Minimum graphics card for new games.

311

Hello ,I bought a x1300 this week thinking I wouldn't bother with games.
But after downloading a couple of demos ,I think I really should get a decent one.

Whats the cheapest one I could get away with ,that would do for a couple of years. I was looking at the nvidia 8800's for around €300 .

I wasn't sure if the new nvidia card would make it's price cheaper in the near future.

Thanks.

TerrorFirmer

Can't go wrong with an 8800gts 320mb, about 280-300 euro and will run anything right now flawlessly, and the length of time it will take it to reach what your X1300 currently occupies in the power charts is a long, long way away.

papu

an ati 1900 or an nvidia 8800gts 320mb

311

The funny thing is ,I got a program with my ati card called steam ,for downloading games.
My two favourite demos ,both have nvidia adverts at the start
Hitman blood money demo ,painkiller demo.

I'll keep my eye on the 8800 GTS so ,hopefully it might come down in price:)

EDIT : Something thats bothered me about a big card though ,I have a dell e520 with a 450W power supply . Dell duo 6320. I couldn't find out on the dell site whether I can use a big card or not .

TerrorFirmer

Oh yeah, Radeon users get HL2 deathmatch or Lost Cost free! Look into it...

311

HavoK wrote:

Oh yeah, Radeon users get HL2 deathmatch or Lost Cost free! Look into it...

There on their way to me now ,thanks for that havok !:)

DemonOfTheFall

_Brian_ wrote:

The funny thing is ,I got a program with my ati card called steam ,for downloading games.
My two favourite demos ,both have nvidia adverts at the start
Hitman blood money demo ,painkiller demo.

I'll keep my eye on the 8800 GTS so ,hopefully it might come down in price:)

EDIT : Something thats bothered me about a big card though ,I have a dell e520 with a 450W power supply . Dell duo 6320. I couldn't find out on the dell site whether I can use a big card or not .

It's quite likely that Dell put that same power supply into plenty of systems that also have 8800GTSes in them. I wouldn't worry about it to be honest. There's a whole lot of hot air about nothing from people who think that extremely expensive power supplies are important, but as long as your supply is of reasonable quality (which dells are) you've got nothing to worry about.

So if you don't mind dropping €300 on the 8800, then go for it, it'll shred any game out there at max settings. Hell, my x1900 shreds almost any game at max settings and your card will be nearly twice as fast!

311

Thanks demon.

christophicus

HavoK wrote:

Oh yeah, Radeon users get HL2 deathmatch or Lost Cost free! Look into it...

really? so if i stick m 9600 in can get hl2 deathmatch

papu

if you have an ati card now steam will give you a free game
http://www.steampowered.com/ati_offer1a/

Timans

papu wrote:

if you have an ati card now steam will give you a free game
http://www.steampowered.com/ati_offer1a/

Or buy the 2900XT anyway and download them then.

christophicus

lol, u need hl 2 to play lost coast dont ya? do u need hl 2 for hl2 deathmatch?

311

They're not addons are they ?? ,they're over 3GB

christophicus

i thought lost coast was an expansion for Hl2 ?

christophicus

What you should do is checkout what rated wattage psu nvidea reccommend for the card.

311

Sorry christophicus ,I deleted that last post there.
The url didn't go straight to the page I wanted.

I'm just checking over things ,just in case.
I trust what demon said earlier ,I'm just want to make sure I know whats going on inside the machine ,before I run a new card in.

papu

their stand alone games , lost coast is just a little leaser to episode 1 its got some nice features , takes maybe 30 mins to play through , deathmatch is a fun game XD

311

I've picked throught various cards ,the XFX 8800GTS 320MB looks tasty.
Is XFX ok as a brand ?

christophicus

No probs brian

XFX is one of the best brands out there provided you go for their preoverclocked cards. There is very little overclocking to be had out of their standard clocked cards. Hower their preoverclocked cards re usually quite expensive and it might be better to look into a cheap 640 mb varient, dont kow how muhof a price diffrence there is.

311

I can get the 320 for about 310 ,the 640 is coming up at 400.
No one seems to have stock of either of them ,which kind of suits me.
I'll aim for the 640 version so,I better start getting some more work in for it

Thanks for the help with this ,I'm still waiting for the HL2 games ,almost there:)

Laters

christophicus

lol I dont know if i am going to get either game.

Theres not really any need to go for the 640 unless u actually want to te 320 is probably the best bang for buck around.

I woulg however be worried about ur psu

here it says 500W is the minmm and tht 600W is reccommended

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-054-OK

311

Without sounding like a know it all ponce.
Does OCUK not do this ,so they justify their own over powered systems.
If they could sell low PSU units ,they wouldn't need to overclock ???

My cpu is not the max for my board ,so I presume my board has some draw left in it . If I had a 2.4 duo core ,the board might have me worried in case it got burnt out.

I better keep schtumn ,sorry.

christophicus

u might b right

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37910

I dont understand the last 2 paragraphs sorry:(

311

Thanks for that link ,I will make sure the clock speed is not too high ,maybe the 640mb version has a lower clock speed.

christophicus

As far as i know it doesnt, just less memory.

christophicus wrote:

I dont understand the last 2 paragraphs sorry:(

sorry i was talking about ur previouse post.

311

I just alt tabbed from hl2 DM ,I better go back ,thanks

DemonOfTheFall

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/bfg8800gts/10.html
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2096&page=4
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1086&pageID=3336

There's 3 links for you, all showing the full system power draw from the wall not topping 300watts with an 8800GTS in them. This means the supply itself was using about 260watts internally. I'd say you'll be fine with the 450watter.

