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help buying a new card
(97 posts, started )
help buying a new card
well when the new track textures came out i realized i needed an upgrade! right now o have a hp with vista 32-bit, intel core 2 quad Q6600 @ 2.4 ghz, 3g ram, 8400 gs hooked up with hdmi. im running it at 1024x768 @ 75mhz, with everything on i get a good 50-60 fps. it suprisingly looks great with hdmi, but i thrive for something better! I'm no comp expert so what's my best option for let's say $300 and what results will i see? thanks a bunch, i really apreciate it
hopefully you don't have to buy another power supply
i was looking at the card you posted, but no hdmi? I don't get it, that thing is so tits.
#6 - Jakg
You can get DVI -> HDMI converters for $3.36 delivered...

You need to check what PSU you have to make that card work, though...
the 4870 looks nice, 1g, but with an HDMI adapter how can it pass sound, doesn't it have to be straight out of the card for that(HDMI carries great sound by the way). but regardless if it does or not, i really like that card, very good for the price! If a still ran at 1024x768(which i plan to only because it fits my tv nicely for my eyes) with all graphics on, best textures, best everything, how many frames do you estimate i'll get? 8400gs-4870

thanks for the help guys, couldn't find those prices anywhere!

i was looking at that nvidia card again and there's no way its gonna fit, i got a tv tuner real close to my 8400gs and there's not too much room.
FPS will be CPU limited with that graphics card at 1024x768. I guess around 150 with a grid or something, more than you need anyway

(The 4870 is dual slot too so if there's something in the PCI slot below you'll have to move it.)
150 sounds good lol!!! i just want to know that I'll always have enough frames to go with improving graphics, plus i always make skins in 4096. But thanks for the quick help everyone, im gonna be purchasing the 4870 so thanks again for the links and mods can close the thread now.this forums got all the answers
No idea if this helps, but, i had my skins in 4096 aswell, and even my oldest card (ATI 1950XT) could manage that with 70FPS everything high6xAA 16X AF. If you want a bit more, i wouldn't go for the 4870 with 1GB. Since it's CPU limited, you don't even need anything like that. the stock version of the 4850 (512MB) would do it...
im a little confused, what exactly do you mean by limited?
Quote from jonny dank :im a little confused, what exactly do you mean by limited?

That CPU is reached limit, so only CPU upgrade would increase FPS, and not GPU.
Quote from shiny_red_cobra :http://www.newegg.com/Product/ ... aspx?Item=N82E16814102801

If you can afford it, get this one. It comes with an HDMI adapter which also carries sound over HDMI. This is the best card for $300. If it's a bit much, find the 512MB version, it's a bit cheaper but still an excellent card.

i always thought that ATI cards didn't have physics rendering. do they now? i really have no idea
well that's a blower, but thanks for explaining that! if i get a new motherboard will the limiter go away? and how do i know what it's limited to?
Quote from jonny dank :well that's a blower, but thanks for explaining that! if i get a new motherboard will the limiter go away? and how do i know what it's limited to?

it is limited to ghz's of your cpu. try overclocking?
Quote from Shadowww :it is limited to ghz's of your cpu. try overclocking?

:gnasher:
yes. a quadcore 2.4 core2 is not enough for lfs. :chairs:
calm down buddy i already said i don't know computers, but i get 60fps with all the graphics right now so it can't be that bad...but i am running at 1024x768 lol. Well it looks like this might take a few more bucks than i thought so I'm just gonna post pone this one, but thanks a LOT for giving me some help, i was about to just buy the 4870 card but that would have been a bad idea apparently. for future reference should i just get somebody to build me a new one?
#19 - Jakg
Basically your FPS is limited by the slowest part of your PC - obviously if you get the latest bleeding edge $1000 GFX card something else will limit it, which could be your CPU - however for LFS if you added a 4850/4870 you'd see a very nice boost and have a very well-rounded gaming machine.
i don't think im expressing my lack of knowledge towards computers enough! im still a little in the dark here, so lets say i get that gfx card and keep everything else stock(or whatever the pc world calls it), what are my results as far as playing lfs goes since that's the only game i play? and i don't know much about overclocking, but what is my processor capable of? would this give me a noticeable difference when playing lfs?

didn't see your post jakg, so with the gfx card itself it would make a nice pc for lfs? that's all i want!
#21 - Jakg
Your CPU is very good - but the point is that the slowest part of the computer will "limit" the fps - for example if you have a $1000 GPU, 4GB of DDR2 and a shitty old P4 - the CPU will be the limiting factor and the GFX card will always be waiting for the CPU to catch up, and so even though you will have spent a lot, the PC's performance would still be poor.

What you have, if you get a 4850 / 4870 speed card, is a very well-rounded gaming machine. LFS likes more CPU power than graphics power unlike most games, but your CPU is still very very good.

EDIT - Trust me your a hell of a lot better than most people who "get" PC's. From the fact you understand that the CPU isn't the actual box itself means you immediately know more than most of my customers!
for games, almost any modern cpu is enough. remember when they used to get smooth fps out of a p3 with a 6800GT in doom3? And they were saying you needed a fastass machine...

your cpu is more than enough. MORE than enough. you need to get rather high on resolution etc to reach a point where your cpu can't keep up. And even if you get a graphics card SO fast that your cpu can't keep up, you will be getting ridiculous fps, which means that even if you got a faster cpu to keep up with your graphics card, it wouldn't make much difference. look at benchmarks online. takes a little getting used to, that's all.

don't worry, i don't bite. ask jakg if you wanna know what kind of pre-built PCs they sell at shops...

did i drink too much coffee or something? anyway, goodnight all!
Since we're on it already,

I also have a store-bought pc, but i can't really find which motherboard is in there.
I recon it's some bad one, but i just bought it with a Q6600@ 2.4 GHz too, 2 GB Ram, also it had some standard card in it so i replaced it for a 8600GT.
Now.. would a motherboard in a store-bought pc actually support most of the newer videocards (9800GT(X)/(S))? Or just burn out at the first startup? As i'm not satisfied with the 8600GT. LFS runs great with it (1680x1050 60Hz, 32 bit, 4xAA and 16x filterthingy) at around 80-130FPS max, but the newer games like Crysis and cod4 don't quite run great on it somehow.
Especially Crysis (10 fps ) Thats why i'm interested in buying like a 9800GT or something like that (no i'm not that rich!) Would a store-bought motherboard support that, do you know if there are some pretty good motherboards in those most of the time? Oh i bought it like a month ago. The brand is fujitsu siemens.

Sorry for going that OT on your topic jonnydank !
#24 - Jakg
Most likely it's rubbish - CPU-Z will tell you, though.
Even if the motherboard is rubbish, if it has a PCIe slot then it should support any modern card. I would be more worried about the power supply rather than the motherboard. Store-built computers usually have crappy PS, usually not more than 300W. So you might have to replace the power supply with a better one like 500W or so, but if the motherboard can run a Q6600 then it should be able to run a decent video card like the 9800GT.

help buying a new card
(97 posts, started )
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