Graphics card to suit Athlon xp3200+

[vaughan]

All,
I need advice as to what graphics card to purchase for my Athlon xp3200+ system. The current card is a nVidia GeForce 3 Ti 500.
I was thinking about the MSI 6600GT-VTD128 (VIVO)
6600GT 128MB DVI AGP which is AUD$335.50 at Umart.

[NeoGen]

Will you play heavy 3D computer games alot or is it mainly for work?
It's only worth going for an expensive graphics card if you'll push it hard with the latest games...

Or atleast until the day it appears some DC project that pushes the limits of the graphics cards. :lol:

[vaughan]

80% work - Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
10% Rise of Rome
10% other games
Naturally at least one DC project is always running!

The reasons I need to change are:
1. The tiny fan is not moving on the heatsink so it is very hot (cannot touch)
2. When I have several windows open, CPU usage at 100%, physical memory usage at about 650Megs I find that drop down boxes shimmer around the edges when I click Start -> All Programs -> and then hover over a Program group. Another occasion is in Word XP and I go File Save As, the box for the filename wobbles around on the edges.
3. GF3 is old.

[meckano]

Buy a new fan?
just a couple bucks, I'm sure.

[Keith75]

IMHO the best bang for the buck video card wise is a Radeon 9800 Pro. Super fast and only about $140

[Empty_5oul]

i dont know exchange rates but i got a geForce 5700 256 meg for about £70.
Being LE (light edition) it is 99% the same as a normal 5700 but underclocked, using powerstrip i overclocked the card from:
engine clock 250 MHz -- 420 MHz
memory clock 400 MHz -- 500 MHz
in 3D mark 03 getting a total increase of 32.82% on game 1 and 26.40% on game 4.

not toally related to your post but if you buy something fairly good you can push it improving performance.

[Lagu]

80% work - Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
10% Rise of Rome
10% other games
Naturally at least one DC project is always running!

The reasons I need to change are:
1. The tiny fan is not moving on the heatsink so it is very hot (cannot touch)
2. When I have several windows open, CPU usage at 100%, physical memory usage at about 650Megs I find that drop down boxes shimmer around the edges when I click Start -> All Programs -> and then hover over a Program group. Another occasion is in Word XP and I go File Save As, the box for the filename wobbles around on the edges.
3. GF3 is old.

Vaughan!
Here in Sundsvall it is -6 C. Yesterday it was -10 C. Perhaps you should send your PC;s to me. :lol: I can use them out so you get ice cooling and your computer will run faster LOL

[Ototero]

I like that answer Lagu.

We should send ALL our machines to you. We can have remote dialups. Everything is cool :roll:

[Lagu]

Vaughan !

I agree with Keith75. I myself have this card and it works fine.

Features:

1. Powered by the AGP 8X RADEON 9600 PRO 256 MB Visual Processing Unit (VPU).
2. Supports 128 MB of DDR memory for today’s demanding games, applications, effects and animation.
3. Integrated 4 parallel rendering pipelines and and 4 parallel geometry engines for incredibly fast 3D graphic performance coupled with sophisticated real-time visual effects.
4. SMARTSHADER™ 2.1 technology supports the latest Microsoft® Direct® 9.0 feature sets, enabling more complex and cinematic-quality lighting effects.
5. SMOOTHVISION™ 2.1 technology delivers the sharpest, clearest textures, removes jaggies and brings out fine texture details without sacrificing frame rates.
6. 128-bit full floating point precision enables billions of color varitations to render the same lighting and effects as Hollywod studios.
7. ATI’s new FULLSTREAM™ technology removes blocky artefacts from Streaming and Internet video and provides sharper image quality.
8. Full support för the AGP 8X standard doubles bandwidth for more engaging characters and environements.
9. Display configuration supports CRT, DVI-I (2nd CRT via DVI converter) & TV-Out (PAL/UNCS).
10. Supports DirectX™ 9.0 and the latest OpenGL® functionality for unprecedented realism and sophisticated visual effects.
11. Bundled Hydravision Multiple Monitor Management Software provides a flexible, userfriendly interface for multiple display settings.
12. Industry-leading hardware DVD video playback with software DVD player support.
13. Supports 3D resolutions (32-bit color) up to 2048 x 1536
Monitor resolution 1024 x 768, 1152x864, 1280x1024, Refresch Rate: 120 Hz.

