Graphics Cards related queries here.

[samrulez]

I don't think MX 4000 supports Pixel Shader 2.0......and also it is a Dx 8.1 card....

[siriusb]

7800GT/GTX is obsolete, 7800GT is available but not worth the money imo
7900GT is upwards of 17k
7900GTX is around 30k
price in delhi and mumbia should more or less be same
xfx 7900GTX is for 35k and up

Too bad, I wanted a 512MB card. BTW, thanks you akshayt, and do tell me the brand of this Rs.17odd K 7900GT? Is that xfx? How does the asus one stack up? I heard it's pre-overclocked.

Is the Gfx card prices at a cusp of falling (like the AMD64 cpus)? I mean, I can wait and all, for a month.

[deathvirus_me]

Anyone know the price of 7800GT/X and 7900GT/X of any brand (XFX or BIG) in chennai?
Is it significantly cheaper in delhi/mumbai? If so, will mail ordering it be a good deal?
My budget is around 20K (this is after I sell my 6600gt and my old monitor).

Well .. if u have an SLi mobo , u can squeze in two 7600GT maybe .. that'd be like a 7900GTX and 512 MB in total ...

Otherwise ,... settle for a 7900GT ...

[go_gamez]

I don't think MX 4000 supports Pixel Shader 2.0......and also it is a Dx 8.1 card....

mx 4000 not a dx.8.1 cauz i am using dx.9.0 c currently..ya pixel shader is not supported...butt what about overclocking it ?

[akshayt]

any card would support dx 9c, we are talking of hardware specs.
todays games won't run on a mx 4000 no matter how much you oc it, some games might run but they would probably stay crap, although if it ocs then there might be some improvement.

Why do you need a 512mb card?
The only worth it 512mb cards will be around 39k or so, if you don't have that budget get 256mb instead or get a card from abroad, not exactly recommended(epsecially not 7900GT series).

17.5k or so for Sparkle
Asus maybe around 19k or so.
Stock 7900GTs will come till around 20-21k after that you will get box overclocked 7900GTx,around 21-22k to 24.5k or so.

XFX should be around 20k or so.

No new gpus are coming in the next month so there might not be that kind of fall, small price falls happen sometimes, so you don't need to give much consideration to that, buy now, once geforce 8 class is out, maybe in the last quarter or so of this year , you will just keep waiting, buy now.

It is mad to go for SLi with such a small budget when it is not needed.
Single card is much better in each repect.
I would say a single 7900GTX is a much much better overall option and probably a better performer than even 7600GT SLi.
7600GT SLi isn't 512mb, you can't add the memory in SLi.
7900GTX>7600GT SLi

get a single 1900xt for around 30k

[deathvirus_me]

Well .. lets see this .. a stock 7900GTX should be giving around 10k's in 3DMark05 .... and the 7600GT SLi around 12k's .. so doesn't this make the 7600GT SLi better ??? Also . the two 7600GT's should cost a hell lot less. ..

And about 512 MB card ... they do mean that u can experience stutter free gameplay .. but only if the card has enough mem. bandwidth to handle it ... so a 512 MB 6200 would be useless , but a 512 7900GTX would be awesome ... last time i got the price for a 512 MB 7900GTX XXX Edition , i was quoted 32k's inc. VAT ...

7600GT SLi isn't 512mb, you can't add the memory in SLi.

Well yeah u don't exactly add up the mem. directly in SLi ... but in SLi , two cards don't hold the same data to be processed ... i.e. eevry card gets its own data to process ... so that almost translate into 2*256 MB ... something u can say psuedo 512 MB ...

[akshayt]

3D Mark doesn't mean anything much.
A radeon 1900XT gets a score of 5000, a 1900xtx gets 5800, yet a xtx is just normally 5-10% better and most times the difference is so little that it is not even noticeable to the eye, yet 3d mark gets around 15% boost, also a 7900GTX gets an even higher score yet according to most people 1900xt is a better buy although it is behind by aroudn 1200 points, did you get the point?

