You Do It...

[Fender357]

Because I have a head ache..........but want information........

I want to know what the "best" video card is that I can get that has DX9...and also the "cheepest" price wise......because I've got no monies......

Right now I've just got a GeForce 4 Ti 4200.......its been good to me......never had a single problem with it.

I don't care if its ATI or Nivida.......just as long as it dosn't screw up.

But I havn't been paying any attention to the cards and hardwear out there for a wile........so I'm totally out of it, don't know what anything costs anymore.

 

[umop]

New cards are coming out in the coming weeks, I'd wait till they are out and see how much the prices of current cards drop, and then make your decision. If I were in your shoes I'd probably get a Radeon 9600 series card.

 

[Fender357]

Good idea...

I wont be able to get anthing anytime soon...I dont have a job yet. But I'm applying everywhere like freakn' crazy....

 

[umop]

Yeah, you can probably find them for around $100 right now. Newegg has a few.
Good luck on findin a job too

 

[Fender357]

I love Newegg...........I found everything for my PC off of there........and I got it all from the same place


And thanks...........I need all the luck I can get.......

(im so desperate I cut my hair!!!!! and my hair was down to the middle of my back ;( )

 

[ewilson248]

i remember over at toms hardware he did a bang for your buck review recently on graphics cards .. try that.

my $ .02--> go with either the 9800pro or the fx5900 flashed to run as a 5950U
whichever is cheaper on price watch that day. but dont buy ANYTHING until you have the game you want to run in your hands! even just one week later can save $20!

i bought my 5900 for $190 bucks back at xmas time flashed it to a 5950U. runs at 475/950 all day long! i took the 100 i saved and bought 1GB 3200 memory!

 

[Fender357]

what do you mean by "flashed it" ??

I am intrigued!


And thank you for the info

 

[ewilson248]

I flashed the BIOS on the FX5900 w the BIOS from an FX5950 Ultra! It raises the voltage to the GPU slightly and allows for a higher overclock! The orignal specs for a 5900 vary a lot based on the version of the card but they were around 375 to 400 for the GPU & RAMDAC and then 700 to 800 for memory clock. Mine now runs at 475/950 with no problems at all with UT4/Painkiller etc.. and the hottest it has ran is 60C/140F which is WAY below max! If you drop some keywords like: "overclock flash bios 5900" in a search engine you will see a ton of articles about this! A 3DMark of 6000 tells the tale!

 

[Fender357]

Ah....I've never overclocked anything. I'd be a little to worried about over heating.

I have a ShuttleX, so I worry about heat a little more.

Its a great PC though. I havn't had a single problem with it in the year or so that I've had it.


I still really want to start getting some new stuff for it.

I've got 1 gig ram and I'd really be more comfortable with 2

But I only have 2 slots so I've got to get the 1 gig sticks...which I'm pretty sure cost alot (for good ones...which I want).

 

[ewilson248]

That is a TINY case, I agree with you, any overclocking could cause real heat issues.
I have a mid/large size tower case, with 4 case fans and a massive copper CPU heat sink. So heat with me is not an issue EVER! On the other hand your case is ultra spiffy cool, I am going to be doing an XPC soon myself to replace the huge box I have plugged into home theater system. Im thinking HL2 on my 57" Sony!!!

 

[Fender357]

That is a TINY case, I agree with you, any overclocking could cause real heat issues.
I have a mid/large size tower case, with 4 case fans and a massive copper CPU heat sink. So heat with me is not an issue EVER! On the other hand your case is ultra spiffy cool, I am going to be doing an XPC soon myself to replace the huge box I have plugged into home theater system. Im thinking HL2 on my 57" Sony!!!

Im not really sure how to find out the temp of the pc....is there a program that shows you or something?
I figure you would have to have some kind of thermometer kind of thing in there, and I've got no idea if that comes with stuff automaticly.
I cant remember everything in it....fan wise.....but I'm sure its pretty good since I dont have any problems with it over heating or anything.

And oh yeah.......

Im thinking HL2 on my 57" Sony!!!

I'm comming to Atlanta......

 

[ewilson248]

i use a proggie called "motherboard monitor" MBM5

it's great , also my bios has readings it takes off of the mobo too!

tv viewing by appt only! , NO!!!

 

[Fender357]

Ok.....I just remembered I have a program like that.....it basicly shows you everything about your pc....and I found the temperature part.....soooooo

Is this good ???

(It was pretty freakn' hot today....so I doubt it could have cooled down much..it was like close to 100F.....so freakn' hot.....)

And its been on for a wile now....like mabie 3 hours.

 

[Alig]

Ok.....I just remembered I have a program like that.....it basicly shows you everything about your pc....and I found the temperature part.....soooooo

Is this good ???

(It was pretty freakn' hot today....so I doubt it could have cooled down much..it was like close to 100F.....so freakn' hot.....)

And its been on for a wile now....like mabie 3 hours.

Nah that isnt hot...not close to overheating. Room for some overclocking there My cpu runs at 37.50c as im talking now and about 50c at most if i play farcry, its overclocked a little bit..it was a 2600+ now its a 3000+ @2.2ghz. I only have one case fan, a bit ass cpu fan but the sides of my case are'nt on and my window is open so im getting good ventalation atm.