New video card recomendations needed

[Dreamweaver]

Just purchased a Dell C521, AMD 3600 x2, 280 watt ps.

Mainly want to play WoW.

Have considered the 7600 GT, 1950GT and 1950Pro.

Needs to be quiet and $100-$150.

Will my PS be adequate for either of these cards and I have seen on Newegg that the 19950XT Sapphire cards are way noisy.

Help a brother out.

 

[undeclared]

They're all fine.

World of warcraft can run on garbage

 

[mazeroth]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102034

The fan can get a little loud if you're running the card hard (OCing) but that can easily be remedied with ATITool. Drop down the voltage and clocks a tad and drop the fan speed at the same time.

 

[swtethan]

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

there you go, better than the 1950GT, also will kill WoW

 

[nitromullet]

No idea how how quiet they are, but either the 1950GT or 1950Pro would be great cards for WoW.

A few other things to consider from a fellow WoW player:

1) make sure you have 1GB of RAM - WoW runs best with 1GB plus.

2) If your new Dell box came with Vista there is a bit of a performance hit with Vista over XP. I have heard that you can help out some video cards by disabling Aero Glass for WoW. Vista is supposed to disable Aero Glass when you launch a full screen application, but it doesn't seem to be the case with WoW... To do this, right click on WoW.exe in your WoW folder (usually C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\ ), then go to Properties, Compatibility tab, and check "Disable desktop composition". This will prevent Windows from rendering your desktp with Aero while WoW is running.

 

[razor2025]

If you have the C521, like I do, none of the suggested cards will work. C521 is small form-factor with low-profile brackets, so the best you can do for now is this:

http://ozdirect.com/product_info.php?products_id=6528&currency=USD&language=en

Newegg used to carry similar Leadtek card, but the reviewer has said that they've swapped to full-length bracket type w/o actually updating the description.

Beside that MSI I've linked, I haven't found anything in US that's more powerful and still retain the low-profile bracket. There are tons of 7300GS/LE that are low-profile and it looks like that's the best you can do besides going for 7600gs or the Visiontek X1600 (which has some problems on its own).

 

[Dreamweaver]

Bought the box with 512 of memory as they wanted an additional $60 for another 512.

Just ordered 2GB from EWIZ for $76.

Think I'll wait till next week to get a video card as the rebates seem to have dropped off of Newegg, tho the 7600 seems inviting for ~$115.

 

[nanaki333]

i notice a trend with WoW gamer and low budget. hrmmm..

my roommate plays it religously at 1920x1080 and he just has an x1800gto, 2GB ram and used to just have a pentium D, but he has an OC'd 4300 now so he can record (FRAPS) his sessions in true HD glory.

 

[Summitdrinker]

your power supply is too weak for a x1950pro and most likely a x1950Gt too
the x1950 pro needs about 30A on the 12V rail/rails

the x1950 pro is a long card like 8 to 9 inches long

 

[Dreamweaver]

Dang, sounds like Im screwed with the half-height thing, didn't even think about size limitations when i bought this....

I'm sure it'll cost me an arm and leg to return it

What are my half height options and do you think they would run WoW ok?

I don't do much other gaming other than a text based MUD (old school), net surfing and Office use.

Bought it with XP not Vista.

 

[Concillian]

Almost all of the half-height cards have 64-bit memory. You have to be very careful shopping for a half-height video card.

The 7600GS linked to earlier is 128-bit memory and will be adequate for WoW. It's not going to be optimal and have you running a 24" widescreen or anything, but should be pretty decent for normal resolutions.

 

[Noema]

Originally posted by: xtwells
They're all fine.

World of warcraft can run on garbage

I used to play it on integrated video at work.

Of course I had to run it at, like, 800x600 with all details at their lowest settings (hence it looked as if it were a Nintendo 64 game), but run it did.

 

[Wreckage]

Originally posted by: xtwells
They're all fine.

World of warcraft can run on garbage

QFT, I ran it on an old 5900 and a Laptop with ATI integrated.

You can get a 7600 GS passive (completely silent) for under $100