BF2S Forums Requesting Your Help With Updating My Video Card

wb

<SS>SonderKommando wrote:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130274

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/ … 274-09.jpg

you can open your case and look on teh psu itself to see what the wattage is, usually.  You might consider more ram. I'm assuming your board is agp right?

Well, first off, tried to send a reply, but dial-up took a dump, and deleted my entire reply (grrrrr).  Anyways, checked on the power supply, and low and behold (wow, I'm dumb for not thinking of looking on it), inbetween all the chinese (i think) characters I found the text:
Output: 300W MAX  Rated: 250W.  Sounds decent... is it?

Secondly, I have no idea if my board is agp or not :S  Any way to tell that?  I took some pictures, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow for me to upload them when I go and grab some free high-er speed wi-fi at a local establishment.

jsnipy wrote:

wb

Hello to you too!

r2zoo wrote:

Your best bet is for just graphics is the 7800,  however if you go with a 7600GT its pretty decent and is around $100, and then you could invest in more ram or a new psu if one is required(what I did )

I guess I'm looking at paying the little bit more for the 7800, that is, if it'll for sure work with my system.  There's no peg count to line up with GPU's, is there?  Or am I confusing that with something else?  ANYWAYS, that said, I'd like to first update the GPU.  But ram IS an issue, and I'd like to get it up to at least 1 gig.  I could go with 2 gigs, which paired with the 7800, I take it that it'd be a decent setup??  Right?  I think so....  As is such, how much would a 1gig or 2gigs run for me? (Again let me know if you need more info from my computer)

Also, is the card <SS>SonderKommando linked to for sure going to work with my system?  I'd hate to buy it, only to find out when it arrives that it doesn't fit the pegs or something like that :S

Thanks for all your help guys!  Karma all around, and more to come for the continued help!

Last edited by commandochristian (2007-07-31 20:16:34)

Sorry, I've got to go to sleep for work tomorrow.  I'll be sure to get the answers to your questions and more when I get off (sorry about the delay).

While you are in the market for upgrades, you should look at RAM.  On a budget, I would recommend 1 GB in dual channel (2 X 512MB).

I think you should go for the 7800GS card, and then upgrade your RAM ..

leetkyle wrote:

You need to do a bit of an upgrade judging from the replies then! Even just a a basic E4400, 2GB RAM etc! No point in upgrading dying parts (eg. AGP)

But with $150 budget hes quite limited in upgrades, if the system runs good a simple graphics update will at least allow him to play some games, and with dial-up its possible to play games online, just really limiting.  I know, spent 2 years playing online with dial-up   But that was before BFV soooo

A new system would be a much better investment, purchasing a higer end AGP card right now would seriosuly limit you in upgrading, PCI-E is pretty much the standard nowadays. 

On the DX10 games, currently, most are going to support DX9, but not look as great or feature as much stuff, and the fact that if you dont have Vista, DX10 is out of the question for you, however a midrange 7 series should allow you to keep up with pc games for awhile, while still in your budget, but dont expect max settings or nothing. However the best card for AGP is the Ati X1950 Pro, however it is out of your budget and would require you to upgrade your PSU, no matter what.

Last edited by r2zoo (2007-08-01 16:43:01)

r'Eeee wrote:

Is 7950 the best 7-series card? Just thinking of getting a new card as well. But don't want to get all those 8800 as I ain't planning on upgrading anything else inc Vista.

Cheers

Indeed the 7950 is the best 7 series, but generally 7950GT, or GTX,etc are more powerful then the basic version.

r'Eeee wrote:

r2zoo wrote:

r'Eeee wrote:

Is 7950 the best 7-series card? Just thinking of getting a new card as well. But don't want to get all those 8800 as I ain't planning on upgrading anything else inc Vista.

Cheers

Indeed the 7950 is the best 7 series, but generally 7950GT, or GTX,etc are more powerful then the basic version.

Ok, thank you
Do you know how much power do these cards need?

I have a P4 CPU 3GHZ, and I was wondering if 480 watts is enough. My current card is 6800 PCI-E

Without knowing exactly what PSU you have, more then likly you'll be ok.  Most 7 series cards are pretty low on the power requirments, as opposed to the Ati cards(looking at you x1950 )

Okay, let me clear up some things on here.

