What's Your Video Card?

[kenji_1989]

Mga pre, eto yung specs ng PC ko

 

Intel P4 2.66 Ghz FSB 533Mhz

ASUS P5P800S

768Mb DDR333 RAM

40 GB HDD

 

Gamit kong video card ngayon is yung dying Inno3d FX5200 128Mb. D me mahilig sa gfx intensive na laro gaya ng HL2 Doom3 etc. Favorite kong game pala is Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004. Gusto ko xia malaro sa max settings without choppy figures. Any recommended AGP 8X na card? Mas gaganda kaya kung magshift ako sa AMD narin or stick na ko sa config ko and video card upgrade nalang?

 

State narin po kung magkano yung ganun and kung san may mabblhan. Kung may nagbebenta man dyan, inform me naman please thanks.

[azrach187]

Well, here my opinion re: this issue...

My OCZ 520W Powerstream couldn't handle the load of 5 (3x200 and 2x250) hdds, that comes with an SLI'd 7900GT, an Opteron 170, 2 Optical Drives, an MSI Diamond Plus, 5 120mm fans, couple of 92mm fans, a floppy and a mmc reader.  I was forced to sell most of my hdds and sticked w/ 1x250 and 1x200, then sold one DVDRW, and removed some of my 120mm fans.  The reason Im shifting to the 700W division now

 

PS. Buy a decent monitor too, as a gamer, Im sure you want to play at the best resolution you can play with.  If you don't have the money, stick to the 17"-21" Flat CRT Monitors.  If you have the dough, buy a 20" above LCD Widescreen.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

HOLY Sh!t! 5 120mm fans? A total of 7 fans? Do your system hover as you play it?

 

Power fluctuations could be fixed by investing on a UPS. Trust me, I fried an overclocked processor during a power spike. My current build cost around $2K, so you think a $20 UPS is not worth investing that could prevent it from going tits up?

 

I don't understand why you need 700w power. Even SLI approved power supply, most are rated between 400w to 500w. If you are streamlining, then you should be lowering power consumption. I have three 160GB to 250GB hdds from my old builds, but I don't see any reason to add them in my PC, just because, knowing the power consumption and temperature contribution isn't worth it.

 

I have a 500GB internal but doubt I will ever see that sucker filled near 400GB in its lifetime. I mean, I edit movies but I don't recall reaching 220GB on any of my hdisc. Yes, I know, I have two 500Gb, but the other one is an external one (I built it, too!) that I need to move movies from my PC to the school's computer.

 

Can you show us the picture of the your rig (interior) so I can see how you got all these hdd and fan configured. I'm just really curious.

 

I ronically, since combo drives (DVD/CD/Burner), the USB devices, and huge storage hdd, are now cheaper than ever, people, expecially lan gamers, such as myself, are building "streamlined" machines geared more for ventilation and cooling, lightness (weight) and low power consumption. These are the trends I see my gaming friends are adopting.

 

Boasting only a singular 500GB HDD, 1 optical (DVD/CD/Burner/Lightscribe) 5.25," 2 vid cards, 1 X 120mm fan, 1 X 80mm fan, 1 liquid CPU cooler, the mobo and everything else, this is my rig, which doubtfully needs the ATX's 450watt power supply. Sure, I have a lot of add ons, but most are self-powered add ons, such as my 500GB ext. thanks to USB 2.0 x 6, they aren't too far or too hard to be connected to my PC.

 

Watch-out for LCD screens. Some are infamous for "ghosting" while playing. Ghosting is when the image blurrs and and leaves a shadow even after the object is gone. CRT is still the preferred way for gaming. Unless you get lucky like me and finds a rare "No-ghosting" monitor. It still have but very minimal and not noticeable at all unless you turn the brightness all the way up.

Edited May 19, 2006 by azrach187

[azrach187]

Mga pre, eto yung specs ng PC ko

 

Intel P4 2.66 Ghz FSB 533Mhz

ASUS P5P800S

768Mb DDR333 RAM

40 GB HDD

 

Gamit kong video card ngayon is yung dying Inno3d FX5200 128Mb. D me mahilig sa gfx intensive na laro gaya ng HL2 Doom3 etc. Favorite kong game pala is Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004. Gusto ko xia malaro sa max settings without choppy figures. Any recommended AGP 8X na card? Mas gaganda kaya kung magshift ako sa AMD narin or stick na ko sa config ko and video card upgrade nalang?

 

State narin po kung magkano yung ganun and kung san may mabblhan. Kung may nagbebenta man dyan, inform me naman please thanks.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pag yung Flight Sim lang ang nilalaro mo, suggest ko na vid card lang ang palitan mo.

