Best PCI Video Card for Gaming

[shtdawg]

Whats the best pci video card for gaming?

 

[spanky]

u might wanna try the video forum. there have been many threads similar to this one.

 

[shtdawg]

Originally posted by: spankyOO7
u might wanna try the video forum. there have been many threads similar to this one.

thanks

 

[BigFatCow]

Radeon 9000pci...

i have a geforce 4 mx 440 pci card and its a decent card but im pretty sure the Radeon 9000 is now a better card...

 

[Mloot]

Originally posted by: BigFatCow
Radeon 9000pci...

i have a geforce 4 mx 440 pci card and its a decent card but im pretty sure the Radeon 9000 is now a better card...

Hercules 9000 PCI - probably better than MX440 PCI

Powercolor 9000 PCI - no

EDIT: In about a month, the best PCI video card will be the Visiontek Radeon 9100 PCI (when it becomes available).

 

[StraightPipe]

just curious, why not AGP?

I kinda thought PCI went away when they gave up on the dual SLI configs.

 

[paralazarguer]

There's no such thing as a good PCI videocard for gaming. EA games expressly states in its documentation for C&C Generals that ANY PCI videocard no matter the chipset does not meet the minimum system requirements. AGP is required.

 

[kalster]

EA games expressly states in its documentation for C&C Generals that ANY PCI videocard no matter the chipset does not meet the minimum system requirements. AGP is required

so you base ur conclusion on pci cards just based on what 1 game maker says?

 

[paralazarguer]

No, I based it on the fact that I've seen the PCI bus get saturated by other devices. Its pathetic bandwidth doesn't need a videocard in there. There are tangible performance gains between AGP 2x and 4x in modern games and PCI is much worse. It has a theoretical through put of 133MB/s vs AGP's 2100MB/s. That's rarely achieved and in real life you're looking at more like 40-60mb/sec. Add in there a soundcard, Various integrated peripherals taking PCI bandwidth, a hard drive controller (which itself can take fully all of the PCI bus bandwith at burst,) forget about RAID controllers, etc.
PCI graphics cards are useless for modern games. They require too much bandwidth. Sorry.

 

[Lord Evermore]

Most modern chipsets, for at least the past year and a half, have had the IDE controllers (and if integrated in the chipset) the network controller connected directly through the chipset to the bus between north and southbridge, bypassing the PCI bus. Only older chipsets where the southbridge was a device ON the PCI bus itself resulted in those devices riding the bus. So for most users, at best a sound card or integrated audio is using the PCI bus, and some chipsets allow the AC'97 audio to bypass the PCI bus as well I believe.

Nobody said PCI is optimal for video cards in gaming. The original post merely asked which card would be best considering that it has to be PCI. Plenty of people have motherboards, especially OEM boards, without an AGP slot but using only old SiS or Intel integrated graphics, where even a Radeon7000 PCI would be an upgrade, but they can't afford an entirely new system.

There's also a difference between whether there are tangible performance differences and whether games are unplayable. AGP4X may help somewhat for games, but AGP2X isn't unplayable still, and a PCI video card WILL provide basic gaming capabilities for someone with a very small budget. It certainly won't play the latest games at the highest resolutions, but if the option is low performance or no gaming at all, then PCI is acceptable.

 

[Mloot]

Originally posted by: paralazarguer

PCI graphics cards are useless for modern games. They require too much bandwidth. Sorry.

I beg to differ on that point. I play Dungeon Siege, Max Payne, and Neverwinter Nights at 800x600x32 with medium detail settings and get decent frame rates, or if I turn down the detail a little, I can play at 10x7x32, all with a PCI video card. Plus, a 9100 PCI video card would probably be a nice performance boost over what I currently have.

 

[Davegod]

depends on perspective "Dungeon Siege, Max Payne, and Neverwinter Nights at 800x600x32 with medium detail settings" isnt exactly what a vaguely hardcore gamer* would consider good gaming performance. More gamers would probably be looking at UT2003 at 1024x768 medium detail, reasonable fps (and then, does reasonable fps = >40 or >85? ) for decent games performance, and the hardcore unlikely to be wanting to buying that now.

best PCI card = 9000 probably, or as the guy says wait for 9100 maybe. Wether that will be ample, adequate or insufficient for what you need simply depends on what you need i.e. what games you play / intend to play Quake3, easily; Doom3, not likely.


*generally hardcore gamer; a DS, MP or NWN hardcore gamer otoh...

 

[PrinceXizor]

Originally posted by: Lord Evermore
Most modern chipsets, for at least the past year and a half, have had the IDE controllers (and if integrated in the chipset) the network controller connected directly through the chipset to the bus between north and southbridge, bypassing the PCI bus. Only older chipsets where the southbridge was a device ON the PCI bus itself resulted in those devices riding the bus. So for most users, at best a sound card or integrated audio is using the PCI bus, and some chipsets allow the AC'97 audio to bypass the PCI bus as well I believe.

Nobody said PCI is optimal for video cards in gaming. The original post merely asked which card would be best considering that it has to be PCI. Plenty of people have motherboards, especially OEM boards, without an AGP slot but using only old SiS or Intel integrated graphics, where even a Radeon7000 PCI would be an upgrade, but they can't afford an entirely new system.

There's also a difference between whether there are tangible performance differences and whether games are unplayable. AGP4X may help somewhat for games, but AGP2X isn't unplayable still, and a PCI video card WILL provide basic gaming capabilities for someone with a very small budget. It certainly won't play the latest games at the highest resolutions, but if the option is low performance or no gaming at all, then PCI is acceptable.

Yes, thus EA's statement that a PCI card no matter the chipset (including those where the HD I/O has been removed from the PCI bus) is NOT enough for its game(s).

Whoever is getting it should be aware that some games simply won't run on it.

 

[apoppin]

Overclockers.Com asked the same question with the same (lack of) choices:

A few GF4 MX440s (including the one mentioned above) and

A few PCI Radeon 9000s.
While the Radeon 9000 Pro generally does somewhat better than an MX440 in benchmarking; it normally runs at a core clock of 275MHz and memory at 550MHz. This particular PCI card runs a core clock of 250MHz, and memory at only 380MHz. Slowed down to that extent, it's unlikely to do as well as the MX.

On the other hand, it is DX 8.1 compatible while the MX isn't.

 

[human2k]

Originally posted by: Mloot

Originally posted by: paralazarguer

PCI graphics cards are useless for modern games. They require too much bandwidth. Sorry.

I beg to differ on that point. I play Dungeon Siege, Max Payne, and Neverwinter Nights at 800x600x32 with medium detail settings and get decent frame rates, or if I turn down the detail a little, I can play at 10x7x32, all with a PCI video card. Plus, a 9100 PCI video card would probably be a nice performance boost over what I currently have.

I bet you would spend $300 on a Asus Granitebay board and use PCI graphics also too.

 

[rudder]

Originally posted by: StraightPipe
just curious, why not AGP?

I kinda thought PCI went away when they gave up on the dual SLI configs.

Some people buy motherboard with integrated video and may not have an AGP slot. The onboard video is usually lacking, so rather than buy a new mainboard, a pci card is much cheaper.