Too many model numbers, not enough money.

jimoc

Hi guys,
I'm looking for a new graphics card on a seriously tight budget (50-60 euro, bloody recession!) and I'm totally confused trying to figure this stuff out.
According to http://blog.kingj.net/tag/model-numbers/ the important number is the second, the higher the better
Is this all bull or is this actually true.

Anyone know of a better guide to the models.
I just need something that can run Lotro and Sims 3 at 1920 * 1200 with a fairly good fps.
I've narrowed it down to these 20 http://www.dabs.ie/category/components-and-storage,graphics--multimedia-and-i-o,graphics/11137-419140000-11/2#Paging but I dont want to waste my limited funds and discover later I could have gotten a better one for the same price.

It will be replacing a GeForce 9800GTS with 1Gb ram if that helps with comparisions. This card was great, but during the last week its started to fail. In windows I get huge great red lines running down through the display, and even in the bios setup screen I get lots of red dots all over the screen. I know the card is hosed, because I dont get the same artifacts if I run the onboard vga controller instead, but its too crappy for gaming I think.

I have been doing a bit of searching about the net trying to figure out the differences but its a while since I bought just a graphics card so I'm a bit out of touch with current tech.

Deano12345

Apparantly,you can fix cards that have issue's like yours by baking (Yes, the in an oven kind of baking) the graphics card.I've seen this sucessfully being done however I dont know the specifics of it.

Anyway,I'd try and find a used card for that money.Something like a 8800GTX or maybe a 9800GTX.They pop up on adverts.ie quite often after being taken from Dell XPS's.

You will want to get a card with the highest amount of memory possible because of your resolution.

TerrorFirmer

Deano12345 wrote: »

You will want to get a card with the highest amount of memory possible because of your resolution.

Careful with that. You can get cards incapable of playing modern games at even the lowest possible settings that come equipped with 1gb of onboard memory. It's the oldest trick in the book, trick consumers into buying products through misleading advertisements. Is it entirely possible to have a 1GB video card out performed by a 128Mb model, it's all down to the core of the card and how well it can utilise the memory available. A budget of 50-60 euro realistically is not really going to net you something faster then the card you're replacing, nor is going beyond 512MB a realistic expectation. That guide is fairly accurate, the 2nd number is a good indicator, but be careful you rely on it exclusively, and remember that you can't really crosscompare brands either using that method.

For example, an Nvidia 8500GT is not faster then a 7300GT despite being a higher variant of a higher series, and an Ati 4800 series card would be about 5 times faster then an Nvidia 6800 series card. Once you're used to the market its obvious but starting out it can all be very confusing.

For the 50-60 euro price range, you would be looking at something like the Radeon 4670 512MB new, second hand, you would be looking at a card like the 8800GTS 640MB or 8800GT 512MB. Neither of which will be better then what you're replacing, but you're in an impossible situation with 1920x1200 and a 50-60 euro budget. Don't go below the HD4670 - cards like 9400GT, 9500GT, HD4550, all have their place but 1920x1200 is certainly not it.

They're around the same price, but at high resolution the HD4670 absolutely trashes the 9500GT...if you're going for a new card it's a good choice. If you can stretch a little bit further, the 4730/4770 won't disappoint either for sub 80 euro.

jimoc

Deano12345 wrote: »

Apparantly,you can fix cards that have issue's like yours by baking (Yes, the in an oven kind of baking) the graphics card.I've seen this sucessfully being done however I dont know the specifics of it.

Anyway,I'd try and find a used card for that money.Something like a 8800GTX or maybe a 9800GTX.They pop up on adverts.ie quite often after being taken from Dell XPS's.

You will want to get a card with the highest amount of memory possible because of your resolution.

I actually thought you were extracting the urine when you suggested this, but my god it actually WORKED!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you. You just saved me from buying a new card for a while

leninbenjamin

jimoc wrote: »

Thank you, thank you, thank you. You just saved me from buying a new card for a while

Typically it wont last long though, possibly even only a couple of days. But it will at least allow you to save a few more pennies up for a new card.

jimoc

Well so far the card has been running non-stop since Friday night with no problems at all.
Here's hoping it keeps going for a little while longer and I can persuade the other half that she needs to buy me a new one for Chrimbo, after all there's only 11 more shopping weeks to go people!!!!

superfly

wow!, thats amazing
i had never heard of that fix before, glad to hear it worked for you
what temperature did you have to set it to and for how long?
did you have to baste it first

Deano12345

jimoc wrote: »

I actually thought you were extracting the urine when you suggested this, but my god it actually WORKED!!!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you. You just saved me from buying a new card for a while

Hah,glad to hear it worked.Let us know when it does go,it would be nice to know how long the fix will work for

jimoc

Just a quick update to say that after 19 days of being on 24/7, the card is still going strong

In fact, I think its actually better because in all the messing about I discovered that the PCI slot was only set to PCIe instead of PCIe x 16.
Don't know if that made a difference to the performance but I'll pretend it did and feel even better about saving the cash :cool: