Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: an0n on April 07, 2004, 03:54:54 pm

Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 07, 2004, 03:54:54 pm
Firstly, don't ask why I'm buying a top of the range gfx card to go with a crappy processor and 64mb ram.

Secondly, this is to go with my future subscription to EVE.

Thirdly: I'd prefer a Radeon.

Suggestions, comments, advice and donations to the Church of Death are all welcome.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Ghostavo on April 07, 2004, 04:00:53 pm
Why the hell are you buying a top of the range gfx card to go with a crappy processor and 64mb ram?!?!? :wtf: :D

Radeon 9000 was ok for a good price... of course I don't know much about computer tech so my advice is not to be taken heavily... :nervous:
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Odyssey on April 07, 2004, 04:03:36 pm
[color=cc9900]Radeon 9600. You could almost get a 9600XT for that money.[/color]
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 07, 2004, 04:04:18 pm
Anyone care to explain why an XT costs more than a Pro?
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Odyssey on April 07, 2004, 04:08:11 pm
[color=cc9900]Because it's newer and theoretically better. There are some chip arrangement changes, and some clock modifications.[/color]
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Fractux on April 07, 2004, 04:18:59 pm
OK, well, look here for a spec comparison of 9600 cards:

http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9600/radeon9600pro/compare.html

The only difference between an r9600 XT and Pro, is that the XT's core clock is 100MHz faster.

IMO, go with the pro with 128MB of RAM, and see how much you can overclock it, cause you never know.

If you're going for the PRO with 258MB of Ram, you may as well just buy an XT, as it's only ~20-25$ more in general.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: ChronoReverse on April 07, 2004, 04:23:09 pm
Quote
Thirdly: I'd prefer a Radeon.


The why are you even bothering to ask?  Buy the Radeon that you can afford and BAM, you have it.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Kazan on April 07, 2004, 04:24:32 pm
you can get a R9600XT 256MB for that kind of money
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Darkage on April 07, 2004, 04:36:48 pm
I got my R9600XT 256MB for 199 Euro's.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Odyssey on April 07, 2004, 04:42:15 pm
[color=cc9900]I got my 9600XT 256mb for £120 (well, I didn't, but if you payed VAT it would've been £120), and that was a while back. On www.komplett.co.uk they're now £115, where the 9600XT 128mb is £105.

Somehow I think £10 for another 128mb of video memory is worth it.[/color]
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 07, 2004, 04:47:26 pm
Pricewatch says: $172  -  RADEON 9600 XT 256MB (http://www.pricewatch.com/1/37/5862-1.htm)

Now all I need is a UK site with those kinda prices.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 07, 2004, 04:50:06 pm
Whee: http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=121421&cks=SER

Nice one, Od.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Odyssey on April 07, 2004, 04:56:00 pm
[color=cc9900]If you don't mind "who-the-fuck-are-they?" branded, then you can knock a tenner or so off that:

http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/components/graphicscards/productView.htm?quicklinx=30RR

I can only recommend t'other one though, since it's what I have. I don't know if this one will perform very well.[/color]
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 07, 2004, 05:00:36 pm
Now all I need is some free net-auction software.

Apparently if I install it on some domains (like 321bid.com) my pops will sell the sites+domain on eBay and split the cash 50/50.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Odyssey on April 07, 2004, 05:11:31 pm
[color=cc9900]Any of these take your fancy? Some are free, some are dead cheap:

http://php.softwarefolder.com/cat.php/3/

This one looks pretty darned good for $20:

http://www.phpauction.org/gpl.php[/color]
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 07, 2004, 05:14:06 pm
Really I needa  free one.

And the only decent free one I've found is Web Auction and it's all in German.

*continues searching*
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Odyssey on April 07, 2004, 05:23:24 pm
[color=cc9900]Here you go then, SourceForge have picked up on the GPL aspect of phpauction and modified it. Free:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/phpnggpl/[/color]
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 07, 2004, 05:26:53 pm
Does that card come with HL2?

*clicks the link*

No homepage.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Odyssey on April 07, 2004, 05:31:05 pm
[color=cc9900]My card came with HL2, yes. I heard rumours of them discontinuing that due to some supply issue yadda yadda whatever. So, I don't know.

No homepage, I know. But all you want is the code, right? Can't hurt downloading the zip and trying it out. Seeing as the alternative speaks German and all that.[/color]
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Fractux on April 07, 2004, 05:35:38 pm
I just read recently that ATI is no longer putting HL2 coupons in their radeon boxes, other than the 9800XT, but I know they stopped a while ago.