 

Your P4 2.66 is still decent and seems like you have enough memory to run simulator games. I suggest upgrade your card to a 6600LE 256mb AGP 8x which would run you less a little over $100.

 

Going to a new card (AMD) might require you to change motherboard, which may call for a change of ATX case.

[Dredd2099]

no more radeon for u eh? mr azrach187

never had a problem w/ them

actually am a ati fanboy

currently got an all in wonder X800XT

mainly usin it for watching tvs and/or makin dvds, etc

gonna be moving it to a dedicated media center soon

 

as for games, it can still hold its own (yup, and FEAR as well)

dont have that much time in my hands anymore tho

sigh

[azrach187]

no more radeon for u eh? mr azrach187

never had a problem w/ them

actually am a ati fanboy

currently got an all in wonder X800XT

mainly usin it for watching tvs and/or makin dvds, etc

gonna be moving it to a dedicated media center soon

 

as for games, it can still hold its own (yup, and FEAR as well)

dont have that much time in my hands anymore tho

sigh

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I really don't have anything against ATI, since a 9800XT was an old video card of mine, which did me justice, serving me damn near a year and a half! But I replaced the fan three times, first because it was noisy, then the second one burned, and so did the third one. The video card GPU runs really hot and the desktop manager warns me after five hours of gaming that I am at my heat threshold. So I have to quit and wait fifteen minutes to play again.

 

The worse event though, was when it finally decided to fry, I was in the middle of editing a video due the next day. You can imagine my frustration! I think from that day on, I swore I will never own another ATI product again. Unless the benchmark rolls on their favor again.

 

No time in your hands? It's s'ok. Once a gamer, always a gamer.

[johnlove]

Hi Azrach,

 

Re: dual 7600gt in sli

Is that the minimum requirements for "strutter-free" gaming?

 

Hi Cheesekeso

 

Re; 7600 6600

Does the number 6 in 7600 and 6600 means that the card is designed to run cooler?

 

Thanks you, I'm learning a lot from your replies.

[azrach187]

Hi Azrach,

 

Re:  dual 7600gt in sli

Is that the minimum requirements for "strutter-free" gaming?

 

Hi Cheesekeso

 

Re;  7600 6600

Does the number 6 in 7600 and 6600 means that the card is designed to run cooler?

 

Thanks you,  I'm learning a lot from your replies.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

For now, I would say Dual 6600GT minimum, is a good bet for a life of a year to a year and a half, watching the PC gaming trend. For a single vid card, 7800GT or GTX or 7900GT or GTX would be a safe bet to keep you up for maybe six months to a year down the line.

 

I don't think the "6" in 7600 or 6600 is a designation for a product feature other than a numerical release number nVidia goes by. In that same topic, we spoke less of the less popular 7300LE or 7300GS.

 

The reason for some cards being less popular is that people tend to wait, and hold out for a newer video card. This happened when they released the 6200, and announced at the same time that 6600 is being developed. A little delay in the release of 6600 prompted nVidia to relase 6500, to match ATI's X300SE. But when 6600 finally was released, it appeased the gamers and game developers alike, that all is well. 6600 became one of the most successful cards in memory, with 6800 in tow, to those wishing to outperform the 6600 is a bit, without going into tech. detail.

 

The release of 7300 put nVidia on the 7 series, BUT a lot of gamers who upgraded from 6600s and 6800s claimed that theres little difference from the 6600 and 6800 to 7300. The 7600 set a lot of things straight and nVidia became the sweetheart of the gaming community.

 

7800s came out as SLI technology is being developed, where, 7900s is the newest issue card as they unveiled the SLI. Gamers drooled at the posibilities two cards afforded. Now they don't have to wait for new cards and basically "upgrade" on their own accord.

 

This signals game developers to push the technology farther, as you may see more graphic intensive games in the near future.

Edited May 20, 2006 by azrach187

[johnlove]

Thanks Sir Azrach,

 

I guess I'll settle for a 7600gt for now, and add another in sli in case my kids wants to play f.e.a.r. (I hope they don't). Otherwise, I might have to wait forever.

[johnlove]

Using 2 6600gt in sli sounds tempting it could handle all current games at lower cost. However, since my objective is see to it that my gaming rig would be at par with the PS3, my best bet would be 2 7600gt in sli.

Thanks a lot guys.

[azrach187]

Using 2 6600gt in sli sounds tempting it could handle all current games at lower cost.  However, since my objective is see to it that my gaming rig would be at par with the PS3, my best bet would be 2 7600gt in sli.

