Yay, a video card upgrade!

[darkedone02]

Ok, my parents now brought me a brand new video card today, It's a ATI Radeon X1300 Pro with 512 MB DDR2. My old video card was a ATI Radeon X600 W/ Hyperthread memory 256.0 MB DDR2 (I think it has DDR...).

My old video card now cost about 30.00 Bucks in www.pricewatch.com, In other words, it sucks. My old video card DOES NOT HAVE A FAN, so I obtain some lag from my computer due to my video card getting heat issues, my new video card does have a fan, and I get better performance on it 24/7.

Now that I've finally got a better video card, I won't upgrade it till it becomes obsolete from the gaming society, or it gave out on me. My future progress on upgrading my computer once I've obtain the money to do so, is that I'm going to upgrade my 1 GB Ram to a 2 or 4 GB Ram, so I can play this game and high-powerful mods out there that cost more system specs.

 

[Jamesds]

Excellent! That's the one thing I miss about desktop computers - the ease of upgradeability. But I wouldn't trade that for the easy portability I get with my laptop though .

So, I assume you are talking about Civ4? Your old graphics card is way better than mine and I still enjoy Civ4! Sometimes I wish it could be a bit faster, but that's for the future. My graphics card uses 128Mb of my DDR RAM to operate, it's an ATI Mobility Radeon Xpress 200.

 

[darkedone02]

I'm not only talking about Civ4, but other games out there that demanding a better video card, including the new and famous FPS out there called Bioshock.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Your current video card is actually just the low-end of the current generation. Dont expect too much increase in fps in most games. They shouldave gotten you a x1650, its not expensive, and it works wonders for most games ( I have it and can run HL 2 on medium at 50fps )

 

[felagund]

I hate to be telling you this, but a X1300 card is really not much better than a X600 card. Just because it has 512MB vs 256MB doesn't mean its a good card. You need to look at the GPU processor. For example, I can buy a 512MB 7300GS which is much slower than a 256MB 8600GTS. Next time, before you buy, do some research on a site such as www.tomshardware.com or gamespot.com - they have some good buyers guides. At least you got rid of your heat issues though...

 

[Irish_Scorpion]

i actually have an X1300 Pro

and it's pretty much useless

i can play Half Life 2 and the sort, but FEAR has terrible FPS, as does Bioshock

i'd recommend spending at least 200 dollars on a nice card

i'm really hating mine.

 

[carmen510]

Get nVidia 8800 GTX

 

[Genocidicbunny]

real funny there. Im sure he doesnt have 500$ to spend on a video card if he bought ( or his parents ) an X1300. That, and it most likely would be too much of a performance booster. After all, I can get a X1950 XTX for my old P 3 system, but it wouldnt matter much now would it?

 

[Esckey]

So what is a good card these days?

 

[carmen510]

I just said one...

 

[Genocidicbunny]

So what is a good card these days?

Not what Carmen said. While it is good in terms of horsepower, unless you have a 2000$ system, you dont need it. A good card in the upper midrange is the 8800GTs ( the 320 mb version ) or if you have a tighter budget, a 8600 GT is also fine, especially if your processor is a year or maybe even two old. There would be no point in blowing money on what is essentially just a faster video card when you cannot use all that speed. It would be wasted money.

 

[Zelig]

They shouldave gotten you a x1650, its not expensive, and it works wonders for most games ( I have it and can run HL 2 on medium at 50fps )

Yeah, considering the x1650 pro is about $70, and double the speed of an x1300 pro.

 

[carmen510]

Well, I don't have a 8800 GTX, only a GTS.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Yeah, considering the x1650 pro is about $70, and double the speed of an x1300 pro.

that can depend...I had to shell out 120$ for mine cus it was first off, 6 months ago, and second, cus it was AGP which has always been more expensive. But hey, I got the rest of the system practically free ( mobo for 50$, but that doesnt count)

 

[3 EMS]

Well, I don't have a 8800 GTX, only a GTS.

I have both. I'm sure that a 7900Gt would have been plenty to play CIV though. I got the GTX because I wanted to start overclocking and benchmarking a computer that I had built. The GTS performs well enough and went into my stable computer.

OP- enjoy your new card. See if you can play higher resolutions than you could with your old card. More memory. You can download a program called Fraps and it will show you the "frames per second" your card renders. Measure the difference between your old and new cards. Your parents will be amazed at what your doing with your new toy.

Go to Tom's Hardware, Anandtech, (H)OCP, JonnyGuru, and PCperspective and read about computer parts. Check out some forums too. Like Overclockers and Xtremesystems. Hopefully, when you go to build your own computer you will know how to pick parts(vs. their price) that will best suit your needs.

Heck you might even want to download RivaTuner and overclock your old card.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Overclocking for the x1300 is a bad idea. You're not gonna get much extra performance out of it, maybe 1 or 2 but its not worth it. In short, save your money from now on, and in a year or so, buy a new system

 

[3 EMS]

Overclocking for the x1300 is a bad idea. You're not gonna get much extra performance out of it, maybe 1 or 2 but its not worth it. In short, save your money from now on, and in a year or so, buy a new system

Its free. Its an old card. Good way to learn the process. Cards are easy to swap.

 

[carmen510]

If you really want some good stuff, get at least 1 GB of RAM, 2 is preferable, nVidia Gefore 8800 GTS/GTX, a dual-core, hell a quad-core if you have the money, at least 2 Ghz Processor speed, and maybe a better mouse, if you want a cool lokkin' machine.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Its free. Its an old card. Good way to learn the process. Cards are easy to swap.

point is that to learn how to overclock, you have to see the effects of your trials, and the X1300 isnt good for that

EDIT - after a bit of quick googling, maybe the X1300 isnt bad to try to overclock. i was going more on the fact that the initial performance sucks enough to warrant not even bothering to overclock..

 

[3 EMS]

His old card was a X600 and I think he said it is passively cooled. I don't think he'd get too much of an 'OC, least not without trying some sort of cooling. Just something to play around with is all I was hinting at.