Noob seeking video card assistance

A

audijay

New Member
I currently have the ATI radeon xpress 200 video card mated to an AMD athlon 64 3500 processor. I play a lot of Battlefield 2 and will be playing a lot of FH2 when it is released. With my current card I must have all my video settings on LOW to not lag out. I wont be doing to much movie watching or video editing and what not, so gaming is the major point.

So do you guys have any recommendations on a video card that would be able to play BF2 with the settings higher, less lag and less than 200 dollars?

I currently have a CRT but will probably be upgrading to an LCD in a few months.
 
First off you came to the right place and a Welcome to the Computer Forum! http://www.computerforum.com/70672-official-welcome-thread.html and just a reminder to new members to review the http://www.computerforum.com/52038-forum-rules.html

There are several models under $200 even with gaming in mind. The few DX10 models seen at newegg so far however are Sapphire and Asus ATI cards not NVidia at this time. The 8800 series models still DX9 run a bit higher on the price there. The DX9 NVidia models seen between $100-$200 can looked over at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...17+1069609641+106791921&name=GeForce+8+series

For ATI apparently newegg just got the MSI RX2600XT model in for a DX10 card seen at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127298 That will likely be the choice for a new build here over the Asus DX10 model seen earlier at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121083 The MSI brand is preferred here as you can gather.
 
Thanks for the welcome PC_Eye! I am still running XP and I will continue to run it until my next PC so I don't need a DX10 card. Would one of the cards you suggested be a significant difference in performance from what I have now, or just a minor difference?
 
An 8600 wouldn't the higher ender as much as the 8800 series cards there. But many like those for ocing. The MSI model wets the appetite here being a DX10 model over DX9 due to multibooting Vista along with XP Home+Pro versions at the moment. The new build won't be seeing XP Pro there but leave room for expanding to either Vienna or a 64bit OS.

Both MSI and Sapphire are good makes while most prefer NVidia for gaming in general. ATI has always been known for better image quality and lost the performance edge for gaming some time back. I would avoid HIS brand cards since the news isn't good on those. MSI, EVGA, BFG, Sapphire, and some others perform far better.
 
Yes, Because it is compatible with XP. The only thing is that you may encounter problems on Vista because alot of games are using DX10.
 
The games currently out require DX 9c not 10. So far no new DX10 games have been seen so far. Will older games run on Vista? Yes and no! That isn't from being a new version of Direct X but from being a newer version of Windows. But that's nothing new since many will simply refuse to upgrade to a newer version and lose the option of running older games and apps where big money was invested. You often need a new version of something.
 
for 200 dollars you wont get lag with a 8600 on any of those games i dont know about the settings maxed out but if you want battlefield 2 and not to much dx 10 games and you want everything maxed out get a 7950gt, if you can afford a 320mb 8800gts you will be set for life : P but please note you are going to need to upgrade your powersupply, lol i have a xpress 200m on my old pd i know what you mean but it is a fairly nice onboard card. i think the ati 2600xt or 8600gts will fit your needs but i would really gow lower then them cards
 
I might get the 7950GT, but I don't know about my power supply. Is there anyway to find out what my power supply can handle without opening up the comp? I am a computer noob, but I think I could put in a video card, a power supply I don't know if I could do though.
 
The 8800 line of cards just like ATI's HD 2900 line up is the higher end model for NVidia which may require the use of the extra power feed provided on newer model supplies. It doesn't sound like you plan to ocing alot and probably won't that need that plugged in just to run the larger vpu seen on one. But a look over of the specifications on the make and model supply you have now would help on deciding. Is this for a prebuilt or custom built system? That will make a difference there.
 
With the model number you simply go to the CompaQ now HP support site and look up the prodict information and spefications to see what it comes with. You can be that it will most likely be a 305w or 350w model in one of their older models at most.
 
Thanks for the help PC_Eye, I have a minuscule 300 watt power supply. Any recommendations on a power supply?
 
For a newer model card like a high card gaming model the manufacturer's recommend a good 450w supply at least. This mainly due to seeing the added power connectors available there for models with the larger vpus on them requiring more then the PCI-E slot will provide.

Prebuilt systems until more recently have always seen the bare minimum wattage. The best place to look for deciding a good make and model that offers more would be the new sticky made for just this seen at http://www.computerforum.com/90118-useful-psu-guides.html

I complimented ceewi1 for doing a great job putting that together rather then constantly posting good and bad lists for supplies. You still probably would see problems and find it not worth the effort for any $300 gaming card there. The make and model system you have would beed a look to see what model supply and new graphics would seem to work the best there.
 
Unfortunately HP said my motherboard cannot handle anything more than a 300watt power supply, when I contacted them this evening. They said I am limited to a 256mb card. Could the 7950GT or 7900GS run well with only 300 watts?
 
The cards will run stock and for more basic use you may get away with it. But as you can see the main problem with prebuilt systems is no flexibility like you can have in a custom build. Places like Alienware allow for custom ordered cases while charging exhorbant prices like $6000! That's overboard when you can put a good case together yourself for far less.
 
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