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Let's say...what's the best video card with $150 budget

I

IHAVEAQUESTION

Golden Member
The game suggests a video card with 128mb, my video card (whatever it is, it's junk for sure) has only 64mb. With $150 budget in mind, which card would be my best bet?
 
Well, I am asking for my brother so I really don't know whether his motherboard has pci express. He has a Dell Dimension 4600 with Pentium 2.4ghz and 2gb memory. Hope that helps.
 
I'd say the X800GTO is the best bet ... the odds of a successful unlock converting it to an X850XT are good, and even if your not able to make that work it should overclock very well... next best choice would be the 6800NU & if you want cheap, the 6600GT or even a 9800 Pro.
 
Originally posted by: RossMAN
Originally posted by: IHAVEAQUESTION
Well, I am asking for my brother so I really don't know whether his motherboard has pci express. He has a Dell Dimension 4600 with Pentium 2.4ghz and 2gb memory. Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

I have the exact same PC, it has AGP not PCI-E.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4600/en/4600i/index.htm
Click to expand...


Rossman, you have every information on hand. Incredible!


Ok, so let's switch this to AGP-Only video card suggestion 🙁 Sorry for wasting everyone's time.
 
I'm running Civ4 on an ancient P3 933 with an Nvidia 5500. Runs a little slow on 1280x1024 and high settings, but more than playable. RAM is the killer. Once you build up and see more of the map, RAM usage spikes. Make sure you have at least 1GB and I would think about getting 2GB if playing on a huge map with a lot of civ's.

Same thing on my Dell Inspiron with an X300. Runs fine, except for the RAM thing. Unless you have 1GB of RAM it's unplayable later in the game.
 
Originally posted by: alent1234
I'm running Civ4 on an ancient P3 933 with an Nvidia 5500. Runs a little slow on 1280x1024 and high settings, but more than playable. RAM is the killer. Once you build up and see more of the map, RAM usage spikes. Make sure you have at least 1GB and I would think about getting 2GB if playing on a huge map with a lot of civ's.

Same thing on my Dell Inspiron with an X300. Runs fine, except for the RAM thing. Unless you have 1GB of RAM it's unplayable later in the game.
Click to expand...

actually, its the HD that is the killer. Getting a faster hD should help leaps and bounds 🙂 1GB of ram is just fine.
 
Originally posted by: BlacKJesuS
faster HD like 7200rpm? or like 10k
Click to expand...

like 15K cheetah.

I have a raid0 drive array with civ4 on it and it's pretty annoying the delays between turns. Good thing the 320gb array cost me only $40. (black friday sales after rebate)

btw, op a 9600pro ro 9800pro will be fine for civ 4. i run it at 1152x864 4xaa max everything fine ob my 9800pro modded to xt.
 
Originally posted by: IHAVEAQUESTION
Originally posted by: RossMAN
Originally posted by: IHAVEAQUESTION
Well, I am asking for my brother so I really don't know whether his motherboard has pci express. He has a Dell Dimension 4600 with Pentium 2.4ghz and 2gb memory. Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

I have the exact same PC, it has AGP not PCI-E.

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim4600/en/4600i/index.htm
Click to expand...


Rossman, you have every information on hand. Incredible!


Ok, so let's switch this to AGP-Only video card suggestion 🙁 Sorry for wasting everyone's time.
Click to expand...

I'm a hardware/video n00b, we just try to help each other out.

Isn't that the AT spirit?
 
Originally posted by: BlacKJesuS
faster HD like 7200rpm? or like 10k
Click to expand...



I'm planning to stagger an upgrade next year and will probably get a WD Raptor first. Then I'll probably get the mobo/CPU/RAM with the integrated ATI chip since it's an x300 and it plays civ4 just fine on my Dell Inspiron. Then if I want to, I'll make a few hundred $$$ selling call options and buy a nice video card. I probably won't buy bleeding edge anymore since I think it's a waste, but something midrange.
 
If the only game he plays is CivIV then pick him up something like a 6600NU and put the rest of the money towards a new CPU. Civ IV would be CPU and RAM limited on a 6GHZ P5 by the time you get to the 19th century(whenever it may be that a 6GHZ P5 is available 😉) and with 2GBs of RAM he is much better off there then his relatively speaking weak CPU.
 
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