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Best Vid card $$$ can buy
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l3eeron
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 11:36 am    Post subject: Best Vid card $$$ can buy Reply with quote

So, the world of video cards advances way faster than my following. I've been workin' my ARSE off, now I wanna spend my money on a video card. I wanna get something that will run HL2 with the HDR on - smoothly. I saw one I liked for $600. It looked like two cards stuck together and had 1 gig of ram (opposed to my current 256mb ATI which STRUGGLES w/hdr). BUT, it needs some kind of PCI-Express slot which my MOBO doesn't have =(. What exactly are my options here?
Maybe my current rig can run the HDR, but I'm too lame to figure it out?
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StrontiumDog
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 12:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I turn off HDR! I don't like it!
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Stevo
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 12:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

StrontiumDog wrote:
I turn off HDR! I don't like it!

Same here, but I don't think you need a very fancy video card to run it. What are your other system specs?
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mUj0
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 12:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What DOES your mobo support? AGP?

Just so you know, the Original Half Life 2 does not support HDR.
Only Certain Source games do (CS:S, DOD:S, Episode 1)
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powdermilkman
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 12:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i myself would strongly advise not buying an AGP card....save more money buy an entire new mobo that supports pci-express then buy the best card possible would be my humble suggestion
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StrontiumDog
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 12:59 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

powdermilkman wrote:
i myself would strongly advise not buying an AGP card....save more money buy an entire new mobo that supports pci-express then buy the best card possible would be my humble suggestion


Agreed. I contemplated upgrading my old P4 1.3GHz machine with more RAM, a new video card and one of those processor upgrades from Evergreen. But it was gonna cost pretty much the same as a new machine....so I bought a new Dell and I love it (got a free 19" LCD and a free 320Gb drive with it!)
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squidly
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What is your current video card???

BTW, it is not the faq that your card have 256mg of ram your problem!! 256mg is enough to play ANY of todays game!!! The problem is probably that you have a low end card! (something like a 9600 with 256mg). So a better card with 256mg will do the job!!!

Post your spec and how much money you want to spend on your new vid/card...


I'll try to find something good for you!!!
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squidly
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 1:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I just take a look on the net and wow!!!

Price has dropped a lot since last time I looked!!!!

For about 300$, you can have a 7800gs, which is the best AGP card!!

You can look too at a x850xt platinum edition (if youre a ATI guys). Good card too but harder to find and I think, more expensive!!!
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 2:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

squidly wrote:

You can look too at a x850xt platinum edition (if youre a ATI guys). Good card too but harder to find and I think, more expensive!!!

Preacherman has one of those cards...it's awesome. And he didn't tell his wife how much it cost...!
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WiseOldJames{ATL}
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 3:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

if i had 600 to spend, i'd shell out for a good motherboad (asus) with a pci express and then buy the ATI 1900 pci express.

I have the AGP ATI 1600 and it's great. A 512mb vid card for $250.
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l3eeron
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 4:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Stevo wrote:
StrontiumDog wrote:
I turn off HDR! I don't like it!

Same here, but I don't think you need a very fancy video card to run it. What are your other system specs?


OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name INGRAM
System Manufacturer Compaq Presario 061
System Model EL445AA-ABA SR1750NX NA650
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 15 Model 47 Stepping 2 AuthenticAMD ~2188 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix Technologies, LTD 3.10, 10/14/2005
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS
System Directory C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
User Name INGRAM\Compaq_Administrator
Time Zone Pacific Standard Time
Total Physical Memory 1,024.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 636.13 MB
Total Virtual Memory 2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory 1.96 GB
Page File Space 2.26 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys


ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 Series (On board)


so, that's:

2.2ghz AMD 64 bit
1 gig RAM
256mb ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 Series

I just got this PC about 6 months ago new, off the shelf


I don't know what other info might be helpful to you.


OBTW, I got the HDR turned off too. It runs fine like this, but I wanna see the full potential.


My budget is some where around 600, maybe 7 if it was SWEET DEAL!
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 4:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i just recently purchased a new pc, i bought the top ATI card

Radeon X1900 XTX

for ati its the top card, and the top card for nvidea right now is the GeForce 7950, which has to cores on one card

if i were you, i would throw in an extra $100 to get a decent mobo, i got my Asus A8N-E for 113 CND. its a basic reliable mobo, its supports PCI-E and SATA2

and i got my PowerColor Radeon X1900 XTX 512 mb for $550

and everything ive tried to play (call of duty 2, and source games) run as smooth as a baby's bottom

the Radeon x1900 XTX can also run in "crossfire" mode, but then you would have to purchase a special crossfire mobo, which there aren't many released yet. and the newest crossfire card is Radeon X1900 XT only, so if you were to put those to together, the XTX would downclock itself to match XT speeds

(all prices are Canadian dollars)

but i guess if you were to get a new mobo you would have to get a new cpu, cause the mobo i mentioned supposrt Socet 939 AMD cpu's.

so yeah, thats my 2 cents

if you were to stick with the current mobo you have now, the best agp card is probably a GeForce 7800 GS or something close to that
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squidly
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 8:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm very very very very confused here!!!!

Hummmm, you said that your mobo is an ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 Series... (Radeon Xpress 200 is a mobo, not a video card!!!) In fact, im a little wrong saying that, because it has an integrated graphic card (to be more precise a X300 card)). (OMG, that explain why you cannot play with HDR... In fact, im even surprised that you can play HL2). Very old card, not very performant!!! Look at the review here... (look at the bottom of the chart to find yours!!! )

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/05/24/vga_charts_vi/page6.html


Annnnnnnd, you said also that your motherboard doesn't have PCI-Express slot, so i concluded that it was AGP!!! Again from ATI website, it is a PCI express based mobo, not an AGP. But, I'm not sure if the mobo have a slot to add another pci express graphic card since it already has an integrated one!!! (That would explain why you said that your mobo doesn't have PCI-Express slot)

So basically, that is your problem my friend!!!!

I think that youll have to change your MOBO AND your video card if you want to upgrade...

Let me give you a small advice for when youll buy your next computer. Never buy an "all-in-one" computer (like those that dell are selling) and/or with integrated part. There is NO super deal.... If the price of those all-in-one computer are lower, it is because they put crappy component in it (like the X300 vid-card). Next time, read a lot, watch the spec and buy the component independantly (processor, video card, motherboard, etc...)... And if you don't feel confortable to assemble it by yourself, bring all the parts to a computer store and ask them to assemble it for you!!! That way youll have the right computer for your need!!!

Sorry and good shopping!!
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Stevo
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 10:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

l3eeron wrote:
(On board)

That's probably where you went wrong. Anyway, the best thing to do would be to upgrade the motherboard and get a new video card.
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PostPosted: Fri Jul 14, 2006 12:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

if he gets a new mobo, it might be a different socet then his current cpu, so he may be forced to get a new cpu as well
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