Video card suggestions

mandm6 · Post by **mandm6** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 10:19 pm

I need some help with getting a new graphics card. Here is the system i have.

HP m1180n,Pentium 4 550 (P) HT 3.4 GHz,800 MHz FSB,250 GB SATA Hdd. 3GB RAM,ATI Radeon X300SE Graphics, 128MB DDR Memory, 8x DVD(+/-)R/RW DL drive, Altec Lansing ,7.1 surround sound support with Dolby Pro Logic IIx.

I want to replace the ATI Radeon X300SE with a better card for gaming.I also have a Hauppauge Tv tuner card. I record some movies from the tv with this system. Can i just replace the video card and not the tv card? If so,Can someone recommend a card that will work ok without spending a 1000 bucks? Thanks,Kevin

David · Post by **David** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 10:38 pm

Monitor resolution?
Budget?
Are you a serious 3D game player?

At the present the 8800GTS is a great card for the money (nvidia), so are the ATI X1950 series.

mandm6 · Post by **mandm6** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 11:07 pm

Hell_Yes wrote:Monitor resolution?
Budget?
Are you a serious 3D game player?

At the present the 8800GTS is a great card for the money (nvidia), so are the ATI X1950 series.

Not really a serious player. My wife has one game she plays with her daughter who lives 300 miles away. Its called WOW? I think

David · Post by **David** » Sat Jan 13, 2007 11:42 pm

The card you have would suffice for a non-player. If you have a medium to large monitor, you would probably be satisfied with a 8800GTS board (See Izzo's thread). It will work well with the latest Vista operating system (if an when you decide to use it), and give a strong performance for games. In addition, I do believe it works well in HDTV modes.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 1:09 am

well if you go with a 8800 series card be it the GTS or the GTX your going to be bottlenecked by the processor no matter which way you go. If I had to make a choice based on your system and from what it sounds like you watching cash flow I'd just stick with a 7900 series card as I don't think you will be upgrading to Vista any time soon so no need to worry about needing DX10. I'd get the 7900GTX card if I were you and keep it at that.. if you intend to play a DX10 game later on you will need to upgrade your whole system add vista and then get a 8800 series card or later to run it.

Unholy · Post by **Unholy** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 3:04 am

Wait for a 8600 Ultra?

KINGoFOOLS · Post by **KINGoFOOLS** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 4:28 am

Is that board even pci-e? If not ATI just came out with a new AGP card
X1950 pro $250-$300?

*EDIT I did my research it is indeed a pci-e http://www.shopping.hp.com/shopping/dat ... 467aa.html

I would recommend a 7950 series card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130074

David · Post by **David** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 9:49 am

Unholy wrote:Wait for a 8600 Ultra?

A fine choice as well. I would not suggest a seven thousand series. Vista is out and it prefers a DX10 card for running the near future generation games.

mandm6 · Post by **mandm6** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 2:02 pm

KINGoFOOLS wrote:Is that board even pci-e? If not ATI just came out with a new AGP card
X1950 pro $250-$300?

*EDIT I did my research it is indeed a pci-e http://www.shopping.hp.com/shopping/dat ... 467aa.html

I would recommend a 7950 series card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130074

Yes its a PCI-E board

mandm6 · Post by **mandm6** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 2:04 pm

Sava700 wrote:well if you go with a 8800 series card be it the GTS or the GTX your going to be bottlenecked by the processor no matter which way you go. If I had to make a choice based on your system and from what it sounds like you watching cash flow I'd just stick with a 7900 series card as I don't think you will be upgrading to Vista any time soon so no need to worry about needing DX10. I'd get the 7900GTX card if I were you and keep it at that.. if you intend to play a DX10 game later on you will need to upgrade your whole system add vista and then get a 8800 series card or later to run it.

I was looking at paying somewhere between 200 and 300 bucks if i could get a decent card for that.

mandm6 · Post by **mandm6** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 2:05 pm

Hell_Yes wrote:The card you have would suffice for a non-player. If you have a medium to large monitor, you would probably be satisfied with a 8800GTS board (See Izzo's thread). It will work well with the latest Vista operating system (if an when you decide to use it), and give a strong performance for games. In addition, I do believe it works well in HDTV modes.

I'm running a 17" LCD monitor which i would like to go bigger.
I also have another question, Would i need to change the power supply? This machine only has a 300W supply. Just thought of that.

Sava700 · Post by **Sava700** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 3:39 pm

I sent you a PM.. but most likely with any card higher than a 6800GT you will need a bigger power supply with high amped rails and 450watts total system power.

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 4:25 pm

The ati 1950PRO proves that a cpu like his ins't limited to a 6800GT

http://goodblimey.com/archives/2006/12/ ... -review/2/

mandm6 · Post by **mandm6** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 11:01 pm

YARDofSTUF wrote:The ati 1950PRO proves that a cpu like his ins't limited to a 6800GT

http://goodblimey.com/archives/2006/12/ ... -review/2/

Is that for a pci-e card. Looks like thats for an agp?

YARDofSTUF · Post by **YARDofSTUF** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 11:15 pm

Ya that card is an AGP one, had to go to AGP to get an accurate CPU to support my claim.

There are PCIe1950 cards, unless you get a GDDR4 one, the 7950GTs from nvidia would be faster I think.