Just another noob lookin for graphics card advice

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coldcuttin

Posts: 24   +0
hi y'all :wave:

just landed here via google,as you do.

im just after a little advice on a card upgrade,at the mo my sysyem stats are:

a7n8x-e deluxe motherboard
amd athlon xp 3200+,2.19 GHz prossesor
1.0 gb of ram
asus v9520 magic,geforce fx 5200

basically i just want to be able to play those fancy games like doom 3,hl2, tiger woods 2006 on some decent settings without the fps sucking!
im Hoping just a graphics upgrade will do the job :rolleyes:
also im wondering if i'll need some kind cooling system to run it?

so any advice/recommendations would be cool :)

CC.

ps:ive got about £250 to spend :grinthumb
 
Absolutely! An upgrade to your video card would make a HUGE difference for gaming on your system. If you have that kind of money to dump into it, you should be looking at the (AGP8X) 6800GT card (get a good brand, like ASUS or MSI)

But before you dump that in, we need to know about your computer's power supply. This new card will take a bit more juice than your current 5200 card. So how many watts is your power supply, and who is the maker?

As for cooling it, it comes with a fan attached to it. The question is whether or not your case fans are enough. Are you having any heating problems now?

You are going to be amazed at the difference in your games after using that 5200 card. It'll be like having a new computer.
 
Ive been testing a 6600GT with an XP 3200 and it works great but if you can get a 6800 series card. Prices on those are dropping since the 7800 came out. But it depends on your budget. At Newegg you can get a 256bit 9800 Pro for $130, a 6600GT for a little more and a 6800 for $170.
 
hey ,guys,

this sounds like great news,cheers for the help :approve:
my power supply is a CTK 350W,& i've no overheating probs.
one last thing could you plz put the full name of the card im after
so i know what to ask for in the shops.

thanks,

CC.
 
Here is a great card that has dropped $70 in the last two months http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150102
It is a XFX 6800GT AGP4x/8x at $319. It overclocks to ultra speeds easily with coolbits2. Your PSU is going to get maxed when you upgrade to this card and you may run into problems power-wise. If you'd rather not upgrade the PSU then drop down to a 6800 standard card. If you want the better card and the perfomance then get yourself a new PSU such as this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104954 rated at 450watts and plenty of amps coming off of dual 12v rails at $50.
 
coldcuttin said:
my power supply is a CTK 350W
Click to expand...

Once you plug in your new graphics card, if you are having any problems with your computer (random crashing and odd glitches) or if the card simply won't run on your computer, your power supply is likely the cause. You are at the very bottom end of the power you'll be needing (if it is enough at all).

If you are upgrading to a powerful video card, I'd suggest moving up to a better PSU as well.
 
you guys should try looking at ebay it has some great deals I got my evga geforce 6800 for only $122.50 and $10 shipping it was new too.
 
Hi again,

just seen this card(Sparkle Geforce 6600 256MB AGP 8x) in my local computer shop for £120,would this be ok for my system to play stuff like doom 3?if so plz reply so i can go get it today :D

thanks again.

CC.
 
Just curious for myself here... how does my card compare to the ones being suggested? I don't game but I'm wondering how it would perform if I did.

I have a Connect 3D Radeon X850XT Platinum.

with:
3.4Ghz Prescott P4
2GB DDR2 533Mhz dual channel RAM
ASUS P5AD2-E Mobo

Thanks!
 
ok..the shops close in like 2 hours,so what do you's think?
is this card decent,or should i wait till next week when i've got about £250 to spend on one,i'd really like to get one today though!!!do sparkle cards suck?
 
I am not a gamer by any means, but I think that card would play doom 3 and games that quality fine. that should be a good card.
 
Well..i could'nt wait any longer so i got the (Sparkle Geforce 6600gt 256MB AGP 8x)for £110,looks pretty good so far,miles better than my old (Geforce 5200).

thanks for all the help guys,im off to play some game's :D

CC.
 
ok where do i start..

well my computer was working fine until i installed (ntune) the other day(god knows why?).
i tried the autotune feature & after that my computer kept freezin up!!.so i formatted to try & get the clock speeds back as they were.
but it kept freezin up,so installed (rivatuner) & that seems to have sorted it out.

now i've just installed speedfan & seen this:
Temp127c with a flame thingy next to it :eek: that's gotta be bad right???

so is my computer about to fry?& how do i get my clock speeds back to default?if there not already.
heres what (rivatuner) is showing my clockspeeds at:

Hmm.. why o why did i mess with it when it worked fine :knock:

Help please!!!

CC.
 
Ok it's still freezing up & the graphic's keep distorting, it's also restarting itself now!
do i just need a bigger psu? even though it says on my graphic card box it only needs 300w to run & i have 350w?

A yes or no answer will do :rolleyes:

thanks

CC.
 
You should try uninstalling NTune, Speedfan,RivaTuner and the whole mess in the Control Panel.

Then simply install CoolBits at:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=815

This will open up a new page in the NVidia drivers listing the GPU speed and temps with at least some degree of accuracy.

127C is way, way too hot for any component in your PC to be operating at. It's important to find out what exactly is running at 127C. That Speedfan screenshot doesn't seem to hint at what exactly is running that hot.
 
If your temps are 127c, then you are probably still overclocked (if that temp reading is accurate). Are you getting any artifacts on screen?

I just did a quick search for sparkle 6600gt, and it seems you should be at

Core Clock: 500 MHz
Memory Clock: 900 MHz
 
Yes,i think im getting artifacts,blocks of color keep popping up,
how do i get the clock speeds back to back to normal?
 
Try turning your core clock down to 250.

Actually, try unselecting the "enable driver level hardware oc". Perhaps that'll take you back to stock settings.
 
Yes remove all that crap from your system. nTune is the pime system crasher extraordinaire. LOL Just use coolbits to unlock the O/C capabilities built into Nvidia utility.
 
hey guys

im still having the same problem,everytime i scroll down on a webpage the screen just breaks up & the computer locks up,then restarts itself. i've reset my gpu clock speeds using the nvidia thingy,but had no joy :confused: i thought maybe i,ve changed my cpu clock speeds while i was messing with it.if so how would i reset that?
its also restarting itself in games now,& windows locks up if unused for a minute or two,& wont work till i 3 key it!!!

any suggestion would be much apreceated,as the problem seems to be getting worse.

thanks again.

CC.
 
Sounds like resetting CMOS might do you some good.

Read your motherboard manual to find where the jumpers are for resetting. If your motherboard doesn't have jumpers, then you need to disconnect all power (unplug from wall and remove PSU connections to the motherboard) then remove the CMOS battery for a half hour then pop it back in.

Good luck!
 
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