Graphics card

littleryanc · Post by **littleryanc** » 22 Jun 2007, 17:57

Well I havnt ever really gotten into graphics cards to much, because you just sorta buy one, use it until everyone and everything gets to advanced for you and 1-3 years later buy a new on or a new computer....

This time i have a old computer that i just want to get a new card to let it run spring. It has a Pentium III and 512 mb of RAM

so it should be able to run however laggy, but what i would like hte communities help with is deciding which card to buy.
I only want to spend $30-$100 or so dollars, so does anyone have a good suggestion, or maybe know of a good deal?:idea:

Edit:
actualy I do have a pretty nice computer sitting in the other room, core duo with a GeForce 7500 LE, not the best but its not brand ing new either.

And yes, i do seek to upgrade it b/c I though it would be cheaper than buying a new one, and I have 2 little brothers that I'd like to pwn/train but without another computer i dont really wanna drop them off at my freinds house and let them play me from there....xD

So as you people said, i should save up for the 'price drop', goody.
I do a bit of acting and the money piles up on a good month, xD.

So save, and barebones kit....
Actualy thats a big help guys, I love when you post on forums and everyone argues and a whole bunch of 'unique' opinions get expressed, xD

Edit:
this computer has only a AGP type interface

oh well, its quite old

Relative · Post by **Relative** » 22 Jun 2007, 17:59

We need to know what type of slot you have for your graphics card. Download CPU-Z and under the mainboard tab it should say what interface you have.

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

Caydr · Post by **Caydr** » 22 Jun 2007, 18:34

This time i have a old computer that i just want to get a new card to let it run spring. It has a Pentium III and 512 mb of RAM

I will buy you a new computer if you agree to burn that one.

Pentium III... well I dunno. I'd need to know the specific speed, but I don't think even the fastest P3 is good enough for Spring, realistically. Pathfinding, physics, and all that good stuff tear apart even much more recent computers.

Save up until the end of July, then buy a new barebones kit. Post again if you want recommendations on that, I can help you there. The reason you should wait to upgrade is because there will be significant CPU price drop on July 22.

The reason why you should *not* buy a new graphics card is because you will have an AGP-only motherboard, of that much I'm certain. AGP is a type of slot that graphics cards are plugged into. AGP cards are not as common or as easy to design as PCI-Express (PCIE) cards, and so are more expensive for no performance-related reason.

What you want is:

-A Core 2 or Athlon cpu of any kind, preferably Core 2 (less than $80 plus tax)
-A motherboard of any kind which supports DDR or DDR2 (DDR2 will be more expensive without significant noticable gains. Go for DDR if possible, although it is obsolete, but only if you don't plan on upgrading any time soon) (less than $80 plus tax)
-512 MB at least RAM, I'd recommend a matched pair 512x2 kit if you can get one at a reasonable price (less than $80 plus tax)
-Any Geforce 7 series graphics card, preferably a bare minimum of a 7600. Try for a 7800 or 7900 of any kind, they are the best bet right now for a low budget user and still provide excellent performance in today's applications (less than $150 plus tax)

Then you'll be set for at least 3 years, I'd estimate.

AF · Post by AF » 22 Jun 2007, 18:38

I doubt he can buy an entire case packed with components for $30-$100 after july 22nd.

And even if he did, he'd still have the current PC and may still want it to play spring.

How d you know he doesnt have a core 2 duo +8800 machine in the room next door? I have one and I still feel the desire to upgrade my old PC to at least min specs. Just because I have a new PC doesnt mean I've forgotten about the old one, and just because his PC has odl hardware doesnt mean he should immediatly throw it out the window.

Maybe he cant afford a new computer? And doesnt need the fantastic power grunt of the latest hardware? And would be happy with just a btter graphics card? Such as a GF5 or GF6 class gpu?

Caydr · Post by **Caydr** » 22 Jun 2007, 18:41

Re-read my post, if you please.

I'll sum up: Pentium III will never run Spring acceptably. There is no reason to upgrade your GPU alone because you'd be limited to about 50-100 units in a multiplayer game regardless.

AF · Post by AF » 22 Jun 2007, 18:42

rewritting your entire post after reading a criticism is dirty tactics

Caydr · Post by **Caydr** » 22 Jun 2007, 18:43

It was pre-criticism. Note the edit timestamp:

11:38 am

was when you posted,

11:40 am

was when I edited. I'm a quick typer, but not that quick.

No, it's true he'll never get a full computer for $100, but that's the nature of the beast. Upgrade only your GPU, you are throwing your money away and you'll only see benefits in the first 20 minutes of a game at the most. Instead wait until July 22, maybe putting aside $50 from each paycheck until then, and he's got $300 by the time the price drop comes. He gets a very reasonable computer at a very reasonable price.

Let's assume he gets a good deal (otherwise you should never buy computer equipment), he'll have the RAM, CPU, motheboard, and the option of any number of graphics cards. Total price is probably $290-$375 depending on the configuration he chooses.

AF · Post by AF » 22 Jun 2007, 18:48

in response to the rewritten post:

an AGP card does not mean more expensive unless your looking for PCI-E backports such as 7900's.