If it was a 2900XT you were looking at, then it's time for a new power supply!

311

I can't get a 8800GTS:o

Heres a snippit from a gaming site


"Member
Date Posted: Jun/01/2007 8:01 AM
Rating: 0

azntalldude said:



The 8800GTS cards will not fit in the E520s. Besides the fact that you might be pushing the stock power supply with a GTS, that case will only take single-slot video cards since there is no additional PCI slot above and the CPU duct is in the way. I was able to squeeze a 7600GT with a Zalman cooler simply because those cards are usually pretty short. "

I opened up the case and low and behold ,the psu is 305w.


This card would fit ,
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=334591&view=detailed

or because of the design of my case would this be better
http://www.pixmania.com/ie/uk/551685/art/msi/nx8600gt-t2d256ez-geforce.html

DemonOfTheFall

Ouch, that sucks. Is it a BTX case layout or something or why arent they all the expansion cards below the CPU cooler anyway?

FYI, the 8600GT is no faster than the 7600GT, it just adds DirectX 10 support.

Something like this
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-125-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=358
is single slot and creams the 7600/8600 cards.

This
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-134-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=404
is also just about a single slot card, and will perform very nicely.

Neither of these support DirectX10, but the 8600 doesn't really either, since by the time theres many DirectX10 games out it will be far too slow to play them at any reasonable setting.

christophicus

go for the 8600gts cards if u can, they are better the the gt's .

also how many fans do u have in ur case that arnt ducted? I dont think there are any, which means it would be a very bad idea to get thepassivly cooled card. Passivly cooled cards ned good cas airflow.

Also that guy was wrong about the pci slot point. You usually mount graphics cards"upside down" so that the cooler is acyually underneath the card, whch means it exhausts out from the bracket undrneath the card.

So your problem is ony really the weak psu

christophicus

oops my bad, i didnt realise it was btx

311

I've done some more thrawling ,using this site it's not looking good for new card

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

christophicus

hmmm, reccommended psu for 8600gts is 350 .

I would go with Demon's second choice, its supposed to be very good card. .

Whats size moniter are u using?

311

I got to the end of it ,I was putting down a pci-16 in the pci options. But you don't check it ,if you already have a pci-gfx card chosen.:)
With my current set up and allowing for another sata hard drive. I can get a 7900 GS and my peak will be 247

Thanks for all the help .

311

I had to cancel the order ,no molex connections.

Thanks for the help ,I have a feeling I'll be ordering a decent machine by the end of the year:)

chump

_Brian_ I think I've said it before but the dell community forums (http://www.dellcommunity.com/) are the place to go for you

search for e520 and graphics...

there are hundreds of posts

Cuddlesworth

_Brian_ wrote:

I've done some more thrawling ,using this site it's not looking good for new card

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

I know this is a bit OT, but that site has my current setup pegged at 851watts. Which just seems pretty wrong to me considering my psu is 520 watts.

311

I have a x1300 which does me for now ,I was looking for a good upgrade which the dell is not able to take.


I've already decided on a new system
Coolermaster Mystique 632 (With Side Window)
Corsair 620W supply
X2900XT ,with possibly a crossfire
Probably some red motherboard to go with the 2900 card.

chump

_Brian_ the 8600GTS apparently works fine in the e520 without psu upgrade.
You may need to get a splitter like
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=314357

but according to
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2107

The Foxconn 8600GTS-256 does have a six pin PCI Express power connector, but it almost seems unnecessary (the card runs just fine without it, though this is not 'officially' recommended. The nVIDIA driver does not complain it it remains unconnected, nor does it affect 3D performance. Perhaps it's required when running SLI...

The same card can be purchased from
http://www2.hardwareversand.de/7VlwVaHoAvTAHU/1/articledetail.jsp?aid=9765&agid=394

But it seems most of the GTS are the same thing just rebadged so should be no probs with any of them.

I'd regard this as a good upgrade which the dell is able to take.

311

The e520 has no Molex connections ,it's a serial ata only machine.
So the 8600GTS wont work in it

I wanted something decent that would last a couple of years, my machine isn't up to the challenge. I want this machine to last a couple of years ,if I used a card like that it would probably burn out the bus of my machine ,because it needed more juice.

311

krazy_8s wrote:

I know this is a bit OT, but that site has my current setup pegged at 851watts. Which just seems pretty wrong to me considering my psu is 520 watts.

Just add a piece of gear at a time and calculate ,that will give you an idea at what each thing is drinking.

Cuddlesworth

_Brian_ wrote:

Just add a piece of gear at a time and calculate ,that will give you an idea at what each thing is drinking.

I'm aware of what its drinking, 430 watts under load. My point is that if I bothered listening to that site I would panic and spend 200 more quid then I need to.

As for motherboards, I believe the current P35 boards are the ones to go for. And Gigabyte might have red slots on theirs.

311

krazy_8s wrote:

I'm aware of what its drinking, 430 watts under load. My point is that if I bothered listening to that site I would panic and spend 200 more quid then I need to.

As for motherboards, I believe the current P35 boards are the ones to go for. And Gigabyte might have red slots on theirs.

Which motherboards are the most compatible with parts ?? ,I'm not bothered what colour it is ,once it accepts all types of hardware??

Cuddlesworth

_Brian_ wrote:

Which motherboards are the most compatible with parts ??

I'm afraid you have lost me? The intel P35, P65 and P75 chipsets all accept most Intel 775 chips, some dont like quad cores. So do the AMD D600 and nvidia 680i and 650i chipsets. I cant answer what motherboard you could use if you don't tell me what you want to put into it.