Thanks a lot guys.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good choice.

 

Rest easy now that your PC is guaranteed that it won't be absolete for another 3 to 4 years, maybe more.

 

[cheesekeso2004]

  HOLY Sh!t! 5 120mm fans? A total of 7 fans? Do your system hover as you play it? 

 

Power fluctuations could be fixed by investing on a UPS. Trust me, I fried an overclocked processor during a power spike. My current build cost around $2K, so you think a $20 UPS is not worth investing that could prevent it from going tits up?

 

I don't understand why you need 700w power. Even SLI approved power supply, most are rated between 400w to 500w. If you are streamlining, then you should be lowering power consumption. I have three 160GB to 250GB hdds from my old builds, but I don't see any reason to add them in my PC, just because, knowing the power consumption and temperature contribution isn't worth it.

 

I have a 500GB internal but doubt I will ever see that sucker filled near 400GB in its lifetime. I mean, I edit movies but I don't recall reaching 220GB on any of my hdisc. Yes, I know, I have two 500Gb, but the other one is an external one (I built it, too!) that I need to move movies from my PC to the school's computer.

 

Can you show us the picture of the your rig (interior) so I can see how you got all these hdd and fan configured. I'm just really curious.

 

I ronically, since combo drives (DVD/CD/Burner), the USB devices, and huge storage hdd, are now cheaper than ever, people, expecially lan gamers, such as myself, are building "streamlined" machines geared more for ventilation and cooling, lightness (weight) and low power consumption. These are the trends I see my gaming friends are adopting.

 

Boasting only a singular 500GB HDD, 1 optical (DVD/CD/Burner/Lightscribe) 5.25," 2 vid cards, 1 X 120mm fan, 1 X 80mm fan, 1 liquid CPU cooler, the mobo and everything else, this is my rig, which doubtfully needs the ATX's 450watt power supply. Sure, I have a lot of add ons, but most are self-powered add ons, such as my 500GB ext. thanks to USB 2.0 x 6, they aren't too far or too hard to be connected to my PC.

 

Watch-out for LCD screens. Some are infamous for "ghosting" while playing. Ghosting is when the image blurrs and and leaves a shadow even after the object is gone. CRT is still the preferred way for gaming. Unless you get lucky like me and finds a rare "No-ghosting" monitor. It still have but very minimal and not noticeable at all unless you turn the brightness all the way up.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

LOL Bad timing, just shifted to a CoolerMaster Stacker LOL I have an only pick here or maybe at the other sites, I'll try to look for it I hated the Thermaltake Kandalf, so hard to hide the wires, and very poor airflow, I did some few mods for my casing, 1 x 120mm blowhole at the bottom (To cool my SLI Setup/Chipset) 1 x 120mm Blowhole on my side panel ( On top of my XP-120) 1 x 120mm fan exhaust, 2 x 120mm fan front intake (using the drivebay), then 2 x 92mm for another exhaust. Almost all of the 120mm are Delta/Nidec fans, around 40+dba, LOL Good thing Im using a Logitech Z5500

 

I get random reboots when running with my usual number of hdds (5), so I quickly removed one hdd at a time till I got a stable system. So I didn't buy a 500gb (Yet) since 7200.10 is already in development, and will wait for the reviews on how the 7900.10 fares against 7200.9, since the first batches of SATA II can't fully utilize it's potential.

 

I'll be building my new rig shortly, around the same number of 120mm fans though LOL But better airflow But stupid vendor got me the wrong model, got me the CM Stacker 810 instead of the CM Stacker ATX/BTX.

 

Here's a pic of my Rig (Partially, not internal cum, este, camshots ) Not updated since it still doesn't have the other 2 x 200gb, the 2 x 7900gt, and the OCZ 4000EB Platinum I also reverted back to my old XP-120 instead of the Scythe Ninja to cool my whole mobo (Which I'll revert back to the Scythe because of the crossflow fan available for the CM Stacker )

http://manilatonight.com/index.php?showtopic=9250&st=360

 

To avoid "Ghosting", check the response time of the LCD, usually, 16-2ms has no Ghosting, except for generic branded LCDs. My Dell 2405 doesn't have any ghosting, although I remember back then when Nvidia still didn't support these kinds of monitors, tearing galore! LOL

[cheesekeso2004]

The release of 7300 put nVidia on the 7 series, BUT a lot of gamers who upgraded from 6600s and 6800s claimed that theres little difference from the 6600 and 6800 to 7300. The 7600 set a lot of things straight and nVidia became the sweetheart of the gaming community.

