Time to shop for a new Video Card

[SuperApe]

My three year old 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 pro (PCI) crapped out. (It's been hot here and I'm working 18 hours/day on 3D stuff, both Unreal and Maya) I'm about three months past my Dell warranty. Time to go upgrade.

First, I got this card to handle dual display, good video and 3D. So it had the TV-Out, plus DVI and normal out for dual screens. I need to go this route again. This time, I guess I should be thinking about UT2007 and other nexgen stuff.

So, I headed to Fry's and was thoroughly underwhelmed with their selection. Browsed CompUSA and saw a little more, but immediately realized I'm completely out of touch. What to get? I've browsed the "video card" threads here. I know a few of you have or had 9800 pro's and/or dual screen setups.

More details:
Dell Dimension 8300
Dual Intel Pentium4 3.06Ghz, 1 Gig DDR SDRAM
(need more info?)

I'm looking for a PCI card, not an nVidea nerd (I actually like ATI), and would like to have less heat issues, if possible.

Suggestions? Help?

[Moot]

You don't have AGP?
How much do you want to spend?

[SuperApe]

Originally Posted by Moot

You don't have AGP?
How much do you want to spend?

I have a "Processor to AGP Controller", but I have PCI stuff. Pic attached. Oh yeah, I have a dual proc system.

I use this computer for work as well as play so I'd rather consider quality first and think about economy afterwards.

[Lord_Simeon]

I wouldn't go below a 6600GT as it's minimum specs for UT2007.
I run that card, and it runs everything else no problems.

[Tachyon]

7900GTX or 7800GTX. If you have a high budget, go for the GX2.

[Angel_Mapper]

You guys are SO not paying attention.

[Scourgem]

I'm in kind of the same situation - 9800pro died (after 3 years as well, conspiracy? ) and I had to replace it with a couple of ancient cards (GeForce2 and TNT2). Needless to say, the setup is fine for running Windows and not much else.

I don't think there are many "gaming" cards being made for the plain old PCI interface anymore. It's all PCI-express now. You could of course buy another 9800, since they're budget priced now.

Not much help I'm afraid, just looking forward to whatever advice you get since it'll aply to me as well.

[SuperApe]

Originally Posted by Scourgem

I don't think there are many "gaming" cards being made for the plain old PCI interface anymore. It's all PCI-express now. You could of course buy another 9800, since they're budget priced now.

That was my first thought; just replace the component with what has worked until now. I just saw nothing in the stores but cards that were one or two generations ahead of that. I'll have to compare the idea of a quick fix (9800 now, upgrade later) with a big step up. My Dell help person did mention something about PCI express. Was he steering me down a wrong path?

[Kingster]

Well, your biggest problem is that you want a PCI card. Looking at the Dell info on the 8300, you SHOULD have an 8x AGP port. Is that not the case? If you are stuck with PCI, your only option is like an open-box/used 9800... Or if you want new, you'll have to go with like the 9250... These are really the only ATI chipset options out there.

If you have 8x AGP, the door opens MUCH wider. If you want to be uber-geek, you can go with a high end workstation card at $600, or go high-end gmer card at about $220. There are plenty of options though.

It all boils down to if you are PCI bound or not. And Dell help suggesting PCI express? They should be kicked in the nuts for that. Your PC doesn't have PCI express. They shouldn't even mention it. Idiots.

[Scourgem]

The CPU-to-AGP controller in the screenshot does suggest that an AGP port is available, but I'd open the cabinet and check.

The trouble with AGP cards is that many newer motherboards simply don't have AGP at all, so when you upgrade your CPU(s) next time, you will have to upgrade the gfx card again. So you could settle for a new (AGP) 9800pro now, then do a proper motherboard+cpu+ram+gfx card upgrade on the long term.

[SuperApe]

Originally Posted by Kingster

Your PC doesn't have PCI express. They shouldn't even mention it. Idiots.

I wasn't going to put too much faith in what they were saying. That was just my first step. ("Can you guys please replace my busted card?")

I haven't done much to this machine since I got it, so I'm just not familiar with the setup. If you saw the motherboard in the 8300 comes with AGP, then mine probably has it. Unless there's another component using it up, I should have slots available. I'll do some digging today.

When I think about getting up and running, my first impulse is to get exactly what is busted, unless it was giving me problems all along, which my 9800 was not. However since that technology is old now, I'm open to more options. I just don't want to see conflicts with any of the software setup I have.


... And now that Mercury is about to go retrograde I'm preparing for the worst. Radio, help!

[JoystickMonkey]

With you PCI slot, you've pigeonholed yourself pretty well there.
I can pretty much guarantee that anything that connects to a PCI slot is not going to run U3E games.
You can hop over to newegg and check out motherboards, and possibly processors. They're quite cheap at the moment, so if you're gonna buy something, you could probably spend $200 on a new processor and mobo. Then you'll have a nifty PCIe slot, and possibly DDR2 capabilities. I know, this computer hobby is expensive.

[SuperApe]

I just found my manual. I do have AGP 8x dedicated for video. So I should be in business. I was also poking around online and saw various DDR ATI cards with dual screen capability (using DVI). Of course, I don't have the pages up now and I can't remember the model numbers, but I think now that I'm looking for AGP cards, this should be easier.

[Creeper]

If you want to go with ATI on AGP.. I'd suggest the Sapphire X850 Pro Rippin fast, AGP, ATI.. and not as spendy as the ATI X1600

[SuperApe]

Hey, that X850Pro looks sweet and reading about the memory type (GDDR3), it sounds like it uses less voltage, so less heat. Oops, it requires a 300W power supply and according to my specs, I've got 250W.
I'll keep looking.