need recomendation on video card

[Mivo]

The topic starter mentioned he's not a hardcore gamer and has a budget of $100. Our suggestions exceeded this a little. I considered a GTX 275, but it cost a bundle more than the GTS 250, and seeing that I play in 1680x1050 and mostly pick up strategy games and RPGs, it was a good compromise (price/performance). Currently playing Anno 1404 (Dawn of Discovery in the US) with high settings, and it looks stunning. Dragon Age arrives in a few days, but pretty sure max settings will not work here. I don't play state of the art shooters, only some older stuff, or action titles. It was also an upgrade from my 8800 GTS, which played everything in 1680x1050 that I wanted to play.

GTX 260 looks pretty nice, too, but prices here in Germany were double that of a GTS 250 when I looked. I also somehow had in mind that it needs a better PSU than my 550W one, but just checked and the minimum seems to be 500W. Well, it's something to upgrade to in a year or so. I'm less hardcore about games than I used to be in my teens and twenties, or even early thirties.

 

[Frostmourne]

Again, a 5770 is perfect or a 4670 for non gamers.

 

[Mivo]

Well, a HD 5770 is $175 minimum, and he wants to spend around $100. (Or did you mean for me? I frequently boot into Linux, so sticking to Nvidia. I do wish hardware was that cheap over here.)

 

[ThePizzaMan]

still think HD4850 would be best for his budget... haha
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129138
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161297
unless... you'd rather go with nvidia.... :sarc:

 

[smarteyeball]

I frequently boot into Linux, so sticking to Nvidia.

Apart from being able to set my cards fan speeds, I haven't had any real issues with ATI's proprietary drivers and Ubuntu 9.10 so far - Even crossfire works. Not that I need it in Linux.

 

[Mivo]

The fan issue with Linux ATI drivers is exactly the chief issue, besides ATI apparently having decided to no longer support cards that are older than a year or so (in Linux). I used to have a box with an ATI X700 Pro that I had Linux running on, and the fan was so loud (as if I constantly played a demanding 3D graphics game, even when I did nothing but write a document in a text editor) that I threw the thing out within a week. It sounded like a turbine, and I'm not kidding! That was the last ATI card I had. But for Windows, either brand's fine.

@ThePizzaMan: Hey, no dissin' the Nvidia!

 

[smarteyeball]

It sounded like a turbine, and I'm not kidding!

I have two 4890's - I know you're not kidding

Although my current fan speed problem is that it's to slow at the desktop. The difference between the powerplay default of 27% and manually setting it to 30% is a 10-15c difference.

I knew ATI were dropping support for a lot of older cards, but I didn't realise it was that much support :shock:

 

[ThePizzaMan]

@ThePizzaMan: Hey, no dissin' the Nvidia!

yes mother haha

 

[thefabe]

Mivo Just remember it's not the wattage of a power supply it's the volts on the 12v rail(s) that matters.

 

[torrentg]

Well, full W rating is good to know if the manufacturer is not lying about it.

For the 12v rail(s), it's the Watts too that matter. Or more specifically, the amperage.

Volts x Amps = Watts

So theoretically -

12V x unknown amps = 100 Watts

Simple math can tell you that Amps = 8.3333

or if you know amps and volts but want to know Watt rating -

12V x (say for instance) 14 AMPS =

168W

 

[Frostmourne]

You'd want the most watts on the 12v rails too.