New Graphics Card Recommendations

Hey. I can't run second life untill I get myself a new graphics card. Don't want the cheapest one available, but I certainly don't have unlimited income. Please recommend!

(I have no idea if or what information you need to make a reccomendation, so ask away!)

TIA!!!

My experience with nVidia has been great.

I currently run an nVidia GForce 7800 AGP card.

Runs SL at 20-60 FPS, depending on the clutter on the screen (this is at full graphics, 256 draw distance, 1280X1024).
For other games.. runs oblivion full graphics like butter.

This card cost me about 300 bucks.


You could also go for an nVidia GForce 7300 card for about 170 bucks, looks pretty good also.

I just got a eVga GeForce 7600 GS 256MB agp 8x for $140(after $30 mail-in-rebate) at circuit city, It does run better than my GeForce 4 Ti 4200 128MB but I don't know what my FPS was with either. When I get home I can tell you what my FPS is on the new 7600 GS. I originally bought it to play SL on my PC with Windows Vista installed, but when I am about to log onto SL it crashes(I don't believe it is video card related though) so i einstalled Windows XP and it works great. I chose to go with the agp 8x card rather than the PCI-e only becuase I didn't feel like buying a new motherboard that supports PCI-e!

Nvidia 7600/7800/7900 are good choices as is the 6800.
ATI - X850, X1800, X1900

I prefer ATI as I seem to have had no issues with SL and ATI whereas reports for problems with Nv are commonplace. Nv does give a better frame rate but ATI's IQ is better and the frame rate isn't that much of a difference that it causes problems.

How do I know whether I need an AGP or a PCI video card??

You can try to get the specifications for your system. If you know the manufacturer and model number, you can probably look it up on their web site. If you have a "white-box" system (one put together by a small system builder), you can find out what kind of motherboard it has (perhaps from the invoice) and look at that company's web site.

Another method is visual inspection. Yes, this will usually require that you open the box.

First, see where the monitor cable plugs into your system. If it goes to an expansion slot, the card in that slot is the one you'll want to have a look at. If it goes to some place OTHER than one of the expansion slots, you have a system iwth integrated video -- that is, a video interface that is part of the motherboard, rather than a separate card. You may, however, be able to upgrade such a system with a separate video card. When you go to the next step (open the box), look to see if there is one slot -- usually the one closest to the power supply -- that is different from the others; that will be the one that the video card goes into. If all the slots are the same, you'll only be able to upgrade with a PCI video card, if at all.

Next, open the box. Look at the card that the monitor cable is connected to, and the slot on the motherboard that it plugs into. If that slot is the SAME as the other slots on the motherboard (wide and relatively short), you have a PCI video card, and you probably have to upgrade your system with that type of card. (Every once in a blue moon, you'll run into a system that has an AGP slot, but has a PCI video card installed.) If your system has ONE slot that is longer than (but the same thickness as) the others, and it's the one the video card is plugged into, you most likely have an AGP video card. (There are some additional complications if you do have AGP -- not all AGP cards work on all AGP motherboards. This is mostly a problem if you have a system more than 5 years old, which won't be a good bet for upgrading anyway. A more modern AGP system will work with any AGP card you can currently buy.) Finally, if the slot with the video card is longer and THINNER than the others, you probably have a PCI Express video card. If there is a very SHORT, thin slot next to it, or if your system has TWO of the long slots, perhaps with a very short one between them, it is almost certainly a PCI Express system.

In general, you can only upgrade a system with the same type of video card that it already has. or that it has a socket for if there is no video card installed. If you have a PCI-based system, you want to think really hard about spending money on a new video card for it; your options are very limited and mostly slow. AGP systems have more choices, though they are shrinking now; the best stuff is mostly being made for PCI Express, which is what you will find in just about all new computers.

This picture



Shows from left to right :-

PCI, PCI-E and AGP ports. The AGP being the yellow one.

That's a very nice picture, Katier -- a great visual reference for the stuff that I tried to explain in text. I hadn't ever heard of a motherboard with both AGP and PCI-E slots.

For the benefit of the curious... the tiny slot between the two long PCI Express x16 slots (the ones that you can use for video cards) is a lower-bandwidth version of PCI-E... PCI-E x1 or x4. It is theoretically used for lower-speed expansion cards (sound cards, modems, whatever), though I haven't yet seen anything that goes into it; PCI-E x1 slots will be the replacement for PCI slots in future systems.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161017

A PCI x1 video card, I guess its good for people who don't have a X16

<drools> Now that is a sweet board. ^^

....out of all the products on newegg you pick one that was reviewd once and got a score of 3 out of 5.

Out of all of the products on newegg, thats the only PCI x1 card, if you read the quote that I put on my post you would of saw that it was simply answering Shirley's question of what goes in that slot to begin with. Please read what is posted instead of clicking on links.

what does that even have to do with the main topic anyhow?he dint say he had that type of card slot or anything like that. hes probably buying that graphics card right now. way to go.

Seeing as he hasn't even logged in since yesterday I doubt that, and if he knows how to read unlike you he can figure it all out, there was a pic posted earlier that clarifies it all. Oh and I apologize for answering someones question even though it may have slightly been off topic, sheesh you got a real attitude problem.

that wasnt even a question he was asking btw, and i was joking about him buying the graphics card, sarcasm.

Sarcasm isn't the topic of this thread lol, keep on task will ya?

That he wasn't actually a he, Shirley is a she btw.

Ahh, maybe I should of started an entirely new thread for it, instead of simply posting a response. Oh and since it wouldn't be a technical issue post ill go ahead and put it in a different forum too, my bad. Oh and then Ill tell Shirley to go to that post, so she can hunt for the response and everyone else can see it too!

Ahh, maybe I should of started an entirely new thread for it, instead of simply posting a response. Oh and since it wouldn't be a technical issue post ill go ahead and put it in a different forum too, my bad. Oh and then Ill tell Shirley to go to that post, so she can hunt for the response and everyone else can see it too!

sounds good. kthxbye!

there is a very nice ( providing you use the right drivers ) dual Terrestrial TV tuner card available on x1 - I have one