how do i choose a good grafics card.. plaese help?

Question

I have a 3.6 pent. 4 processor 1 gb ram 150gb memory.. and a geforce 6800 256.... i want change the graphics card.... i saw a geforce 8800 gt 1 GB for 333 $ ( i searched the net didn't find a 1 GB version but that is whats written on the box) .... so i dont know what to choose .. i tried to play Crysis and it works very poorly... please give me names of good cards and how do i choose ... and why does a geforce 8500 1GB cost 101 $ and a geforce 8800 gt super 1GB cost 546$ ... please help

Answer 1

The first number is the generation (okay, not accurate anymore, but it gives you an idea), the second number shows the target market (high performance 8 or 9, mainstream 5 or 6, entry level 2, 3, 4)

Hence 8800 is an 8th gen high performance card, the 8500 is an 8th gen medium performance card. Okay, the gen number is just an indication, not an actual generation, but you get the idea.

1GB system RAM isn't enough for high end games. 1GB video RAM is, but you should see if you can increase the system RAM to at least 2GB.

You might also consider the Radeon 4850 or 4870 - they have excellent performance, although only 512MB of video RAM. Not great at Crysis, but good.

Answer 2

There is no need to get a 1 GB geforce 8800 GT, you are paying more for the extra memory.



The reason why a 8800 Ultra cost more than an 8500 is because the higher the number, the better the card and the more you will pay for it.



Check and see if your motherboard supports PCI Express though, since you might end up not being able to buy a new graphics card if your motherboard is AGP. Just check the motherboard name and then check the specifications for expansion slots.



If you do have a PCI Express motherboard, then I would recommend the newly released Radeon HD 4850, it is $159-$199 yet has very good performance, it is only 20% slower than a $400 graphics card, the GTX 260.



It will play Crysis fine on high detail in all options.

Answer 3

Many questions, and some good ones.



Before you spend money on upgrades do some research.



1. What is the system I'm going to install it in and what do I need? Video cards are good upgrades IF your PC is only a year or two old. Yours is pretty old so you may need to look around for compatible cards. If I was you, I'd upgrade the system. P4's are pretty slow these days.



2. What are your needs. Gaming is very demanding but set your budget in accordance with your needs. You may have to buy an older card to get better performance to stay in budget.



3. Some games will certainly work well in mediocre machines, other games will render even the most powerful machine into a slow box. So compare your results with various games.



4. The cost of the cards has to do with how they are made. nVidia produces a reference card and chipset, the manufacturers either beef them up or they don't, and that why the cost is different. A 8800GS is not even close to a 8800GX2 by comparision even though the reference board is the same.



5. Stay away from OEM PC's like Dell, HP, Toshiba, etc. for gaming rigs. Some of those have specialized machines but your going to do a lot better with a well designed game rig using current and available parts. Of course you will also pay more as well.

Answer 4

i know what you mean, some gfx cards are 100 and others are 500 and they both have the same specs. the difference is quality. you can buy the 100 one and a year later it will stop working. they use poor material. to run crysis on high would take one great gfx card, or 2 good gfx cards sli'ed together. i got a 300$ gfx card and i was able to run crysis on high just fine. honestly, just get a good gfx card right now, that can sli and a year later get teh same one which will be half the price, and it would be like getting a whole new gfx card. dont worry about the mem size of the gfx card, just make sure its not less the 512, and it runs over 500 mgz and if posable that its not over clocked.



check to see if your mother board supports pci ex 16 slots. and hopefully you will have 2 slots for sli options. if not, your gona need a new mobo 8\. gl

Answer 5

ram = load time pictures card = the pictures(element contained in the sport), and FPS(Frames in step with 2nd) we could say you have cyber web connection 1000Mbps we could say. once you load up the sport, are pass to distinctive section. It use Ram(the place you generally see load demonstrate. greater Ram speedier it plenty.) on your pictures card. we could say the section is particularly element and once you progression left and precise, up and down, bounce and all that and in case you notice it omit from Frames then is your pictures card. occasion: the sport does a million, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9(FPS) and we could say you have a ghetto workstation with decrease priced pictures card, it does some thing like. a million, 5, 7, 9,(FPS) then is your pictures card. FPS is nearly a photograph e book. get a e book and positioned a million, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6... on the e book and change it. once you turn the internet site incorrect you omit one are 2 pages. stable pictures card doesnt' pass as plenty, are close to perfect. so the question is. do you have undesirable pictures concern, are undesirable loading concern. in a fashion sure the two play in a roll to help one yet another. greater ram would help the pictures card. a greater helpful & speedier pictures card and greater pictures card ram on it would help on FPS. --------------------------------------... Bottleneck: we could say you have 256mb ram and ATi x1800xt professional card.. the ram will bottleneck the sport. Beside the actuality which you load longer we could say you have 4gb ram and ATi 8500 card, the video card will bottleneck the sport. the sport would decelerate alot once you turn, and you will possibly not see an analogous texture as against the greater moderen video card.

Answer 6

try a compromise of a Geforce 8800 GS bought one in the UK for £100 so about $200 dollars

Answer 7

the 8500 and 8600 both really suck. The 8800GT is the cheapest 'good' card, then the GTS, then the GTX. Your motherboard needs PCI-E, which it probably doesn't have though. Download something called CPU-Z to see if you have a PCI-E card. If you don't you need a new motherboard, and processor.