# Video card question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 11, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-card-question/61634 "2001-04-11T20:40:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HomeSlice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/9d8465/32.png) [@HomeSlice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HomeSlice)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2001, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-card-question/61634/1 "2001-04-11T20:40:36Z")
Okay, i have a dinky little 4mb video card right now and for some reason when i try to play Carmegeddon 3, the ground textures dont show up, do y’all think i have a setting wrong, or is it because my graohics card sucks so much? ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-card-question/61634/2 "2001-04-12T00:23:46Z")
Sorry but that’s probably the case. Many games require a minimum of 8MB on a video card and when they list their minimums they aren’t kidding…the minimums listed by most software manufacturers tend to be just shy of totally unusable. Basically they ar epromising the software will run…not run well. Memory on a video card is what is used ot store textures. The more detailed the texture the more memory it takes. It is possible for the video card to swap textures in and out of its own memory with system memory but that is too slow for todays games. If you want the rockem-sockem best consumer graphics card on the market get a GeForce 3 or a GeForce 2 Ultra. they will set you back $350-550 respectively. If you want a competent video card at a somewhat reasonable price I suggest an ATI Radeon card. They ar eactually very nice cards at a decent price. Below that I don’t pay attention to. Mind you, all of the cards above are AGP graphics cards. If you do not have an AGP port in your system you’ll need a PCI card but again, for today’s games (3D) that really isn’t sufficient anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-card-question/61634/3 "2001-04-12T00:26:28Z")
I got the prices of the video cards reversed. GeForce 3 is around $550 and GeForce 2 Ultra is around $350-400. BTW–The Radeon is around $150 (I think). ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-card-question/61634/4 "2001-04-12T00:39:38Z")
You could probably find a 32 MB Radeon for less than $150, though that price is about right (well, maybe a few bucks low) for a 64 MB version. (I got my 64 MB Radeon VIVO for about $190 after shipping.) If you’re (planning on) using Windows 2000/NT, be warned that the Radeon’s performance takes a pretty major performance hit (something to the tune of 50% on some games) on those platforms. Some iterations of the GeForce2 run about the same price range of the Radeon and get comparable-to-better performance. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-card-question/61634/5 "2001-04-12T00:55:04Z")
From the sounds of the graphics card, it’s no killer system. Buy new Geforce 256 card or a Voodoo for about a hundred bucks. You’ll really improve your rendering for games. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-card-question/61634/6 "2001-04-12T16:02:19Z")
[http://www.alienware.com/](http://www.alienware.com/) makes game systems, you can copy their specs. HS, what type of card do you have now? Who makes it? ---
**Author:** ![Gozu\_Tashoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7993a0/32.png) [@Gozu\_Tashoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gozu_Tashoya)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-card-question/61634/7 "2001-04-12T16:46:35Z")
FTR, Alienware makes way the hell high end systems. Expect to drop $1K to $1,500 if you want to recreate their specs point for point (this isn’t including speakers or monitors, BTW). On another note, the closest equivalent I could find for their cases says that the space between the drives and the sliding front panel isn’t sufficient to mount the Sound Blaster! Live Platinum’s Live Drive thing. Not that you were wondering about that, but still… ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-card-question/61634/8 "2001-04-12T18:18:17Z")
Before you run out and slap down all that cash on a graphics card, you must also consider how powerful your CPU is. You probably will still not enjoy your gaming experience with the latest crop of games if you are running at less than 450 MHz, and if you’re using an AMD K-6-anything, you’re pretty much screwed. K-7s, AKA Athlons and Durons, on the other hand, kick major ass. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-card-question/61634/9 "2001-04-12T19:01:23Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Jeff\_42_: > If you do not have an AGP port in your system you’ll need a PCI card but again, for today’s > games (3D) that really isn’t sufficient anymore. Excuse me? Which of “today’s games” are you referring to? I have a Voodoo3 PCI card and it works just fine for **Diablo II** , **Bang! Gunship Elite** , and others. In fact, I’ve only seen one new game that would not run on my system, not because of my video card but because my processor is a bit too slow. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2001, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-card-question/61634/10 "2001-04-12T21:08:25Z")
> [@](#): > > Excuse me? Which of “today’s games” are you referring to? I didn’t mean to suggest that PCI cards wouldn’t work but they are definitely on the trailing edge of the graphics world when it comes to 3D. Diablo 2 does not count towards that since it’s not a 3D game. Bang! Gunship Elite (BGE) does count. I am not familiar with BGE but just because it works on your system doesn’t mean it’s doing all it can. Plop your system next to someone running a GeForce 2 Ultra card, jack the graphics to the max at 1280x1024 resolution and then tell me how the two cards compare. In addition, the newer games are really starting to crunch video cards. The GeForce 2 Ultra with 64 MB of DDR RAM has trouble with some soon to be released [games](http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1442&p=11). A PCI card on this game would be thoroughly worthless. In [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=66148) thread I posted the following detail as well: > [@](#): > > AGP has faster data transfer rates. The PCI bus is limited to a 33 Mhz clock while AGP works at a base 66 MHz. However, it gets better for AGP than that. (NOTE: There is a 66 MHz PCI specification but I’ve hardly ever seen it used except in a few server class machines…good for Gigabit Ethernet cards). > > PCI @ 33 MHz maximum transfer rate = 133 MB/sec > AGP 1x @ 66 MHz maximum transfer rate = 266 MB/sec > AGP 2x @ 66 MHz maximum transfer rate = 532 MB/sec > AGP 4x @ 66 Mhz maximum transfer rate = 1066 MB/sec > > Note: These are theoretical peak transfer rates that are never reached in real world use. However, due to the design and architecture of the AGP specification it is able to come closer to its theoretical limits than PCI is. > > AGP also supports fast writes (on some cards) from the CPU to the graphics chip. This allows the CPU to write certain data directly to the graphics board without shuffling the data through main memory first. > > Even today AGP 1x simply does not get the job done. PCI based cards are even worse off. If all you’re doing is typing papers or surfing the web then PCI based crads are just fine. If you want rock-n-roll heavy duty 3D graphics then AGP stands far ahead of PCI based cards. ---
**Author:** ![LordVor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/90ced4/32.png) [@LordVor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LordVor)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2001, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-card-question/61634/11 "2001-04-13T04:24:53Z")
Chances are, if the OPster’s just now noticing that his 4MB video card sucks, chances are isn’t going to drop a couple grand on a brand-new kick-ass system. Heck, $300 for a real video card is probably out of the question, too. But if you can drop $50-$120, buy something with a GeForce on it. A TNT2, Geforce256, or even a GeForceII MX are all fairly cheap cards, each of which will probably show a light-years difference in what you’re using. But make sure you get something with at least 8MB memory, 16’s better. And they should keep your system limping along. LordVor ---
**Author:** ![Monster104](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Monster104](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monster104)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2001, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-card-question/61634/12 "2001-04-13T06:41:43Z")
Don’t get a TNT2 MX. They suck BAD. I would recommend a GeForce 2 MX. It’s relatively inexpensive, and still has awesome performance levels. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2001, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-card-question/61634/13 "2001-04-13T15:15:53Z")
MIght be too much money to play one game. Best to visit the web site of the game you want to play & see what cards they suggest you use, which is based on what they have tested it with.