Question Good GPU Model?

Columbia42

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I'm thinking of getting a new graphics card and I'm wondering what would be a good model to get. I currently have a RADEON X300 SE 128MB Hypermemory. The truth is I don't even really know how good a model this is. It runs Orbiter well most of the time but things like Orbiter Galaxy texture generation take forever.

Thanks for the input.
 
That's old. like, really old! I can't really recommend anything, except that it'll be best to stick with ATI (incidentally I'm looking for a new one too, same reason). Artlav and NVidia sometimes seem to get in trouble... And it'd preferably be openGL 4.1 compatible.
 
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Basically the more money it costs the better it is. I have (relatively) old Nvidia GeForce 8600 GS, which runs most pre-2007 games fine with full graphics.

Darren
 
i have a ATI radeon5870 in my comp. wasnt too pricey and it runs everything beautifully. i havnt had to turn the graphics down on any new games so far and i dont think ill have to any time soon
 
That's old. like, really old! I can't really recommend anything, except that it'll be best to stick with ATI (incidentally I'm looking for a new one too, same reason). Artlav and NVidia sometimes seem to get in trouble... And it'd preferably be openGL 4.1 compatible.
You've got that backwards--Artlav has had a lot more trouble with ATI cards than nVidia ones.

nVidia also historically has much better driver support for their cards than ATI does.
 
+1. My opinion is usually that ATI make the slightly superior chipset, but the vastly inferior driver. Just ask dbeachy1 about the epic cursor bug, it's really irritating him recently.

Nvidia drivers haven't been without fault, but I find the whole package a much more stable and less hassling option - plug in and play, forget. :D

edit: To actually recommend a specific card, the ones I've had my eyes on for a while are the 4xx series, somewhere around a 460 or 470. They're not bleeding-edge, so they're not critically expensive, since Nvidia's flagship product is into the 5xx series now, but they're still very new Dx11 cards and I think I could pick one up for about £180 (about $285.67800 according to google right now).
 
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i have a ATI radeon5870 in my comp. wasnt too pricey and it runs everything beautifully. i havnt had to turn the graphics down on any new games so far and i dont think ill have to any time soon

What computer model do you have? I have a painfully old one so there might be some compatibility issues but it's quite possible I'll be getting a new one soon.
 
I would recommend Nvidia GTS 450 or higher. They run about $150. Keep in mind alot of these newer video cards also have a plug-in on the video card itself for power. So make sure your power supply has the needed cable to power the new card. Some other advice if I may. I always goto newegg dot com and review all hardware before I buy it. The pro's and the con's, and if others that bought it are happy with thier purchase. Good luck :tiphat:
 
Columbia42: You didn't say whether you're looking for AGP or PCI Express card, so people have told you what cards are good nowadays on PCI-E, but I assume that Radeon X300 you have would be on AGP (?), and if you aren't replacing the motherboard now, you need to look for an AGP card, and I don't think the newest models are still created for that architecture.
 
Columbia42: You didn't say whether you're looking for AGP or PCI Express card, so people have told you what cards are good nowadays on PCI-E, but I assume that Radeon X300 you have would be on AGP (?), and if you aren't replacing the motherboard now, you need to look for an AGP card, and I don't think the newest models are still created for that architecture.

I looked it up.As fas as I can tell its PCI-E. Unless they have it in both PCI-E and AGP. Ive seen that before also
 
I looked it up.As fas as I can tell its PCI-E. Unless they have it in both PCI-E and AGP. Ive seen that before also
I'm only saying that, because I had Radeon X1600 on AGP in my earlier computer, which was one generation newer.
 
I'm only saying that, because I had Radeon X1600 on AGP in my earlier computer, which was one generation newer.
You do bring up a good point though orb. If it does happen to be a AGP. Thats a whole different ballgame. New motherboard/cpu is your best bet. Then you will need ram memory,possibly a new power supply. Make sure the new motherboard will fit into the new case. Or just buy a whole new computer ready to go. My point is know what you have before making any hardware purchase. Because one thing can lead to another real quick :cheers:
 
You've got that backwards--Artlav has had a lot more trouble with ATI cards than nVidia ones.

That's interesting. Currently he only seems to have trouble with NVidia cards.
 
That's interesting. Currently he only seems to have trouble with NVidia cards.
It's not a problem of graphics card, but coder's. Artlav writes his code primarily for ATI, and I know from experience with Morrowind Graphics Extender, that sometimes the same code doesn't work the same for ATI and NVidia. If he was writing his code primarily for NVidia cards, he would have problems with ATI cards instead, so as I said, this isn't a graphics card issue.
 
and I know from experience with Morrowind Graphics Extender

wait... YOU wrote that ingenious piece of wrapper?? you practically wasted a year of my life! :rofl:
 
Artlav and NVidia sometimes seem to get in trouble...
You've got that backwards--Artlav has had a lot more trouble with ATI cards than nVidia ones.
Currently he only seems to have trouble with NVidia cards.
Artlav writes his code primarily for ATI
Whoa, nice speculation. You forgot about the time, which have a property to pass by.

I had Nvidia card up to a few years ago, and at that time people with ATI ones had various hard-to-track bugs in things like OGLA, since i had no way test and reproduce them, and thus to fix them.

Last few years i had an ATI card, so all the old ATI-related bugs went away, but now i have no way of testing stuff on Nvidia, so bugs start to creep up for people who use that side.

Artlav writes his code primarily for ATI, and I know from experience with Morrowind Graphics Extender, that sometimes the same code doesn't work the same for ATI and NVidia. If he was writing his code primarily for NVidia cards, he would have problems with ATI cards instead, so as I said, this isn't a graphics card issue.
And here we have a winner. :) The code, the limits on the cards, the way errors are reported or lack of thereof, the defaults, the level of ignoring of standards, etc. It's all a little different between the brands.
 
wait... YOU wrote that ingenious piece of wrapper?? you practically wasted a year of my life! :rofl:
Not the shaders part, which is what most of the people think the essence of MGE, but many other things. I was adding features, and other programmers improved graphics. I'm not a DirectX programmer, but when someone else wrote code for ATI, there were bugs with it on NVidia, which I was trying to fix. When there was someone else adding a graphics/shader code who had NVidia card, and MGE worked fine for me on NVidia card too, people had problems with it on ATI cards.
 
I have a PCI-E ATI HD4890 Vapor-X (1Gb Ram ), it's maybe not the latest super-duper card, but it works reasonably well.
 
Hi guys! I was continuing the search for a new GPU and suddenly remembered that I had posted this thread a really long time ago. Thanks for the input everyone! My current GPU (ATI radeon X300) is not an AGP but it just says PCI instead of PCIe. I looked up the card and got varying results (some said PCI, others PCIe) so how do I tell the difference?
 
http://reviews.cnet.com/graphics-cards/ati-radeon-x300-se/1707-8902_7-31406674.html#productSummary

Looking at the image there I can tell it's a PCI-E 16x card. However...

http://www.codemicro.com/store/product/BP/dy596a/Refurbished

Specifically specified "PCIE" as the interface type.

I got these results by simply searching for the card name you posted in Google. You can find more pages about the card by doing the same.


In other news, and in regards to my earlier post in this thread, I eventually picked up a Geforce GTX 560 Ti, which runs like a greased XR2 on full SCRAM ascent, so I'm happy now. :D
 
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