Help selcting Nvidia card

C

cfossa

Member
Hi Guys,

I'm thinking of upgrading the video card in my PC to run G3 better. I currently have an ATI X500 128 Mb that came with the machine. It works OK, but not great. I have to turn off clouds and turn textures way down or off to get decent frame rates.

The range of Nvidia cards is confusing. I stopped by Best Buy today and saw 6200, 6600, 7300, 7600 and 7900 models. The different models had nothing, GS, or GT.

From what I could decipher, GT has a higher clock speed than GS. But, they sell GS cards with more 512 MB of ram for similar prices as GT cards with 256 MB of RAM.

What is more important to G3, RAM on the video card or processor speed on the video card? What are you guys running?

They had a 7300 GS with 513 MB of ram fro about $175.

Carl
 
The low "hundreds" place numbers indicate the "low end" version of the Nvidia.

Thus the 6200/7200 or the 6300/7300's are at the low end of the spectrum.

Someone here posted a link for a much better 7600 or 7800 card in the same price range(!!!!).
 
opjose said:
The low "hundreds" place numbers indicate the "low end" version of the Nvidia.

Thus the 6200/7200 or the 6300/7300's are at the low end of the spectrum.

Someone here posted a link for a much better 7600 or 7800 card in the same price range(!!!!).
Click to expand...

Opjose,

Thanks for the reply. I understand the the 7300 is a lower end card than the 7600 or 7800. What I don't understand is GS vs. GT within the specific versions (i.e. 7600 GS vs. 7600 GT).

Looking on the boxes, it seems that GS has a lower clock speed than GT. But, they sold GS models with 512 MB of RAM for about the same as GT models with 256 MB of RAM.

This is the source of my original question. What is better for G3 performance more RAM on your video card or higher clock speed. Obviously, if you can afford both that is the way to go.

Thanks,

Carl
 
Hi, I just went through the complete upgrade thing. New AMD x2 5000+ dual core CPU, etc.

One of the most confusing things for me was the video card choice...so, research, and then more research.

With Nvidia (and ATI) thier lower end cards of each generation (6000 series, 7000 series, 8000 series etc) means that they use the same basic architecture but with a cheaper to manufacture chip, this means that the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) is not as complex in the cheaper cards than they are in the more expensive cards of the same generation (again, 6000, 7000, etc). A cheaper to make GPU results in a slower card but also a cheaper price. From the speed comparisons that I have read the difference between a 256 and 512 card are minimal for 3D games (not true for CAD, etc). The higher the number in the generation the better the card (usually) and the ending designator also denotes better features of the chip (GT is better than GS, etc) With ATI the ending would have an XT or Pro, or maybe GTO, with XT being the best, descending.

The best card for the budget minded might be the 7900 GS by Nvidia or the ATI X1950Pro both for around 200.00. What Best Buy do you go to?! Our local ones have the 7300 cards for around 60-99?! I picked up what I hope to be a great deal from NewEgg.com. An ATI Radeon x1800 GTO for 119.00. I will know more later today as UPS is supposed to deliver today.

Guru3D.com is a great source for video card info, you might also do a web search for "Overclockers" as many sites focus thier efforts on overclocking GPU's and therefore have some great reviews on the cards availible. Most websites use several games for comparison on the video cards. The FPS on F.E.A.R, Oblivion, Quake4, and the Futurmark product 3DMark (Futuremark.com) are the usuall test beds.

Video cards are outdated sooo very fast that it would be a waste of money to go for the really expensive cards now and find thier prices drop by 3/4 in a couple of months. The x1800 GTO that I ordered was 250.00 last summer.

I hope this helps. By the way, I am currently using a 7300 LE (really cheap card that uses the system memory) and am getting 15FPS in G3.5 the 7300 GS is a much better card but a waste of money if you are looking to spend 175.00 or so. Check out Newegg.com for a 7900GS for the same price.
 

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Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies. James, I'd love to hear how this card works for you running G3.