7900GTX will clean any 7600GT SLi, so the cost is justified, 7600GT SLi acts as 256mb, so you will be in trouble.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/326/11/

http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/8276...s-7900gtx.html

[siriusb]

Interesting. But I don't have a sli mobo. How much is one 7600GT?

[drvarunmehta]

Rs. 12,000

[deadsix]

A lotta ppl here in need of a decent graphics card! This is gonna b a long post, and a must-read for any n00b!

Scenario 1:
-----------

U have a p-4 basic/HT or an athlon XP anywhere between 1.5 gig's or 2000+ then there isnt any need to upgrade now unless ur an enthusiast (in which case u shouldnt have that system in the first place) or unless uve just won a lottery!
Right, now for getting this system up-to-speed, all u need is 512mb dd400 ram and adecent graphics card(if u have a geforce 4ti or radeon9700+, forget the upgrade and stick to it) otherwise get a r9800pro for around Rs-6K.
Contrary to popular belief agp-8X versions of these cards do NOT fare any better than the agp-4X versions, as for most agp-4x gen cards, the bottleneck isnt the bus! Also it doesent really matter if u have 64 or 128mb on the card! Both have their own advantages(128mb offers a minor framebuffer boost, while 64mb is generally clocked faster)
Now scourge the net for game tweaks instead, and use the latest drivers, modded cfg files etc.

Scenario 2:
-----------

U have a p-4 dual core/Athlon64/Athlon64 x2 (939 or Am2-yeah right, in India) at 3gigs or 3000+(and above)
Then most probably u have a pcie x16 slot on the motherboard and should have a decent onboard solution(read r200 or n6100/6150). While the processor/MoBo is decent enough, u may have to look into graphics part of it!
If u own an asus motherboard (a8n-vm/a8n-vm/csm etc) then u need two ddr400 sticks in dual channel mode to actually feed the onboard graphics core enough bandwidth for any respectable gaming! I personally recommend Corosair, or kinston if ur on a budget!
Pop in the memory in the dual channel slots(as documented in ur MoBo manual) and assign 128mb for graphics!
Now check out the difference in games! At medium detail level all games upto Quake4 @ 1024x768 should be playable! Play fear at 800x600, same for black or prey, Ghost recon advanced warfighter(which is one mean Bit*h)
If u still want the extra edge, go for a better graphics card in the budget class!
I recommend a Galaxy or Gainward offering, a 7300GT is an excellent card, as both these offerings have GDDR3 and a heafty default overclock and extreamly silent cooling(galaxy has Zalman, Gainward uses passive) + if ur lucky ull get a card which u can actually turn into a 7600GT(read soft-mod the extra quad disabled in the g73 core for 7300Gt, old timers may recall the 9500-9700pro)! Details on www.gpureview.com!
Even otherwise, its pretty close to the 7600Gt and a X1800 for lower resolutions (upto 1280x1024) which is what we in INDIA play at mostly!
If ur not an enthusiast or cant get the aforementioned two brands(near 5k-5.5k) then dont go for the forsa 7300GT, gddr2 is crappy!
Instead look for a 7600Gs with a nice default oc or a 7600GT (stay away from big names like asus, and u could get these in the 7k-10k range) as both are pretty good, though the 7600Gt is a tad better (hardly noticiable when u push the cards to extreams, plus once overclocked they both get to nearly the same levels provided they both use GDDR3)
Also check if the forsa uses gddr3 which i dont think it does(mighty strange as most companies use gddr3 even on the 7300gt)
This should put u in possession of one mean machine! Plus if u have a decent MoBo (a8n-vm csm) then u can push that athlon64 to atleast a 10% increase on the stock cooler without a worry! Max is 25% oc, but u need extra cooling and dont even think of going there if u dont know what u r doing!

