Voxels, now there's a term I've not heard in a long time! I remember when they were the next big thing with Delta Force and Outcase 
Take a Crash-Course in How To Buy a Video Card
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
Well, for the reference cards (that is cards built to Nvidia's or ATI's specifications) that is pretty true. In that case you just buy from a manufacturer you trust. Beyond reference you start getting into different cooling solutions, factory overclocks and of course the tweaking software.Fensfield said:
Not anymore though. With the advent of the HD 9000+ series, their drivers are VASTLY improved over not only their older drivers, but nVidia's. Someone I know recently bought an Alienware laptop (groan if you wish) that has one of nVidia's newer mobility cards. Long story short, it absolutely will not allow him to play practically any game using direct draw or any game older than 2001. Diablo 2 crashes or just plain old bugs out. Starcraft gets minimized into a tiny little window with big ass letterbox-like black bars surrounding it. Etc, etc, etc.mikozero said:
Now, I've taken a look at the thing. Fiddled with both the software and hardware side of things. Even did a thorough search of nVidia's site. There isn't one single fix, patch, or driver update that addresses the issues.
What's wrong with VGA? I use my LCD TV as a monitor, and I get a better picture from VGA than HDMI. I don't notice any issues.Andy Chalk said:
Here's lesson number one: When it comes to money, more is better.
I could not disagree more. In my experience there is a sharp drop-off in bang-for-buck as you move into the top-end video cards. A $100 video card will generally play any new game with smooth framerates on medium settings - ie., still superior graphics to a console. (And that's assuming a 1920x1080 display - a smaller area will be even cheaper). For $200, you can probably play any new game on high graphics settings. The extra $500 that the article is suggesting you drop on your graphics card will allow you to ramp up the graphics on a mere handful of games to levels which are barely an improvement over what a $200 card could deliver.
So in short, for under $200 you can get a perfectly decent card which will offer a superior experience to console graphics. On top of this, the graphics card is by far the easiest component to upgrade - so if you're building a PC from scratch, it's actually the best place to save money. Pick up a $100-200 card and use that for a year, upgrade it later when you have the cash (or when better cards come down in price).
Spend the cash on the best processor and motherboard that fits your budget - they will be a much better investment and are much harder to upgrade later.
I could not disagree more. In my experience there is a sharp drop-off in bang-for-buck as you move into the top-end video cards. A $100 video card will generally play any new game with smooth framerates on medium settings - ie., still superior graphics to a console. (And that's assuming a 1920x1080 display - a smaller area will be even cheaper). For $200, you can probably play any new game on high graphics settings. The extra $500 that the article is suggesting you drop on your graphics card will allow you to ramp up the graphics on a mere handful of games to levels which are barely an improvement over what a $200 card could deliver.
So in short, for under $200 you can get a perfectly decent card which will offer a superior experience to console graphics. On top of this, the graphics card is by far the easiest component to upgrade - so if you're building a PC from scratch, it's actually the best place to save money. Pick up a $100-200 card and use that for a year, upgrade it later when you have the cash (or when better cards come down in price).
Spend the cash on the best processor and motherboard that fits your budget - they will be a much better investment and are much harder to upgrade later.
Google your motherboard (or just look at the manual), it'll tell you what graphics slot you have. It's almost certainly PCI-E (aka PCI Express or sometimes PCI-E*16), and that will accept any PCI-E card. The only other possible issue is whether your power supply can drive it - if you're 500W or more (read the rating off the PSU) you should be fine for a single card.dragontiers said:
I'm still rocking a 2007-issue nVidia 8800GT, but New Vegas is showing me I'd better cut my outsized lunch budget (campus student center food court, how I love thee), drop 20 pounds, and take advantage of my good credit to get my hands on a new gaming PC.
Anymore you need to do at least duo core but if you are buying new then quad core is a good step to have a decent lifetime on your system. As much RAM gets included with your video card, it is still gonna butt in on your main RAM so you will want that too.Woodsey said:
I don't know where you get all this from Andy, but it may be good to do some follow up with other sources.
I myself am not that greedy for graphics power, which is helped by my tight budget, but my latest graphics card has been doing a dang good job, and it cost me only about $100. I can see where higher end would be nice, but spending more than $300 is being ridiculous. These days there should be more emphasis on the budget-minded gamer, but even on a budget you really don't have to make many sacrifices to get a decent gaming experience. Nice thing about desktops is you don't have to get it all at once. If you start with a new system go with a weaker end video card that you can swap out for newer later on. Just make sure the more permanent stuff will stay relevant for a while. Processor and Motherboard pretty much. I got lucky with getting a board that had PCI-e before anything(affordable anyway at the time) was being made to fill it. I have only had to upgrade the power unit(with that alone my system runs cooler already and therefore smoother) and graphics card(doubled the RAM and got support for shadows in my Assassin's Creed 2. Nice) once in its lifetime and add a cpl gigs of ram(Which helps Windows boot up faster though I am already getting hints that efficiency is starting to slip, which means I need to get up to 7 which I can with this). All without having to go all out on a new system.
Frankly I find the lesson that less money is better, as it makes you more conscious of getting something worth upgrading up to, but will also have staying power. People with lots of money tend to think less about the future so much and will buy the stuff more likely to burn out faster.
But there is one thing that is right in this article, is do research on what you are going to buy and do not depend on the store salesman alone. Today I went to Best Buy to look at Hard Drives to know what is out there(I still can't get over Terabyte being available, but wow is it needed!). I learned there is a new connection interface which I need to see if my Motherboard supports, as well as follow up with what else is out there like on Amazon and NewEgg. It is the harder path but in the case of your computer, the work is worth extending the life of your PC and keeping your gaming experience alive.
Indeed, I bought mine 2 years ago for $200, along with the rest of my rig(except hard drive, which I had beforehand) for about $100 and its still going strong today.Woodsey said:
Whoever spends lots of money upgrading their systems every year is a fool. A rich fool.
I should get a new video card sometime soon, but I keep putting it off because in addition to a card I'll also need to get a new power supply and I'm lazy.
Or you know, maybe... JUST MAYBE, you could grow a fucking brain and learn how the technology you depend on every day works. I know that its probably too much to ask, but I have to try.
For the record, I'm running a 256 meg BFG GeForce 7950 GS OC that I picked up off a buy/sell/trade forum back in early 2008. It's been a fantastic piece of equipment, it's still quite capable and I plan on using it for the foreseeable future. People who say that PCs are bottomless money pits that have to be constantly upgrade in order to be maintained as viable gaming machines have no idea what they're talking about.
That said, the fundamental point of the guide is accurate: More money = better experience. Is it suggesting that you drop a $700 video card into your three-year-old Gateway? Of course not. It points non-technical types in the right direction, gives them a few potential speed bumps to watch out for and makes it clear that a $200 card is going to be better than a $100 card. Freaking out because it's not Tom's or Anandtech is pointless, because it's not meant to be.
That said, the fundamental point of the guide is accurate: More money = better experience. Is it suggesting that you drop a $700 video card into your three-year-old Gateway? Of course not. It points non-technical types in the right direction, gives them a few potential speed bumps to watch out for and makes it clear that a $200 card is going to be better than a $100 card. Freaking out because it's not Tom's or Anandtech is pointless, because it's not meant to be.
