XFX Geforce 7300 GS PCI-Express 16X Problem.

Hi,

After my friend begged me to try SL, I tried it for the first time last night. The game (if that is what I should be calling it) is great. The only problem I have is that the graphics are somehow not right. I thought that after upgradding to a 64bit system with PCI-Express graphics I would never have problems with video again .

I have a Geforce 7300 GS PCI-Express 16X card with 512 megs of ddr2 video ram and when I log onto SL everything runs smooth and fast. The problem is that the water renders multicolored squares across the surface making it look more like a checker board and the tree trunks appear to be a rapidly blinking pink. Is this happening because I am running SL in AGP mode with my card bustype is PCI-Express 16X? I am able to run Quake4 fine with no glitch?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Other hardware:

Asus A8N-SLI Premium
1 GB of Corsair 3200+
Athlon 64 3000+

You cant compare SL to any game on the market, not gonna work because there is no game anywhere even close to as complex as SL. What Forceware drivers are you running? AGP mode shoudln't cause whats happening but try disabling it and see if the results differ. Give NGO Drivers a try, you can directly download them at http://www.ngohq.com/home.php?page=Files&go=cat&dwn_cat_id=10&go=giveme&dwn_id=282

I am using the latest Forceware drivers.

Turn down all your video options like draw distance and turn off vertex shaders and see if this helps. The 7300 GS is a "barely better than integrated" video card and doesn't have a lot of horsepower. It has 512 megs of memory but it runs throught a very narrow pipe (read 'slow') and it is cut off at the knees when it comes to vertex shaders and other rendering. It is better than the 6200 but not by a lot and many people had probems running the 6200 card. Not to say the 7300 is a bad card for the price but a 6600 GS would cost only a little more but would be 3x the card.

What is the best card for this game in the 100 dollar range?

PCI-Express or AGP?

If you are looking for PCI-E Then this I would suggest:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150130

Geforce 6800XT $99 after rebate, was $94 a few days ago, prices change.

for AGP:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130232

Geforce 6600 $105.99

So the PCI-E 6800 you mention would do a fine job with SL? If so I will RMA the 7300 GS I bought.

Yup, it is A LOT better than a 7300, even better than a 6600GT in most tests. I believe this would be the best for your price range, let us know how it goes also.

Will do.