Also the drivers/tweaks mentioned initially above wont hurt u either!

Okay
Scenario 3:
-----------

U need a new system!
Hmmm... bad time for that! I moved away from Intel a long time ago, and am in no hurry to go back! But then there is conroe!
Anyways, AMD AM2 socket athlon64 X2 are about to go thru heavy price cuts in july, effective in India in late august, so i suggest holding off untill then!
Then, go buy yourself a asus board with the 6150b/430 chipset(i dont remember the model name) and equip it with a 4000+ X2 with 1mb cache(hard to get by, Amd stopped production) or the x2 3600+ which is in the pipelines! Plus the graphics options i mentioned above are just fine!

If u absolutely must buy a new system RIGHT NOW, then go for the A8n-Vm/csm plus an AMD64 3500+(gr8 value for money) as the bundle is around 10K right now, and if u can find one i ESPECIALLY RECOMMEND the AMD64 3700+ (the only San Diego core) which sports a 1mb L2cache and is as good as a FX-57 when oc! Again terribly hard to get by even oversees, but look out for it! U might just get lucky!



Lastly, for all the hard core gamers out there(id b among them if i had enough cash on me) this must be a useless post, its mostly what v already know! Still, the Graphics cards to go for would b a 7600GT right now, coz ull b seeing a g80 based mid-range card (based on g83 in the 150-200$ range) in November which will kick any 7800GTX or 7900GT right where it hurts the most! So halt all upgrades unless u got cash to waste! And pray Nvidia doesent put out a ****ty lineup like the FX series, though the info n hype suggests a clear Nvidia dominance with the next-gen chpsets!

Jargon Buster:-
____________
--------------

SLI- Scalable link interface, modified version of 3dfx(if u remember the company) sli, basically two similar(right down to the make and company) cards in parallel processing-like mode (there are four diff ways in which sli is implimented, not important for the n00b to know) and it is, i repeat IS GOOD!
Especially with the 7300Gt suppoting it, plus all the g80 series supporting it!

People here have been going around telling u that two cards in SLI means overkill coz the mobo puts them in 8x pcie instead of the faster 16x, NOT TRUE! Only a select few Nvidia chipset boards support dual pcie 16X slots, and the cards run at full X16 speeds (which doesent make one itty bitty ****ty difference coz x8 in itself is fast enough for all current gen graphics cards, unless u go quad SLI. Hell, even AGP 8X was overkill, for there was neglegible speedup over 4x (do some reserch, the diff is attributed to minor revisions in the core and better driver support, newer bios)
AND u need atleast a Amd64 3500+ to take advantage of sli on anything over 7600gs! Still highly recommended if u can get two galaxy 7300Gt (unlock them to the full g73 core, volt-mod an oc them to 600/1400, easy with the stock Zalman cooling, and watch that x1800GTO die a slow death)


Crossfire: - ATi's reply to SLI, not as good for the average gamer but definately a strong contender in the enthusiast segment! Why? Coz u can hook up 3 CARDS, and with the latest catalyst drivers u dont even need them to be of the same make or model (though all cards auto adjust to the lowest level card in the triple pairing)
Result? Grate AA, plus HDR with FSAA!!!
Bad? Definately not if ATI can get it to support all the latest games without any hiccups, but ATI cards are costlier in India, so no point going there, unless uve3 got a cousin in the US!
Plus, u can put two cards on graphics and one on Physics processing, thus fully enjoying the effects in xbox 360 based games like the GRAWF etc.
Not generally recommended though!


GDDR3: - The latest standard in graphics memory interfacing, be it at 128bit(for entry levell to mid range) or 256bit (for mid range to enthusiast)
DO NOT SETTLE FOR ANYTHING LESS! Gddr2 is passe! Obsolete! Gone and forgotten!

GDDR4: - Will be the next level, not really needed for the entry level though, will make an appearance alongwith the g80 core series!


