Best Graphics Card?

D

Dve313

New Member
Hi, I brought a Nvidia xfx 8800 GT 1GB. However, unfortunately that card is too powerful for my pc and I can not get the maximum performance out of it.

I am wanting a decent graphics card which my pc has the power to run so I can get the maximum power out of the card. I am wanting to play mainly Counter Strike; Source, World of Warcraft and I am wanting to buy Battlefield Bad Company 2. Even if its on low graphics for BFBC2 thats fine.

Here are my specification of my pc:

HP Pavilion Media Center A1629.uk

ATI RS400 Mother Board
Intel Pentium D 820 2.80Ghz x2
2GB of RAM DDR2
ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Shared Video Memory (UMA)

I HAVE changed PSU I have a Blue Storm PRO 500W

Here is a link with all the details and specifications for my PC

HP Pavilion Media Center a1629.uk Desktop PC Product Specifications HP Pavilion Media Center a1629.uk Desktop PC - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

My budget is around $200 however I would prefer to spend around $100-$150

Thanks for your help.
 
So you saying 8800GT is too powerful??? No it's not, but you are right the CPU and RAM will hold it back. To play BF BC2 you would need at least 4850 and a decent CPU.
 
It's not? when I insert my 8800GT i dont get the full power out of it and i sometimes get loads of sort of zig-zags across my screen. all the drivers are installed. I also think that it over heats really fast. However I do not have that card any more. I just need a card which will play CSS at around 100+fps. for BFBC2 Im not that fussed if I buy it or not.

Have you any ideas for cards I should buy?
 
and for the CPU I think I have the best CPU for the mother board I currently have. So I wont be able to upgrade that.
 
Just wondering, but do you have a PCI-e slot in your pc?
the Pentium D is fairly old (for gaming standards) and you're right in assuming you cant use the full potential of the card.
However, starting up with a jagged screen etc shouldnt be happening. the powersupply (check how much A the +12v can give. it should be on a sticker on the powersupply, and otherwise on the box )

Either way, despite your CPU and RAM holding the card back, it should work just fine.

What version of windows are you running? have you uninstalled the old drivers before installing the new ones? is the 8800gt set as the primary graphics card in the BIOS?


Did you buy the card new, or 2nd hand? if you bought it 2nd hand, check the cooler of the card. make sure its clean so the card doesnt become too hot. (that will make the screen look iffy too. or crash the system)


these are the requirements for BF:BC2

Minimum System Requirements
OS: Windows XP
Processor: Core 2 DUO @ 2 GHz
Memory: 2 GB
Hard Drive: 15 GB for Digital Version, 10 GB for Disc Version
Video Memory: 256 MB (NVIDIA GeForce 7800GT/ATI X1900)
Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
DirectX: 9.0c

I'm not sure if your pc will be able to run it. (everything should be fast enough. except for the processor. bus since its about the fastest cpu intell had before the C2D series, I think it should work.)

Hope this helps a bit. :)
 
Even though the 8800GT is overkill for your system, getting a slower card is not going to make it faster. Like Archangel said, are you sure you have the right drivers installed?
 
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Hi thanks for the reply. Yes my pc does have a PCI-E slot.

this is my power-supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817104070

I am running on XP home edition SP3 and I have cleaned all the display drivers with driver sweeper and I have set as the primary graphics card in the BIOS.

I brought it of a good friend of mine he hardly used it and I have rang him and he said it worked perfectly fine before he give me the card. I have cleaned it and it looks good as new.

its realllly stressful lol.
 
Do you hear your 8800 speed up when your gaming? The most common flaw with all 5 of my 8800GTs I bought for family/builds was the fan was stuck @ 25% thus the heat took over.
If its the same for you then you will need to run a fan software like Rivatuner or eVGA Precision.

Second question you have 2 12v 18a rails which according to this.
http://www.computerforum.com/90110-power-recommendations-video-card.html

You need 26a. Now the dual-rail is different if I recall but do you have your GPU on rail 2 only then the rest of your system on rail 1? This could be a power issue. Let someone who is smarter reply on the amps really needed for multi-rail systems (I only buy single rails)

I maxed out CS/CSS and even played Crysis @ medium/high with a 8800GT and a 2.4ghz Athlon 4000+ single core :P
 
Lol yeh I might ask someone as I have not got a clue what you are talking about ^^ the link of my PSU is above in my other post.

Edit: I have had a look at my PSU and it does say +12V Rails 2 in the specifications. So im guessing it does have 2
 
ok well i have tried again, still no results. All the drivers removed, Re-sat the card. Turned the pc on and had the same lines across the screen. I installed the driver stronhold give me. rebooted and still the same. When I check the device manager it says.

This device cannot start. (Code 10)

and when i go into details it says

PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0611&SUBSYS_23361682&REV_A2\4&35C10ADC&0&0010

I have also got the graphics card fan at 80% all the time even on start up. but however... when I check riverTuna it says there is no driver installed for my card :/
 
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On board graphics

ATI Radeon Xpress 200 Shared Video Memory is in your specs for the op. I googled that and I got an on board graphics driver. If you have both the
ati and the nvidia graphic components active, they will fight each other for the display. This may be the cause of the striping that you are getting. This may also be the reason why it is not using all of the power that you have in the 8800 since it has to work with the ati card.

go into your device manager and see what devices are enabled under display adapters. disable the ati on board graphics and make sure that your nvidia 8800 is the only graphics device that is active. This should fix the striping, if having the two cards active was the original problem.
 
Thanks for the reply. I am positive I have cleaned all the ATI drivers. When I go into Device manager > Display adapters I only have NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT with a '!' (Exclamation Mark) in a yellow circle in front of NVIDIA. when i go to properties it says

This device cannot start. (Code 10)

Click Troubleshoot to start the troubleshooter for this device.
 
Dve313 said:
...When I go into Device manager > Display adapters I only have NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT with a '!' (Exclamation Mark) in a yellow circle in front of NVIDIA. when i go to properties it says

This device cannot start. (Code 10)

Click Troubleshoot to start the troubleshooter for this device.
Click to expand...

That sounds to me that the card is faulty. Since your pc can see the hardware but the device can not start. Have you tried it on any other pc?
 
I have not got another pc to try it on :( i have been told by a few other people that its most likely faulty. They told me try and RMA or try to overbake it.
 
linkin said:
If it has warranty just RMA it. if not, bake it. there's a how-to on youtube.
Click to expand...

yeh just finished baking it. im letting it cool down now. thing is im worried about lol... my fkin oven is so old i cant see what temperature i put it at!!!

anyways i put it in 10minutes once i took it out it looked ok lol some bits were light brown.. will see if it works in 1 hour once its cooled down. il re post.
 
Ok, good news! it worked! incredible! the only problem is that i dont get much fps.. i get around 60-100 in css and around the same in wow. I do not know if it is my CPU which is the bottle neck.
 
Edit: Did a few tests found out something strange.

on CSS, all graphics on high, even in HD i get 50-100fps. The strange thing is i was expecting a huge boost of at least 50-100 fps if i put all my settings on LOW.. but i had the exact same fps. both the high and low settings were tested in 800x400
 
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