ATI or Nvidia before Christmas!

jadkovach · 11-29-2005, 08:52 PM

Too the Smarts out there !,
ATI or Nvidia as graphic cards before Christmas. I`m looking to o up grade my Xabre 400 to a ATI or Nvidia. I own COMPAQ 5031US 512RAM ,1200mhz, 40GB HD, 250 watts. Nothing fancy , although I would like to play new games with no problems. What do you advise please! PROFESIONALS ONLY PLEASE!

**UncleMacro** · 11-29-2005, 09:59 PM

I haven't been able to find your exact model number at Compaq, but from similar model numbers I assume you have a 1.2GHz Athlon CPU. I'm afraid that CPU is going to run new games very slowly no matter what video card you install. The CPU will be the bottleneck in almost all current games. If you want to run new games well, you're stuck getting a new computer.

If you want to get a new video card anyway then you'll need to get some technical info about your hardware (since I can't find your exact model on the web). You can use Everest to create a report on your hardware and include it as an attachment in your next post. Just run Everest, click the "Report" button, and generate a report only for "Hardware-related pages".

ebackhus · 11-30-2005, 08:43 AM

I agree. That 1200Mhz CPU will limit you in anything but older games. You may also be running on a 2x or 4x AGP bus which can limit what kind of card you can physically install and operate.

ricer333 · 11-30-2005, 01:10 PM

I'm in the similar situation. I have done some upgrading, but the original cpu was a P3 450MHz. I have been wanting to upgrade so I did... I know that it probably would have cost about the same to get a more intense comuter, but I really liked experimenting with this one.

I have upgraded to a Celeron 1.4 GHz and now am getting a Radeon 9000 which is a universal (8x, 4x, 2x) card.

There is an Nvidia GeForce MX 4000 that is the same (8x, 4x, 2x). These two cards have been the ones that I was trying to decide on. In the end I went with ATi.

These guys are right tho, the CPU is going to hurt us. I ran the task monitor recently (still have the older card a Voodoo 3 3000) and the CPU was maxed out. I'm hoping that with the newer card, some of the lag will go down, but overall I know that it won't compete with the newer machines.

I'll just save my money for a high end machine in a years time. By then think where the CPU and GPU's will be!?

jadkovach · 11-30-2005, 06:22 PM

WOW! thanks for the info and for the last replier!, Man you spend some money on upgrade and you seem like your still behind! I must consider also! I have only upgrade too 512ram and a new but old video graphic card ; xabre 400 a couple of yrs. ago.I need the preformance with out the cost! Although spend $200 and get problems with upgrades, rather spend $800 to $1000 to be complete and satified!?!?! my shoes last longer than upgrades for computers!! That SUCKS why cant `t they make it easy!?

~~DeFcOn~~ · 11-30-2005, 06:33 PM

THIER job is to make it hard on u..........i would upgrade the whole shabang

jadkovach · 11-30-2005, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeFcOn

THIER job is to make it hard on u..........i would upgrade the whole shabang

How do I get rid of my old $1,600.00 computer than! They hit me hard! 4 rs ago!

ShinjiML · 12-02-2005, 03:12 PM

edit: oops double post

ShinjiML · 12-02-2005, 03:13 PM

Yeah, computers are always changing quickly. I recently built my own computer for $800 (AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 1 GB RAM, 200 GB HD, GeForce 6600, DVD+/-RW, Windows XP OEM), which I think is a better investment than buying a comp, which may not have the config that I want and may end up costing more. I'm hoping my computer will last for 2-3 years before I need to upgrade. In your case, I think the only option you have is to perform major upgrades, or just build/buy a new computer. As others have mentioned, your CPU could simply be too slow and also your power supply most likely won't be enough to power most newer video cards now a days.

Anyway, back to the topic, I'm not a big expert on video cards, but personally, I prefer nVidia now, after experiencing problems with ATI video cards

. I've read around and it seems that some ATI video cards have issues. Of course, this is probably not a problem with the newer ATI cards, but looking at benchmark results, midrange(since I'm assuming you don't want to spend $300-400 on a video card) nVidia cards seem to do better than midrange ATI cards across a pretty big range of tests

.

As for your old computer, unfortunately, you probably have no choice but to keep it or give it away, since I don't think it'll sell for very much money now. You can use it as a "work" computer or a family computer

.

jadkovach · 12-13-2005, 06:03 PM

Hi,
Can a PRO tell me what is a Top quality good computer out there that will last me about 4yrs and play new games now and to come in the future with good speed, memory,and stability!

