Good graphics card

[Eric5150]

Hello forum,

I am new here, my name is Eric. I wanted to ask for your guys' opinions on good graphics cards. And if you can, please make some recommendations.

I am just getting into modern PC gaming but everytime I buy a new game that came out my video card is not supported. Now I know I should look on the back of the game box to see the requirments but I get to excited about playing. An half the time, they are gifts from other people.

I have aNVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440, I have tried to install even older games like Prince of Persia, Star Wars Knights of the old republic etc. And of course the new games, AVATAR, Modern Warfare, Star Wars the clone wars republic heroes, AVP 2 etc. NONE of them work - not even the games from freakin' 2003.

SO if you guys could please make a recommendations as to what I should get to play all these types of games, I would really appreciate it.

Also, this might be a noobie question but - if I get the newest graphics card can I still play games from '03 such as Prince of Persia Star Wars etc.? will it be supported??

Thanks,
-Eric

 

[VulgarDisplay]

The newest graphics cards will be incompatible with your current motherboard if you ware running an mx440.

If you are interested in playing newer games it's time to build a whole new computer. Now, if you have never built a PC don't be scared. The instructions that come with the parts you buy make it plain as day what you need to do, and usually the only tool you need is a screw driver.

I'm sure people on the forums could easily help you build a low cost computer that would be capable of running the games you are interested in running.

 

[Eric5150]

Thanks for the reply. I have been eying this PC for a few days. It seems to have all the new goodies and not to expensive.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/email/WEM...6-_-tigeremail

What do you think?? Is it good for what I want to do?

 

[Eric5150]

This is the one I think is good, what do you think?
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...?EdpNo=6142913

 

[duralisis]

You simply need an AGP card supporting DX9 and SM3.0. Anything from a Geforce 6 and up should work well. Don't be afraid to buy used either; there's tons of people like me who took great care of their previously high end AGP cards. If you want to stick with NVIDIA, I recommend the 6800GS/U, or 7900GT. Otherwise ATI made great AGP boards up until a couple years ago; even a 3850 model.

Also keep in mind that if you only have a little eMachine or such, you'll want to stay away from anything that pulls a whole lot of 12v (has one or more power connectors on the card).

 

[VirtualLarry]

7600GT? I don't think those require extra power, do they?

 

[nenforcer]

None of the last nVidia AGP cards required more than a single 4-pin MOLEX I don't believe. I'm running the 7800GS on mine.

ATI has Radeon 4650 on AGP now! Clearly the best card for AGP but also hefty power requirements.

 

[RaistlinZ]

I think he's be better off buying a new computer and putting a modern video card into it. If he's running a GeForce4 MX 440 I'm guessing his system is from circa 2001 or so, and is going to be completely gimp for any kind of modern gaming. I mean.... GeForce4 MX 440... dayem.

OP, I wouldn't go with that 2nd system. It's an odd mix of components. For one, they're charging you $200.00 for 4GB of RAM, which is moronic. Secondly, they putting in a 750w power supply into a system with no video card, which is a waste. Third, they're using a Caviar Green hard drive which isn't exactly a performance demon.

 

[RussianSensation]

I would just build your own system.

Do you have a Microcenter near you?

 

[VulgarDisplay]

I really hope you decide to build a new computer on your own. It's not very difficult at all. The hardest part is deciding what parts you need to buy. Then if you can read instructions it's really simple.

 

[Jacky60]

If I were you I would build a new computer -the one you linked to looks ok but really not the best you could get for the money. Trying to upgrade your current system is a bit like trying to upgrade a VCR recorder-even if you upgrade as far as you can you'll still be struggling and not getting a very good experience. If you have a budget $500 or whatever people here will help you build something really powerful and the best value for your bucks. Also you can keep some components from your old machine (though probably not very many -mouse keyboard etc. Its good fun and once you've done it once you'll never look back-like creating a living breathing friend (well almost).

 

[HumblePie]

Eric5150,

Here is my recommendation. Find someone you know into computers. Someone nearby you know personally is a good start, but even a few of the more respected forum members around here wouldn't be a bad choice.

Asked them to build a computer for you but give them what your budget is. It's best to know ahead of time how much you have to spend. I guarantee that anything built by someone that knows what they are doing and how to deal shop will put together a computer for you 100 times better than anything you can get through a store. Especially for gaming. Also, if you have any specific requirements, it is easier to accomodate those as well, such as the size of the case for example.