Make sure there is a sticker on the box that says the coupon is inside, otherwise, it's most probably not.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Fineus on April 07, 2004, 05:39:21 pm
I don't think a packaged game should be the selling point of a card - the card is the important part. Worry about the game when it's actually out!
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Martinus on April 07, 2004, 06:11:30 pm
[color=66ff00]Yeah, I got tombraider 4 bundled with my card, £45 coaster. :blah:
[/color]
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 07, 2004, 06:45:13 pm
Odyssey, I love you: http://www.321bid.com

Should net me enough for a new mobo. Those morons on eBay will buy anything.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Taristin on April 07, 2004, 08:25:51 pm
I had a copy of the actual php coding used for eBay at one time... It was... interesting.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: redmenace on April 07, 2004, 09:14:34 pm
Quote
Originally posted by an0n
Odyssey, I love you: http://www.321bid.com

Should net me enough for a new mobo. Those morons on eBay will buy anything.

YUP, thats because anyone who first starts out using the net to purchase things is going to get ripped off. And then there are sellers that are just down right difficult.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Kosh on April 08, 2004, 02:02:13 am
How crappy is your processor? Pentium 2? Early P3?
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Tiara on April 08, 2004, 02:28:11 am
He probably still runs a DOS based 286 :p
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Odyssey on April 08, 2004, 02:43:38 am
Quote
Originally posted by an0n
Odyssey, I love you

[color=cc9900]Aww, shucks...[/color]
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Kazan on April 08, 2004, 09:21:48 am
an0n: if you rip someone off on ebay I will personally report you for fraud
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Fineus on April 08, 2004, 10:36:52 am
Shut up. I mean it.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: kasperl on April 08, 2004, 10:45:14 am
uhm, an0n,

if you don't  have a rather recent mobo, you can forget about getting anything past a Radeon 7000.

I went out to buy an R9600 once, but then it turned out my bus voltage was wrong. grabbed a 9200, wich was supposed to run on my mobo, and got the same ****, went to the local computer/antique store and got a Radeon 7000. ah well, it runs FSO well enough....
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Turambar on April 08, 2004, 10:57:24 am
Save your money, get some more money, then wait for the GeForce 6800 (NV40) whih is going to kick the ass off of any ATI card to date, then everybody will be jealous when you play Doom3 with good framerates
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 08, 2004, 11:07:16 am
Quote
Originally posted by Kazan
an0n: if you rip someone off on ebay I will personally report you for fraud
And how, pray tell, do you think I am intending to rip someone off?

And my desktop is running a P3-550Mhz. But as I've said, that doesn't matter. I am using money I currently have to get the GFX card, then I'm going to use the money from hocking cheapo auction sites on eBay to pay for a new mobo, processor and ram (and I'm gonna bulk-buy a ****load of 9.1Gb HD's and RAID them).
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: kasperl on April 08, 2004, 11:13:56 am
an0n, i strongly advice you to get the mobo first.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 08, 2004, 12:02:51 pm
.........Why?
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Fineus on April 08, 2004, 12:05:48 pm
PCI Express is on the way in... that could be a factor.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 08, 2004, 12:25:12 pm
Yes and when that comes out, there'll be another major advancement just around the corner if only I can wait another 3 months.

I refuse to be drawn into that mentality.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: ChronoReverse on April 08, 2004, 12:32:24 pm
Quote
Save your money, get some more money, then wait for the GeForce 6800 (NV40) whih is going to kick the ass off of any ATI card to date, then everybody will be jealous when you play Doom3 with good framerates



And then when the R420 comes out 13 days later, weep as you find out that happens to be faster.  Seriously, wait until May when BOTH cards are out so you can tell which one is faster.



Quote
PCI Express is on the way in... that could be a factor.


That could be a factor, but not in performance.  Even the R420 and the NV40 isn't going to benefit from the PCE-16X.

What you get is future-proofing.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Fineus on April 08, 2004, 12:33:01 pm
AGP has succeeded PCI for a lot longer than 3 months you know, as much as I agree with your mentality on this!
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: ChronoReverse on April 08, 2004, 12:38:25 pm
Quote
What you get is future-proofing.


That's what I said.

I don't understand your comment.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Admiral LSD on April 08, 2004, 01:07:37 pm
Quote
Originally posted by kasperl
uhm, an0n,

if you don't  have a rather recent mobo, you can forget about getting anything past a Radeon 7000.

I went out to buy an R9600 once, but then it turned out my bus voltage was wrong. grabbed a 9200, wich was supposed to run on my mobo, and got the same ****, went to the local computer/antique store and got a Radeon 7000. ah well, it runs FSO well enough....


