Newbie graphics card question

Akaran

Junior Member
Jul 25, 2004
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Morning. This is a quick question from a hardware newbie. I'll be the first to admit that I don't know much about hardware but I know my way around software. Here's the question.

I'm getting a new computer on order, order should be processed by monday. It's part of a very nice deal so I'm limited in options. It's comming with a X300 SE 128mb PCI express x16 graphics card, and I know nothing about it. My current card is a nVidia Ti 4600 512mb that I've had for about three years now. The new computer is "supposed" to be an upgrade (and it is, in all options aside from this one). I was hoping for something that would be able to handle Doom 3, HL2, EQ2 and whatever else may come down the pipeline that would make the Ti choke and die.

What I need to know is, will the X300 do this for me, or should I look for something else? I MAY be able to upgrade to the X800, but I don't know if I can afford it or not.

Advice would be very welcome.
 

rbV5

Lifer
Dec 10, 2000
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x300 is ATI's low-end PCIe part...I wouldn't expect it to be much of a gamer, especially your game list.
 

chilled

Senior member
Jun 2, 2002
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I would say the graphics card is more or less a downgrade from the 4600. I'm more concerned by the 'SE' suffix which means that it may have a 64bit memory bus (assuming the standard X300 has 4 pipelines - the SE can't have less than that!)

I think you'll have to plump for the X800 or at least the X600 sooner rather than later.
 
Jun 14, 2003
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it sux basically, the pci x doesnt even make it sound good,.....the x300 is just a rebadged 9100 or 9200 or somthing on a pci x board ...thats it, not even powerful enough to make use of pci-x, if i were u id try get that 4600 in ur machine some how
 

ZobarStyl

Senior member
Mar 3, 2004
657
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That's a hell of a downgrade. x600 will hardly be an upgrade. x800 will be a huge change. Only PCI-E card worth upgrading to from a 4600 is probably the x800Pro/XT, or if they release it, the x800SE.
 
Jan 31, 2002
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"You Got Served." You bought one of the neutered Dells, didn't you. :p

Anyhow.

Radeon x300SE
Core: 325 MHz (4x1 pipes)
Fillrate: 1300 MTexels/s
Memory: 64-bit DDR @ 400 MHz
Bandwidth: 3.2 GB/s

geForce4 Ti4600
Core: 300 MHz (4x2 pipes)
Fillrate: 2400 MTexels/s
Memory: 128-bit DDR @ 650 MHz
Bandwidth: 10.40 GB/s

Ti4600 >>>>>>>>>> Etch-A-Sketch >> x300SE.

- M4H
 

Akaran

Junior Member
Jul 25, 2004
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Good lord.
Yeah, I'd say it's neutered...

Thanks for the heads up everyone. Will get my order changed as soon as humanly possible.
 

ZobarStyl

Senior member
Mar 3, 2004
657
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Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
You bought one of the neutered Dells, didn't you. :p

I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that Dell even sold computers that weren't neutered...
 

Falloutboy

Diamond Member
Jan 2, 2003
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the thing is just a x600 based on a different manufactuing process (its actaully better) I was to get ahole of one to just to see if they can really overclock.
 
Jan 31, 2002
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Originally posted by: ZobarStyl
Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
You bought one of the neutered Dells, didn't you. :p

I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that Dell even sold computers that weren't neutered...

Yeah, my bad on the redundancy there. ;)

The Inspiron XPS isn't bad if you don't mind it being the size of a desktop. :p

- M4H
 
Jan 31, 2002
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Originally posted by: Falloutboy
the thing is just a x600 based on a different manufactuing process (its actaully better) I was to get ahole of one to just to see if they can really overclock.

Would you rather have an R9200 that overclocks well, or an R9600 that doesn't? :p

- M4H