Suggestions for a new vidya card.

[Tranzparent]

I need a new card. Badly. I can run most maps on all low in PR, but the best ones I just can't play.

Current Specs:
2 GB of DDR2 RAM
Intel Pentium P4, 2.8 GHz
Don't know what brand PSU, but it puts out 305 watts.
Crappy old X300, old like 2002 old. I'm shocked it can even run BF2.

My budget is fairly large, but all I want now is a video card - not upgrading anything else unless I really have to. Go go, suggest suggest!

[[R-DEV]Undies]

Is it an AGP slot or a PCIE?

If AGP i suggest something like this Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (AGP) - Retail ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (AGP) - Retail

If PCIE i would buy something like this HIS ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail or at a push a Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (PCI-Express) - Retail

Dont go thinking i am an ATI fanboy, far from it, i have used mostly Nvidia since forever, but the fact of the matter is unless you are paying over 200 quid then ATI are producing far better cards right now. Theres my seggestions, good luck whatever you buy

BTW i reckon you may wanna invest in a bigger PSU if you are bumping up your gfx.

[davetboy_19]

I currently have a 7300GT 512mb AGP card and it works really well for me.

[supahpingi]

i have an HD4850 and if u wanna buy it,do note that it can be ver very warm(its a 80 degrees celsius at my pc without being ingame and neither overcloacked,there are ways to turn up ur fan speed manually but its not reccomended if ur not so good with computers

[Bamboo]

Turning up the fan speed is super easy. If you can install PR, you can do it. Lots of programs like ATItool and RivaTuner let you do it easily. I even had ATItool set up on my old XP/AGP rig so if I hit Ctrl-Alt-F, my fan would go to 100% (my old Gateway stock case sucked). Took me like 30sec. to figure out, and I wasn't computer lit. then.

They are working on the fan control in the drivers though, and should be fixed soon, if not in the 8.8 just released.

[Deadfast]

You don't even need an external program to change the fan speed.

All you need is the basic Catalyst Control Center:
Changing fan speed on HD4800 series, no bios flashing nor hard mods - Overclockers Forums

[supahpingi]

Why is it always me having troubles?
took me ages to find out XD

[WeeGeez]

7900GS KO by nvidia here, got it for $220 at the time, saw it as low as $80-100 now. Runs PR on high no problem, usuall FPS is around 40-60FPS.

I had to upgrade my Power supply ($80) in order to run the card. I bought a 435w and thought it would have been enough, because on this "PS Extreme Calculator" thing I did online, it said 430 would have been enough. On the box of the evga nvidia 7900GS KO card it says 450w is recommended But it still works...

[Bamboo]

You can get a really good 600watt PSU for $60-$80 after rebates on newegg from like OCZ and others. And a good PSU is something you can take and move from one computer to another when you upgrade in the future.

Consider you could spend $50 now on a good one that does 450watts, and then have to buy another one when you upgrade later because you need more power. Or you could just spend $20 or so more now, and not have to buy another one again later.

Wow, just looked on newegg and they have some really good deals for Labor Day. Here are 3 good ones:
Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more!