Welcome to the Second Life Forums Archive

These forums are CLOSED. Please visit the new forums HERE

Need help with choosing graphics card for SL!
Ramsus Wake
Registered User
Join date: 30 Jan 2006
Posts: 10
06-04-2007 09:40
Okay! I'm currently unable to decide between two graphics cards. I'm extremely uneducated with computers and need help in choosing which one will operate better in SL. The two cards are:

BFG GeForce 7800 GS OC 256MB GDDR3 AGP Graphics Card

ATI RADEON X800 PRO 256MB DDR AGP Graphics Card
Isablan Neva
Mystic
Join date: 27 Nov 2004
Posts: 2,907
06-04-2007 09:51
Always go with the NVIDIA product over an ATI product if you are buying for SL. It's not that ATI makes bad cards or that NVidia makes better cards, it is that SL just runs better on NVIDIA....
_____________________

http://slurl.com/secondlife/TheBotanicalGardens/207/30/420/
Meade Paravane
Hedgehog
Join date: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 4,845
06-04-2007 09:58
If you've not buying both cards now, be careful - SLI really wants to have identical hardware in all the slots. You couldn't, for example, mix a BFG 7800GT with a BFG 7800GS.

BFG, who I really like BTW, discontinued my card - 7800GT - by the time I decided to go SLI - now I have to buy two new cards or find a used 7800GT.. :(
_____________________
Tired of shouting clubs and lucky chairs? Vote for llParcelSay!!!
- Go here: http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-1224
- If you see "if you were logged in.." on the left, click it and log in
- Click the "Vote for it" link on the left
Brenda Connolly
Un United Avatar
Join date: 10 Jan 2007
Posts: 25,000
06-04-2007 10:04
From: Isablan Neva
Always go with the NVIDIA product over an ATI product if you are buying for SL. It's not that ATI makes bad cards or that NVidia makes better cards, it is that SL just runs better on NVIDIA....



Yeah, well I have an ATi card and mine works great All you NVidia need to stop acting like elitists and looking down on ATI users we aren't hurting anyone so why do you always pick on us all the time You people are all just stupid and arrogant NVidias who think the world revolves around them............ :p

*I figured we might as well fight about this ,too.
_____________________
Don't you ever try to look behind my eyes. You don't want to know what they have seen.

http://brenda-connolly.blogspot.com
Egon Rothschild
Never Enough Prims
Join date: 22 Apr 2006
Posts: 556
06-04-2007 10:09
i agree with brenda.

i have had an ati x1300 256mb for over a year. sl runs just fine. i'm thinking of upgrading to the x1650 512mb tho (which from a friend i know runs sl)

in fact i just had a friend who had to return his nvidia for an ati coz sl crashed every 5 minutes with the nvidia.

so .. whatever you get ramsus .. just make sure it's RETURNABLE for an exchange at least.
Calveen Kline
In pursuit of Happiness
Join date: 5 Jan 2007
Posts: 682
06-04-2007 10:12
Ok, ok, let's cool down a bit. Rams... get the ATI only if you're on Windows XP and not planning to upgrade to Vista. NVidia will give you no problems if you have Vista. ATI hasn't yet released the appropriate drivers to address Vista compatibility with SL.
Lostmedia Ares
Drinking tea
Join date: 6 Sep 2006
Posts: 290
06-04-2007 10:15
I have 2 x BFG 7800 GT OC 's running in SLi ( both together ) , I never had any problems running SL ...or any other game for that matter , Frame rate's are rock sollid allthogh temps in my box got pretty high befor i went water cooled .. so be warned .. they get warm.

Other than that.... i would recomend go with the "cash" flow , Remember .. expencive don't allways mean better ;)

And btw .. imho .... NVidia RAWWWWK'S ATI :D
_____________________
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Meade Paravane
Hedgehog
Join date: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 4,845
06-04-2007 10:17
Can I have one?
_____________________
Tired of shouting clubs and lucky chairs? Vote for llParcelSay!!!
- Go here: http://jira.secondlife.com/browse/SVC-1224
- If you see "if you were logged in.." on the left, click it and log in
- Click the "Vote for it" link on the left
Ann Launay
Neko-licious™
Join date: 8 Aug 2006
Posts: 7,893
06-04-2007 10:21
I've never had an NVidia, so I can't make a valid comparison, but my ATI card works perfectly well.
_____________________
~Now Trout Re-Re-Re-Certified!~
From: someone
I am bumping you to an 8.5 on the Official Trout Measuring Instrument of Sluttiness. You are an enigma - on the one hand a sweet, gentle, intelligent woman who we would like to wrap up in our arms and protect, and on the other, a temptress to whom we would like to do all sorts of unmentionable things.

Congratulations and shame on you! You are a bit of a slut.
Lostmedia Ares
Drinking tea
Join date: 6 Sep 2006
Posts: 290
06-04-2007 10:22
From: Meade Paravane
Can I have one?


*Strokes chin..and ponders for a moment ... *

LOL you kiddin ? .. HA !:D
_____________________
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Brenda Connolly
Un United Avatar
Join date: 10 Jan 2007
Posts: 25,000
06-04-2007 10:26
From: Egon Rothschild
i agree with brenda.

i have had an ati x1300 256mb for over a year. sl runs just fine. i'm thinking of upgrading to the x1650 512mb tho (which from a friend i know runs sl)

in fact i just had a friend who had to return his nvidia for an ati coz sl crashed every 5 minutes with the nvidia.

so .. whatever you get ramsus .. just make sure it's RETURNABLE for an exchange at least.



:eek: Whoa!
_____________________
Don't you ever try to look behind my eyes. You don't want to know what they have seen.

http://brenda-connolly.blogspot.com
Lee Ponzu
What Would Steve Do?
Join date: 28 Jun 2006
Posts: 1,770
06-04-2007 10:52
Make sure you have an AGP slot to put it in. If you have a PCI-E slot, use that instead (and get a PCI-E version of the card).

The 7800 series will work great. Is the ATI 800 a recent card, or an old one. Usually an ATI 1600 is needed.
Shirley Marquez
Ethical SLut
Join date: 28 Oct 2005
Posts: 788
06-04-2007 13:57
The NVidia card is one generation newer; the comparable generation of ATI would be the Radeon X1000 series. The generation difference doesn't matter a whole lot now, but it might for future versions of Second Life; the newer card supports additional features that might get used. ATI, so far as I know, has never made an AGP version of the X1800 or X1900, only the X1600, which is a lower-performance card than the NVidia 7800.

Personally, I wouldn't invest the $200+ to upgrade an older AGP-based system; I'd go with something less costly like an NVidia 7600 or ATI X1600, or I'd look at a more thorough system upgrade. But if the price is OK for you, the NVidia card you're looking at is about as good as it gets.