Graphic Card

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Im looking for a new graphic card since mine sucks so i was wondering what a good graphic card for under 120 bucks canadian(i believe about 105 american) would be? Right now i have a Nvdia Riva Tnt2 pro. Any help, as always, is greatly appreciated.
 
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Firstly, what are the other specs of your computer? (If you are not sure, then use CPU-Z and post screen shots from processor, mainboard and memory information from CPU-Z).

Buying a new gfx card doesn't nessacairly mean you can get the most out of it unless you have a good system, a new gfx card in a slow system will be bottlenecked (an example is a p3 933mhz setup using 512mb of 133mhz sd memory and a ti4200, scoring 6,100 in 3dmark2001se, while a athlon xp 2100+ using ddr ram was pulling out 11,000. The system memory and cpu fsb speed in this case are responsible for the bottleneck).

Also, what is your budget for an upgrade?.
 
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Overlord said:
Also, what is your budget for an upgrade?.
clen said:
i was wondering what a good graphic card for under 120 bucks canadian(i believe about 105 american) would be?
He probably has AGP and other slow parts and I'm sure he doesn't feel like spending 600-700 right now, so here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143056
Well, it doesn't ship to Canada but find a site that does.

Or if you can find an AGP 6600GT for <120CAD, even better!
 
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http://www.memoryexpress.com/

I'm not sure if they ship to BC, but they have been recommended by every single person I've asked about computer parts.

I've also had success with eBay (GPU and RAM), just be careful you know exactly what you're buying and are certain that the seller is reputable.
 
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Smith| said:
He probably has AGP and other slow parts and I'm sure he doesn't feel like spending 600-700 right now, so here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143056
Well, it doesn't ship to Canada but find a site that does.

Or if you can find an AGP 6600GT for <120CAD, even better!
I was aware of his old parts as soon as he mentioned he had a tnt card, which is why I pointed out bottlenecks. You can tell a lot from someone's pc if you know thier specs ;).

Also, TNT2 cards came in pci flavour too, so there is that possibility that his pc is that old that it doesn;t have a agp slot. Also note that if his motherboard is of a AGP 2x design that if he gets a 6600gt or any AGP 8x card that he'll blow it up because of the different voltage required.

Possible cases to name a few, just friendly reminders ;).
 
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Overlord said:
You can tell a lot from someone's pc if you know thier specs ;).
Er... that's a really funny sentence. "You can know someone's name if you know they're name!"
Also, TNT2 cards came in pci flavour too, so there is that possibility that his pc is that old that it doesn;t have a agp slot.
Yea, and so do 5900s ;). I'd say there's a good chance it's AGP 4x. I mean, really, on the first page of the search for "nvidia riva tnt2 pro", I got this: http://www.dealtime.com/xPP-graphics_cards--nvidia_riva_tnt2_pro That's a lot of AGP 4x versions of the card.


Actually, Overlord, you know what? You may have this thread all to yourself. I'm tired of arguing. I'm sure you'll be able to suggest a new video card for him =).
 
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You may have this thread all to yourself. I'm tired of arguing. I'm sure you'll be able to suggest a new video card for him =).
Not arguing really, just from what I can remeber in relation to variants of TNT2 cards (I remebr some variants did coem in agp 2x versions, the first ones off the top of my head, once had a friend who used a old cyrix PR233 setup with a pci tnt2). Iv'e also used some computers with agp variants of tnt2 cards aswell, such old cards they are now.

If it turns out your tnt2 is a pci card then it won't matter, only thing that matters is to make sure you have an agp slot, however also bear in mind to make certain of what speed the agp slot runs at (4x agp cards are backwards compatible with 2x slots, agp 8x cards are backwards compatible with agp 4x slots, however agp 8x cards are not backwards compatible with a 2x agp slot, and if you shove a 8x card in a 2x slot, because of the different voltage requirements between the two, you will brake the agp 8x card in the 2x slot)

It would be Clen if you could tell me the specs of your pc, and if you are unsure as to what they are you can always use CPU-Z which I have posted a link to in one of my previous replies. Once I get an idea of what your system is like currently, I can then suggest what you should do in terms of getting a new gfx card or other upgrades if deemed nessacary in the case that your pc may be old.
 
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<a href="http://img99.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gonexp4.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/4108/gonexp4.th.png" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a>
Theres my specs.
 
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Ah, SD memory. At this point, you could get a 6600gt and you would notice it being better then your TNT2, however if you plan on playing current/newer games you will be severly let down and bottlenecked by your CPU/Memory. You'd be better off getting a new cpu, mainboard, memory and gfx card altogether rather then upgrade your current machine. What would be your budget for a new setup if you were to upgrade?.

One option could be to buy a 6600gt now and then later get new mainboad, cpu and memory later on down the track if money is strictly tight, however buyying new agp cards these days is only worth it if your system is decent (AthlonXP/P4 that uses DDR memory).
 
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Dude, your computer is old as hell... you have a 900mhz Athlon man.

And overlord... Im surprised in you man. You dont put a 6600GT into a computer with those parts... its assanine. The bottlenecking would be crazy and it would be a waste of money with your current system.

here's what you do Clen, if you wnat to play games like halo or something not that graphically demanding, then you can go out and buy a 9200 or some card like that, be sure its an AGP version, no point in getting PCI if you have AGP.

If you want to go for playing higher end games then do yourself a favor and build yourself a new PC.

So tell us what your gonna do and we'll help you out, alright Clen. Just dont decide until you really think about it, and if you want to go for a new computer or computer upgrade, then be sure to plan out your financing.
 
