Recommend a good video card ?

[Chickness]

Hi, ok i've had lots of problems with BF2 in the past.....general gameplay is glitchy, sounds/video loop sometimes, it crashes to desktop more often than not....and sometimes just freezes and not even ctrl+alt+del will minimise it.

I've reformatted, i check virus/spyware regularly, close unnecessary programs and update punkbuster, and still get these problems. I did update my drivers yesterday then had a game.....a lot of it went away but its still glitchy every now and again. But I rarely have a game that runs smoothly. I know there are other things I could tweak but i'm not pro so i'd rather not mess anything up if I don't know what i'm doing :laugh:

Here are my specs:

Intel Pentium 4 CPU 3.20 GHz
1 GB of Ram
NVIDIA GeForce 6600

I run all the BF2 settings on low except......textures/ lighting is on medium, but I don't really wanna have to do that just so it wont crash on me

So i've read some people with this video card can run settings on medium and it should be ok.....but I was looking at getting a new video card and maybe some more ram. It would be nice to play properly and perhaps have some settings on high

Can anyone recommend a good video card for my comp ? I don't know much about this stuff so some explanations of various types would be good.

Thanks

[ConscriptVirus]

Re: Recommend a good video card ?

wats ur budget. and is ur video card pci-e or agp

[Chickness]

Re: Recommend a good video card ?

wats ur budget. and is ur video card pci-e or agp

Mine is 256mb pci-e .....and around AUS $300-400 maybe

[d0min8or]

Re: Recommend a good video card ?

add 1 gig of ram and get a GeForce 7600GT. I have a similar system (but i actually have 2.5 gigs of RAM) and i have zero issues running BF2 on all high settings with AA on. I think I got the video card for ~$150 (US) from Newegg. RAM is cheap so load it up!

[OminousLull]

Re: Recommend a good video card ?

To play on high you will need another gig of ram. For cards I think these are great for the price, I prefer EVGA or BFG for the warrantee.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+106791921+1067928567&name=GeForce+8600GTS

That is a nicer card than what I have, and mine plays everything high very smooth. It's really quite a treat if you love this game!
My specs:
Intel Duo 2 6400
2GB DDR2 800
BFG 7900GT

[Chickness]

Re: Recommend a good video card ?

add 1 gig of ram and get a GeForce 7600GT. I have a similar system (but i actually have 2.5 gigs of RAM) and i have zero issues running BF2 on all high settings with AA on. I think I got the video card for ~$150 (US) from Newegg. RAM is cheap so load it up!

yeah i'll definately get some more ram

To play on high you will need another gig of ram. For cards I think these are great for the price, I prefer EVGA or BFG for the warrantee.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010380048+106791921+1067928567&name=GeForce+8600GTS

That is a nicer card than what I have, and mine plays everything high very smooth. It's really quite a treat if you love this game!
My specs:
Intel Duo 2 6400
2GB DDR2 800
BFG 7900GT

Ok so what is the difference between a GT and a GTS ?......Just quickly searching I found a Gigabyte nVidia 8600GT (PCI-E VCG-NX86T512H) for AUS$225.....good or bad ?

[OminousLull]

Re: Recommend a good video card ?

I believe the GTS is faster. Here is 8600GTS performance:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/468/9/

Here's a comparison of the 8600GT and 8600GTS

http://www.hothardware.com/printarticle.aspx?articleid=1020

[maxxximilian]

Re: Recommend a good video card ?

Get new 512MB 8800GT, it is only 250 USD and better then 8800GTS:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3140

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/10/29/geforce_8800_gt/

[Scinto]

Re: Recommend a good video card ?

http://www.techbuy.com.au/search.asp?what=BeginSearch&page=1&fromSearch=1&srchCat=VIDEOCARDS_GEFORCE_PCI-EXPRESS_SERIES&srchManuf=ALL&srchSortBy=2&srchQuery=8800GT+-&min=%240.00&max=%240.00&srchNumRecs=100&rbSrchType=EXACT

^ there you go, hopefully you can order from there,

[Chickness]

Re: Recommend a good video card ?

Thanks a lot for your suggestions, i'll have a look around at them

[JustMe0171]

Re: Recommend a good video card ?

Add ram for sure, you'll be bottleneckig some with 1 gig, your pent 4 is nice you need atleast 1 gig but i'd go 2 more just my opinion, and i'd get a nVidia GeForce 7900 GS PCI-E

its a kickazz card

[ConscriptVirus]

Re: Recommend a good video card ?

wow 8800gt for $250...id get it if i had a pci-e slot.

[Section{8}]

8800 GTX

Mine has been good to me all I had to do is use riva tuner to bump up the fan speed,now it stays as cool as id like it to.

[Scinto]

8800 GTX

Mine has been good to me all I had to do is use riva tuner to bump up the fan speed,now it stays as cool as id like it to.

far to much they're like $700 AUD,

[JustMe0171]

8800 GTX

Mine has been good to me all I had to do is use riva tuner to bump up the fan speed,now it stays as cool as id like it to.

why's it runnin hot? overclocked? seems odd, pay that much for a card & have to zap the fan up.

ConscriptVirus wow 8800gt for $250...id get it if i had a pci-e slot.

If i'd had the dough i'd bought one, i updated, got a medium card, but works good on all highsettings, but sure would be nice to have that card.

btw what PSU does it require?wattage i mean & rails all that techno crap , anybody know?