What I have right now is a GeForce 4 Ti 4600 128MB ram. I can't spend a whole lot so I was looking at the GeForce FX 5700 256MB ram. It's only $167.50 at New Egg. What i want to know is how much of a difference will I see. A lot, not much? Thanks.
I would get a mid-to-upper range 128Mb card, not a cheap 256Mb card. The 3DMark03 Scores are pretty much the same on the low-range 256Mb cards compared to the upper-range 128Mb cards. I would go for an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, which I can find for about £100 in Britain. I think that is about the best you can buy with your budget. Here are some 3D Mark scores:
Nvidia 5950 Ultra, 256Mb Scored 6,650 points
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, 128Mb Scored 5,721 points
ATI Radeon 9600 Prom 128Mb Scored 3,505 points
As you can see, the Radeon 9800 Pro faired only a little worse than a top-range Geforce card with 256Mb RAM which retails around £300/$550. You are better investing in the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128Mb card.
Hope this helps.
If I were you, I would wait. I dont think its worth upgrading since the card that you want to get is already outdated. Just wait and get a 6800 or x800 card. Its better to wait half a year and make a choice then make a choice now and having to upgrade again in half a year. Plus you should be able to play all the new games that came out on low with that card. Maybe on medium if your memory and cpu are good. But if you really need to upgrade, I would go for a Radeon 9800 pro.
Bah, get a Radeon 9800 Pro, you got to be dreaming if you think the new line of cards would be cheap in 6 months....
I got a Radeon 9200 for $40, and I've seen them go as low as $30. It's a 128Mb and is great quality for the price mark.
Bah, get a Radeon 9800 Pro, you got to be dreaming if you think the new line of cards would be cheap in 6 months....
I didnt mean that they will get cheaper, but that he will save his money and have enough to buy a good card.
Thanks for all the info guys/gals. The reason I was wondering is that my cards fan is getting ready to go (making a clicking noise, sounds like a ball-bearing is worn) and if it does, I have no back up.
I think I'll look into a mid-upper 128MB caard, like you all suggested. New-Egg has a lot of those, like the 9800 and the 5900.
Thanks Again.
... buy a new fan then. Much cheaper than a new graphics card ;)
You can buy a new fan for a video card? And how do you remove the one on there?
Yeah, sure you can. The stock fan on my current card started rattling so I bought a copper one to replace it with. As I recall, there are two little plastic pegs holding it in; they're usually white. You'll know what I mean when you see them. Just undo them and the fan should come right off -- when you replace it, you may need some thermal compound, but some of that should come with the new heatsink and fan anyway.
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