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Walmart Security said:
Dude, your computer is old as hell... you have a 900mhz Athlon man.

And overlord... Im surprised in you man. You dont put a 6600GT into a computer with those parts... its assanine. The bottlenecking would be crazy and it would be a waste of money with your current system.

here's what you do Clen, if you wnat to play games like halo or something not that graphically demanding, then you can go out and buy a 9200 or some card like that, be sure its a PCI version, they usually cost less.

If you want to go for playing higher end games then do yourself a favor and build yourself a new PC.

So tell us what your gonna do and we'll help you out, alright Clen. Just dont decide until you really think about it, and if you want to go for a new computer or computer upgrade, then be sure to plan out your financing.
The same card you suggested could be bought on the AGP bus, and probably cost less too simply due to manafacturers having to use a bridge chip (I would assume) or a different pcb to get a 9200 to PCI. Note I was suggesting that he could get a 6600gt now, and then later get a new Processor, mainboard & memory down the track (even though agp is coming to it's end, you can get mainboards that support both agp and pci express). It's up to him in the end what he wants to do, having a pci gfx card is a bottleneck in itself, why downgrade yourself?.

Considering he is using a tnt2 now, the difference will be noticeable if he gets a 6600gt, however he's held back by his processor and ram, so it's performance will be held back as already mentioned, which is why I suggested by one now, get newer parts later or just go out and buy a new mainboard, processor, memory and gfx card altogether.
 
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Allright. This is coming from a past experience.


I had an Old Pentium 3 667 with 64Mb of SDRAM.
I was given 2x 256Mb sticks, threw that in and noticed a huge increase in performance. Especially in GTA 3. (That was with a TNT 2 M64).
Next, I overclocked the Processor to 733Mhz.
Not happy with the performance, I dropped in a Geforce FX 5700LE (250/200 @ Stock) And pushed it to 527/250. (its DDR so it went to 500mhz).
And then I loaded up the most demanding game I could find... And it happend to be FarCry at the time. And Bang! Guess what! It ran flawlessly. On all the highest settings. (Even with Pixel shaders 2.0).
Now, I tried Dom 3. Guess what? It ran it at 2fps. It didnt matter how low/high. the performance didnt change at all.

Now this only has to show, that some games WILL run with a highend card. (It was at the time), on a low end system. But others... No chance. Basically, get the best you can afford, you can allways take the graphics card to another machine. Try overclocking that thunderbird a little. You would be surprised on how easy it is to push the FSB to 133 or 166mhz. And being AGP 2.0 (AGP 4X) You could drop in any card of your choice. I would personally choos a 6600 or 6800LE or If money is tight. A simple 9600XT. Dont get anything less than a 9600XT these days. And if you go Nvidia, they have a handy feature to Hardware Accellerate parts of windows.
 
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Pemalite said:
Allright. This is coming from a past experience.


I had an Old Pentium 3 667 with 64Mb of SDRAM.
I was given 2x 256Mb sticks, threw that in and noticed a huge increase in performance. Especially in GTA 3. (That was with a TNT 2 M64).
Next, I overclocked the Processor to 733Mhz.
Not happy with the performance, I dropped in a Geforce FX 5700LE (250/200 @ Stock) And pushed it to 527/250. (its DDR so it went to 500mhz).
And then I loaded up the most demanding game I could find... And it happend to be FarCry at the time. And Bang! Guess what! It ran flawlessly. On all the highest settings. (Even with Pixel shaders 2.0).
Now, I tried Dom 3. Guess what? It ran it at 2fps. It didnt matter how low/high. the performance didnt change at all.

Now this only has to show, that some games WILL run with a highend card. (It was at the time), on a low end system. But others... No chance. Basically, get the best you can afford, you can allways take the graphics card to another machine. Try overclocking that thunderbird a little. You would be surprised on how easy it is to push the FSB to 133 or 166mhz. And being AGP 2.0 (AGP 4X) You could drop in any card of your choice. I would personally choos a 6600 or 6800LE or If money is tight. A simple 9600XT. Dont get anything less than a 9600XT these days. And if you go Nvidia, they have a handy feature to Hardware Accellerate parts of windows.
Overclocking thunderbird core + AMD stock cooling = overheating (depending on case airflow = bad =/.
 
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Just got find a Socket A, Athlon XP Barton Heatsink and fan. Not that hard to find ;)
Even if its just a small increase of the fsp, (Say 33mhz) you notice a huge improvement when running newer based games.
 
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Pemalite said:
Just got find a Socket A, Athlon XP Barton Heatsink and fan. Not that hard to find ;)
Even if its just a small increase of the fsp, (Say 33mhz) you notice a huge improvement when running newer based games.
As I have notice when I first oced my 2400+ from a 133mhz fsb (266mhz ddr) to 166mhz (333mhz ddr), and as I have ran it for a while, 200mhz fsb (400mhz ddr).

Still though, installing the heatsink is another bother if you aren't greatly skilled, you don't want to end up snapping any retention clips in the process, with bigger coolers sometimes ripping of the entire processor socket depending on what you are doing in some cases.

Note you will also need to apply some artic silver (as5) to the middle of the processor should you go ahead and get a new heatsink. If you are going to overclock aswell, read some guides on overclocking if you aren't so sure about overclocking, and make sure your case has sufficent airflow so temps don't go so high.
 
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Just take the side cover off, and stick a desk fan in there. Might not look to great, but it does the job, And then do some research or trial and error on old Pentium 1 boxes.
 

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