Dman this is a long post!
One last thing, do not ask me bout OC, do it at your own risk!
Do not ask me about Tweaks, they exist for every game, look for them!
DO not ask ANYBODY for drivers, KNOW ur Graphics card company, go to their website and download the latest WHQL certified drivers for ur OS without a Question!
Do not complain if u fried ur GPU! Be proud to have done so, Join the elite club! PM me!
SLI and Crossfire does not add up your memory! So using a 256mb card in 2xSLi or even 3xCrossfire will still mean that games treat your setup as a 256 MB card (which means no ultra details on GRAWF- god damn their souls to hell for an eternity)

SLI linkboost is good, but not really visible unless u have the absolute best cards in SLI! Dont splurge on motherboards that offer it unless u want the absolute best!

Volt-mods for memory oc on graphics cards arent recommended to the average n00b or a non-engineer! Be happy with the stock, find a factory default overclocked card instead!
Intel chips are factory locked, u cant oc them the easy way! AMD is for newbees plus the stock cooling on amd64 is much better that p4(or even the older AMD XP)

Brand Names are everything in PC's, check out their websites, if its a good company they will have almost everything u need to know online!

Prices are best found out yourself, and on the ground reviewing, after sales support etc are absolute must-haves! If u live in a small town, do not buy directly from a big store in DELHI or Bombay! Instead find out the ground rates there and the places where stuff u need is availible, and THEN get a local computerwallah to get it for u! He might charge u more than what are the ground costs, but its worth the peace of mind, especially as all liablity is his then!

Thats it for now! More later maybe! Do let me know if my one hour's time was of any help to anyone at all!

[samrulez]

mx 4000 not a dx.8.1 cauz i am using dx.9.0 c currently..ya pixel shader is not supported...butt what about overclocking it ?

Well the hardware does not fully support Dx 9.....But u can install Dx9...Overclocking it won't be of any use.......besides it can blow up ur card...
But can attempt to tweak it using riva tuner not ntune...etc..

[PainKiller]

hi all,

here is a query for all u game/graphic cards freaks:
i want a list of games that can run on NVIDIA RIVA TNT2 32MB card.
any reply is highly appreciated.

im not planning to buy a new card till diwali. so plz dont suggest me to buy a new card.

cheers.

[deathvirus_me]

Well .. right now .. NONE .... its just a very low end OpenGL card .. and can barely do good with D3D games ... i'd say .. till diwali .. watch movies ...

[akshayt]

you might be able to play cricket or fifa

[drvarunmehta]

Plus, u can put two cards on graphics and one on Physics processing, thus fully enjoying the effects in xbox 360 based games like the GRAWF etc.

Physics won't be supported on ATI cards for atleast one year, probably more.

[akshayt]

wasn't it more like 9months and up?

[PainKiller]

thanx for the replies guyz......actually i m able to play following games on my pc smoothly:

1. quake 3
2. nfs hot pursuit 2
3. gta3 and gta vice city

i m looking for more games that i can play on my old riva tnt2 32mb card, games that were released around the same time as the above mentioned games were released.

plz also answer whether i can play toca race driver 3 or any world war games on this card.

cheers

[siriusb]

Here in chennai, delta peripherals says the following cost:
XFX 7900gt - Rs.19,000
Leadtek 7900gt - Rs.19,500

I don't think any of them are OCed (I even got a "What!!!" reply from the dealer for asking about the tripleX edition of xfx).

My old monior will sell for Rs.1800 but I don't know how much my 6600gt will sell for. Hopefully I don't have to spend more than 15K hard cash on the 7900gt.

I am worried about the memory though. In particular, doom3's ultra high quality setting. I know 256MB cards can handle that setting, but, what's really up with that setting?

[thunderbird.117]

Well hardly any indian dealers know anythings about hardware or software. I dont why companies say that india has lot of talets and blah and blah and so on. I dont see that.