1.  I don't use my desktop to play BF2.  When I last played I was using my college's uber-high speed internet (T1 - IDK, just wicked fast) and my laptop, which ran BF2 quite decently with the settings down, and I didn't care: as long as I was playing BF2 with little or no lag, I wasn't as picky with the graphics.  Now, it'll be awhile until I'll regularly have a nice college connection.  This school year I'll be attending a local community college (probably some free wi-fi, but there's other places for that closer to my mom's house), so I'll be online mostly when I'm at home.  I currently have dial-up there, but I'm a phone call away from getting 1.5 megs DSL (need to check if the phone line doesn't have load coils or bridge taps).

2.  I understand that for 3 years old, my desktop, no matter how good it's physical condition is, hardware-speaking: it's ancient, but not too badly, but it sounds like just enough to be at that point where it's probably wise to save up and just buy a new pc instead of upgrading and trying to keep it modern (aka alive lol).

Now that I've said that, and with your suggestions, it sounds like AGP is a dying piece of hardware.  However, I know I won't be able to purchase a new computer for at least a few years, so I guess I'll just go ahead and update the GPU and probably ram as I was initially planning so I can play new/newer games out today, i.e. BF2.  Yes, I understand that my computer, even with an updated GPU and more ram, won't be able to run DX10 games, i.e. Crysis (which, btw, looks AMAZING), but I'll just live with that fact.  Besides, I'm trying to save money for college and eventually a new car (that's another story).

So, let us continue on with the selection of GPU's.  I checked on my computer for more information, and here's what I gathered, along with some pics! (Yay for free wi-fi!!!)

***Okay, here's two pictures of an overview of my computer's innards: (click each picture - links to bigger res)



***Here's a picture of my PSU, and you can see the info on it:


***Here's my GPU, and you can clearly see the distinct brown color of the AGP slot:


***And two pictures of my 4 slots for ram (all PCI-Express) (also thought I only had two :S sorry) with 2 sticks in already.  Also got the info off of the ram cards, both say the same thing:
Infineon HYS64D32300GU-5-B     32MX64     SDRAM
B3E34901     PC3200U-30330-A0
256MB  DDR  400  CL3



Dang, even with the free wi-fi it still took me a good while to get those pictures uploaded.  But I think they'll help somewhat in classifying my exact crappy computer of much-needed updating

Additionally, I noticed that the link that someone offered to a 7800 on newegg shot up in price.  With rebates, it was like $120, now it's like $50 (USD) more?!?  WTF.  Anyone know the trend of the price changing and when to buy??

Now, someone mentioned that I could upgrade my PSU as well in order to get the best AGP graphics card (I believe r2zoo mentioned the Ati X1950 Pro).  How much money are we talking here?  And is upgrading your PSU easy?  If it's not too difficult, I'm sure I could learn... (if you can't tell, I kinda want to get it to where I can play with decent [see medium/high] graphics on newer games, even if it'll cost more, but it depends on the price.....)

Again, many Thanks! to all of you for your continued efforts in helping me!

I had a dell dimension case just like that. i would recommend 7600gt agp 4/8x. i had that in my old computer with a P4 processor and 1.5 gigs of ram and could play BF2 on high. its a good chip.

w0ls0n wrote:

I would maybe suggest an upgrade to your Power Supply. Maybe a 400W that you can get at Best Buy.

you might would want to upgrade your psu, but not to 400w. maybe 300ish.

Freezer7Pro wrote:

SexyCabbage wrote:

w0ls0n wrote:

I would maybe suggest an upgrade to your Power Supply. Maybe a 400W that you can get at Best Buy.

you might would want to upgrade your psu, but not to 400w. maybe 300ish.

What are you thinking with? He has a 300w PSU now, and it's barely enough to run his current card. 400-500w minimum.

Depending on what you choose to go with a 350w will power a 7600GT easily, but going higher is always better.  A 7900 could run off a 350w, although youd be pushing it, a 400w or 500w would also allow you to go for a more powerful card once you can afford it. If your not doing alot of gaming, a 7600 will be more then enough, save the moeny for a new psu and ram.