I've done this for quite a few people before for example. One of my friends tells me they need a computer for gaming and gives me $400 or $500. I go to town and put them together a system that more than fits the bill. They get what they want, I get to have fun putting together a computer and take a little cut out of that budget for myself.

You can buy a premade computer through companies like Dell, HP, or Gateway but they really are not good computers. Rarely are they good computers for gaming unless you buy one of their "gaming rigs" and for those you are going to pay a lot of money for.

This is because most of these companies cut corners on the parts where they can. The common places are cheap cases, cheap motherboards, and cheap power supplies. The is because the average consumer does not know how to rate those parts and has no clue how to tell the difference between a good power supply or a bad one. This is why those parts are never listed in the "Tech Specs" of the item being sold.

Again, someone that knows what they are doing is going to hook you up with a better computer for a lot less than anything you can buy off the shelf.

 

[Cheex]

Eric, I think you need to tell us what kind of budget you're working with.
Then we could make better recommendations for you. Thanks.

 

[Eric5150]

thanks for all the great reply guys! My budget is about $500 maybe a little more if I can sell some stuff I have.

 

[blanketyblank]

What OS are you using? If you can reuse the license key that'll save you like $100 right there. $500 worth of hardware is a lot if you can reuse stuff like monitor, accessories, and OS. If you have to buy that stuff as well you won't be able to build something good for gaming.

 

[Eric5150]

What OS are you using? If you can reuse the license key that'll save you like $100 right there. $500 worth of hardware is a lot if you can reuse stuff like monitor, accessories, and OS. If you have to buy that stuff as well you won't be able to build something good for gaming.

I am using windows xp. I can reuse it. I can reuse the monitor, keyboard and other accessories obviously. I am just looking for a good system.

 

[blanketyblank]

In that case here's how I would roughly budget out a new build for you assuming you can reuse the case and hard drive as well. Otherwise those are about $50 each.
$50 PSU
$150 (5770)
$100 DDR3 Memory
$200 CPU + MOBO

These are just rough estimates though, but a system like that should be pretty good and will run most anything (though not necessarily at high resolutions on max settings).
A 5850 would be a nice bump to the system, but would require about $150 more.
With careful shopping and a lot of patience (read wait for black friday) you can trim the price down probably by $100 or so.

 

[john63]

hoi Eric,
the guys are right, a new system is the best solution, but.
Recently i bought a graphic card the ati xt 850 AGP, 2 handed, for 25 euro's.
My old system is doing great with an athlon XP 2800.
The games you name all run great but not on the highest levels.
The problem lies in the origin of the MX 440, its an GF 2, instead of an GF 4.
There are a lot of graphic cards that will do the job, but it still depends on the specs of your system.

 

[v8envy]

Wow, 440MX. The worst integrated intel chipset available today will run circles around that relic (which was low end and arguably obsolete for its day.) And the slowest single core Atom is probably twice as fast as your CPU.

With a system that ancient you probably have a CRT, so you won't need to run much higher than 1280x1024. At that kind of resolution even AMD chipset video is sufficient.

So my suggestion is:

AMD 785G motherboard, AMD dual CPU, 2G of ram. $200-ish. If you think you'll be running newer games step that up to a quad core and 4 gigs of RAM for $300.
Power supply. $30 (the corsair 400CX) .

Which leaves up to $270 to stick in a mattress while you see if you can survive with the lackluster on-board graphics until the current GPU drought is over. Target black friday as the time to buy the real video card and hard drive you'll need to truly modernize your box.

If you simply can't deal with the onboard graphics there are plenty of GT240 deals for around $60.

 

[pcsavvy]

If you have a Fry's or Microcenter near you, they usually run mb/cpu combo deals that are fairly good. :awe: I got an AMD Athlon II X3 425 with a Gigabyte MA78LM-S2 for ~$76 with $10 MIR. I was able to use all my old parts except for my sound card since the m/b came with one pci-express slot which I put my tv tuner in. Eventually I will upgrade the m/b when funds allow and get DDR3 memory too.
Fry's seems to have some real budget combo's if you keep a sharp eye on the local newspaper ads. They have been having quite a few amd cpu/mb combo deals lately.
You can get either a dual or tri or quad core AMD cpu with a motherboard for about 50-150 dollars depending upon the m/b. This way you can spend more on the graphics card which is where you want the majority of your budget to go to so you can play all the games you want and not be held back by graphics.
It is more fun to build your own since you can spec out what you want and have a great gaming machine on any budget and not be tied to some half baked prebuilt machine that disappoints you.
Sometimes the hardest part is to rein in your impulses to buy the latest and greatest hardware.:sneaky: