Here's the deal...Not too long about I bought a HP computer from Best Buy. It was a pretty good deal, but the thing came with GeForce 6150LE graphics chip which is ok for basic stuff, but I want to get something better.
Since buying the new Samsung 206BW monitor which runs at 1680X1050 the graphics chip seems even more mediocre then before.
I plan on picking something up just before October, so I know I have a lot of time, but I've been looking at ATI's new HD2600 XT isn't getting the best reviews for gaming, but overall I think at $150 I could deal with it. I'm mainly looking at the fact that the card will work well with my resolution and work well with any HD content.
I'm hoping to see some advances in this card before October, but since I'm not a HUGE computer gamer, and my taste usually stays with Diablo 2 and AOE3, I think the card would do pretty good.
Any comments or suggestions are welcomed.
I picked up a 1950gt for around $150 a few months ago, and it has been a dream
Honestly, what are your system specs? There is no point getting a really high end video card if something else is the bottleneck. Also, make sure you have a PCI-E slot first!
Save some money for a new power supply to run the new video card also! ($50-100)
Nice system spec, Ya I would save about 100 bucks to get a good power supply. In my oppinion I like Nvidia graphics chips better then ATI. I mean I fround a good sale over at FRY's for a GeForce 7900 GT. was only about 215 I think, its prolly dropped more in price by now, but I mean I can run all my stuff great, and looking at your spece it should help you out on your graphics issue.
Why are power supplies such a biggee, isn't 450a enough?
In many of the higher end cards, you have a separate power plug that goes into your graphics card from your hard drive. My ATI Radeon 9700 pro needs more juice and couldn't run off of what the AGP was supplying.
The card I'm looking at the ATI HD2600 doesn't need a seperate power supply connector.
Nice system spec, Ya I would save about 100 bucks to get a good power supply. In my oppinion I like Nvidia graphics chips better then ATI. I mean I fround a good sale over at FRY's for a GeForce 7900 GT. was only about 215 I think, its prolly dropped more in price by now, but I mean I can run all my stuff great, and looking at your spece it should help you out on your graphics issue.
The HD2600 XT for about $150 gives you this
800mhz core speed
1100mhz ram 256mb
and it's got all the HD stuff I want.
I'm not getting anything till the end of Sept. so I have lots of time to look around.
In many of the higher end cards, you have a separate power plug that goes into your graphics card from your hard drive. My ATI Radeon 9700 pro needs more juice and couldn't run off of what the AGP was supplying.
The card I'm looking at the ATI HD2600 doesn't need a seperate power supply connector.
That doesn't mean it doesn't need a bigger power supply! Every time you add a peripheral (USB, PCI, etc), you use more power.
450w isn't bad, but manufacturer estimated is not nearly as good as a quality 450w PS.
I wouldn't put more than ~$100 to $150 into a video card solely because the fastest RAM you can use is 533mhz, so that will probably be your bottleneck when gaming after a descent video card.
BTW, do you have Vista? If so, what is your experience score?
I have Vista Home premium and here's how it breaks down my score
Processor 5.0
Memory (ram) 5.9
Graphics 3.1
Gaming Graphics 3.0
Primary Hard Disc 5.4
Remember I have that darn GeForce 6150LE chip
Strange. You have 2GB of RAM @ 533mhz (I assume dual channel shared) and you score a 5.9 on RAM speed (which is the highest at this point possible, I think)
I have 3GB @ 667mhz, dual channel shared, and I only score a 5.1.
I wonder what I'm doing wrong?
I have no idea. I do know that when a eventually put in a graphics card and store sharing memory with that graphics chip my overall score should go up quite a bit. Do you think for my basic use, something along the lines of the HD2600 XT would be an ok move? Like I mentioned before, I'll be waiting till late Sept. to pick anything up so a better deal might come along.
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Why are power supplies such a biggee, isn't 450a enough?
nope. A good computer these days should have about 500w minimum, 550w if you want a mid range gfx card and then 600w/700w if you're going to SLI, add extra perhipherals that you wouldn't usually have (watercooling)
Strange. You have 2GB of RAM @ 533mhz (I assume dual channel shared) and you score a 5.9 on RAM speed (which is the highest at this point possible, I think)
I have 3GB @ 667mhz, dual channel shared, and I only score a 5.1.
I wonder what I'm doing wrong?
CAS timings and your CL ratings probably
Why are power supplies such a biggee, isn't 450a enough?
nope. A good computer these days should have about 500w minimum, 550w if you want a mid range gfx card and then 600w/700w if you're going to SLI, add extra perhipherals that you wouldn't usually have (watercooling)
Strange. You have 2GB of RAM @ 533mhz (I assume dual channel shared) and you score a 5.9 on RAM speed (which is the highest at this point possible, I think)
I have 3GB @ 667mhz, dual channel shared, and I only score a 5.1.
I wonder what I'm doing wrong?
CAS timings and your CL ratings probably
Okay, I would have just assumed that OEM RAM wouldn't have such high ratings. If so, it's impressive.
I have 2x1GB aftermarket and 2x512 OEM. Is it possible and plausible that I would see a performance increase from removing the 1GB of OEM RAM, as it is probably slower and could be bottlenecking the 2GB?
is there any program that I can download to find out exactly how fast my ram is running or it's latency?