I believe if you have a good computer to play top new games you also have an excelent computer to do other jobs!

BabyShambles · 12-13-2005, 10:14 PM

Nothing you buy today will last you 4 years if it's a gaming rig you're after. Anyway, these are some of the best gaming rigs out there:

http://www.alienware.co.uk/Product_P...ll_gaming.aspx

The Aurora 5500 looks the best for price/performance.

scottsda · 12-14-2005, 05:45 PM

be cautious with alienware, ive read countless poor customer reviews and heard from friends that have had problems with their alienware's hardware not working properly let alone the software, as well as it taking more than a month to recieve their computer. i suggest building your own, its really fun and it's cheaper! just make sure you take the config you want to a computer store and see if everything is compatible and if you could anythying different optimize it, or post it here at the forums. if you have unlimited money i would go for a widow pc, they are really good computers and have really good customer support.

www.widowpc.com

ZDarryl · 12-16-2005, 01:06 AM

I agree, Alienware is a ripoff, way overpriced for what you get. Much better to build your own

Case - $75
AMD 3200+ CPU - $140
DFI MOBO - $140 **EDIT** This mobo is for socket 939

Enermax 420W PSU - $72
Asus 6800GT 256MB - $260
1 GB dual channel RAM - $80
Audigy 2 Platinum eX Sound Card - $115
160GB HDD - $80

Total cost for an awesome system - $950 w/o monitor, speakers, keyboard or mouse

This is rough and quick, and it is late, so I am going to bed. But if this were an alienware, it would cost $1500 easily. $500 for them to put it together.

ZDarryl · 12-16-2005, 10:25 AM

Audigy 2 Platinum eX Sound Card - $115

~~GiancarloC~~ · 12-24-2005, 12:46 PM

Sorry if I came in a little late. But most computer companies, especially Alienware, charge way more per part. Like when you get a part they charge you 115% so they can make a profit.. then the whole thing ends up being horrendous. Dell is like this too. Building your own computer is very economical, and I suggest this graphics card:

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....iteria=AA39230

eVGA Geforce 6800 GS with 256MB (PCI-X)

Review: http://www.thetechzone.com/?m=show&id=451

It performs just as well as the GT version, if not better in quite a few benchmarks. It sells for $194. It is perhaps the best bang for the buck, and costs less then the GT, while putting ATI in the major hurt locker as far as mid-range cards are concerned (ATI really isn't looking that good). Also it comes with a life time warranty. Heheh... like my old favorite BFG.

11-29-2005, 08:52 PM	#1 (permalink)
jadkovach Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Cleveland Posts: 11 OS: XP	ATI or Nvidia before Christmas! Too the Smarts out there !, ATI or Nvidia as graphic cards before Christmas. I`m looking to o up grade my Xabre 400 to a ATI or Nvidia. I own COMPAQ 5031US 512RAM ,1200mhz, 40GB HD, 250 watts. Nothing fancy , although I would like to play new games with no problems. What do you advise please! PROFESIONALS ONLY PLEASE! Last edited by jadkovach; 11-29-2005 at 08:55 PM.

11-30-2005, 08:43 AM	#3 (permalink)
ebackhus Manager, Design Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: SATX Posts: 14,335 OS: WinXP Pro SP3/Windows 7 RTM My System Blog Entries: 28	I agree. That 1200Mhz CPU will limit you in anything but older games. You may also be running on a 2x or 4x AGP bus which can limit what kind of card you can physically install and operate. __________________ ----------------------------- There are no dumb questions, unless a customer is asking them. Help in the fight against cancer and other serious illnesses.

11-30-2005, 01:10 PM	#4 (permalink)
ricer333 Registered User Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 302 OS: Vista (on Laptop) WinXP Pro SP3 (on Desktop)	I'm in the similar situation. I have done some upgrading, but the original cpu was a P3 450MHz. I have been wanting to upgrade so I did... I know that it probably would have cost about the same to get a more intense comuter, but I really liked experimenting with this one. I have upgraded to a Celeron 1.4 GHz and now am getting a Radeon 9000 which is a universal (8x, 4x, 2x) card. There is an Nvidia GeForce MX 4000 that is the same (8x, 4x, 2x). These two cards have been the ones that I was trying to decide on. In the end I went with ATi. These guys are right tho, the CPU is going to hurt us. I ran the task monitor recently (still have the older card a Voodoo 3 3000) and the CPU was maxed out. I'm hoping that with the newer card, some of the lag will go down, but overall I know that it won't compete with the newer machines. I'll just save my money for a high end machine in a years time. By then think where the CPU and GPU's will be!? __________________ AMD X2 5000+ Black w/ XFX GeForce 8200 MoBo 4GB OCZ DDR2 RAM 3/4 of a TB of data storage between 2 HDD's (no RAID)

