Graphics Card

[BetaMaster]

Hey, I have an ATi All-In-Wonder 9600. With Half-Life 2 coming around, and Christmas also coming around soon, as well, I was wondering:
Should I get an X800? Because I know my AiW isn't the best, but I like it because I have TV support on it, and therefor have a TV in my bedroom. I could sell the card, and use that money to buy a PCI TV Tuner, and either try and get an X800 or some other card for Christmas, or just go buy one with my own money. Should I just stick with my AiW, or go for the X800?
Oh, and sorry if wrong forum. Feel free to move.

-Brad

 

[Dead-Inside]

x800 VIVO (Video in Video out), all you'll ever need. It costs a little extra but, you wanted it.

 

[Beazil]

Depends on the speed of your processor too. Your card will definately run just fine. I have a 9800 pro and recently upgraded my cpu, doubling my performance. Your gpu may not be the fastest thing on earth, but it's certainly not the slowest. And being dx9 compatible helps too. At over $600 bucks where I live (Canada) for the latest gpu's, it might not be worth it. But if you have the cash and it's burning a hole in your pocket....

Buy me one!

 

[Miker75]

x800 VIVO (Video in Video out), all you'll ever need. It costs a little extra but, you wanted it.

VIVO cards do not neccesarily have TV Tuners (if at all!).

The 9600 is a decent card. If your CPU is not up to scratch, I would suggest replacing that first. An AMD Athlon64 3400 can be picked up very cheaply these days (a lot less than an X800) and would really make the 9600 you have run at it's fullest potential.

If your CPU is already going well, and you have enough RAM (I'd suggest 1GB... my 512MB just seems.........adequate... but not great)... then I'd nearly suggest waiting for ATI's next generation and let the 9600 run 'till it puffs out..

 

[wilka91]

X800 is way too slow

You need to wait for the next generation of video cards, or maybe get a 6800ultra SLI system

it's the only way to run HL2 @ a repsectable 27 fps

the rest will get 13 fps @ 640*380 and medium details

 

[sublidieminal]

X800 is way too slow

You need to wait for the next generation of video cards, or maybe get a 6800ultra SLI system

it's the only way to run HL2 @ a repsectable 27 fps

the rest will get 13 fps @ 640*380 and medium details

WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?!?!?

 

[XtremesT]

WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?!?!?

I believe the word is sarcasim..

 

[ShanBoi]

lol obviously

Im like you. I have a 9600xt 256mb. Im selling it and getting a Leadtek A400 (6800 vanilla) this week

Should be a good step up. My cpu and RAM are fine - athlon 64 3000+ with 1GB PC3200 DDR ram

 

[BetaMaster]

I have a Pentium 4 2.67 GHz processor, with a gig of ram. I hear all these people saying that their graphics cards have 256 MB memory, but I have 128. Is that going to be good enough?

 

[NB.]

I have a Pentium 4 2.67 GHz processor, with a gig of ram. I hear all these people saying that their graphics cards have 256 MB memory, but I have 128. Is that going to be good enough?

Yeah you should be just fine with a 128mb card. afaik there are no requirements for the game that say you need 256mb for highest texture settings. The worst you might experience from a 128mb card is some occasional texture swapping on large environment changes etc.. (basically the game will stutter a little for a second or two).

I have a 128mb 9800pro, and i have no intention of upgrading just yet.

 

[Tytarian]

I just bought a Sparkle 6800(Regular)and I believe it is fantastic value for money,yes it only has 128mb of memory but if you plan on running your games not too much higher than 1024x768 then the cards memory won't really be an issue and also you can sofmod it(with riva tuner 15.2)to enable 4 extra pipelines(bringing it to a totall of 16)as well as enable an extra vertex shader(to a totall of 6)

Brands that have a high success rate of being able to be soft modded are Leadtek,Evga,sparkle,there are a few others that are good just search guru3d.com in the forum section go to the Riva tuner threads for some useful info.

Just in case your interested here are my bech marks,before and after the softmod.

Default 12x1,5vp.
Core:325
mem:700

3D mark 2003:8250.

Softmoded:16x1,6vp.(and overcloked)
Core:385
Mem:800

3D mark 2003:9367.

My comp-
Pent4 [email protected]
512mb ram
P4s8x Mobo

And of couse the faster the cpu the better the graphics card will perform,hence higher bench mark scores.

Hope this helps someone,lastly here are a couple of popular sites that have benchmarks for you in comparison to other graphics cards,just to help give you some insight as to what you may be looking for.

http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=1193&s=1

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/half-life2_vst/

 

[Frezz]

My graphic-card:
http://www.frezz-files.com/sapphire_radeon_x800_pro_vivo.htm

 

[BetaMaster]

All right, thanks for all the help so far. I've tried CS:S and I couldn't set water on "Reflect All", and I couldn't have any AA or anything, which dissapointed me. I realize CS:S is online, so will I be able to use "Reflect All" on the water in HL2 or use AA?

 

[Frezz]

All right, thanks for all the help so far. I've tried CS:S and I couldn't set water on "Reflect All", and I couldn't have any AA or anything, which dissapointed me. I realize CS:S is online, so will I be able to use "Reflect All" on the water in HL2 or use AA?

I run CSS in 1280 * 1024 with 4xAA, 8xAF and all details at high. I have between 30-70 fps, with over 20 players.

 

[czrsink]

I run CSS in 1280 * 1024 with 4xAA, 8xAF and all details at high. I have between 30-70 fps, with over 20 players.

Yeah, but you could with a card like an X800 Pro.

 

[Frezz]

All right, thanks for all the help so far. I've tried CS:S and I couldn't set water on "Reflect All", and I couldn't have any AA or anything, which dissapointed me. I realize CS:S is online, so will I be able to use "Reflect All" on the water in HL2 or use AA?

I dont think you will be able to run HL2 with more details and keep the same fps, even though you'r not playing online.

 

[BetaMaster]

Ah. I think I might upgrade then.