Video Card Question Please

Hello... My sister is think of buying a new computer. A Dell XPS 430. She wants the best video card she can use with SL and has 2 choices with this computer. She can pick either an ATI Radeon HD3870 512MB or a nVidia GeForce 9800GT 512MB. Since SL has not updated their system requirements to reflect the newer cards I'm wondering if anyone currently uses either of these cards and if so have they had any problems with either. Also, are we right in thinking a 512MB card will give much better proformance than using say, an ATI Radeon HD3650 256MB card? Any help is greatly appreciated since either of us know all that much about computers. Thank you all for reading this and for any help anyone can give and have a great holidays everyone!

Lota

I use an Nvidia 8800GTX Extreme overclocked in my desktop and it runs SL flawlessly. Of course, other specs like processor and RAM are being brought into play. But with a 9800 I'd imagine she'd be just fine. And yes, a 512 card would be a big upgrade over a 512 card generally speaking. Also, look up the benchmarks for both cards. I'm an Nvidia fan boy so I will always choose them.

Can check out this too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdP4DWo4N8U

we just had a discussion re dell and 9800's:
/111/87/294472/1.html
maybe something of interest there to you

One thing to remember when looking at reviews and benchmarks... SL is a OpenGL game and not a Direct X game. A card can have great Direct X scores and suck big time in OpenGL (mostly becaiuse of poor driver support).

I think they is going to get worse too as less and less new games are using OpenGL.

Other than Quake not many companies use it anymore...so the card makers may tend to ignore adding support for things like OpenGL 3.0 (which was just released last August). as for them OpenGL games are a very tiny portion of the market.

It wont Die as OpenGL is the only way to get 3D games to run on Apple or Linux.... and I serioulsy doubt that microsoft will ever allow Direct X to run on anything but windows.

quake is the defacto 3d test and the engine that has demanded most of cards for over 15 years. quake sets the standards and expectations of cards, its not the other way around. i cant see any card manufacturer overlooking opengl support in their cards, and its a sure bet that when id announce a new doom/quake engine running opengl3 we will see ati and nvidia tripping over themselves to implement it.

Sorry Nina, that's just not true. DirectX drives videocards today, nVidia and ATI/AMD react to its requirements not the other way around. Benchmarks today are often measured solely by the framerate of Crysis.

As for John Carmack, neither the Doom3 engine nor the upcoming RAGE engine are OpenGL-based. People still include Quake3 framerates on occasion, but with no shaders or other modern 3D hardware-enhanced effects it is just not relevant technology. While RAGE is being implemented cross-platform with an OpenGL layer, it is wisely using DirectX under Windows and Xbox 360.

Epic's heavily-used Unreal3 ngine has an OpenGL port that doesn't perform as well as its DirectX version, while CryEngine2, often the "reference quality" engine of today, is having difficulty porting from its DirectX roots.

OpenGL is an afterthought, DirectX's features long ago surpassed it. Linden Lab continues to take the easy multi-platform route instead of making a Windows optimized, DirectX-based client that would reduce system requirements and be far faster.

well perhaps i am just living in the past then :o(

You might want to read this:

http://computershopper.com/shoptalk/desktops/dell-silently-launches-the-mid-range-dell-xps-430-mini-tower-desktop

The review makes no mention of any video card other than ATI. However, an nVidia card would certainly work. One thing jumped out at me almost immediately........that 425 watt power supply. I'm not sure that would be enough to properly run a high end video card. If it is, then it's the absolute minimum and any further upgrading of the system might exceed the sustained load for that PS. It's pretty typical of most, if not all, major computer manufacturers to use the bare minimum power supply......why they do that is beyond me since power supplies are one of the least expensive items that go into a computer. You can find a much better power supply for less than $100 and put it in yourself......however, why should you have to do that with a brand new computer that costs more than $1000? And that's without a monitor!!

I think the computer is overpriced. But, it's not up to me.

As for it being capable of running SL. It will do fine with either the nVidia or the ATI card. The 9800 GT card has a pretty good track record here in the forums for running SL without many problems (yes, there are problems with a few drivers but, overall, the card seems to be a little better with SL than ATI). Only hesitation I would have is the power supply.......maybe Dell can put a bigger one in using the customization option? I'd ask if it were me. You just never know if you will need another case fan for cooling or you find a better hardwire device that puts you over that 425 watts......and putting your system in danger of damage or failures that would not be warranty covered.

My thinking of the OpenGL thing. All major video card manufacturers benchmark their cards to DirectX standards. Like it or not Windows is the most used operating systems in the world.......by quite a huge margin. DirectX is Microsoft and almost all games use DirectX for their rendering........the card manufacturers are going to put most of their efforts into making sure their cards can run DirectX games as perfectly as possible. Only after getting the games optimized for DirectX games do they even think of OpenGL. So OpenGL will always be a second thought.......often after the card is released to the public. That's why many have dirver issues with new cards and SL......a few weeks or maybe a month so later, the manufacturers get around to releasing drivers correcting the problems. At the moment, the nVidia 9800 GT card has passed that stage.....it works well with SL. I don't know that ATI has caught up......but they probably have.

Hello... Just a quick thank you from myself and my sister for all the help. I've passed this all on to her and I'm sure she'll make a much better choice thanks to you guys. I told her to call Dell since they don't have other power supplies listed in the "customize" page she said. Again thanks mucho... ))

Lota, I know this is late but I run a 9500GT (not as high as you are looking) with 512MB of card ram and SL runs like butter. I have it on ultra mode and use tweaks to windlight often now. It is amazing the difference one's SL experience can be when using a higher end card.

Now. As Peggy said.. 425 is pretty weak in the Watts dept for a Power Supply. I have a 500Watt in mine and it does the job for all I do.

Whatever your Sister decides on I hope she enjoys it.

my reccomendation leans towards the nVidia card, and definately the higher the ram the better (especially with SL since textures aren't as managed as in most 3d environments). vnidia has had some minor issues with drivers (backwards support fo rpalletized textures) but IME have better support overall, and seem to keep up support longer for older cards.

definately talk to them about the PSU as mentioned above, and consider extra cooling options.