Gaming Help!

[DDDancer]

What is the best Video card for games such as SWG & EQ?

[ceelorn]

now thats a loaded question o.O


I prefer ati cards myself, but at the very least I'd recommend going with a dx9 card like a 9800pro so you'll be set for when the next generation of games come out.

that might be a while yet though >.<

[Naryn]

Anything released within the last year, year and a half should work I thinks.



Right now PC Gamer is recomending this:

Entry Level System- GeForce4 MX 440 64mb ddr

Mid-Range System- ATI RADEON 9600 Pro

Dream System- ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON 9800 Pro


I tend to lean twords ATI myself. I just like them better :)

If your bank account can stomach it, getting a dx9 card like the 9800 pro (A non-ALL-IN-WONDER is cheaper) like ceelorn recommended is good in that you'll be sitting fine for longer.

But a lesser card should work fine.

As long as it meets these requirements of the game :
Video Card
Required: 32 MB 3D Graphics card with Hardware Transform and Lighting (T&L) Capability
Recommended: 64 MB 3D Graphics card with Vertex Shader and Pixel Shader (VS/PS) Capability


Hope this helps :)

[Kaldorin]

I have to agree with Naryn and Ceelorn when they promote ATI cards, despite the now old rumour that there is very poor driver support for them (Which has changed greatly, as ATI has begun releasing new driver sets every month)

The one thing I will add though, is if you can afford the extra $20-$30, go with a card that is "Built by ATI" You'll pay a touch more for the card, but you'll have less trouble with getting things installed right, and have less problems with certain driver sets. Keep in mind, this is off of a situation I had with an ATI card from Sapphire, and the problem has probably been long since solved I'm sure.

~Kyreth
Commando of Wanderhome

[DarkWyndre]

Umm,

I use a GeForce FX 5600, love it. If you can afford it, GeForce just seems to have ALWAYS worked best for me.

[KiTA]

Nvidia got caught cheating in benchmarks, and threatened to sue when the people making the benchmarks made a fuss. Not only that, they released a new set of drivers after the FF11 Benchmark 2 was released that got you like +30% extra FPS in it compared to the previous drivers.

So yeah. Nvidia lost my business forever cause of that.

[Nosferatu]

Won't stop me, especially since this is a first that I've heard of it and that leads me to believe that it's much less of an issue than it sounds.

Nvidia cards tend to be much more compatible with the more popular games. Since EQ was mentioned in specific, and it's my specialty (as I don't play any other major online games), I will say only this - Almost 90% of every video related problem, or problem that ends up being caused by video, has to do with an ATI card when dealing with Computer Issues in EQ.

This is based on my personal experience dealing with many guilds, and may people (especially on Everlore). ATI and AMD, especially the mix of the two, are two of the worst problems when it comes to EQ. To use one is to almost (90%, remember) guarantee you will have problems in EQ.

I will use Nvidia for as long as SOE keeps EQ active...and maybe longer if my next game after it is the same way.

Personally, I don't recommend any GeForce4 MX product. They tend to be gussied up GeForce2's...and not worth the $$$.

I would recommend hte GeForce FX 5600, but it's a bit on the expensive side (unless, and probably has happened, the prices have dropped lately).

[Naelaen]

I've always prefered nVidia. I don't believe benchmarks, they're very subjective in what they test and if its a test on a game, a couple of fps isn't going to hurt me. It's all about the compatibility of the card as well as the power of the chip and it's drivers. Detonators have long been the difference between nVidia and ATI when the cards were marginal in comparison. As with the nVidia benchmarking business (I bet ATI do things that make them better in benchmarking too), they also argue that benchmarks don't take into account their optimisation coding and it gives them worse scores than it should.

ATI may have the best card on paper (namely in the benchmark polls) but I just prefer having a GeForce card in my system.

Don't buy any GeForce X MX card, as nosferatu says they tend to be juiced up versions of the previous card. If you're going for a GeForce, get a FX or GF4 Ti. ATI have the radeons 9800 (Pro) and 9700 (i've heard the 9700 is a nice budget card).

[Kaldorin]

I've heard a lot of the Same Nosferatu, but through my own personal experience, neither ATI or AMD have caused me to have any problems with EQ, not in the 4 years I played. I have both An AMD Athlon XP 2200+, and a Radeon 8500 128mb, and have not had a single problem since I found out I had some ram that would crash my computer every time I played any game =P

I think a lot of times as I said above, people's problems with ATI come from the fact that they are buying the much cheaper "Powered by ATI" cards, instead of the Built by ATI cards.

