Whether to upgrade my graphics card ?

MisterAnarchy

I am wondering should I upgrade my graphics card.
I have an Asus Geforce 4Mx460 card .
I've had this card for a year and a half and have found it to be a very good card.
I play all games at 1024x768 res ,and some at 1280x1024 on my 17inch tft and the picture is excellent.
My monitor is limited to a 72hz refresh rate.
The rest of my system is an Athlon Xp2200 and 768Mb of DDR2700.
I,ve got an Augigy 2 supplying a set of 5.1 speakers and I also have the tv-out of the PC connected up to a 28 inch widescreen tv.
I use this for some of the games.
To be honest I am very happy with the performance I am achieving at the moment.
If I were to spend €125 what performance increase could I expect ?
I'd appreciate it if people dont reply with 'if you spent a bit more ..you could get..' answer as I think €125 is enough money.
I could spend more but I wont.
So what card would be a worthwile buy ?

Giblet

With that card, you can play games that are about 2-4 years old pretty decently. Games newer than that will start to suffer, and new games will not be playable due to your card not being supported.

I'd say go for a Sapphire 9600 XT, excellent card, and just over 150 euro.

Anything under that won't get you what you want in terms of support for new games, and speed.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=122900&cks=SER

Heres another card, but within your price range

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=120318&cks=SER

MisterAnarchy

I am playing brand new games fine on it at the moment.
Tiger Woods 04,Fifa 04,Max Payne 2,Call of Duty, and Halo.
I find the card handles these fine.
1024x768,32 bit colour.
The only 2 games I ever had difficulties were GTA 3 and Silent Hill 2.
I put the blame down to buggy software to be honest.
I think the 9600Xt would be the best option allright.
Am I right in assuming that the FX5200 in all guises is rubbish ?

MisterAnarchy

Does the Lite version only apply to the software bundle ,i.e is the hardware the same ?
Thanks

Mutant_Fruit

If it was me, i'd keep using that card until i get crap framrates in games in 1024x768.

Then i'd start looking for a new one. And by the time 800x600 is just about playable, i'd be going out to get that new card.

Giblet

To be honest, he is getting rubbish frames on COD and Max Payne 2 unless he has a kick ass system behind it.

I get 100fps on each one, and 60 fps on Hl2 beta, which is buggy to say the least, and I have the XT, and Halo with a GF4MX won't have the fancy bumpmapping and shaders on it.

Lite means no games and smaller packing, thats all.

MisterAnarchy

How could I measure the fps for COD and Max Payne 2 ?

MisterAnarchy

I average about 50fps for Max Payne 2.
Not too bad

Mutant_Fruit

i'd wait til i was averaging 25fps in a new game before i upgraded.

Ok, i won;t be able to take advatage of DX9 features in HL2, but i'll be able to play it on my Geforce3. But i can live with that.

Woden

i agree with what mutant fruit says until your card is struggling i wouldn't bother upgrading, you should just look at the price drop in the radeon 9800 pro in the last two months to see how much you can change, in a few months time ati and nvidia will have there new products out with ati suppling two versions of a new number of cards, i.e. agp and pci-e, price of the XT will drop and all that, wait until you have issues

the fact that you can say this

"To be honest I am very happy with the performance I am achieving at the moment."

means you don't have to upgrade

data

MisterAnarchy

I think I'll hold off for a few months so.
Will the 72Hz refresh rate limit the max fps ?

cheradenine

Not meaning to hijack the thread or anything but seeing as there's talk of graphics card upgrading, is this : http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=122901&cks=PRL new to komplett as I don't remember seeing it previously, and isn't it remarkable cheap even compared to the German Jes place?

MisterAnarchy

That seems like a good deal allright.
I just came across this link.
80 Video Cards of 1999-2003: 3D Benchmarking
Very informative.
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/over2003/index.html

Woden

Originally posted by MisterAnarchy
I think I'll hold off for a few months so.
Will the 72Hz refresh rate limit the max fps ?

afaik tft monitors don't have a refresh rate as unlike CRT they don't do that whole scanny thing, also i don't think the refresh rate is related to the fps to my knowledge

Giblet

For smooth performance, you want the FPS to match the refresh rate of your monitor, or you want it to be double.

So if your getting 85 FPS constant in a game, you want 85 hz. Or if your getting 60 FPS constant, you want 60hz or even better, 120hz.

On some games, the FPS might sync to the refresh rate, so say in counterstrike, your monitor might be forced into 60hz (which does happen on Win2k machines, and sometimes all the refresh fixes in the world don't help) your FPS will be maxed out to 60 aswell.

Mutant_Fruit

generally anything over 30fpsis smooth to watch. But if your monior only refreshes at a max of 72fps, then you will be limited to 72fps regardless of what graphics settings you use.

Generally its nothing to worry about. As long as you have v-sync enabled in the graphics card options it'll be ok, providing your card can suply at least 30fps for that smooth as silk feel.

MisterAnarchy

If I am limited to a max of 72Fps then is there any point in getting the 9800 Pro as I probably wont be able to benefit fully from its potential ?

BloodBath

Well if your looking to play HL2 you probably will only get around 72fps with that card. You certainly won't get it with what you have but it might still be playable at around 30fps.

Stick with what you have for now and when the next gen games come out consider upgrading then. The prices will be cheaper again by then.


BloodBath