Is this video card any good?

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You will need to have 1GB of total RAM. Whatever is left from your budget should be left for a PSU and a Video Card.

Whats your total budget?
 
okay I have some good news, I found a site that lists all computer places in NSW, Australia..

I have found one with a XpertVision AGP X800GTO 256MB 256-bit DDR3 DVI TV-Out Manufacturer Website $195

Which is what Sharkfood recommended..

and a 400W Antec SmartPower 2.0 Power Supply Product Image Manufacturer Website $90

RAM seems to be the same price every where so ill continue looking!
 
Well congrats on doing your homework Benan. It's amazing how much money you can save on the same/better hardware just by searching for the right vendor. :)

That Antec PSU is one of the best, highest end models. While I strongly recommend the Antec PSU's, if you're strapped for budget, you may be able to find a unit with good wattage and 12v rail amps for a little cheaper to reserve more cash for mem/videocard.

As you're limited on budget, you may also wish to consider a two part upgrade. Say get a good PSU and videocard for now, then expand memory later. You'll be able to play with as low as 512mb of ram, and once you ditch your integrated, you'll have a full 768MB of memory avail. After doing some pagefile work and hoping you have a fairly fast hard disk, we can likely optimize things so you'll be able to play okay, but with given stalls/stutters for pagefile use making planes a bit rough. Just deal with some slightly lower settings and stay out of jets for a month or two until you can get a 1 gig stick. :)
 
so should I get this video card?

I have found one with a XpertVision AGP X800GTO 256MB 256-bit DDR3 DVI TV-Out Manufacturer Website $195
 
The X800GTO comes highly recommended for online gamers. It is simply the best bang for the buck card for games like BF2, Half-Life2, Counter Strike, Quake3/4, UT2003, etc.etc.

It has a full 12-pipelines with 256 bit memory interface. This allows you to not only play meatier games, but at higher resolutions and room for adding additional texture filtering (anisotropic filtering) and even AA in most cases without much measurable detriment in frame rate.

One thing to know though is the X800GTO is a PS/VS 2.0 card. This means the rare/few NEW games that support HDR will only allow bloom on this card. You can use HDR on Source Engine games though (such as Lost Coast or Counter Strike). It's just the rare few FP16 HDR games available. There aren't many of these games: Oblivion- which the X800GTO still plays incredibly well at high resolutions and all other settings maxed, and a few obscure titles (Splinter Cell, the latest Tomb Raider, Age Of Empires III will get *slightly* better looking water with SM3.0 vs 2.0, etc.).

It basically trades FP16 HDR and SM3.0 for blazing online game performance.

Unfortunately, you wont find a 12-pipe card with 256 bit memory interface with these features anywhere near this price point. Which is a bit silly also since FP16 HDR and SM3.0 also have a very large performance hit associated with them also.

For avid online gamers, I usually recommend/implement the X800GTO's as some of the Sapphire models will come with 16-pipes vs 12. And while I do not recommend it, many owners have also been able to unlock those 4 extra pipes by flashing the BIOS. Even at 12-pipes, these are several fold faster/more powerful than their closest price point match at the most popular games.

They DO consume a lot of power though and also can get pretty hot. They do assume a good power supply and adequate case ventilation (i.e. a fan or two). For BF2, they have zippo slow downs even in the newer Armored Fury and Special Forces maps, whereas our 6600GT (8-pipe job) has a number of slowdowns in these games.. plus lots of framerate dives when piloting a jet.
 
If and when you buy RAM.

How many slots have you got for RAM and are they all being used? What speeds are they running at?

Make sure you find out the above before you buy any RAM.

If you have two slots its best to have two 512MB RAM sticks to make that gig. You might run into compatibility and speed issues mixing ram sizes, speeds and brands. So make sure they're all the same.

Find out what speeds and types of RAM your motherboard is compatible with.

If I were you I would save up a little and make sure you fill your RAM slots with equally sized RAM sticks of the same brand to make that gig.

Good RAM will improve your Gaming and overall system performance alot!
 
when i brought this comp, it come with 256 mB stick 64 MB shared with gfx card, so i brought an extra 512 MB.. its Kingston DDR400 (PC3200) theres only 2 slots, if i get a new GFX card i can take out my 256 MB and replace with 512

Sharkfood, half the stuff yuor saying i don't understand, pipeline etc.. can you tell me should i get the X800GTO Series? will it play any game i want? heres a list of games I want to play

-Counter Strike: Source
-Half-Life 2
-Battlefield 2
-Age of empires 3
-The sims 2
-Call of duty 2
-FEAR
-American Army

and pretty much any first person shooter, as i have had posted in a previous post.. The game American Army and more games that are being released these days need a 256 MB card to play.. so im just hoping I wont need to upgrade if I do get this card, also the best thing about my birthday is it is a couple months near christmas, so If i for the powerpack and video card on my birthday.. and RAM at christmas..

Im still battled at what card I should get.. just a good one that plays all games
 
Hi again Benan,
What card you buy will be your own choice. I can simply offer that my best suggestion for what you've stated for your needs and budget would be the X800GTO. It's very, very hard to beat the X800GTO for it's power, price and bang for the buck.

And yes, it will play every game on that list and every other game out there... period... with medium to high settings. Even the massive system crusher game Oblivion plays GREAT on the X800GTO.

Tom's Hardware has a really nice videocard comparison tool at:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html?modelx=33&model1=568&model2=541&chart=196

If there are other cards you are interested in, you can use it to compare them at different resolutions and settings. Just realize those listed as "SLI" or "CF" means two cards, not just one hehe.

Im at my GF"s house right now and she has one of these Saphire X800GTO's I bought for her for Sims2, Oblivion and BF2 (yes, she plays). If you'd like any shots/benchmarks, I'll be more than happy to provide them. It's only a P4-3.0ghz though so AMD users should expect a bit different. :)
 
Also I found this on a website.. is it better than the X800 GTO?

XpertVision ATI Radeon X1600 Pro 256MB 128-bit DDR2, DVI, TV-Out, AGP 8X Interface, Fan
 
The X800GTO is a superb product no doubt. But why not ask Korrupt? He just got a 7600GT and he lives in Australia too, so he could guide u better.
 
I may just get the X800GTO :) I emailed the store asking if they have it in stock, and my birthday isnt till the 9th of october i have plenty of time
 
The shop has emailed me back saying for them to reserve a card for me i have to make a 25% deposit, i guess I can re-emailing them when i get the money and asking them :\ but its the cheaptest one.. Now i need to work on Power supply I guess :p Any one recommend a specific CHEAP one ($50 - $100)
 
Get one of these brands: Antec, Fortron FSP, Thermaltake, OCZ, Enermax, CoolerMaster, PC Power & Cooling. They are all reliable brands and all of them(save OCZ and PC Power & Cooling) have low-cost, high-quality PSUs available. I have personally used an Antec PSU I bought 3-4 years back. It still works solidly in my dad's PC without any problems whatsoever.
 
The PSU will fit your case if you've got an ATX case. There should be like 4 screws at the back of you case connecting your current PSU. Unscrew them and replace it with your new PSU.

Its only if you've got like a Dell or sometimes other make PCs is when you'll run into trouble.
 
lol umm, i have an Acer Aspire T135 I have alot of screws around my power pack :p

I just dont wana run into ANY trouble :( i wana be 100% sure.. i have a normal power pack, its a box.. LOL
 
You should be fine.

You might even be able to upgrade to an AMD Athlon processor. That would be great for gaming.
 
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