Carl
 
It is schedualled to be delivered tommorrow. I will let you know when I get it installed. I should be a big jump from the intigrated X200 thats in my mother board. In my old computer I had a ATI 9800 Pro with 512mb. Running the 3.0 and also with 1GB of main memory that set rocked on a 3.0ghz computer. I will probably go ahead and pick up another 512 of main memory and install it the same time as the card. I went to my local circuit city and was laughing at the sales guy. Online they want 199.00 for the same 7900 GS card, but had a 7600 GT instock for 199.00 also. He wanted to know if I wanted him to order it for me, show i showed him the New Egg ad and he just shook his head, as I laughed, and said they could not price match. I understand not price matching on instock items, but if I am going to have to order it and wait 3 days anyway, they could have had my bussiness. I doubt I will see much of a visual difference than the older 9800 card except about triple the frame rates.
 
James,

I've pretty much settled on the 7900 GS after reading the reviews on CNET.com and gamespot.com. It has to be an enromous leap over the ATI X500 128 MB currently in my machine. I can get 30-40 FPS on the runway in most of the 3D airports and much higher in the air. But, I turn off clouds and textures. I also turn down shadows and most other settings to "high."

Hopefully this card will give good framerates with all the bells and whistles.

Looking forward to hearing your report.

Carl
 
I know you are not ATI fans, but here is what I am getting with this new ATI x1800GTO 256meg card I got today.

I was running a Nvidia 7300 LE (base card that comes with computers) and getting 15fps with everything turned up high. Now I am getting between 60 and 80, again with everything up high. On 2D airports I get 110 or so. I love this card! 119.99 at new egg on sale last week, now back up to around 150.00 so its not really worth the money with Nvidia 7900 GS's for around 159.99. But for what I paid for it, I am really happy. Battlefield 2142 is perfectly smooth with everything up on max, as is Call of Duty 2, F.E.A.R (Demo), and Medieval Total War II. If I wasnt so cheap I would have purchased the 7900GS, I think you will be very happy with that card.
 
Yup that ATI card is pretty good.

I'm still an Nvidia fan for many reasons though, not the least of which is the hardware support for LCD Stereo shutter glasses.

YOU HAVE TO SEE G3.5 in 3D Stereo!!!!
 
Well, I got it installed today. First let me say, I played with 512 before I bumped up to 1 GB of main memory and could not tell any difference. With the 7900 GS and using FRAPS, the lowest frame rate is 85 and average 90 fps with everything maxed out as far as G3.5 will go. I think I can do better because the manufacture says I need a 400 watt power supply and the box says 450. When I was inside of my computer, I could not find any details on what power supply is in it, but from looking on the net, it looks like 350. I noticed some of the overclocking software was not acessable at this time. So I am hoping when I get more power to my card, it will run a little faster, and then I can overclock it a bit as well.
 
James,

Great! What field are you using to get these frame rates? Also is FRAPS a seperate software tool or are you using the FPS reading within G3? Does the frame rate vay much on the ground vs in the air? I get much higher in the air now, but have clouds off.

Anyway, 85 FPS is great with everything turned on. I'll be ordering one in the next few days.

Thanks for the info!

Carl

---- edit ---

I found FRAPS and ran it on my current card. Average of 30 FPS, min of 21 FPS on a 3D field.

Also, I opened my box and the power supply is only 350 Watts ... I'll either need to upgrade that too or go with a slightly less powerful card like the 7600GT :confused:
 
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I am getting about 84 or 85 on the ground and 90 in the air. I am using the separate program fraps, not the one inside of realflight. You will see a difference. On a side note, on Doom 3, with 1123x800? and 8x AA and high settings, I am still getting 60 fps. This seems to be a really good card. With the price New Egg has on it, I dont think you can go wrong. You could try the new card. The down side is and new power supply is going to run you another 60.00, but would be worth it. Like I said, I am running a stock power supply. I think it will work if you dont have a ton of things running. I only have 1 cd drive, 1 hard drive, and a small set of speakers. Give it a try and if it does not work, send it back.
 
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James,

Thanks. I've read a few product sites that say the 7900 GS needs 350 W, or 450 if you are running two in SLI mode. Other sites say 400 for just one card.

Does it have a separate power connection? My current card does not. If so, what does it look like so I can see if I have one on the motherboard/power supply.

I guess the worst that could happen is to blow my power supply (or fuse in it?) :eek:

Carl
 
cfossa said:
Hi Guys,

I'm thinking of upgrading the video card in my PC to run G3 better. I currently have an ATI X500 128 Mb that came with the machine. It works OK, but not great. I have to turn off clouds and turn textures way down or off to get decent frame rates.

