New Video Card?

[Taffy]

Heres a question for y'all.

I've currently got a Radeon 9600 series Video Card. It's been fine up until now, but on Medieval 2:Total War its very laggy and my computer keeps crashing, due to a display error. So I need to update my video card apparently.

What should I get? I think i'll stick with ATi, unless there something much better. My budget is around the £100 mark (Christmas money!), with a maximum of £130, although thats for if a) I won't get anything better than what I already have for £100 OR b) Theres a super-sexy card available for just an extra £30.

Rep for whoever gives me a good recommendation!

 

[Tetsuo_Shima]

At that money, you could go for a great pixel shader 2 card, such as the Radeon X850 or so. Very good, allegedly. I use a GIGABYTE X800XL and it handles most top end games quite well.

If you want a pixel shader 3 card, you'll probably want a GeForce 7600GT or an ATi Radeon X1600 or so. A bit lower end, but they'll do the job nicely. Personally, I think you should opt for a modest PS3 card over a good PS2 card.

The 6800GT and 7800GTs should be around that price mark also, but I don't really see either of them around much anymore.

 

[pHatBambi]

Heya Taffy,

Gamespot have rather kindly done an indepth feature on all of the main players in the 3D card market for 2006.

It's broken up nicely into price range and has lots of good information for someone looking to purchase a new card.

http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6156859/index.html

You can find it there.

Also check out their "10 things you should know before buying a 3D card".

http://uk.gamespot.com/features/6153327/index.html

 

[Taffy]

Cheers both you guys. Nice find Bambi, that'll come in handy. Rep time!

 

[DeZmond]

If I were you, I'd hold off buying a new card until DX 10 comes out. Nothing at the moment can handle DX10, so if you buy something now you will be putting yourself at a disadvantage further down the line. Save your money and then you can get a faster and more capable card come February-ish.

If you absolutely *have* to buy (which I don't think you really do) then a budget card should fit the bill, and *then* upgrade to DX10. Quite simple, really

 

[thatbloke]

I would assume you are still on AGP... I have bought myself one of these recently and with that I can whack bf2142 up to high!

 

[Taffy]

err... whats AGP? Bear in mind that I know next to nothing about how computers work, so could you try and keep the explanation simple for poor little me? Also, what is DX10?

And the next issue is how and where do I put the video card in my computer?

 

[SgtFury]

Woah there taffy..... me thinks you need to do some reading up before you try anything then!

 

[Taffy]

DW, I haven't bought anything yet. I'm not going to buy anything until i've learnt everything I need to know.

And now i've fixed the problem with M2:TW using Catalyst control Center, i'm probably not going to bother with a new card until that thing Dezmond was talking about comes into play. Whatever the hell it is Cheers guys, all your info is still helpful to me