A Geforce 5 will do you fine for spring

I found one via google here for ├é┬ú19.61
http://www.ictproducts.co.uk/Inu_produc ... f=M7292012

This card will work fine for you and itll be your cpu that provides the bottleneck. A Geforce 6 in your price range would do good too. I seriously doubt a Geforce 7 would be better than a Geforce 6 or 5 on that machine because of your specs, itd just be a huge bottleneck.

Your going to be running minimum specs regardless of your gpu on this machine, and you dont have the grunt for running max specs even with an 8800 plugged into that socket.

Caydr · Post by **Caydr** » 22 Jun 2007, 18:51

A Geforce 5 will do you fine for spring

But a pentium 3 will not. And the entire Geforce 5 line is a disaster, anyone knows that. A geforce 6600 is the lowest I'd go, the price versus performance below that is just terrible.

But the point is, he doesn't need a new GPU, he needs a new computer if he wants to play Spring. Pathfinding alone is too complex. Pentium III is a highly inefficient architecture compared with newer ones, so even assuming he had the very fastest P3 chip, a 1.4 ghz, which he probably doesn't, he'll never have a good experience. Playability and probably sync as well will be lost almost immediately in any netgame. I've played with 3 others who have a minimum of 2 ghz CPU, and more recent ones like Athlon too, who still drop the game's speed to 0.5 or worse because they just can't handle all the pathfinding and whatnot. You're only setting him up for a fall trying to convince him his CPU will do him fine.

Neddie · Post by **Neddie** » 22 Jun 2007, 19:02

A friend of mine and I have gotten Spring running on a Celeron and 8 MB of Integrated Graphics. Was it good? No - but his box can do much better than that.

He could probably handle Commander Shooter and War Evolution, but with a PIII I would even be leery of trying to play anything else.

cyclerboy · Post by **cyclerboy** » 22 Jun 2007, 19:24

get a 6800, thats what i had in my old comp. it can run spring almost full settings and they are about $100. there really good for other games too.

Caydr · Post by **Caydr** » 23 Jun 2007, 02:39

cyclerboy wrote:get a 6800, thats what i had in my old comp. it can run spring almost full settings and they are about $100. there really good for other games too.

Better yet, DON'T. Same price.

vraa · Post by **vraa** » 23 Jun 2007, 07:21

neddiedrow wrote:A friend of mine and I have gotten Spring running on a Celeron and 8 MB of Integrated Graphics. Was it good? No - but his box can do much better than that.

He could probably handle Commander Shooter and War Evolution, but with a PIII I would even be leery of trying to play anything else.

How please, my friend has an Acer Sempron 3100+ with an SiS integrated and I couldn't figure out how to make it work.

SwiftSpear · Post by **SwiftSpear** » 23 Jun 2007, 11:37

Caydr wrote:
cyclerboy wrote:get a 6800, thats what i had in my old comp. it can run spring almost full settings and they are about $100. there really good for other games too.
Better yet, DON'T. Same price.

Why is BF223442 the arbitrary ultimate performance benchmark? Aside from that it isn't...

Neddie · Post by **Neddie** » 23 Jun 2007, 20:25

vraa wrote:
neddiedrow wrote:A friend of mine and I have gotten Spring running on a Celeron and 8 MB of Integrated Graphics. Was it good? No - but his box can do much better than that.

He could probably handle Commander Shooter and War Evolution, but with a PIII I would even be leery of trying to play anything else.
How please, my friend has an Acer Sempron 3100+ with an SiS integrated and I couldn't figure out how to make it work.

Well, you need Open GL drivers for it to even load. Turn off all of the features you can, and load a fairly ugly game, like AA or BA. You'll get about five FPS at top, unless you load a completely textureless map. Then you might cap out at eight.

It isn't playable, but it does run.

Caydr · Post by **Caydr** » 23 Jun 2007, 22:58

SwiftSpear wrote:
Caydr wrote:
cyclerboy wrote:get a 6800, thats what i had in my old comp. it can run spring almost full settings and they are about $100. there really good for other games too.
Better yet, DON'T. Same price.
Why is BF223442 the arbitrary ultimate performance benchmark? Aside from that it isn't...

So pick another one, it's not as if results are different. Hell if I wanted to be misleading I'd post the Dark Messiah test...

http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_ ... &chart=284
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_ ... &chart=293
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_ ... &chart=298
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_ ... &chart=302
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_ ... &chart=307
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_ ... &chart=317

Only exception is Doom 3, where they're almost tied. (7600 GT still wins by 1/10 of a FPS)

LOrDo · Post by **LOrDo** » 24 Jun 2007, 01:44

I love my BFG 7600 GT OC, It may not be state of the art, but I see no reason to buy a new one.

Neddie · Post by **Neddie** » 24 Jun 2007, 01:45

7600 Go here, 512 MB. Oh, Oblivion loved it the three minutes I bothered to have it installed.

Lippy · Post by **Lippy** » 24 Jun 2007, 01:59

I hate my 6800le (with 4 extra pipelines unlocked). It's close to giving me the kinda graphics i would be just about satisfied with; but it's just not there.

I'm waiting for the 9800 or preliminary intel discrete offerings before I look for my much needed major upgrade (i.e. whole pc).

Ishach · Post by **Ishach** » 24 Jun 2007, 02:27

7900GS is pretty cheap

Spring RTS Engine

Graphics card

Graphics card