Need advice re: video cards...

[unevendozen]

Hey all,

I recently bought my wife a new 20" widescreen LCD and 256mb DDR2 ATI video card. I was severly disappointed to see the poor performance acheived in World Of Warcraft. The game actually looks BEAUTIFUL on the new screen in the native resolution of 1680x1050, however as soon as she starts to run, things get a bit choppy.

We've turned down nearly all the settings to low-medium and it still has the effect of a bad frame rate. It's just kind of jittery when she is running around. Is this a problem with the video card having trouble drawing the picture at such a large size? The rest of her system shouldnt be an issue (P4 3.0ghz, 1.5GB of RAM, etc) as WoW isnt a processor intensive game.

I admit it, I skimped on the card. It was only $79 or so. But the reviewers all said they had no problems playing WoW with it, though they may have been on smaller screens. Anyway, here is the card I bought:

SAPPHIRE 100144ADVL Radeon X1600PRO 256MB GDDR2 PCI Express x16 CrossFire Video Card - Retail

I see that is has since been removed from Newegg's site!! I guess that tells me something. Can you recommend a better one? Willing to spend up to $150-200 if necessary.

Thanks!!

 

[swtethan]

I just recieved a HIS x1950pro and will be trying this on some games, hoping it will get 50% more performance from my x800xl.

its $200 on the egg (AGP) and comes overclocked

1950pro's that are pci-e are around $170


toms hardware vga charts will help you decide:

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics....elx=33&model1=558&model2=607&chart=198


1950pro offers 4x more freames than 1600pro 80 vs 24

 

[swtethan]

the asus 1950pro is the good one

 

[unevendozen]

Oh yeah I should mention her slot is a PCI-E.

Thanks for the recommendation. I will look in to it.

 

[unevendozen]

Any other recommendations?

 

[Entropism]

ATI has a bug with WoW, a lot of people blue screen and/or crash to desktop in blackrock mountain, which was a huge part of endgame raiding. If it happened there, odds are it might happen in another portion of the game in Outlands.

You don't need to spend $200, grab a 7900GS for $110-140, overclock it a bit, and you'll be more than fine. I'm using the same card, at 1600x1200, all settings on high, and I average about 80 FPS.

 

[Cookie Monster]

You dont even need the lastest end graphics to play WoW. A 6800GT/X800XL can do everything well for you in that game.

However those cards arent produced anymore, so you should be looking for a card in the likes of the 7600GT. A 7600GT would do the job just fine. Theyre cheap as well.

 

[ScrewFace]

You're best bet is a 512MB GeForce 7950GT (I have 2 of these monsters in SLI mode and they rock!) or a DAAMIT Radeon X1900XT 256MB. I hope this helps a little.

 

[swtethan]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
You dont even need the lastest end graphics to play WoW. A 6800GT/X800XL can do everything well for you in that game.

However those cards arent produced anymore, so you should be looking for a card in the likes of the 7600GT. A 7600GT would do the job just fine. Theyre cheap as well.

pretty funny that you mention x800XL.... I have one for sale $100

 

[nitromullet]

I would suggest a Radeon X1950PRO. It will play WoW great, and also be able to play other games as well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102061

For $40-50 more than a 7600GT, you get a lot more card. The X1950PRO generally compares favorably to the 7900GS (and sometimes even the 7900GT).

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2858&p=5

 

[latino666]

Jump on this deal

$139 AR for a X1950Pro