11-30-2005, 06:22 PM	#5 (permalink)
jadkovach Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Cleveland Posts: 11 OS: XP	WOW! thanks for the info and for the last replier!, Man you spend some money on upgrade and you seem like your still behind! I must consider also! I have only upgrade too 512ram and a new but old video graphic card ; xabre 400 a couple of yrs. ago.I need the preformance with out the cost! Although spend $200 and get problems with upgrades, rather spend $800 to $1000 to be complete and satified!?!?! my shoes last longer than upgrades for computers!! That SUCKS why cant `t they make it easy!? Last edited by jadkovach; 11-30-2005 at 06:25 PM.

12-02-2005, 03:12 PM	#8 (permalink)
ShinjiML Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 19 OS: XP	edit: oops double post Last edited by ShinjiML; 12-02-2005 at 03:14 PM.

11-29-2005, 09:59 PM	#2 (permalink)
UncleMacro TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: San Diego Posts: 2,133 OS: Vista SP1 My System	I haven't been able to find your exact model number at Compaq, but from similar model numbers I assume you have a 1.2GHz Athlon CPU. I'm afraid that CPU is going to run new games very slowly no matter what video card you install. The CPU will be the bottleneck in almost all current games. If you want to run new games well, you're stuck getting a new computer. If you want to get a new video card anyway then you'll need to get some technical info about your hardware (since I can't find your exact model on the web). You can use Everest to create a report on your hardware and include it as an attachment in your next post. Just run Everest, click the "Report" button, and generate a report only for "Hardware-related pages".

11-30-2005, 06:33 PM	#6 (permalink)
~~DeFcOn~~ Register user Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Ewa Beach,Oahu Posts: 240 OS: gentoo linux, sunwah linux, win xp pro, and SUSE 9.3	THIER job is to make it hard on u..........i would upgrade the whole shabang

12-02-2005, 03:13 PM	#9 (permalink)
ShinjiML Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 19 OS: XP	Yeah, computers are always changing quickly. I recently built my own computer for $800 (AMD Athlon 64 3200+, 1 GB RAM, 200 GB HD, GeForce 6600, DVD+/-RW, Windows XP OEM), which I think is a better investment than buying a comp, which may not have the config that I want and may end up costing more. I'm hoping my computer will last for 2-3 years before I need to upgrade. In your case, I think the only option you have is to perform major upgrades, or just build/buy a new computer. As others have mentioned, your CPU could simply be too slow and also your power supply most likely won't be enough to power most newer video cards now a days. Anyway, back to the topic, I'm not a big expert on video cards, but personally, I prefer nVidia now, after experiencing problems with ATI video cards . I've read around and it seems that some ATI video cards have issues. Of course, this is probably not a problem with the newer ATI cards, but looking at benchmark results, midrange(since I'm assuming you don't want to spend $300-400 on a video card) nVidia cards seem to do better than midrange ATI cards across a pretty big range of tests . As for your old computer, unfortunately, you probably have no choice but to keep it or give it away, since I don't think it'll sell for very much money now. You can use it as a "work" computer or a family computer .

12-13-2005, 06:03 PM	#10 (permalink)
jadkovach Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Cleveland Posts: 11 OS: XP	Looking for Quality new computer for about $1,000 Hi, Can a PRO tell me what is a Top quality good computer out there that will last me about 4yrs and play new games now and to come in the future with good speed, memory,and stability! I believe if you have a good computer to play top new games you also have an excelent computer to do other jobs! Last edited by jadkovach; 12-13-2005 at 06:04 PM.

