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Graphics Cards



Clart

ClioSport Club Member
I wanna be able to run HL2 on the highest settings. What should i go for -

Max £150
 
  Full Fat 182
Geforce 6800GT will, but depends on the rest of your machine mate.

Whats your spec?

Would be worth spending a bit more and getting a 256mb card tho, 128 isnt really enough now days and give it a few months and you'll want/need more . you can get the 6800GT (128mb) from www.lowestonweb.com cheap.

You'll need to upgrade you power supply regardless, as older models didnt sap power like the new ones
 
  Turbo'd MX-5 MK4
i've got an XFX Geforce 6800GT with 550W PSU, 2.6GHz P4, 1GB RAM and it struggles to run it smoothly when all the settings are pushed up.
 

Clart

ClioSport Club Member
I just don't know whether i can justify spending over £200 on a graphics card when xbox360 is just round the corner
 
  Full Fat 182
Just checked lowestonweb.com and they have stoped selling the geforce models but have a full range of ATI's.

I'd go hunt for the 6800GT. Getting the 256mb version myself after testing it out on a mates computer (my local shop sells it for £220 approx.)

You will get similar frame rates with your setup tho, as from experience AMD's tend to out-perform Pentium 4's in gaming terms. 1gig mem will help too...
 
I wouldn't bother then, for the difference it will probably make it will still leave you disapointed. I've lost count of the cards I have bought over the years, I used to get the latest and greatest everytime, but you get to a point and realise that there really is no point, especially with the speed at which the video card market and technology moves.

Save the pennies and get a 360 as a priority, as the basic package is crap and you'll probably want it with all the decent quality cables, wireless pads, HDD and toys...
 
  Full Fat 182
My advice is stick with it too.

Not sure if you can with that model, but overclocking is an option?....

360 looks the nuts, just cant play 1st person shooters on consoles, mouse and keyboard is the only way to play.
 

Clart

ClioSport Club Member
u get an adapter that plugs into ur xbox/ps2 which lets u plug in a mouse and a keyboard
 

Darren S

ClioSport Club Member
Clart - you've the same CPU & amount of memory as me m8. I went from a GeForce 4 Ti4600 up to the 9800 Pro and noticed quite a significant jump in performance. Mainly due to the 8x AGP bus support and support for DirectX9 though.

You may not notice much increase from say a 9600 card to a 9800. Better to hang fire, I'd say...

D.
 
  Turbo'd MX-5 MK4
yep, XBox 360, PC Video Cards take the piss big time, BIG money that soon becomes worthless
 

MaLicE

Honorary Member
ClioSport Club Member
  Lazy v8
i have x800xtpe too lol, remember when we both got them lee lol... why pay extra for the same thing lol
 

Lee

  BMW M2C
MaLicE said:
i have x800xtpe too lol, remember when we both got them lee lol... why pay extra for the same thing lol

Yeah, I remember. :approve:

It's ready to download on Steam Gaz.

I've got an 6800GT in the PC here so it should run it nicely. You need at least a 6800 or X800 for it to run.
 
  Monaro VXR
The 9800pro will run it with all details on max at 1024x768 as long as you dont have antialiasing or ansitropic filtering on. You could prolly get away with running 2x AA and 4x af though and still have playable framerates for that cash.

Or get yourself a nice 6600gt.

There are some places though were you can pick up a 6800gt for £180 and performance for pound blows the other cards away more than double the power for £30 extra and easily capable of playing HL2 with everything maxed out.
 
  182
Managed to run hl2 on a amd64 3200 with a 2 yr old fx 5600 on max options + AA. Only slowed down a bit at complicated points. Dunno how, just seemed to run easily on that game. Friends got a 9800 pro and can run full but without full AA. An X800 or equivilent should be able to cope if u can still get them for a decent price.
 
  Monaro VXR
Thats because the FX series cant make sue of all the fancy effects so its running in direct x 8 mode rather than DX9 really. So you dont get a lot of the nice fancy graphics that you get with the 9800's
 
  Clio 182
I paid £90 for a Geforce 6800 Ultra (from a friend) runs all games very high quality! but a 6800GT is a good card aswell.
 
  FOR SALE: '97 Clio 1.4 RT
7800GTX runs the lost coast quite nice ^_^ HDRI is cool, buuuuuut... I have a fear lots of poor games are gonna impliment it really badly, and just lead to cheesy-looking low-fps games.


If your on a budget, I'd say go for the last generation of cards (eg: X800/6800) and last gen; ATI were probably the best bang for your buck.

Get a crossfire compatible card, then in 6months; buy another, along with a crossfire mobo... mebbe not the cheapest way overall, but it saves u forking out £350 for a 7800GTX.


-Akira
 
  182
wozzaa said:
Thats because the FX series cant make sue of all the fancy effects so its running in direct x 8 mode rather than DX9 really. So you dont get a lot of the nice fancy graphics that you get with the 9800's

Its a DX9 card and looked almost as good as my bro's ATI x800xt.
 
  BMW e46 320 Ci Sport
mate i don't know what everyone else is saying about the 6800gt but let me assure u half life 2 won't look any better spending anymore on a card. i have one (P4 3.2 1gig ram) and run on full everthing even full AA no problems no lag at all. simply awesome on it. same with doom 3....haven't tested FEAR out though...
 

Lee

  BMW M2C
Half Life 2 doesn't really push those cards, except for the Lost Coast tech demo. Games that really work the hardware are Doom 3, Far Cry and F.E.A.R

The Unreal 3 stuff brings dual 7800GTX to there knees though, and looks amazing.
 
  Focus ST-2
David your system will get raped by fear, mine did, lol. Amd 3500+ 64 2 gig ram bfg overclocked 6800 ultra, ran fear on full through the test and it was averaging 28 fps gadz, turned a few things off and it ran at 54 fps which was not bad. Detail in it is unreal tho. Ordered a few new bits tho, so hopefully ill get 60 fps on full hopefully.

Clart you should get a 6800 gt or try pick up a ultra. Your system should be able to run HL2 with everything on.
 
Lee said:
Half Life 2 doesn't really push those cards, except for the Lost Coast tech demo. Games that really work the hardware are Doom 3, Far Cry and F.E.A.R.

Totally agree. A lot of people use half-Life 2 as a benchmark for how their machine will play the latest games, not realising that it wasnt actually that intensive at all. Half-Life 2 is a beautiful looking game when maxed up on AA & AF, but it doesnt do an awful lot with shadows or particles compared to games like F.E.A.R.
 
Oh and The Lost Coast HDR tech-demo is amazing - the stuff in the church is eye wateringly good. Yet it still played at well above 30fps on my 'old' P4 3.0, 2GB, 6800Ultra with everything pretty much maxed up. The Source engine is going to bring us some great looking games.
 

Clart

ClioSport Club Member
so i'm basically looking at an x800xt, or a 6800gt/ultra to make it worth my while upgrading
 
  BMW e46 320 Ci Sport
get a gt, the difference to the ultra isn't worth it. i know cause i researched it alot before buying www.tomshardware.com recommended it voer the ultra due to power per pound etc. i never recommend ati due to bad personal experience with them.
 


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