You must have one hell of a crappy motherboard... My 9500 Pro worked perfectly fine in the 1X/2X AGP slot on my old 440BX Pentium II board (only time the AGP slot on it has ever been used).
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: kasperl on April 08, 2004, 01:09:24 pm
Quote
Originally posted by an0n
.........Why?


this is gonna cost me my NW account, but for god's sake, read my posts.

your mobo probably won't support any newer card then a AGP2x. I have a P3 800 bought with 64MB SDRAM in the banks, so i think our comps are of comparable age. ergo, I don't expect your mobo to support the newest bus voltage. therefor, a new card probably won't work, and you end up spending approx. 30 quid on an Radeon 7000 that can just keep up with FSO, and can barely run CS with a lot of smoke grenades going of.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: kasperl on April 08, 2004, 01:11:47 pm
Quote
Originally posted by Admiral LSD


You must have one hell of a crappy motherboard... My 9500 Pro worked perfectly fine in the 1X/2X AGP slot on my old 440BX Pentium II board (only time the AGP slot on it has ever been used).


yeah, the mobo is ****ed up. that system is Packard Bell, store bought, nothing configured. but, it wasn't all budget parts, and the thing runs, even if it hasn't got enough slots compared to a modern board. and yeah, the voltage thingy suprised me too, but all the guys at the store said something along the lines of "off course, i should have thought about it!"
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 08, 2004, 01:19:19 pm
Quote
Originally posted by kasperl
your mobo probably won't support any newer card then a AGP2x. I have a P3 800 bought with 64MB SDRAM in the banks, so i think our comps are of comparable age. ergo, I don't expect your mobo to support the newest bus voltage. therefor, a new card probably won't work, and you end up spending approx. 30 quid on an Radeon 7000 that can just keep up with FSO, and can barely run CS with a lot of smoke grenades going of.
Firstly, what you mean is: "Get a mobo that's compatible with the GFX card"

Secondly: I don't think it's possible to find a new motherboard that ISN'T compatible with pretty much any new graphics card.

Thirdly: I'm intending to get at least a 2.2Ghz processor, 1Gb or RAM and all kinda of other fancy **** that I'll never use.

Fourthly: If I'm planning on doing something as needlessly complicated as RAID'ing a million low-storage hard-drive together, do you really think I'd be so stupid as to not check all the **** I'm buying works together?
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: kasperl on April 08, 2004, 01:24:50 pm
uhm, you just said you were buying a GFX card BEFORE the mobo. ergo, i suggested to reverse that order.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 08, 2004, 01:27:50 pm
And I said why?

I only really want to upgrade so I can play EVE and HL2. So it's better to find a GFX card that can handle it first, because I know pretty much any mobo will have the capacity to handle it.

As long as they work together, it doesn't matter which I get first. And in this case my priority is the graphics, so I'll get the card first and find a mobo to fit it later.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: kasperl on April 08, 2004, 01:29:57 pm
so you are going to let your brand new vid card lie on the shelf?

ok.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 08, 2004, 01:31:49 pm
Okay, I'll buy the board first and let that sit on a shelf till I can get the card :rolleyes::doubt:.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: ChronoReverse on April 08, 2004, 01:36:28 pm
As long as he doesn't have an AGP 1x slot, there won't be any problems.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 08, 2004, 01:36:46 pm
:nervous:
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: ChronoReverse on April 08, 2004, 02:03:54 pm
IIRC

The problem with the AGP 1x slot is that it only allows 5V.  None of the modern cards support that voltage.

So you need at least a 2x slot if you want to have a 9700 or a 9500.

The newer 9800 and 9600 dropped support for 2x and can only take 4x and 8x slots.

ATi card and AGP (http://www.ati.com/support/agpchart/agp.html)

AGP imnformation (http://www.motherboards.org/articlesd/tech-planations/920_2.html)


AGP 3.0 is what the 9800 and 9600 supports.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 08, 2004, 05:14:56 pm
Mwuahaha.

I just installed a £100 piece of auction software: http://www.321bid.com

I'm quite pleased with myself.

And the fact that it's all legal is a refreshing change from my usual methods of getting cash.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: Odyssey on April 08, 2004, 05:31:34 pm
[color=cc9900]Does this mean you don't wuv me any more? :(

EDIT: I'm pretty sure that's not how you spell "Photography" :p[/color]
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: an0n on April 08, 2004, 05:46:16 pm
I didn't do that.

It's the default catergories.

And I still love you, but to a diminished extent. Like a child who sided with the mother during the divorce.
Title: Graphics Card on a Budget ($180/£100)
Post by: kasperl on April 09, 2004, 03:20:32 am
you might wanna change that. it looks rather, stupid.