New VIdeo Card Help.

S

Surftex363

New Member
Ok, I have a pretty powerful recording workstation i built almost 2 years ago.
AMD 5200+ X2
2 Gigs G skill ram
Dual 160 gig Hdd's
Abit Fatal1ty AN9 mobo

and unfortunatly a Geforce 7600 GS.

I run dual monitors off this fine, and i can play all my favorite games, but when i bought a newer game, i cant get the high setttings i want.

I just read up on that very nice dual monitor thread that is stickied and i found out you can run a monitor off of a lesser video card and have your primary monitor running off your bad a card.

So, what i would like to run my second monitor which mostly only runs itunes and a mixer in recording programs off the 7600 and by a new 8800 GT or GTS for gaming.

I was thinking these. but i would like some more suggestions please.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130325
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130318

One more thing. The GTS is PCIe 2.0. I know my mobo is PCIe, but how do i know if it can handle 2.0. I mean iits a 2 year old mobo...


Thanks alot guys.
 
I havent hard of using two separate cards and getting them to work together, but if you're sure about that part I can help you with the rest.

I would recommend the Zotac 8800GT AMP! Edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500006

It's clocked faster than the 8800GTs and is considerably cheaper than it. Also, PCIe2.0 is fully backwards compatible with the PCIex16. The only downside to running a PCIe2.0 card on a PCIex16 slot is you don't take full advantage of the card's potential. It will work fine on your mobo, it will just work faster on a PCIe2.0 mobo.
 
dont run them both at once like that. it wont work. just get one good card.

an 8600 or 8800 would be good
 
kookooshortman55 said:
I havent hard of using two separate cards and getting them to work together, but if you're sure about that part I can help you with the rest.

I would recommend the Zotac 8800GT AMP! Edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500006

It's clocked faster than the 8800GTs and is considerably cheaper than it. Also, PCIe2.0 is fully backwards compatible with the PCIex16. The only downside to running a PCIe2.0 card on a PCIex16 slot is you don't take full advantage of the card's potential. It will work fine on your mobo, it will just work faster on a PCIe2.0 mobo.
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Ok, thanks for clearing that up. Im sure i just misunderstood the 2 cards, for 2 same cards taht are SLI'd together.

Im looking at this Zotac card and im seeing 2 things i dont like. 1 it runs hot, and 2 its noisy. Also, is Zotac a big name like EVGA, cause i know that EVGA has incredible costumer service.

also, when people in reviews talk about AA, what is that?

thanks again

EDIT: and if yall know of something alot better in the 200$ range let me know, cause i mean im trying to play some pretty rough games like i just got Age of Conan, and I own Crysis.
 
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jdbennet said:
ive never heard of zotag

the 8800 will play crysis.

AA = antialiasing
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oh, gracias mi amigo.

Yeah, ive seen Zotac around but never experienced anything from them. So i dont think im gonna go with them.

But from what i hear about the 2.0 working with regular PCI but getting less from the card i think im just gonna spend 120$ and get the generic 8800GT from EVGA and just go with a name that i know. Plus its not a 2.0 card so i know im gonna get everything out of the card.

Oh and i know it will play crysis, i played it on my 7600 for a while, i just want to be able to play it "well".

Unfortunatly i know you have to have a sickkkk system to run it on highest settings.
 
Okay well the *Zotac* AMP! Edition might run a little hotter but I mean come on look at the clock speed. Haha it has an all metal heatsink and a larger fan so it will cool better than other 8800GT's clocked at this speed. Also the fan noise shouldn't really be an issue and long as you have a PSU in your case. I have hear anything but my PSU when I turn my computer on.

And yes AA is Anti-Aliasing. Basically since your monitor is made up of square pixels it can display vertical and horizontal lines. Say this is a black line with a white background, with AA on, the diagonal line would have pixels around it that are grey. The more AA there is, the more surrounding pixels and thus the smoother the image. It takes a lot of processing power and isn't entirely necessary but it does look nice.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Anti-aliased_diamond_enlarged.png
 
And about the 2.0, there is no disadvantage to getting a 2.0 card. It will not perform less, it just won't perform like it will on a 2.0 mobo, it will perform better than a PCIex16 regardless. The Zotac will definitely give you higher frames than a regular 8800GT but it's your pick.
 
kookooshortman55 said:
And about the 2.0, there is no disadvantage to getting a 2.0 card. It will not perform less, it just won't perform like it will on a 2.0 mobo, it will perform better than a PCIex16 regardless. The Zotac will definitely give you higher frames than a regular 8800GT but it's your pick.
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Are we talking a big difference? or a difference that only someone that sits there and does benchmarks all day will notice?