 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

7300 is an upgraded onboard video that uses system memory (just like onboard video!!!!) to boost it up. Pretty useless imo, you can only play Ragnarok with this vc LOL Its practically the same as ATI's X1300-X1400 series So, to sum it up, when you own a 6600gt-6800 then buy the 7300, its like downgrading yourself to onboard graphics Literally! (Although its quite better than the 6100/6150 )

[azrach187]

LOL Bad timing, just shifted to a CoolerMaster Stacker LOL I have an only pick here or maybe at the other sites, I'll try to look for it I hated the Thermaltake Kandalf, so hard to hide the wires, and very poor airflow, I did some few mods for my casing, 1 x 120mm blowhole at the bottom (To cool my SLI Setup/Chipset) 1 x 120mm Blowhole on my side panel ( On top of my XP-120) 1 x 120mm fan exhaust, 2 x 120mm fan front intake (using the drivebay), then 2 x 92mm for another exhaust.  Almost all of the 120mm are Delta/Nidec fans, around 40+dba, LOL Good thing Im using a Logitech Z5500

 

I get random reboots when running with my usual number of hdds (5), so I quickly removed one hdd at a time till I got a stable system. So I didn't buy a 500gb (Yet) since 7200.10 is already in development, and will wait for the reviews on how the 7900.10 fares against 7200.9, since the first batches of SATA II can't fully utilize it's potential.

 

I'll be building my new rig shortly, around the same number of 120mm fans though LOL But better airflow But stupid vendor got me the wrong model, got me the CM Stacker 810 instead of the CM Stacker ATX/BTX.

 

Here's a pic of my Rig (Partially, not internal cum, este, camshots ) Not updated since it still doesn't have the other 2 x 200gb, the 2 x 7900gt, and the OCZ 4000EB Platinum I also reverted back to my old XP-120 instead of the Scythe Ninja to cool my whole mobo (Which I'll revert back to the Scythe because of the crossflow fan available for the CM Stacker )

http://manilatonight.com/index.php?showtopic=9250&st=360

 

To avoid "Ghosting", check the response time of the LCD, usually, 16-2ms has no Ghosting, except for generic branded LCDs. My Dell 2405 doesn't have any ghosting, although I remember back then when Nvidia still didn't support these kinds of monitors, tearing galore! LOL

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Uhm, nice set up... I was hoping you'd give us a pic of what matters the most... the inner workings!

 

Maybe once you're done upgrading/streamlining you'd give us a glimpse of your beast!

[johnlove]

Hi, can anyone tell me which processor & graphics card is at par with the processor and graphics capability of the xbox 360? Thanks

[azrach187]

Don't be fooled. Most sites out there either glorifies or butcher the true power of 360. But lo and behold. I've had the 360 system for three months now and I'll tell you, it's crap. Most sites you'll see about the processor of 360 is made with three cores operating at 3.2Ghz (Intel benchmark) that is only made for graphics is a big lie. Although there are three cores, they are only limited to 3.2Ghz, total. Although they claim to only run graphics, well guess what, if a PC runs a game, the PC processor's power is now aimed at one thing, the game.

 

I recall past asumption that Xbox 360 card was made nVidia. I learned that nVidia and Microsoft had a falling out when it came to making the motherboard (which was supposed to be nForce 4 chipset) and ATI picked it up. ATI made a gameface trying to make it sound that they created the best they have to offer on console only for people to compare the Xbox graphics card to their X850 card, which makes sense, since that was the card they issued almost at the same time 360 entered the market.

 

Why would a company not sell a technology they held for PC what they did to console? Well, they wont. They will push the technology as far as they can, then sell it to consumers. It just makes sense. Knowing that ATI is lagging behind nVidia (who have the benchmark, as we speak), it would be a bad move on Microsoft since Xbox 360's graphic prowess is nowhere near an nVidia's 7600, much less an SLI card.

 

To make it less confusing, Xbox 360's graphics could easily be compared to an ATI X850s (architecture) or could be compared (nearly) to nVidia's 6800 (non-GS or non-XT). The CPU is rated at (Intel's) 3.2Ghz, or (nearly) Pent. 4 640 or (nearly) Pent. D 820 (although it is clocked at 2.8, it can't really be compared, since the architecture is much different; an 820 could handle more programs at one time than the 360 CPU).

 

Another thing to remember. Although Xbox claims to have 3 CPUs running the graphics and the game, some PCs would then have four, two CPUs (dual cores) and two GPUs (SLIs). But that's overkill. Lets just say my Xbox 360 runs like a PC I built three years ago.