Graphics Card Advice

C

cahunas

Geek Trainee
Hi ya, I'm looking to upgrade my desktop without much clue or money. Current Spec:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ dual core 2.4ghz
256mb Nvidia GeForce 6800 LE
2*512mb pc3200 DDR ram (400mhz)
16 Dual Layer DVD

I basically want to play Age Of Conan comfortably which is out in a few weeks, the recommended spec is:

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz or equivalent
2048MB Dual Channel DDR2
NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTX or equivalent
Video memory: 512MB
Quad-speed (4x) DVD

I've used crucialupgrade site to recommend the ram to 3gb costing £54.04, which I am happy with. Perhaps the 2 GB would do but the price difference was £10, so I opted for the higher 3.
I think the CPU and dvd drive should be ok. Its the graphics card that i'd like some help on please, I really don't want to spend more then £60, well a bit if its worth it.

I think i'm possibly being to cheap as the 7900 GTX seems to retail at atleast £220.

But i see 8600GT 512MB DDR2 for around £60, Would this make any noticable difference? or do i have to shell out for a real improvement.


Any advice be greatly appreiciated, i've dragged through sites and forums and my knowledge of cards seemed to have peaked and then collapsed.

Thanks Cahunas
 
Hi and welcome to the forums

Just a few questions and suggestion i have:

What socket is your CPU/mobo is it AM2 or 939??? I'm guessing it's 939 as you have DDR memory.

Also can you tell me what mobo you got please.

why not overclock your AMD 4600 to 3GHz, that would improve things :)

Now the reason why the 7900GTX is around £200 it's becuase it out of production and therefore becoming rare to find hence the price, but it's seriously not worth it.

For a good graphics card at your budget i recommend TWO:

ATI Radeon HD 3650 512MB (Slightly over budget)

OR

GeForce 8600 GT (£5 over budget)


The best out of the two would be the 3650.

But TBH if you can spare your self an extra £40 then get a 9600GT which will wipe the floor with those two cards above. something like this: OcUK GeForce 9600 GT 512MB GDDR3

As for memory i think you should get 3GB but DDR2 , that's if you can hook it up to your mobo. so find out what your mobo is and please tell me, but by the looks of things you would need a new mobo.
 
BTW i had a look at the Conan game, is it called Conan Hyborian Adventures???

Because it looks really good amazing graphics and looks like it's very demanding game on anyone's rig lol are you sure you got the requirements right because i couldn't find them myself on website.
 
lol i don't believe that, 7900GTX or equivalent lol that game looks like its a DX10. you probably can play it in DX9 but wont be the same :doh:
 
Aye I know it won't be running crystal clear but i'd like to get the best of this pc as i can. It doesn't have to be too pretty just as long as i can get a decent fps so i can decapitate people on a regular basis.

The motherboard I think is:

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard or
Sli-Nforce4 Athlon/64 S939 PCI Express LAH/AUD./1394

Lol sorry if thats gibberish.

The ram i was going to get was 2GB kit (1GBx2), 184-pin DIMM, DDR PC3200.

I was thinking about the overclocking but i've never upgraded a pc in anyway before, will just do it when the ram and card go in aswell.

I would love to fully pump up the rig but if i spend too much, i'd have to get my girlfriend a cheap laptop and a camera; which i seriously can't afford.
 
I might get the game but one question, Do you only buy the game and that's it or do you have to pay monthly as well????

That mobo is kind of old lol but it does the job, the max memory you can put it on is 4GB. So i think you should go for the 2GB memory you were planning on getting. :)

Don't buy her anything it's just your love she wants lol, do something romantic better then any laptop ;)
 
It will definately have a monthly fee probably £10-15.

Sadly a Laptop could be considered romantic as we met on the net.

Thanks allot for the advice Pimp made me feel allot more confident with the buys.

Bets of Luck to ya!
 
If it's pay monthly then sadly i might not get tbh not worth it, i used to play EVE but stop it now too expensive to keep playing :(

and why is everyone meeting on the net these days what happened to simply going out and finding that dream girl.
 
One final query Mr Pimp sir,

Both Graphics cards you recommend say they are built for vista and dx10 compatible. I don't have Vista and I think dx10 is soley for Vista.

Will this be a problem.

Thanks
 
Hehe,

Wasn't intentional met her playing wow a year ago, which we both stopped playing nearly immediately after.
 
cahunas said:
One final query Mr Pimp sir,

Both Graphics cards you recommend say they are built for vista and dx10 compatible. I don't have Vista and I think dx10 is soley for Vista.

Will this be a problem.

Thanks
Click to expand...

It would be compatible with XP or any other OS as long you got right drivers for it and it will just play DX9 and play it very well :)

Hopefully someone else might back that claim up and post a reply to confirm things :)
 
Well ordered the ATI Radeon and RAM, will let you know how it gets on ;)


Monthly Per Month Total Total Incl. VAT
1 Month 8.99 GBP 8.99 GBP 10.34 GBP
3 months 8.39 GBP 25.17 GBP 28.95 GBP
6 months 7.69 GBP 46.14 GBP 53.06 GBP

Thats pricing for Conan just released.


Maybe we'll be hacking at each others heads in a month or so.

Cheers Pimp
 
It seems a little expensive to me, shame becuase i think i would have liked it, o well.

and no problem ;)
 
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