Graphics Card

[Highlander999]

Well I'm shopping around for a new graphics card when I saw this the

"768MB nVidia QuadroFX 4600 Kit"

Price ?1,511.05

I was absolutely amazed at that. Who would pay that much.

http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&sku=490-10643

Anyway I'm looking for a graphics card but am not that sure what to get. I am looking for one that is 128mb but it is all so confusing. Do certain graphics card work with certain systems? I have an XP btw if that helps. I just want something with that spec which will run on my computer.

 

[Kev]

I was absolutely amazed at that. Who would pay that much.

Software Design Companies? Graphic Design Companies? People who do Film and TV graphics?

Bit over the top for your average gamer, but probably there are some stupidly rich gamers who are tempted.

 

[WORLD CHAMPIONS]

I will rather buy a good laptop with this money

 

[Kev]

I'm gonna trump your one and a half grand graphics card, with this puppy

http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...lectedId=11137&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11137

Coming in at over 2grand and from a cheaper website than Dell

Checkout the customer review!

 

[WORLD CHAMPIONS]

I'm gonna trump your one and a half grand graphics card, with this puppy

http://www.dabs.com/productview.asp...lectedId=11137&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11137

Coming in at over 2grand and from a cheaper website than Dell

Checkout the customer review!

MEGA LOLZ
Reviewed by MR. x. Review Posted 02/12/2007

was happily playing minesweeper when my quad sli quadros melted and wiped out my streets postcode off the end of the world

great performance boost on solitare and freecell tho

:laugh

 

[Highlander999]

Well I'm shopping around for a new graphics card when I saw this the

"768MB nVidia QuadroFX 4600 Kit"

Price ?1,511.05

I was absolutely amazed at that. Who would pay that much.

http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&sku=490-10643

Anyway I'm looking for a graphics card but am not that sure what to get. I am looking for one that is 128mb but it is all so confusing. Do certain graphics card work with certain systems? I have an XP btw if that helps. I just want something with that spec which will run on my computer.

Any help with this bit?

 

[Kev]

First step is to find out what slots you have on your motherboard.

You might find this pic I posted once heplful

http://www.planetcricket.org/forums/showpost.php?p=673249&postcount=17

 

[pingusten]

Are you planning on playing games on the new card? If so, you'll need more than than 128mb of VRAM.

 

[IloveGilly]

When I hovered over the topic, the main thing I saw was;

Well I'm shopping around for a new graphics card when I saw this the "768MB nVidia QuadroFX 4600 Kit" Price £1,511.05...

*Reaction*: Wowed!

And stopped reading it there and I actually thought you were insane enough to use that much money until I opened the thread and read it all.

Tough choosing a specific graphics card when there's so much in the market and so many different versions.

 

[SciD]

If you want to buy a new graphics card then i will suggest you buy the one which supports DX10 gaming platform cos frankly very soon the DX9 will soon be replace by DX10 as gaming platform. So you would want to be future safe and invest in graphics card that you cn use in future rather than upgrade it again.
Also best thing about these cards is that they eat the DX 9 games and swalow them without hiccup. NVIDIA 8800GTX and HD2900XT are the two cards in this category that are worth looking.
But negative part is it will burn a huge hole in your pocket.

I would suggest not to go for 128MB memory card cos hey are not worth it. If you want power packed performance at reasonable price then I will suggest these cards.
1) ASUS EN8600GT with 256 MB memory. It matches the performance of 8600GTS cards at 60% of the price. Price is Rs. 8800 or 114.536 GBP if my calculations are correct. Highly recommended if you want mid ranged card.
2) A slightly little expensive is XFX's PV-T84J-UDF7 with 256 MB memory. Price Rs. 7000 or 91.2 GBP.
3) ASUS EAH2600 Pro with 256 MB memory is a very good DX10 offering though. This one costs Rs 6780 or 88.3 GBP.

Low range solution will be:
1) SPARKLE 8500GT with 256 MN memory and priced at Rs. 4110 or 53.5 GBP. I will not recommend this though but its best in low range cards.


P.S. Rupee to Pound conversion done as per http://www.x-rates.com/calculator.html

 

[angryangy]

Workstation cards like the Quadro or FireGL are expensive because they incorporate functions specifically for programs like AutoCAD, you don't get any extra bang in games because they're not designed for games. The highest end gaming video cards are more like 500.

DX10 as yet isn't coming to Win XP, so don't worry too much about it if you have no intention of upgrading to Vista. Although you are presented with more advanced graphical rendering, DirectX 10 drops DirectSound, meaning you lose the advantage of having a SoundBlaster or similar sound card for rendering 3D sound and environmental audio effects.

nVidia's next generation of video cards are expected in Q1 this year (Jan-Mar), so that's something else to think about. Not just the added power of the new cards, but also the price impact they have on superseded cards.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/01/05/exclusive_nvidia_geforce_9800gx2/
As you can see, this upcoming brute is actually two graphics cards wired together; and then if you want to spend even more than 1500 pounds, you can put two of them in your computer to have 4 video cards! It has actually been reported that systems this ridiculous can trip a household circuit breaker when they are turned on, because it seems like a dangerous power spike.

One thing you need to know about the high end GeForce 8s is that they require a lot of power, a lot of cooling and a lot of space. If you have like a Compaq PC that is really slimline, it just won't work out.

The 8600s are very affordable, but don't get one just because it is DX10; a much older 7950 is still a much more powerful (albeit, more expensive) card. What I mean here is that even if you do have Windows Vista and are playing Crysis, you will not be able to play it in high enough quality to care whether it is DX10 or not.

On the other hand, maybe you could get TWO 8600s...

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php
CPU-Z is a very good tool for discovering details that you might need a screwdriver to otherwise find out. It can tell you details about your motherboard, cpu and ram, what speed it is all running at and who made it.

 

[Highlander999]

I have no idea what half of those last two posts meant. Any chance you could put them into "technically challenged" terms for people like me

 

[SciD]

I have no idea what half of those last two posts meant. Any chance you could put them into "technically challenged" terms for people like me

Just go for any of the 8600 series cards from NVIDIA or similar ones from ATI. The best ones I have mentioned in my post which are best in there category without being expensive either. The future graphics cards will not be going any cheaper due to advancement in technology.

 

[Kev]

What are you looking to spend, perhaps if we knew a rough ball park we could suggest a card. Also what do you want from it, are you a hardcore gamer? do you play the odd game? Do you have money burning a hole in your pocket or are you looking for something that wont break the bank but will give you a reasonable return? Are you sticking with XP? Or do you realise that soon XP will be unsupported and you'll have to move to an operating system that is either Vista or something that builds on Vista? Do you need it to last a couple of years or do you not mind spending some money again in the near future?



PS. Get an ATI

 

[Highlander999]

Right well. I'm going to get a laptop and I want to be able to play EA cricket and Age of Empires 3. Those are the only requirements for the graphics card to make. On which laptop I'm getting. No idea, but if it helps these are the min specs for Age of Empires 3 so if you could give me an idea on what would be best that would be great. Remember this is min requirements

* Microsoft® Windows® XP
* PC with 1.4 Ghz equivalent or higher processor that supports SSE
* 256 MB of system RAM
* 2.0 GB available hard disk space
* 32x speed or faster CD-ROM drive
* 64 MB video card with HT&L
* Sound card with speakers or headphones
* Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device
* 56.6 Kbps or better modem for online play
* DirectX 9.0c or above