Your current graphics card?

NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 200.

Simply put: not great.

 

I forgot to put my graphics card down.... Ati Radeon 8500 64mb DDR. 3years old now. It runs HL2 moderately well, but struggles with Doom3. Alot of older nvidia cards here, but what else do you need to run Civ3?
I'm suprised at the lack of intergrated graphics votes. Alot PC's are sold with intergrated graphics.

 

Mine was integrated HAND, but like Thrawn I bought me a Radeon 9600 256mb

My question is; What is the difference between a card with 128mb/256mb? And what does the mb actually refer to? I appreciate 256 will be better, but i'd be grateful if someone explained it to me. Cheers.

 

Ati Raedon X600 PRO 256 MB

 

A card with 256MB has twice the on board video RAM that a 128MB card has.

You are referring to the amount of video RAM on the card. Physically, it is similar to the system RAM on your motherboard, but is optimised to work with graphics instructions. The reason it is there is because it is quicker for the graphics card to use memory which is on the card, as it can be accessed directly instead of going through the motherboard and CPU to use the system RAM.

That is a common misconception which is encouraged by retailers, as 256MB of video RAM is not necessarily better. Only in the latest FPS games will the difference be noticeable and even then only at resolutions above 1024*768 with AA and AF enabled. The reality is that most games struggle to fully use up 128MB of video RAM at the moment.

A more important number to be aware of is the memory bandwidth of a card. This number determines the amount of data that can be passed from the video RAM to the GPU at any one time. The highest currently available is 256 bit, though many entry level and mid-range cards are 128 bit. There are also some entry level cards with only 64 bit bandwidth which should be avoided at all costs.

What this all means in real terms is that it is better to buy a card with 128MB of vRAM but a 256bit bandwidth, than a 256MB 128bit card. Of course if you have the money then the latest cards with 256MB and a 256bit bandwidth are the best. If you are struggling with a purchase decision then it is wise to ask around for advice, as a retailer will probably try to sell you a less powerful card with more vRAM and claim it is better.

 

I can't see any references to bit-bandwidth-y things on me graphics card box. Would another term for this be 'Pipelines'? Or even the '8x agp capability' part?

Thanks for explanation btw But 'A card with 256MB has twice the on board video RAM that a 128MB card has' was a bit undermining

 

Have you checked the card's manual? Another term for memory bandwidth is memory interface. I can tell you that a 9600 pro has a 128 bit bandwidth. It is only the top of the range cards which have a 256 bit bandwidth.

"Pipelines" refers to the amount of shader processes that the card can perform simultaneously. Basically more shader pipelines will mean better performance from the card. There is not enough room here to fully explain pixel shading, so if you are interested then try a google search for "pixel shading" and "shader pipelines".

The 8x AGP capability is the type of graphics port on the motherboard that the card will fit in. The most widely used type at the moment is AGP (accelerated graphics port) which was designed to enhance the performance of graphics cards by running at a higher data transfer rate than was possible with standard PCI slots. The 8x refers to the latest revision of the AGP port, which can handle 8 times the transfer rate of the original AGP port. All 8x cards are compatible with 4x ports, but people should always check this before buying a new card.

The latest technology is PCI express x16, which is twice as fast as AGP 8x and is only supported by some of the latest graphics cards. However, most cards at the moment barely utilise the full data transfer rate of a 4x AGP port, so you shouldn't feel you need to upgrade your motherboard solely for this new technology.

Sorry about that. It was a bit embarassing writing it, but it was the only possible answer to your question.

 

I, like Thunderfall, have a GeForce 2 MX; I don't know whether it's integrated, though. I'm getting a new comp soon (laptop, maybe?), and the new card should be better (though laptops with good cards are quite expensive).

 

Ohh, i found the exact specs for my card:

PowerColour Nvidia GeForce 4 440 64MB DDR APG TVOut TV.

I dun understand what it means by "TVOut", can anyone help me on that?

 

TV Out means that the card has a socket which allows you to plug a TV directly into the graphics card. It is probably an S-Video socket and should be near the VGA socket where you plug your monitor in.

 

NVIDIA Geforce 5900 XT 128mb

It's good. I could tweak it up a good deal but I'm got going to try it. I already burned the last one, but the shop gave me a new one without questions. That's what I call service

 

32MB ATI Rage 128 Ultra. It came with my computer, and since I don't play many games, I don't really need to get a better one.

 

I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB. Works well for the stuff I do (video editing, video gaming) .

From the little I know of graphics cards, Nvidia was ahead with the original Geforce 4's but then ATI launched the 9700 Pro which put them ahead. ATI kept this lead as the 9800 Pros beat the Geforce FX. Nvidia has come back on top with the newer stuff. Keeps going back and forth.

 

GF FX5200 for me.

 

NvIDIA FX5600XT 128MB.

 

Another of the masses. I'd like to upgrade so I can use a higher res in WoW and feed my addiction a little better.

 

I had to wait 3 weeks for my 256mb ATI Radeon X 800XT

It was the longest three weeks in the history of man.

 

ATI Radeon 9600, 128MB.

Had to replace my old integrated piece of crap....

 

Nvidia Gforce FX 5900XT on my desktop
Geforce 2 go on my notebook