess is your card is compatible.

[stu]

DAC, or RAMDAC is not the graphics processing speed. It is the component that converts digital signals to analog to be displayed to your monitor.. Your monitor is an analog device. The faster the RAMDAC, the better the refresh rates you can obtain at higher resolutions. So the radeon has a pretty quick RAMDAC.

The Radeon LE's graphics processor is running at 150Mhz at default. But with the registry hack, you can overclock it to 166Mhz and it will be the same as the regular Radeon 32MB DDR. Radeon should work fine under AGP 2X.

[Canuckkev]

Once again, thanks for all your help. I will buy a Radeon LE off of EBAY. One going for 31 US right now.

So I opened up my case, also to check to upgrade RAM, and noticed my current card is glued into the AGP slot. Glue. Is this common? Should I not remove it? I thought I could easily install the card myself, but maybe not if it is glued in.

[trenzterra]

I got "ATI RAGE MOBILITY-M AGP(English)" and 3d works fine for me. Well, to admit, not so fine actually. I didn't know I got AGP even(and don't know what it means)

I got a PCMCIA slot anyway.

[niv]

Getting a GeForce2 MX 32 MB VRAM AGP card with my Dell Pentium 4 coming in this Friday. Oh yeah. TV-out.

[Giancarlo]

I advise against getting a Pentium 4, it ain't a good idea.

[niv]

Originally posted by Giancarlo
I advise against getting a Pentium 4, it ain't a good idea. I saved $500 dollars off Dell through buying it through my dad's company, so it doesn't matter anyway. Besides, I need a backup for the other two Dell systems I have.