System Requirement

A 300-watt power supply or greater is recommended to ensure normal system operation where a number of other internal devices are installed.
Intel Pentium/4/III/II/Celeron, AMD K6/Duron/Athlon/Athlon XP or compatible with AGP 8X/4X slot
128 MB of system memory
Installation software requires CD-ROM drive.
DVD Playback Requires DVD drive

Operating Systems:

Windows ME
Windows 2000
Windows XP

Display support:

VGA connector for analog CRT
S-video or composite connector for TV / VCR
DVI-I connector for digital CRT or flat panel
Independent resolutions and refresh rates for any two connected displays.

This graphic card is really fast. I have tested it with a special program and get high scores. The graphic was much realistic and fine. This card has a low price here.

Lagu :)

[meckano]

Are you AGP? :D
Is it 4x, or 8x or ....?
I always try the on-sale items at computer store for 'older' but equivalent; no sense in putting out the bucks if you, and you will, update computer at some time.
ex:
Next step for me, far far away right now:
- New mobo as the next generations are:
PCI Express video, although AGP is still out there and new.
64bit cpu, cause the rest is gone.
w/Dual channel memory slots, in anticipation of new ram
w/SATA readiness, although IDE will be around for a while I think.

I've already oversized psu as last supply died.

Something to think about.
and there is this:
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030930/radeon_9800-03.html

Edit, and especially for getting 'older' model(yes new):
Get them to make it run in the store, so you don't get stuck with a non-compatible card.

Edit 2, but there is a nice write-up on the card you mention:
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041119/index.html
Add:
- and it looks like the way to go. :D
-- Found 8x, but no 4x.(one of the orange squares at top):
http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/vga/vga/pro_vga_detail.php?UID=636

[Lagu]

Are you AGP? :D
Is it 4x, or 8x or ....?
I always try the on-sale items at computer store for 'older' but equivalent; no sense in putting out the bucks if you, and you will, update computer at some time.
ex:
Next step for me, far far away right now:
- New mobo as the next generations are:
PCI Express video, although AGP is still out there and new.
64bit cpu, cause the rest is gone.
w/Dual channel memory slots, in anticipation of new ram
w/SATA readiness, although IDE will be around for a while I think.

I've already oversized psu as last supply died.

Something to think about.
and there is this:
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20030930/radeon_9800-03.html

Edit, and especially for getting 'older' model(yes new):
Get them to make it run in the store, so you don't get stuck with a non-compatible card.

Edit 2, but there is a nice write-up on the card you mention:
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041119/index.html

Perhaps I am Mr AGP. It is easy to buy PCI but I don't know if an older momo can have it. An another sake: Will you only play you would have a better Graphic Card. But Vaughan will use it for mostly another work, and little playing. I don't play so my card is good for me.
Lagu

Meckano!

The card supports both 4x and 8x
Lagu

[Empty_5oul]

sata is definatley worth having now, i love the fast access rates and it is very noticable.
also being hot swap you can switch them whilst booted up, -- so even if your mobo only takes 2 sata drives you could actually use more for storing specific stuff e.g. work, games, music etc.

[vaughan]

The twin 74GB WD Raptors in Doomeva's A8N-SLI deluxe rig are amazingly quick. They are in striped RAID configuration to enhance speed too.

[meckano]

If i'm not mistaken, striping doubles the speed.
:happy1:

[vaughan]

Lagu there is an article about "Natural Sub-Zero Overclocking" posted at Pcper. The author is from Northern Ontario and tested his rigs at about -14°C in his garage :shock:

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=121

[Empty_5oul]

meckano there is not a total doubling of speed, it writes half the data to one drive and half to the other. Similarly when opening programs it can appear twice as fast as half is pulled from each drive - the risk is if one drive dies the other is also worthless as it only has half the data.

Whilst actually running a program the speed differences between that and normal are minimal but opening and saving speeds are doubled.

[vaughan]

Has anyone tried any of the BFG range of graphics cards?

www.bfgtech.com

[meckano]

Nope, but I Love the fact that they use Nvidia's drivers.

Like has been told to me, the best ATI chip'ed card, is an ATI made card; and ATI are the only ones I know of to use ATI drivers.
- and I have 3 flavors of cards with ATI chips.

[Empty_5oul]

never heard of them V but the site looks quite good and it seems to have some good reviews down the right hand side.