[deathvirus_me]

Well .. a 256 MB card that has 256 bit mem. interface , and clocks at over 1200 MHz should be able to handle Doom 3 at Ultra High settings ... even my 6800GS does ...

[invincibul]

I have an ASUS A7N266-VM Motherboard, AGP-4x Slot, 512 MB DDR RAM, 300W intex power supply, I bought a BIG GeForce 6200 256 MB 64-bit 3d Card. I dont know if my computer supports it. I tried putting it into the AGP 4x slot. The Computer did not boot up at all, but the fans were working. When I removed the Graphics Card, the System booted up. please help!!!

[Jitin]

I have a P4 2.4 machine
with intel D865GVHZ board
need a low end grafix card supported by Windows XP Media Center
which one should i go for
Regards

[papai_mcc]

go for a geforce FX 5200 or FX5700

[samrulez]

I have a P4 2.4 machine
with intel D865GVHZ board
need a low end grafix card supported by Windows XP Media Center
which one should i go for
Regards

Go for a XFX 6200 128MB 128Bit.........

[siriusb]

Now here be the next question. Which company? So far the vendor has only given me a choice between xfx and leadtek. Which of them is the better one? If it was between the xfx xxx edition and the leadtek's extreme edition, I'll go for the xfx first and then leadtek. But I am not sure of the stock ones. Maybe I'll go for the cheaper one (xfx)?

[invincibul]

Okay here are the full configurations :
AMD Athlon2000+ XP(1.6 GHz), ASUS A7N266-VM Motherboard, AGP-4x Slot, Hynix 512 MB DDR RAM(400 MHz), 300W Intex power supply, 160GB Seagate HDD, Sony DRU 820A DVD Writer, 32MB Inbuilt GeForce 2MX Integrated Graphics, Windows XP SP2, LG 17' Flatron.

I bought a BIG GeForce 6200 256 MB 64-bit 3d Card. I dont know if my computer supports it. I tried putting it into the AGP 4x slot. The Computer did not boot up at all, but the fans were working. When I removed the Graphics Card, the System booted up.

Should I change the SMPS, Or is the Card not compatible with my configurations.
Please help!!!

[akshayt]

tnt2 can't play HP2 smoothly, it runs crappy and so will any GTA3 will, forget about GTA 4. Also I think TNT2 was released in 1999 while HP2 in 2002 Q4 and Vice City even after that.

I think if people really want their quesires answered they will need to create individual threads.

[anandrules]

Okay here are the full configurations :
AMD Athlon2000+ XP(1.6 GHz), ASUS A7N266-VM Motherboard, AGP-4x Slot, Hynix 512 MB DDR RAM(400 MHz), 300W Intex power supply, 160GB Seagate HDD, Sony DRU 820A DVD Writer, 32MB Inbuilt GeForce 2MX Integrated Graphics, Windows XP SP2, LG 17' Flatron.

I bought a BIG GeForce 6200 256 MB 64-bit 3d Card. I dont know if my computer supports it. I tried putting it into the AGP 4x slot. The Computer did not boot up at all, but the fans were working. When I removed the Graphics Card, the System booted up.

Should I change the SMPS, Or is the Card not compatible with my configurations.
Please help!!!

maybe u bought a PCI -E or PCI version of the card. Check the retail box to know if its AGP or smthing else.

[akshayt]

Ultra High End
Geforce 7950GX2
Geforce 7900GTX SLi
Geforce 7900GTX SLi O
Geforce 7800GTX SLi
Radeon X1800XT Crossfire(I think)
Radeon 512mb X1800XT Crossfire
Radeon X1900XT/XTX Crossfire

Gameplay: 1600*1200 or higher with maximum settings, mosly with AA and AF. Exceptions: Oblivion
System: Get 2-4gb ram and any dual core(preferably Conroe) or Amd 3700-4000 or higher class cpu
Future: Until Dx10 is not required.
Budget: Rs.35000+
Recommended Solution(VFM/Performance): Radeon X1900XT Crossfire (don't know price of Master card)

