I currently have an NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT 128mb video card which works fine for me, I bought it as an entry level card to play Call of Duty.

So with the new CoD4 game on the horizon, I'm looking to upgrade it, but I don't want to spend the earth.

As a rule is it better to buy a 512mb card over a 256mb card? This would make sense to me.....

Also, if I put the new card in, is it worth leaving the 128mb card in aswell, will they run in tandem, and will the performance be better?

Plus, if there are any recommendations of mid-price cards, please!

I don't really have a great knowledge of this field and there are SOOOO many choices!

A million thanks!

 

Question 1: What size screen do you have?
Question 2: What is your budget?

Answer 1. Forget leaving the existing card in.

 

It's only a 19" regular DELL flatscreen. Budget is mid range, so $150 - $200 (this might actually be entry level?) but can be increased if the performance will be noticeable!

Basically I don't play games much, I play COD2 now a couple of hours a week, but the new COD4 looks superb, and whilst playing the COD4 demo my current card started to overheat quite quickly.

I'd appreciate a recommendation, but also what is most important, MB of RAM or the Clock speed? Or is it a balance of the two????? I'm looking at the 8600 GeForce, either the GT or GTS of which there are various models up to $200.

Thanks for the help!!!

 

You will only see a difference on a 512Mb card or bigger if you are using very high screen resolutions.
I wouldn't look further than a GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB card if you have PCI express. It will blow away your existing card.
I would also increase your system RAM to 2Gb now as well as it is so cheap and can make a huge difference.

 

An 8800 GTS may be out of his price range.

Personally I think an ATi x1950pro maybe a better choice. £112 over here for a 512mb version. Easily handles COD4.

 

A mate has advised an 8600GTS 675mhz 256mb for $140 ish

or a 8600 GTS 720Mhz 256mb for $170ish

Is the 45mhz worth $30, please?

Thanks for the prompt replies guys!!!

 

Toms Hardware did a good review of graphics cards recently. Worth a look imo.

VGA Charts - Tom's Hardware

They did do a full review as well, cannot seem to find it atm

Here we go:
Testing 3D Performance with real Games : DirectX 10 Shootout: Geforce 8x00 vs. Radeon 2x00
The Best Gaming Graphics cards for your Money: October 2007 : The Best Gaming Graphics Cards For Your Money: October 2007

The last link is probably the most important, rates performance v cost. That way you can work out the best solution for any budget, and also so what improvement you can have for a few dollars more. Should be a good start anyway

 

just considering exactly the same for my pc.

currently running 1 gig ram and a 6600GT 128mb.

interested in the 1950 Pro - 256mb or 512mb version ?

should i be looking to get a dx10 card now though for the future ?

 

Great, thanks!

 

Thanks Daz, I think (I'm not at home at the moment) that my RAM is 1gb. How easy, and cheap, is it to add RAM, please?

Cheers!

 

Adding RAM is very easy. You just need to know the right type to add. There are plenty of free programs out there that will identify it for you. Here's one. Knowing the make & model of your motherboard will help as well.
Increasing my RAM from 1Gb to 2Gb made a huge difference in the playability of Battlefield 2. Maybe CoD4 needs less but I would be surprised if it did.
In the uk we can get high quality 2Gb DDR2 kits for £40.

 

Cheers mate, I just ran that. So I'm running an Intel Pent 4 3ghz and my motherboard is a DELL ORD203. I currently have 1024mb of RAM DDR2, which I'm guessing is 4 slots of 256mb and they're SAMSUNG.

So it would simply be a case of removing the old four 256mb RAM card and slotting in 4 new 512mb cards, for example?

Nice one Daz!

 

Open your case and have a look. Dell tend to fit the cheapest memory solution possible for their budget machines. For machines slightly higher in the range they sometimes leave slots free for more ram. You may well have 2x512 in there already, which will leave space for more ram. Or, you may be lucky and have a single 1Gb stick.

Be advised that your memory may be running in "dual channel" mode to make things run a little faster. If you end up with a non matched pair of sticks in your machine this mode will not be available. Your motherboard should auto-adjust to this, and performance should not alter by more than 1% in real world tasks. I just mention the above in case it crops up.

 

Yes I'm running 4 sticks of 256mb, but I don't think it's a budget machine

So would 4 x 512, 2 x 1gb, or 1 x 2gb stick be the best bet to replace with?

This games getting more and more expensive!!!

 

Well to be honest this is likely to be that last memory upgrade your machine will get. By the time 2Gb no longer cuts it, everything else in the machine will be long since past it too.

I would say look at the costs and think about how likely you agree with the above statement. If you are never going to upgrade again, then you could just buy the cheapest option Which will most likely be 2x1.

Dell normally make their machines to cost, which means having little spare capacity. Before you dive in, make sure that the machine's PSU is capable of running a new graphics card. You will also want to make sure the motherboard has the right connector for your new Graphics card.

To check for power look at the requirements for your old card, and compare to the new. If they are substantially different then you will have to double check you are going to get enough power out of the correct voltage rail. I don't want to make it over complex for you, I am a little out of date to know off hand what all these things need.

Basically a PSU is more complex than just its rating tells you. 400W PSU will supply its power over different voltage rails. eg 3.3V 5V 12V. If you have to get into it, your PSU should have a label telling you its spec. You just need to add up what is in your machine to ensure you don't go over spec on any rail.

 

Yes I agree 2 x 1Gb sticks.
It doesn't have to be the super fast stuff with that cpu either so would be a very cheap upgrade.
PC-2 5300 should be enough. Check your Dell manual or try the memory advisor tool at Memory upgrades, flash media, and usb storage at Crucial.com.

2 x 1Gb of decent Corsair XMS ram is less than £37 on eBuyer

 

Yes you're pretty much spot on, and it'll be a Mac next time! Thanks for the help, I'm going to go with the 8600 GeForce as I know I can power that!

 

Cool and the gang! Thanks!

 

The 8800GT is out next week for $200-$250 and beats the 8800GTS

8800GT Information Thread (Translated from expreview) 56k Warning - Overclock.net - Overclocking.net

Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

 

Aha! Thanks!