The range of Nvidia cards is confusing. I stopped by Best Buy today and saw 6200, 6600, 7300, 7600 and 7900 models. The different models had nothing, GS, or GT.

From what I could decipher, GT has a higher clock speed than GS. But, they sell GS cards with more 512 MB of ram for similar prices as GT cards with 256 MB of RAM.

What is more important to G3, RAM on the video card or processor speed on the video card? What are you guys running?

They had a 7300 GS with 513 MB of ram fro about $175.

Carl
Click to expand...
The 7300 would work fine, that's if your using pci-e I hope. :D Currently, you would benefit with a higher clock speed, 256mb of dedicated ram is perfect. Although, in dx10 games, they might require more but if you have the money you should get the 7600gt or even better the 7900gs.
This xfx 7900gs is factory overclocked to a core clock of 480MHz a memory clock of 1400MHx. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150183
Pay 4$ more and get a core clock of 525MHz and memory clock of 1440MHz: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125045
 
Oh yeah, some of the higher end gpus such as the 7900gs's require extra power either from the pci-e 6pin connection, or the standard 4 pin molex connection that your current mb most likely has. I highly doubt that your psu has a 6pin pci-e cable, but it might, if you have a psu that is 400 watts you should be fine, but check to see if it has the pci-e cable if not then your limited to the molex gpu, unless you use an adapter that converts 2 molex cables into 1 pci-e cable. I'm not sure if you have to use both molex cables though to convert it to the 6pin pci-e connection. Check pictures below.
Molex:
14-125-045-03.JPG

pci-e:
14-150-183-04.JPG

adapter, look at the power cable:
14-150-183-06.jpg
 
Matt,

Thanks. I suspect I will need two of the standard 4-pin connectors to power a 7900 GS. My power supply is only 350 watts, and I'm not sure it's up to running the 7900 GS as some of the manufacturer specs say it needs 400 watts.

Time to decide if the a better card is worth upgrading the power supply too :confused:

I may end up going with a 7600 if that will run off my existing power supply. I also thought I read a review that said the 7600 runs off the PCI slot power and does not need an extra cable. Not a big deal, but one less thing to make sure works :rolleyes:

Carl
 
I played a little more in multiplayer with this card this week. In the RCMA field with about 14 planes on screen I was gettting 25 fps. I am playing on a wireless network that was giving more trouble than anything. The only slow downs were when someone entered and exited the field. I think this was from the network more than my system. But on a good note for me it looks like Emachines screwed up when they built my system. It is suposed to have just a p4 3.0 ghz. Well when looking at the hardware manager it is showing 2 3 ghz cpu's. Also when I run the nvidia diagnostic software, it too is showing 2 cpu's. I also turned on the cpu performance graphs in the the task manager and split the graphs to see if this is true, and its also showing 2 cpu's that does not having matching graphs. So it looks like I have a dual core. I thought it was funny the day after I bought it, all stores hav pulled it from the shelfs lol. Looks like I got lucky for once. So far I really like the 7900 GS. I am going to kick up the power supply next payday, and I will let you know if it has any effect. Also I forgot to mention, all my previous fps are non 3d fields, and not 2d. I am very pleased, and would say if you can spend the extra 60 on a power supply it is worth it.
 
James,

Thanks. Which field is RCMA? Sounds like the 7900 GS is great.

FWIW I've been playing around with the graphics settings. In full-screen mode I'm getting 30-45 FPS on the runway and 70+ FPS in the air for most fields. This is with textures off, clouds off, shadows low, all other graphics settings high.

On the photofields my frame rates are 70+ on the ground and way over 100 in the air.

I almost wish they were slow all around to motivate me to push the button and buy the new card :D

Carl
 
RMCMA, I believe is just one of the multiplayer games. Its set to where you can have as many as 20 people flying at the same time,online. The numbers you are posting are not shabby be no means. I would say if its playable, and you are happy with what little bit you turned off, then I would wait another year to pick up a DX 10 card when they have all the driver issues sorted out. I have read where a few people that picked up the new 8800 and have been having some minor driver issues with it. But that should be sorted out in a couple of months. When ATI releases a couple of DX 10 cards to compete, it should lower the prices a little bit, and get a couple of high and low end units on the market for everyone to choose from.
 
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