~Kyreth
Commando of Wanderhome

[Caliber]

I'm an nVidia man all the way. And I defintely agree. I've had an ATI (and an AMD) and I couldn't play EQ or DAoC. The games suffered from so much lag it was simply impossible.

On my Pentium box with an nVidia though, I've never had a hint of a problem. So yeah, I ditched my ATI - AMD and got another Pentium - nVidia combo. Works like a dream.

A note about the MMXs. I read somewhere that the MMXs are meant for design work and for "office use" NOT for gaming. Could be a load of cow poop, but I did always find their multiple monitor capabilities somewhat ... unneeded.

[Rhiamon Fatesealer]

GeForce FX 5200's are about 100 bucks
GeForce FX 5600's are about 150 bucks

Friend of mine was asking me about vid cards last night, he was debating between the two. I couldn't tell the difference in specs between the two, except that one said 5200 and the other said 5600. They both had the same amount of memory (256MB DDR) etc, on them

[Galnor]

For a good place to get info on video cards, check out www.tomshardware.com They are a very well known review site and seem to be pretty straight in giving out information. They always have the latest performance charts (which they run themselves) on several games and benchmark apps.

Since I build my own systems, I have found this site to be really good at finding out what would be a good product at the price range I am looking for.

[Caliber]

GeForce FX 5200's are about 100 bucks
GeForce FX 5600's are about 150 bucks

Friend of mine was asking me about vid cards last night, he was debating between the two. I couldn't tell the difference in specs between the two, except that one said 5200 and the other said 5600. They both had the same amount of memory (256MB DDR) etc, on them

Spring for the 5600. They're better over all, despite the equivalence in the amount of memory.

Plus, they're not leafblowers. :P (The 5200s fan is INCREDIBLY loud. Many reveiws of the card list it as a negative against the card its so loud. The 5600 I have is defintely not something I would try to keep hidden, but its no louder than any other fan in my computer.)

[Catila Amano]

Actually, you can get a 5600 with 256MB for much less than $150. According to Pricewatch (www.pricewatch.com), you can get one for as low as $110, including shipping (granted, it's a "house brand" rather than a name brand, but for $114, you can get an eVGA, with which I've had decent experience in the past). See here (http://www.pricewatch.com/1/37/5168-1.htm)* for more. You can also get a 5600 Ultra (128MB) for as low as $115 (see here (http://www.pricewatch.com/1/37/5645-1.htm)*).

Hope that helps! :)

*Note: If these links don't work, just go to the main Pricewatch page (linked above) and then select "Video Cards" under the "Multimedia" heading.

[Minwee]

The 5200s fan is INCREDIBLY loud. Many reveiws of the card list it as a negative against the card its so loud. The 5600 I have is defintely not something I would try to keep hidden, but its no louder than any other fan in my computer.


Actually, the 5200 I have (from MSI) has no fan at all, which makes it just a wee bit quieter than even your 5600. It also cost about $90 Canadian, which puts it way beneath the $100 US that was quoted here earlier. Remember that nVidia doesn't actually make any of the video cards you see on the market, they just make the chips and sell them to other manufacturers so it's common to see a bit if difference in design, price and performance between cards with exactly the same chipset but from different manufacturers.

Getting back to the original question, the answer is "How much you got, and why do you want to spend it?" Games like EQ do not _need_ the most expensive card on the market -- I played quite happily using a Hercules GeForce 2 MX400 with 32 megs of video RAM up until October, and am now content with my FX5200. If you just want to _play_ the game, find a card which suits your budget, check out some reviews from gaming and hardware sites (yes, more than one) to see if you're buying a turkey, and go with it. Adjust the video settings of your games until you get a comfortable balance of eye candy and playability and _play_.

If you're looking at buying a top of the line video card just because you really really want to play some unreleased game like Doom III or Half Life 2 and don't think your current card will handle it then... um... How can I put this nicely? Don't. Just don't. The price of hardware goes down over time, not up. If you want to buy a new card just to play HL2, then wait until it is released. You'll be able to pick up a more powerful card then for less money than you can now, and be happy with it.

[Kaylen]

Caliber may also be thinking of the notorious 5800. That's the one with the jet engine, right?