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Quick graphics card question
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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by Leperous on Tue Apr 13th at 11:24am 2004

I'm looking for a new graphics card as mine is on the blink, and GeForce FX5700's seem to be in my price range (?120/$200 and under). Is a 5700 ultra with 128mb of memory 'better' than a 5700 with 256mb? Or would people suggest a different card for this sort of price, perhaps a budget 5900XT? (why does the internet make it so hard to research this kind of stuff?!)



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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by $loth on Tue Apr 13th at 11:38am 2004

As far as i know a 5700 XT is a 5700 with a higher clock rate so its faster than a normal 5700 with the same amount of ram, but in this case the extra ram might make it slighty faster than a XT [addsig]



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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by diablo on Tue Apr 13th at 12:18pm 2004

I hate my FX5600, it's a piece of s**t! It overheats too much even with an extra fan.





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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by KoRnFlakes on Tue Apr 13th at 12:52pm 2004

sapphire radeon 9600 pro or XT. 130quid I got my pro for, you can probably get the XT for that now. [addsig]



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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by KoRnFlakes on Tue Apr 13th at 12:56pm 2004

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=92783

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=93610

I bought my card & my scanner from scan, they are v good.

[addsig]



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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by wil5on on Tue Apr 13th at 1:24pm 2004

My radeon 9600 pro is pretty good value, even with my crappy CPU and slow bus and RAM, I can still run bf42 in 800x600 with good fps. A big improvement over the GF2 MX200 I used to have...

You seem to be concentrating too much on nVidia. AFAIK, the radeon 9600 is equal to or greater than the fx5700. Then again, I could be wrong. But, the radeon works for me.

[addsig]



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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by Gorbachev on Tue Apr 13th at 6:15pm 2004

I highly suggest an ATI card if you're getting one these days. Previously Nvidia was the king, but that's not so anymore. [addsig]



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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by Wild Card on Tue Apr 13th at 6:39pm 2004

If the XT is the same card but with a higher clock setting, dont waste the extra money and buy that one. IMO, just get the standard one and overclock it. Provided theres good cooling solution on the card and you dont have hot spots in your case.

If not, I mean, what is the difference between 128 and 256? Its nothing new, just more of the same stuff. The difference between a 5700 and a 5900 = new features. Pretty much all the PGU's are identical. Its just that the 5700 has some features locked that the 5900 dosent. Therefore nVidia can have several different card models ranging from extreme gamer cards to low end game cards without having to waste money making different GPU's for each.

I may be wrong, but I think, for example, the 5200 and the 5900 are essentially the same GPU, but the 5200 is locked out of many features and they lowered its clock setting and gave the card a cheaper cooling feature.

IMO, when looking for a card, the GPU comes first, then the ram.

[addsig]



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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by fishy on Tue Apr 13th at 6:50pm 2004

the reviews that i read put me right off getting the fx 5700. they all seemed to agree that it was a noisy disappointment compared to whatever the equivalent ATI card is.

it was only with the fx5900 that nvidia got there act together with some of problems they had with architecture and cooling, and got there noses in front of ati again.





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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by Leperous on Tue Apr 13th at 8:43pm 2004

Thanks guys. Will probably go for an FX5900 and trust in the 'GPU > memory' advice, guess with AGPx8 you can always use system memory in a few years if you need it!





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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by Gorbachev on Tue Apr 13th at 9:09pm 2004

Nothing will utilize 256Mb, it's just more money and you'll never know the difference. [addsig]



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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by Crono on Tue Apr 13th at 9:09pm 2004

? quote:

Thanks guys. Will probably go for an FX5900 and trust in the 'GPU > memory' advice, guess with AGPx8 you can always use system memory in a few years if you need it!


Yeah ... that wont slow down all your processes at all

More video card Ram is more important, as always. A video card works just like the rest of your computer. However, if you don't have as much video RAM and a higher Video BUS with a Higher clock speed, it would be possible to run at the same performance level.

Anyway, I don't think you should buy a card based on GPU speed, since it can be overclocked without severe damage.

It also depends on who you get as the manufacturer of the card. But the end choice is up to you, you're the one who has to use it. [addsig]



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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by Leperous on Tue Apr 13th at 9:22pm 2004

? posted by Gorbachev
Nothing will utilize 256Mb, it's just more money and you'll never know the difference.

Where have I heard that before





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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by omegaslayer on Wed Apr 14th at 12:46am 2004

Go to e-bay and get a discount on all graphics cards, although since your in UK and out of America it might raise problems, but in anycase I got my 9800 pro from there for only 250$ from some one in chicago, works great so far. now im not saying spend 250, but you might be able to find something for cheaper on e-bay. [addsig]



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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by Gorbachev on Wed Apr 14th at 1:46am 2004

I can get a 9800 pro brand new for $320 CDN ($240US). [addsig]



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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by Crono on Wed Apr 14th at 1:57am 2004

Jesus Christ, you'd pay more then $200 (US) for a video card??? [addsig]



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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by $loth on Wed Apr 14th at 9:37am 2004

ATI are better graphics than nvidia, especially if you are going to play HL2, nvidia's memory float point is low compared to radeon graphics cards. [addsig]



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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by Sim on Wed Apr 14th at 11:06am 2004

Tom's hardware guide has some good reviews and comparisons on graphics cards

www.tomshardware.com
and also
http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030127/index.html

Also while I was searching in google I gound this, can't tell if it's true or not

http://forum.pcvsconsole.com/viewthread.php?tid=8278


Just some things I dug up, haven't read them properly but they might be of use.





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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by Wild Card on Wed Apr 14th at 1:54pm 2004

? posted by Gorbachev
I can get a 9800 pro brand new for $320 CDN ($240US).

Have you looked at what www.oemexpress.com have to offer? Ive gotten most of my parts from there. Just make sure you know exactly what your getting first.

[addsig]



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 Re: Quick graphics card question
Posted by Leperous on Thu Apr 15th at 2:30pm 2004

Well, just got a new FX5900, seems to be pretty good but now I need a mobo/processor upgrade Although, I've had my system clock set to July for the last couple of days (accidentally), and it was causing lots of small artifacts to appear against black backgrounds in IE/games!




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