Graphics Card Question

[Harryz]

Okay this is for a friend, not me - I have no clue on comps and neither does he. This is his current spec.

He wants to purchase this graphics card (Sapphire X800GT 256MB ATI PCI Express).

The main reason he is purchasing the GFX card is for Battlefield 2. Will it work? I've been told his PSU isn't great, so there might be a chance that it might not work. Opinions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Llama]

Id imagine only 256 of Ram is going to be a Bottle neck, he should aim between 512-1024 mimimum, i hear B2 is a RAM hog.

 

[giant384]

video card will work fine ram is bad

 

[Glirk Dient]

He will need a better power supply. Also if he only has 256mb RAM he will want to upgrade that.

Actually that comp isn't very good, he should go with a bit lower of a vid card and upgrade RAM as well. If he got a nice card like that the RAM would be bottlenecked and you wouldn't see much of a difference.

 

[Harryz]

Hmmmm, thanks - just checked minimum requirements and its 512 minimum. Is everything else okay for running Battlefield 2?

How about if he gets this graphics card (http://www.ctidirect.co.uk/infopage1.php?pid=3679;) and upgrades RAM to 512? Is upgrading the power supply vital?

 

[Llama]

Processor is fine, The X800 will be fine, just the problem of Ram and Cooling

 

[Glirk Dient]

The power supply is only 300 watts. I believe the x800s need a beefier PSU. I know the Nvidia equivalent 6900 series needs a 420 min PSU. You can try it but if there aren't enough watts it won't run as well and could lock up/shut down randomly and even ruin many parts in the computer if the current PSU doesn't have good rails.

 

[Harryz]

Thats a lot guys! All the info has really helped.

Just one more thing, I know to get a 450 watt power supply, but which one? There are so many? Can anyone head me in the right direction?

Also, he got a free upgrade for RAM, he has 1gig not 256 which is a relief.

Any help will be appreciated.

 

[StardogChampion]

Make sure the motherboard supports PCI-Express, if it doesn't then you'll need to buy an AGP card. Only motherboards from the last few years will probably have PCI-E. Some P4 3ghz don't even have them.