12-13-2005, 10:14 PM	#11 (permalink)
BabyShambles Registered User Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 18 OS: XP	Nothing you buy today will last you 4 years if it's a gaming rig you're after. Anyway, these are some of the best gaming rigs out there: http://www.alienware.co.uk/Product_P...ll_gaming.aspx The Aurora 5500 looks the best for price/performance. __________________ Asus A8N-Sli Deluxe motherboard Athlon 64 3500+ CPU 1GB Dual-Channel RAM Leadtek GeForce 7800GT Extreme Edition 256MB @ 462/1070 Creative Audigy 2 soundcard Hiper HPU-4K580-MK Type R 580W PSU 3DMark '05 score: 7154

12-14-2005, 05:45 PM	#12 (permalink)
scottsda Registered User Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Lawrence ,KS Posts: 27 OS: Windows XP	be cautious with alienware, ive read countless poor customer reviews and heard from friends that have had problems with their alienware's hardware not working properly let alone the software, as well as it taking more than a month to recieve their computer. i suggest building your own, its really fun and it's cheaper! just make sure you take the config you want to a computer store and see if everything is compatible and if you could anythying different optimize it, or post it here at the forums. if you have unlimited money i would go for a widow pc, they are really good computers and have really good customer support. www.widowpc.com __________________ Intel 865Perl mainboard; Pentium 3Ghz w/ HT 800FSB 1MB L2 Cache; Sapphire 800GTO 256Mb flashed to 16 pipelines; 1.2 GB pc3200 RAM; thermaltake 430-watt psu; danger den water cooling system

12-16-2005, 01:06 AM	#13 (permalink)
ZDarryl Registered User Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Southern California Posts: 256 OS: XP Pro SP2 My System	I agree, Alienware is a ripoff, way overpriced for what you get. Much better to build your own Case - $75 AMD 3200+ CPU - $140 DFI MOBO - $140 EDIT This mobo is for socket 939 Enermax 420W PSU - $72 Asus 6800GT 256MB - $260 1 GB dual channel RAM - $80 Audigy 2 Platinum eX Sound Card - $115 160GB HDD - $80 Total cost for an awesome system - $950 w/o monitor, speakers, keyboard or mouse This is rough and quick, and it is late, so I am going to bed. But if this were an alienware, it would cost $1500 easily. $500 for them to put it together. __________________ 35W Mobile XP2400+(IQYHA Stepping) @ 210x11.5=2415 @ 1.8V w/ Thermalright SP-97 Heatsink \| ABIT NF7-S Rev 2 \| 1GB Dual Channel GeIL Ultra PC4000 @ 2-4-4-7 \| AIW X800XT \| Audigy 2 ZS \| 160GB SATA, 200GB IDE, 250GB USB \| 5 LED Case Fans \| Enermax 470W PSU Spywareblaster \| ScreenShot Program 5655 3DMark05 \| 10784 3DMark03 \| 20978 3DMark01 \| Last edited by ZDarryl; 12-16-2005 at 01:08 AM.

12-16-2005, 10:25 AM	#14 (permalink)
ZDarryl Registered User Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Southern California Posts: 256 OS: XP Pro SP2 My System	Audigy 2 Platinum eX Sound Card - $115 __________________ 35W Mobile XP2400+(IQYHA Stepping) @ 210x11.5=2415 @ 1.8V w/ Thermalright SP-97 Heatsink \| ABIT NF7-S Rev 2 \| 1GB Dual Channel GeIL Ultra PC4000 @ 2-4-4-7 \| AIW X800XT \| Audigy 2 ZS \| 160GB SATA, 200GB IDE, 250GB USB \| 5 LED Case Fans \| Enermax 470W PSU Spywareblaster \| ScreenShot Program 5655 3DMark05 \| 10784 3DMark03 \| 20978 3DMark01 \|

12-24-2005, 12:46 PM	#15 (permalink)
~~GiancarloC~~ Register user Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: LoS aNgElEs Posts: 315 OS: Win2000Pro	Sorry if I came in a little late. But most computer companies, especially Alienware, charge way more per part. Like when you get a part they charge you 115% so they can make a profit.. then the whole thing ends up being horrendous. Dell is like this too. Building your own computer is very economical, and I suggest this graphics card: http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....iteria=AA39230 eVGA Geforce 6800 GS with 256MB (PCI-X) Review: http://www.thetechzone.com/?m=show&id=451 It performs just as well as the GT version, if not better in quite a few benchmarks. It sells for $194. It is perhaps the best bang for the buck, and costs less then the GT, while putting ATI in the major hurt locker as far as mid-range cards are concerned (ATI really isn't looking that good). Also it comes with a life time warranty. Heheh... like my old favorite BFG. Last edited by GiancarloC; 12-24-2005 at 12:57 PM.