Cause im down for saving the money if its not that much a difference, cause i think im gonna order some more RAM at the same time.

My comp specs are in my Sig, so i mean im sure you can tell me if it will make a bigger differnce if i go with the zotac.

and also, quick question, how much RAM can Windows XP support? ive heard 3 gigs, or is that a myth, cause i think i am gonna buy 2 more gigs to just get an even 4...
 
XP Can support up to 4 GB of RAM. Well it's your decision. I just recently checked the Zotac AMP! page and it has another MIR. It is now down to $127. I think it is the cheapest 8800GT on NewEgg now, but any 8800GT will be a huge step up from your card anyway so I don't know. It will be faster than the other 8800GT's by around 4-10 fps, but the 8800GT is even farther better than a 7900. Around 4 times better in terms of framerates.
 
Umm... 32 bit OS usually goes around the 3.5 GB mark. The extra .5 GB would probably be shifted into the shared video memory.
 
kookooshortman55 said:
XP Can support up to 4 GB of RAM. Well it's your decision. I just recently checked the Zotac AMP! page and it has another MIR. It is now down to $127. I think it is the cheapest 8800GT on NewEgg now, but any 8800GT will be a huge step up from your card anyway so I don't know. It will be faster than the other 8800GT's by around 4-10 fps, but the 8800GT is even farther better than a 7900. Around 4 times better in terms of framerates.
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ah, thank you. I like to see numbers like that, really helps me out.

Im gonna research both of those.

I know this isnt the RAM section but if im gonna buy more RAM should i just get the same ram i have now. Its not the best by anymeans but i dont know about mixing ram and crap. it is.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098


EDIT: also, i dont have vista, will this card run on DirectX 9? cause it says 10. not sure if you cna use it with XP. probably a stupid question and the answer is probably yes. but im just checking.
 
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Lol the answer is yes you can. That just mean the card can support DX10. And do you have your motherboard number? I could look up the max RAM speed your computer supports. You could maybe replace all of your RAM and get 4GB of some fast RAM, but you might already have the fastest RAM that your mobo supports. You might be able to find 4GB around $50. I don't know what your budget is. If you put in RAM that is slower than what you have now I believe the computer underclocks what you had before so it all runs the same speed. I'm not too sure though, it might just be safer to make sure they're all the same kind.
 
kookooshortman55 said:
Lol the answer is yes you can. That just mean the card can support DX10. And do you have your motherboard number? I could look up the max RAM speed your computer supports. You could maybe replace all of your RAM and get 4GB of some fast RAM, but you might already have the fastest RAM that your mobo supports. You might be able to find 4GB around $50. I don't know what your budget is. If you put in RAM that is slower than what you have now I believe the computer underclocks what you had before so it all runs the same speed. I'm not too sure though, it might just be safer to make sure they're all the same kind.
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Its an Abit fatality AN9 32

I found the other 2 gigs of ram of the same kind for 45 bucks, and thats what i wanted to spend on ram so. Im just gonna get the exact same kind.

oh and im about to order that Zotac card right now, so speak now or forever hold your peace on any other cards.
 
Hahaha okay well that RAM that you linked is very good. That was the kind I was going to recommend. And congrats on the card. Let me know how that card performs. I'm just about to buy that card myself so I've done my fair share of research on it. lol
 
well thanks alot man.

I really enjoy this forum so far. you guys are very nice and helpful.

Ill let yall know how it works out.
 
also, on the ram side, neighther vista 32 or xp 32 can properley use more than 3/3.5gb ram (and even then, no more than 2/3gb at a time for user processes), even although it will physically accept up to 4gb

and vista sp1 will show more ram, the full 4gb instead of like 3.5, but thats a lie. MS just changed it to it reports the actual amount in, regardless of whether it can use it.

To use your extra ram you really need vista x64 bit
 
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