The Hunterminator
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Technical Information Requested
02-09-2010, 04:10 AM
I'm currently shopping for a graphics card for my new PC. With some help, I've managed to narrow it down to two choices and both are well within my budget so my first reflex is to just pick the more expensive of the two. However, I know almost nothing about such things and I'm well aware that 'more $ = more quality' is far from always right so I'd like to know if anyone can either give me advice, or point me towards ressources that will help me understand what the pros and cons are.
The choices are:
http://www.tigerdirect.ca...o=4826572&CatId=1603
http://www.tigerdirect.ca...o=4824267&CatId=1603
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Hunter:
1) I'd say nVidia over ATI, as I've had far better experiences with the former's products.
2) What's your price range? Does it *have* to be TigerDirect (like can I point you at NCIX links)?
3) Why are you looking at ancient cards? The 2x00 series is 3 generations old (current is 5x00) and the current nVidias are the 2xx series. You can get a Geforce 240 or even 250 for that price range.
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I was trying to figure out why you'd want to drop that sort of cash on either of those cards, which are -- let's face it -- significantly behind the current tech curve. But the common factor looks to be the interface, namely, PCI.
Am I correct in assuming your machine can't support PCIExpress (the current standard)?
If that's the case... I would go with the Nvidia. It's likely to significantly outperform the ATI board, and that's not even counting the fact that it has 4x the memory of the ATI. It's simply a better card, with better stats. The closest equivalent to the 9400 GT, from ATI, would be the Radeon 3650 HD... and even that simply doesn't match up.
For that generation of cards, Nvidia really cleaned ATIs clock. Nowadays the gap is much narrower, but you're talking PCIe for that. 
--sofaspud
-- "Listening to your kid is the audio equivalent of a Salvador Dali painting, Spud." --OpMegs
The Hunterminator
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Yeah, I'm stuck with PCI on this machine. My previous PC could support PCIExpress but it fried a while back and I didn't have the budget for anything better at the time. Even though my budget is doing better, I want to keep it for as long as possible. However, it has trouble running the games I already have.
Because of that, I want to get the best I can use and my budget is good for a good 500 $. I can stretch it a bit more if it's worth it but not much.
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for $500, you should be able to pick up a whole new compy that will blow your existing one away, and give you an upgrade path.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
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I won't pretend to know what exactly to get, but $500 can get you a very workable gaming box. Especially if you already have a case and power supply that can be salvaged from your old unit.
will it kick ass at left 4 dead? no
will it run CoH (or WoW) at some very nice levels? yes.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
The Hunterminator
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I already have a computer, and I'm pretty sure I'm stuck with it so I'd like to make it, at least, last a while. I've stopped buying new games anyway so I don't need all that much. It's just that, right now, I have trouble running what I DO have.
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Hunter - if you're stuck PCI, the 9400 is by far the better card, so go with that.
What does your current machine have (CPU/MB/RAM/etc)? If we take the extra $100 you were originally willing to spend (or whatver on top of that), we might be able to help you boost it a little further.
The Hunterminator
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Quote:jpub wrote:
Hunter - if you're stuck PCI, the 9400 is by far the better card, so go with that.
What does your current machine have (CPU/MB/RAM/etc)? If we take the extra $100 you were originally willing to spend (or whatver on top of that), we might be able to help you boost it a little further.
Sadly, the motherboard is an odd Intel clusterfuck that has no room for upgrade at all. There's only a single unused PCI slot, everything else is already being used.
-EDIT-
In case you can help, though, what I have is this: http://www.intel.com/Products/Desktop/M ... erview.htm
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Yipe. Okay, recommendations:
1) Buy the nVidia card.
2) Get the thing up to 2GB memory.
3) Save money for a new PC. 
The Hunterminator
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jpub Wrote:Yipe. Okay, recommendations:
1) Buy the nVidia card.
2) Get the thing up to 2GB memory.
3) Save money for a new PC. *Nods*
Got it. Thank you very much. I'd probably be better off buying a new PC, but I'm an accountant so I feel the need to wring every penny of use out of what I already have. Oh well, as long as I can run EVE, CoH and my library of older games (hasn't been added to for the last 2 years), I'll be happy.
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I don't know how well that'll run CoH or EVE, even with 2GB and at lowest settings.
The Hunterminator
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jpub Wrote:I don't know how well that'll run CoH or EVE, even with 2GB and at lowest settings. *sags a bit*
Dangit. Oh well, I'll see.
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So, to get fiscal about it, your ROI is going to be quite a bit higher with a new machine, vs. additional upgrades on this one.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
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Absolutely. The Atom processor is intended for low-wattage apps like Netbooks. It's not going to power games well at all.
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Especially CoX. It's a hungry beast for the level of its normal graphics.
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''
-- James Nicoll
The Hunterminator
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The thump you just heard, that's me hitting my head on my desk. I swear to god, this was the last time I ever impulse-buy through a third party. I NEEDED a new computer nowish, and my brother offered to get me one so I said "yeah sure, anything will do. I need to be able to work on my curriculum vitae and look for a job as easily as possible. If looking for work is too inconvenient, it becomes too easy to postpone it and I already tend to procrastinate way too much."
What the f***ing stupid kind of manager has that stupid trap of a PC and, as the only alternative, a state of the art transparent gaming machine?
It's a damn good thing my budget is now well in the black and that my car payments end soon, this'll make accumulating money a lot easier.
That and it's a good thing that my recent PC gaming is pretty much limited to freeware or indie gaming, those markets rarely require much computing power.
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sing out when you hit $1200, we'll find you a firebreathing lovemonster of a gaming monstrosity.
$1200 is a _sweet_ place to be when buying a compy, especially if you're happy with your current monitor and speakers, mouse and keyboard.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
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Or less, even. I assume you're up here in Canuckistan, since you were looking at Tiger Direct.
I can build you a decent machine through NCIX on the cheap if you give me a budget.
Is it too late to point you in the direction of Newegg.com?
_____
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*looks up the mobo & it's local AUD$ price*
Yipe! I wouldn't even look at, or touch, that board if I was building a new basic system. In fact I used a ASUS P5KPL-CM, a cheep Intel wolfdale CPU (a E5200 I think) and left-over parts. For under $500 to boot.
Then again, I tend to keep using major components till I can't anymore and just update parts as needed so I do have a small junkpile to work with.
--Rod.H
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Yeah, I sent the order when I did my "got it" on the first page. Which is why learning just how much of a piece of **** this computer is AFTERWARDS peeved me a bit. But like I said, I'll see exactly where it stands and, hopefully, I'll be able to live with what I already have. Thankfully, I've migrated to console gaming a while back.
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Kurisu Wrote:Is it too late to point you in the direction of Newegg.com?
newegg is nice if you're in the USA, but their Canadian arm is pretty lackluster. NCIX is better up here.
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