[$threadinfo[title]]

[yegosimo]

guys.. i gotta buy a video card
but i dont know much of this
so can u recommend me one that would be like average (not too great/expensive or too shitty/cheap)?

specs:
pentium 4 - 2.4GHz
intel graphics controller 64 Mb
512 RAM
40 GB HDD

[NES_player4LIFE]

try to get at least a 128mb card
i have a Nvidia asylum 256mb card in my rig
it cost me just $70 and works great
all my n64 emu supported games work fine

[Clements]

Checked if you have an AGP slot?

[revl8er]

Yeah, a lot of pcs with onboard gfx don't have agp slots. So before you buy a gfx card, make sure that you have the slot needed.

[NES_player4LIFE]

apg are dark and long
pci are light and short

[yegosimo]

ok .. ive been looking for that agp thing n all what i found is like my motherboard or whatever probably has one agp that supports 4X
still im not pretty sure... here are some pics of my motherboard to see if u guys can help me out.. i dont know much of this.
[by the way, i'd like to get a 256 mb video card]

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/tico16/Foto_041806_003.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/tico16/Foto_041806_004.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a342/tico16/Foto_041806_005.jpg

i'd really appreciate the help:bouncy:

[TerraPhantm]

It looks like your computer doesn't have an AGP port.

[yegosimo]

It looks like your computer doesn't have an AGP port.

are u sure :( ???

[TerraPhantm]

Yea I'm pretty sure.
http://www.icalledshotgun.com/CRArticles/AGPslot.jpg
In the above pic, the brown slot would be the AGP slot.

[yegosimo]

oh man im so dissapointed ... :(
anyway, thankz for taking the time for getting that pic .. i looked for it so hard n i didnt find it

[yegosimo]

i never wrote the name of the graphics controller or w/e ... oh im so stupid lol
Intel 82845G/GL/GV Graphics Controller 64.0 Mb

[arnalion]

Rule nr.1
Avoid nvidia 5000 series
Rule nr.2
Don't buy a graphics card with 256MB ram if the card can't use it (like fx5200, it's to slow). The manufacturers put lots of ram on slow cards just to sell to dumb people. Even 6600GT don't have fully use for 256MB ram

[Doomulation]

The size of the memory on the card has nothing to do with the speed of the care, nor its type. That's just plain nonsense. The memory is used to store information needed by the card to render and perform the graphics. Memory memory means that the card can handle higher resolution textures, for example. Or more textures at the same time, and so on. It does not matter what the speed of the card is nor the quality, nor if it is a Geforce FX card or a Geforce 6600.

[TerraPhantm]

Actually arnalion is right, the cores on lowend cards are way too slow to handle too many/too large textures, so the extra RMA is useless. Cards that are slower then the X800s and 6800s don't have much use for 256mb of ram

[Doomulation]

RAM is RAM. The game might just store a lot of textures in there and save for later use (IE: less loading times?).

[arnalion]

What i've said is a known fact...

[Doomulation]

Perhaps, but as I stated, RAM is RAM. It all depends on how the software is written. I remember jabo's plugin tried to store as much as it could in the video card memory AFAIK and tries to clear it out when it was getting maximized, so there you have it...
More memory is a good thing to have.

[arnalion]

No
The slow card with lack of gpu powa can't send all that data that's needed to "fill" the ram.
Plus if it gets more ram is it harder to keep the same clock frequencies, low-end cards with much memory usually have lower clocks on it (= slower). It's the same thing when you overclock a computer. It's harder to overclock if it got many memory modules. So if it's a low-end card can't it use ex 256MB ram.

[blizz]

Instead of arguing like two girls in a playground perhaps link to an article from an authoritive website to support your position?

[Jaz]

Instead of arguing like two girls in a playground perhaps link to an article from an authoritive website to support your position?

LOL

Nice work. :D

[Clements]

How about this review of the X800XL 512MB against the 256MB version?

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2406

They perform identically, except in HL2. You can be the judge whether the extra memory is worth the hefty price premium.

[Doomulation]

No
The slow card with lack of gpu powa can't send all that data that's needed to "fill" the ram.
Plus if it gets more ram is it harder to keep the same clock frequencies, low-end cards with much memory usually have lower clocks on it (= slower). It's the same thing when you overclock a computer. It's harder to overclock if it got many memory modules. So if it's a low-end card can't it use ex 256MB ram.
I am not going to argue anymore... but the fact is that more memory always developers to fill it up more. Loading times, anyone? No matter, no matter. I don't say cards with more memory is worth the extra cost - that's up to you.

[arnalion]

Instead of arguing like two girls in a playground perhaps link to an article from an authoritive website to support your position?

...

:P

[yegosimo]

here's the thing..
i checked for AGP port.. none
PCI-express cards are really expensive and i dont think my pc would work correctly with one of those
so i am about to buy:
-ESS motherboard: supports 400-800 Mhz bus, up to 2 GB RAM, a 8x AGP port, 5.1 sound and 5 PCI slots
-Geforce 5500 256 MB (AGP of course)
-1 GB RAM memory ... lol
any suggestions ?

[yegosimo]

ECS* motherboard.. sry

[Doomulation]

PCI Express cards aren't expensive. In fact, they're cheaper than their AGP counterparts.
If you're going to buy a new motherboard, buy one that supports Pci Express, because that's the new technology and that's what new cards will use. As for a card, when it comes to nVidia, don't use anything lower than 6XXX. The FX line is crap.

[TerraPhantm]

Definitely go for PCIe, and perhaps a 6600GT or so.