High End
Geforce 7800GTX 512mb O
Geforce 7900GT 512mb
Geforce 7900GTX
Radeon X1800XT 512mb
Radeon X1900XT
Radeon 1900XTX

Gameplay: 1280*1024/1600*1200 with maximum settings, in most cases AA and AF enabled.
System: Amd 64 3000 to Lower Dual cores with atleast 2gb ram.
Future: Few months easily, around a year should be acceptable.
Budget: Rs.28000+
Recommended Solution(VFM/Performance): Radeon X1900XT


Extreme Mainstream
Geforce 7900GT
Radeon X1800XT
Radeon X1900GT

Gameplay: 1024*768 or 1280*1024 with maximum or very high ( little less than maximum) settings with some times AA and AF.
System: Amd 64 3000 or higher with 2gb ram.
Future: Around a few months, until the next gen of games isn't released, even then these cards should be fine with many/most games.
Budget: Rs.17500+
Recommended Solution(VFM/Performance): Geforce 7900GT in India, Radeon X1800XT at newegg


Mainstream
Geforce 7800GT O
Radeon X1800XL O

Gameplay: 1024*768 primarily, sometimes 1280*1024, generally high or maximum settings except in cases like GRAW, Oblivion etc.
System: Any Amd 64 with 2gb ram.
Future: Atmost a few months left, already getting useless cards.
Budget: Around Rs.17000, not worth buying anymore, since you get Extreme Mainstream now for more or less the same cost.
Recommended Solution(VFM/Performance): Radeon X1800XL, 512mb costed 199$ some time back, no solution for India


Lower Mainstream
Geforce 7600GT
Geforce 6800ULTRA O
Geforce 6800GT/GS (GT O)
Radeon X1800GTO
Radeon X850XT PE O
Radeon X850XT O
Radeon X800XT PE O
Radeon X800XT O
Radeon X800XL O
Radeon X800PRO(I think) O

Gameplay: 1024*768 MED-MAXIMUM
System: Amd 64 or Intel 2.8-3.2 or higher with atleast 1gb ram, 2gb strongle recommended.
Future: Time's up already.
Budget: Rs.10000+(maybe around 11k)
Recommended Solution(VFM/Performance): 7600GT/X1800GTO


Low end
Geforce 7600GS
Geforce 7300GT GDDR 3
Geforce 6800/LE/XT O
Geforce 6600GT
Radeon X800GTO O
Radeon X800GT O
Radeon X1600PRO(not sure about XT)
Radeon 9800PRO/XT O
Geforce FX5900/5800/5950 ULTRA O

Gameplay: 800*600 lowest (yet crappy performance in case of 6600GT) to 1024*768 Med(ok-ok)
System: Intel HT 2.8 or Amd Athlon 3000 XP or higher, actually you should get a better cpu becasue the card itself is crap, in above cases the card was fine so the cpu took a back seat.
1gb ram.
Budget: Rs.5000+, maybe more
Recommended Solution(VFM/Performance): Geforce 7600GS, none recommended actually


Entry Level
Radeon X1300 series
Geforce 6600/LE
Geforce 6200 series
Geforce FX 5900/5800/5950 or lower O
Radeon 9800 O
Radeon 9700PRO O
Geforce 7300GT
Geforce 7300GS


Gameplay: Crappy at any settings for the most intensive games, smoe games should be fine at 800*600/1024*768 low - med.
System: The fastest you can afford( spend it on the card though), but atleast Intel HT or Athlon XP 2500 with 1gb ram.
Budget: Rs.4000-5000 or up or so
Recommended Solution(VFM/Performance): None

Obsolete: O

[siriusb]

^Wasn't that list posted by TechBoy in TechEnclave? Why did you post it here, especially when all the members there said this was *rap?