I want to get a new video card but it seems that things have changed a great deal since I bought my nVidia 5800. For instance, my AGP slot is only an antiquated 4x - will an 8x AGP card still work in the slot?
And what is this PCI express? Is that a new type of PCI slot, or a card that works better with a regular PCI slot?
I want to get a decent now generation card (9X compatible) and I am willing to spend upto about $350. Basically, I want HL:2 to look smokin’. Any suggestions? FTR, I will probably build a new machine sometime in the spring or summer with an upper to date motherboard.
Personally I’ve always had really good experiences with ATI cards, but nVidia is certainly good too. Half-Life 2 is optomized for ATI Radeons, for whatever that’s worth (hint: not all that much).
The All-in-Wonder cards have more ports/connections on the back – TV in as well as TV out. Moreover, they have TV capture capability which allows you to tune your TV through your computer among other things. Clearly, you’re paying for these added “media” features.
Check out This review from Anandtech which gives you side by side comparisons of many graphics cards specifically in Half-Life 2. OK so my Radeon 9800 Pro isn’t at the top of the list, but at least it’s on the list. Check out the graph here.
Also keep in mind that the gfx cards at the top of that comparison are in the $400-500 range. :eek:
Well, I have made a choice. I am going with the Radeon 9800 pro. At this point it is mid range of what I was willing to spend.
The last 3 computers I built were all good machines but always a step below the top tier. This spring, when I’ll have the time, I am going to build a top o’ the line gaming machine. I imagine that in 3 months time the price on the 9800xt will have dropped into the realm of the realistic.
Top teir currently is nVidia 6800 ultra and ATI x800xt (actually, I think they recently announced an x850 series).
Super top-tier, no cost matters, is nVidia 6800GT or ultra SLI - split your video load between two cards!
When the motherboards coming available, I’m getting an socket 939 SLI capable set-up. I will probably go with the 6600GT - outside chance I’ll ante up for the 6800GT. Start with only one vidcard, maybe add a second in a year.
The future is here. I ordered one a couple days ago and since then the price has jumped $60. I can’t wait to get my hands on this mobo.
Here’s a test with 2 6600GTs in SLI configuration against a single 6800GT 256, and then 2 6800GTs in SLI config.
And, yes, ATI announced the x850. It seems to give only a minor performance increase over the x800, but it should drop the price of the 800s down a bit.
I’m not sure what they are crowing about here. Two entire video cards working together gave better performance than a single video card that’s slightly faster than the individual cards alone? So what?
SLI was all the rage back in the voodoo days, and it’s cool to see it coming back, but it’s probably not the best overall solution from a tech standpoint. If you can get great performance at an even cost from two lower end graphics cards, why not simply build them into a single paired device and cut down on silicon, plastic, and packaging?
PCI Express (“PCIe”) is a brand-spanking-new motherboard slot type. It is a “wider highway”; it will allow for faster throughput from the GPU (graphics processing unit) to the motherboard. However, no software has taken advantage of the greater bandwith yet. The top of today’s graphical wondergames, Half-Life 2, Doom 3, etc., see a marginal gain on PCIe-based graphics cards versus their AGP counterparts, at best.
If you didn’t buy an Intel motherboard in the second half of 2004, or if you bought any AMD motherboard, you do not have a PCIe slot. AGP cards will not fit into a PCIe slot, nor vice versa. If you are not planning to update your motherboard, you should be able to get 2-3 good years out of a top of the line AGP graphics card. If you are planning to update (like me), then I would get one with at least one PCIe slot, and if you are a gamer with money to spend, get one that is SLI compliant.
SLI, or Scalable Link Interface, allows you to split the graphics load onto two videocards. SLI compliant motherboards can be equipped with only one videocard, and upgraded at a later time (I’m going to start with one and maybe upgrade). It is only available through a PCIe interface. Unless you’ve updated your Intel-based motherboard in the past month or so, you don’t have it.
