My computer

sun_kissed_0 said:
Ooh. I've got a question for ya! Can someone break down the specs of a video card? So that I can not only learn what I should be looking for, but also make the right decision from all your suggestions.
Ex. The vidcards talk about bits and stuff
I've been suggested the following card a lot, so I've been looking at it, but to be honest I dont know why it would be a good choice.
GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card<<what does all that mean?

I'll have a go too:
GeForce 9800 GT (just the name? i donno if 9800 has any significance) 512 MB (memory but why does a vidcard need that?) 256-bit (i have no idea..maybe it can handle 256 MHz or MB at a time kinda like 64-bit Vista??) GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 (I have absolutely NO CLUE!! lol) and HDCP Ready (maybe HiDef-compatible? ...it's capable of running hi-def stuff?)
Thanks everyone :)
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GeForce: The product range or model by Nvidia, the people who designed the card.
9800 GT: 9-series cards are that latest ones. Nvidia's product range typically goes something like this; X200 = very low end X400 = low end X600 = mid range X800 = High end. The letters that follow it bring further differences, for example GT is better and more powerful than GS. GTX is higher than GT etc. It's sort of like when you go to buy a car, the SE model is more expensive than then S model, and so on.

512mb Memory: The card has 512mb of onboard memory, running at a very high speed. This memory addresses all the complex textures that games have and stuff like that. You don't really need to worry about this too much though.

256bit interface: This is the 'width' of the interface from the GPU to the memory on the card. The higher this number, the faster the card can access it's memory and the greater the throughput of data.

GDDR3: A type of memory that is fast, specifically for graphics cards.

PCI-Express 16x 2.0: Literally, the kind of slot the card fits into. This is the latest version (2.0) and it will fit into any 16x PCI-Ex slot on your motherboard.

HDCP: High-bandwidth digital-content protection. Doesn't mean much, and you don't need to worry about this. Almost every card will have it nowadays. They just leave it on the spec-sheet because it sounds cool.

Hope that helps :D
 
If you get stuck look at some benchmarks.
You'll see a few cards compaired in a list of games.
It can give you a look at its performance in certain games compaired to toher cards.
 
You want 60+ if you can but 30 is considered playable. You have to remember though that many fps benchmarks are an average and the fps will be lower at some points in the game benchmarked with.
 
sun_kissed_0 said:
lol damn only 30??
Anyways...why on this benchmarking site, did i find that the GeForce 9600 GT is better than the GeForce 9800 GTX+ ?? I thought according to langers that 9800 and GTX is better?
Site: http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/...q3-2008/Sum-of-FPS-Benchmarks-Totals,795.html
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The key part that you're missing on that benchmark list is that the 9600GT is in SLI mode. That means there are 2 of the graphics cards installed together in the same PC. The 9800GT is a MUCH more powerful card on it's own than one 9600GT, but 2 9600GT's will beat a single 9800GT. :good:

And as for benchmarking, you've got to look for a card that is within your budget that will give you the best performance per $. For instance, a Radeon 4870 X2 may be extremely fast, but for it's high price it's not proportionally faster than the 9600GT or 9800GTX.
 
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To give you some current examples of an excellent performing card without breaking the bank, take a look at these two:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130420
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130469

The second one is definitely better than the first one, but either card will perform and run any game out there right now at very high settings without any problem. You should also be able to keep the card for approximately 2-3 years before it really starts to seriously hinder performance.

As a general rule with video cards, I usually keep it right around $150, as I have purchased the last three cards at this price and have been able to use all of them for about two and a half to three years before replacing them.

EDIT: Keep in mind when you're comparing specs on ATI vs nVidia based cards that the raw numbers do not transfer equally between the different formats. This is where those performance charts come in handy. The raw numbers do help when comparing two cards that are based off of the same formats though...
 
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Thank you very much for your suggestions. The good thing about having this thread is that I can look back, when I have the money, and go through all of the suggestions. Yes I really like that benchmarking site too
 
DCIScouts said:
To give you some current examples of an excellent performing card without breaking the bank, take a look at these two:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130420
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130469

The second one is definitely better than the first one, but either card will perform and run any game out there right now at very high settings without any problem. You should also be able to keep the card for approximately 2-3 years before it really starts to seriously hinder performance.

As a general rule with video cards, I usually keep it right around $150, as I have purchased the last three cards at this price and have been able to use all of them for about two and a half to three years before replacing them.

EDIT: Keep in mind when you're comparing specs on ATI vs nVidia based cards that the raw numbers do not transfer equally between the different formats. This is where those performance charts come in handy. The raw numbers do help when comparing two cards that are based off of the same formats though...
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Wait so for only 5 dollars more I could buy the second one that has 488MB more than the first one? Why would i even concider the first one?
 
sun_kissed_0 said:
Wait so for only 5 dollars more I could buy the second one that has 488MB more than the first one? Why would i even concider the first one?
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I am not sure why he used those in his example either. The second one is better plus it just recently came out so it's newer technology.
 
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