Upgrade

[Moe]

Ok ya so this forum should last for a while, cause I am planing to upgrade my CPU<-- short for computer for me cause I think it sounds cool.

Anyways I know some decent info on video cards and I have learned almost all I could learn from that I could explain to my self the difference and what-not. But all I would like to know is what is the difference between a 128MB:and a 256MB video card. Cause I have a huge list of video cards I would like to buy and apparently the 128MB are out doing some of the 256MB cards, so could you guys also explain to be the difference and advantages of both 128, and 256MB cards.

And could you also explain to me what *over-clocking a video card, means.

Cause I am getting the impression you are increasing the speed of the card for example: a 256MB card clocked at 400MHz, over-clocked to 485MHz.(is that right or am I close to it)

P.S. I do know what AGP, PCI, and PCI express cards are. these cards I am planing to buy are AGP 8x, 4x

[Schweppes7T4]

1st off... dont' bother with agp, honestly. its being phased out slowly for pci express.

also, a 128 meg card? 256 has become the standard, and there are even a handfull of 512 meg cards out. dont' even bother with a 128 meg, its not worth it.

get a 256 meg, 256-bit graphics card. i'd really have to say go with nvidia (and this is coming form a former die hard ati fan). nvidia's new 7800 line is vastly supirior to the x1800. espeically if you're looking into dual GPU's. SLI is leaps and bounds ahead of crossfire, which is being found out to be very glitchy and just not work as well.

but really, i have what was a year ago, a completely top of the line computer, and even it can't run cs:s at full anything without getting framerate drops or tearing. so... dont' even bother with 128, it'll be a waste of money.

[ramp]

also... overclocking... you might want to NOT do that. overclocking a computer (a video card or anything else, usually CPU though.. but overclocking the video card would do just that) means that you put more through it than it could normally handle. This causes everything to melt because you forgot to run liquid coolant through it. which you would need a really smart nerd to do for you. so just run at the normal clock rate. don't freak with it or itll freak you right back!

[Chim]

first of all, what does your motherboard support? i'm assuming you are only upgrading your video card, which means you've got to get something that is supported by your system. if you don't have pci-express motherboard, then you obviously can't get a pci-e video card, you will have to get an agp card. there are 3 different speeds of agp (2x, 4x, and 8x). most agp motherboards you find now are 4x/8x.

the reason a 128mb card sometimes beats out a 256mb card is because it can access the lower amount of memory faster. most games now will want at least 256mb of ram (a lot of newer games will allow a 512 if you use uncompressed textures, but i wouldn't worry much about a 512mb video card).

with overclocking, unless you know a lot about it, i wouldn't suggest doing it yourself. overclocking a video card means that you will be running the gpu at a faster speed just like you said. the problem is, a lot of times it will require a better cooling system than the stock heatsink/fan that it comes with. watercooling is good, but you can overclock just fine with a well rated video card hs/fan cooler. the same applies to overclocking your cpu, you'll want better cooling than the stock fan. most of the time, i have not seen a huge difference in framerates or video quality when you're using an oc'd card vs a non-oc'd card.

if you have agp, i would suggest getting a geforce 6800gt and if you really want overclocking, you can get a stock overclocked card from BFG (Geforce 6800 GT OC) - it's a really good card. if you don't want to spend very much money, you can pick up an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. Those were really really good cards and they still run a lot of games with good quality, however, i'd recommend spending a little more and getting a newer card. you could go with the Geforce 7 series, but will be much more expensive and i'm not sure which of those series you can get in AGP form. i always recommend a middle of the road version of a card (like the GT or the Pro) because the lower end (LS or GS or no suffix) aren't as good and the higher end ones (like XT or Ultra) because they aren't normally that great of an upgrade vs the higher price.

[Moe]

what do you think of ATI Readon 9800 XT for $145?

www.sharkyextreme.com/hardware/videocards/article.php/3211_3086361__1

*want honest opinion, cause I just figured out I could buy these cards from Dubi and it would be cheaper(my dad would do the buying ^^)

[Schweppes7T4]

i have a 9800pro... the xt is a small upgrade. i think it has 2 or 4 more pixel pipelines or something.

for the price though, its a decent buy i guess.

[The Black Dart]

yeah thats a pretty good deal

[Moe to lazy to sign in]

I would like some advice on some other video cards, other than the popular one.

[The Black Dart]

nvida 6000 or 7000 series still popular but if u want one that isnt popular thats like asking for one that sucks