Good Vid Card?

[EasyDelta]

ATI RADEON® Xpress1150 256MB HyperMemory™

It's what come packaged with my new Dell PC, so I'm not asking advice on which is the best, and i'm not gonna spend money on another if this one is decent enough.

Any comments on the vid card would be helpful thnx. :salute:

[Corkum]

Re: Good Vid Card?

Anything with "Xpress" in the name probably wasn't meant for hardcore gaming. Props to you if you can get BF2 to run on your system with that card.

[megawhompertoo]

Re: Good Vid Card?

not a gaming video card.

need AT LEAST a x1600 for DECENT fps at 12x10 with MINIMAL eyecandy.

if you're open to suggestions, post back and ask for some.

[EasyDelta]

Re: Good Vid Card?

Sure I'm open for antyhing jsut ot thousand dolalr vid card you know...

[AllFoamNoBeer]

Re: Good Vid Card?

I'd say a 7500+ series from Nvidia, or 1600+ series from ATi like megawhompertoo said.

If you really gonna get into gaming, and want Dx10 stuff, your options are limited to 8600, 8800 (and a few other variations)

[K8T]

Re: Good Vid Card?

8600GT is a nice card, or a 8800GTS 320, pretty cheap too so nothing to worry about there.

[megawhompertoo]

Re: Good Vid Card?

8600GT is a nice card, or a 8800GTS 320, pretty cheap too so nothing to worry about there.

sure. 8600gt is a good card. much worse than 1950pro, but can play dx10-only game(s) (HALO 2). not that you'd want to dial up dx10 effects on a low-end card...but, just to know you could....

meh. my money would still be on the cheap but wicked fast x1950pro over the dx10 8600.

[[Expletive Deleted]]

Re: Good Vid Card?

not a gaming video card.

need AT LEAST a x1600 for DECENT fps at 12x10 with MINIMAL eyecandy.

if you're open to suggestions, post back and ask for some.

Actually, my wife has an x1300pro that runs BF2 just fine at 1280x1024 with:

geometry: med
textures: med
effects: high
dynamic lighting: low
shadows: low
view distance: max
AA: off

The only time she gets FPS hits is big fights or arty strikes. If she drops the effects, she doesn't even get it then. The effects help in tracking jets, though, and she likes trying to shoot aircraft.

[megawhompertoo]

Re: Good Vid Card?

Actually, my wife has an x1300pro that runs BF2 just fine at 1280x1024 with:

geometry: med
textures: med
effects: high
dynamic lighting: low
shadows: low
view distance: max
AA: off

The only time she gets FPS hits is big fights or arty strikes. If she drops the effects, she doesn't even get it then. The effects help in tracking jets, though, and she likes trying to shoot aircraft.

meh, not to nitpick, but "running just fine" is highly subjective. the card the OP is asking about has a discrete core but borrows from system memory afaik. in other words, it would run excel and dvd's just fine but would choke on even the settings you described above.

choosing to buy an x1300pro (cheapest in-stock one at the egg was $126, out of stocks were $66 and $104) would be a waste of money when another $35 or $50 would get fetch him a great card. if OP can find an x1300 or x1600 (or x1650, which is comparable to a 7600gt) dirt cheap on ebay (or heck, even a used x800/850 or 6800gt--something with at least 12 pipes, preferably 16), then it might be worth it if he doesn't mind mostly low settings w/no AA (x1300) or a mix of medium/high w 2xaa (x1600/1650, 7600gt).

[opc_tim]

Re: Good Vid Card?

meh, not to nitpick, but "running just fine" is highly subjective. the card the OP is asking about has a discrete core but borrows from system memory afaik. in other words, it would run excel and dvd's just fine but would choke on even the settings you described above.

choosing to buy an x1300pro (cheapest in-stock one at the egg was $126, out of stocks were $66 and $104) would be a waste of money when another $35 or $50 would get fetch him a great card. if OP can find an x1300 or x1600 (or x1650, which is comparable to a 7600gt) dirt cheap on ebay (or heck, even a used x800/850 or 6800gt--something with at least 12 pipes, preferably 16), then it might be worth it if he doesn't mind mostly low settings w/no AA (x1300) or a mix of medium/high w 2xaa (x1600/1650, 7600gt).

What about PCI-Express, is it better card than AGP?

if it runs the game good why change it? i mean if ur not getting low FPS & the game dont lagg , looks good, runs good, why change it?

[megawhompertoo]

Re: Good Vid Card?

1) What about PCI-Express, is it better card than AGP?

2) if it runs the game good why change it? i mean if ur not getting low FPS & the game dont lagg , looks good, runs good, why change it?

1) pci-e is completely different, not necessarily better, although the best cards will be pci-e only (although there were rumors about the 2600 coming out in agp flavor...)

2) as with any product, if you're happy with what you've got, don't buy something else.

[[Expletive Deleted]]

Re: Good Vid Card?

meh, not to nitpick, but "running just fine" is highly subjective. the card the OP is asking about has a discrete core but borrows from system memory afaik. in other words, it would run excel and dvd's just fine but would choke on even the settings you described above.

choosing to buy an x1300pro (cheapest in-stock one at the egg was $126, out of stocks were $66 and $104) would be a waste of money when another $35 or $50 would get fetch him a great card. if OP can find an x1300 or x1600 (or x1650, which is comparable to a 7600gt) dirt cheap on ebay (or heck, even a used x800/850 or 6800gt--something with at least 12 pipes, preferably 16), then it might be worth it if he doesn't mind mostly low settings w/no AA (x1300) or a mix of medium/high w 2xaa (x1600/1650, 7600gt).

To me, running just fine is ~ 60 FPS. My wife defines it as 40+ FPS. So, she doesn't see any slowdown except for the situations I described. She got the x1300 because it was the cheapest card she could find. Yeah, we spent $100 on her card, ~ $400 for mine. For her, it was a pretty big step up from our old Radeon 9550. On that, we ran @ 800x600 with everything on low, max view distance. It's shocking to see how good BF2 can look after you've seen how BAD it can look.

I'm pretty sure the OP could play BF2 on low, low settings with that lame GPU. It's just not going to look very pretty. But, like I said, even a 9550 can run BF2, if you're willing to drop to the bare minimum.

[lonegunm4n]

Re: Good Vid Card?

I played it on a 5200 Ultra for a fairly long time.