Which graphic card for MSTS

Bigant · Post by **Bigant** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 12:16 pm

Hi
Considering upgrading my graphics card, but which one, not too much cash to spare any good one's out there. Which do you use?? Have a 1.3 gig athlon running win 98se 256 ram (but hope to increase soon) 32 meg diamond stealth graphics card.

Regards

Don

bjdick · Post by **bjdick** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 12:43 pm

Choosing a graphics card depends on a lot of things.The mobo for example,and its chipset.What Via likes ain't what Sis likes perhaps,and vica-versa,so seek advice for your particular board.

It's also not much good getting a 4X card if your mobo can only handle 2X transfer rate.A true AGP 4X graphics slot has two "barriers" that prevents a 2X graphics card being inserted.However some mobo manufacturers "cheat" by fitting a 2XAGP slot that will accept both 2X & 4X,but only run at 2X.Card manufacturers do the same to get a 2X in a 4x slot.(I think I got that right?)

If you're already running a card with good results,at 4X,then upgrade to a better version from the same manufacturer.

champy · Post by **champy** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 12:54 pm

It really does depend on your budget .

Under Â£100

Try something along the lines of a GEForce card NVIDIA 64mb
you may get TV in TV out with it that should be around the Â£60 mark

ABOVE Â£100

I have just paid Â£177
for a GEforce 4 4500ti 128mb card that runs at 650mhz which i upgraded from a 64 mb Radeon which is about the best u will get at the mo

I have been told of late, the drivers and systems used to run graphics and games, out of the main companies, the NVIDIA cards are and have been better for games and such like.

But its entirely up to u and i would seek as much advice as possible

I purchase my PC stuff from http://www.Novatech.co.uk

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/Comp ... 2b13c0d0e0
the above link takes u to the graphics card page and also u can talk on the phone. They are very helpfull and have delivery on a next day or three day type

GOOD LUCK

LucaZone · Post by **LucaZone** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 1:18 pm

nVidia & ATi are tha main stream games graphics card manufacturers.

nVidia :: http://www.nvidia.com

Geforce cards are always good and widely supported by most games companies.
Watch out for MX versions though. They might be low budget but thats cos they are based on older card technology that has been speeded up.
GeForce2 Ultra or Ti cards are still good, and not expensive
GeForce3 or the Gf3 Ti500 are good cards, with prices dropping all the time (ive got the Ti500 version)
All the GeForce 4 Ti series. Though these are the most recent and powerful. make sure u have a PC that is compatible.

ATi Technologies :: http://www.ati.com

Also widely supported, their range is the Radeon Series
Watch out of the LE or VE options, these are cards that beef up old technology
Radeon 7500 is the Gf2 equivilant. Still good and not to expensive.
Radeon 8500 & 9000 are the Gf3 equivilants. Moderate prices.
Radeon 9500 & 9700 are their latest offerings with the best technology. Again make sure u pc is new enough to take these.

Theres also Matrox (http://www.matrox.com), although they aim more towards the workplace market, their cards still offer some good alternatives at competing prices. Their top range card, the Parhelia 128 & 256 offers a unique 3 monitor display ability. Allowing for upto 160 degrees of visability in games.

Good places to buy online, because online is always cheaper, include :: http://www.dabs.com (though they offer no after sales support), http://www.scan.co.uk, http://www.ovreclockers.co.uk, and http://www.sharkyextreme.com give very insightful reviews and tests of hardware new and old.

Bigant · Post by **Bigant** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 5:01 pm

Thanks forgot to give the mobo, it is a Jetway 867as with 4x agp slot.
Will check around for a good deal.
BTW have a 256m 168 pin dimm memory and was thinking of adding a 512m to it, or should I ditch the 256 and go for DDr memory have two slots of each type on the m/board.

many thanks

Don

60085 · Post by **60085** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 7:33 pm

Don't get a GeForce 4 Mx... there terrible. You probably wouldn't be much better off than you are now.
Seriously, a mate was well disappointed with his so he brought it over and chucked in my machine to test it.
There was only marginal improvement between my GeForce 2 and this Mx thingy and our other mates GF3 Ti ate it for breakie.

I've been unable to run MSTS in all its splender due to running a 1st generation Athlon 600Mhz, 128mb SDRAM and a 64mb GeForce 2.
A week tuesday and finally i can run all my games at full burn thanks to Mesh.

60085 "MANNA".

mikesimpson · Post by **mikesimpson** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 9:46 pm

60085 wrote:Don't get a GeForce 4 Mx... there terrible. You probably wouldn't be much better off than you are now.
Seriously, a mate was well disappointed with his so he brought it over and chucked in my machine to test it.
There was only marginal improvement between my GeForce 2 and this Mx thingy and our other mates GF3 Ti ate it for breakie.

I've been unable to run MSTS in all its splender due to running a 1st generation Athlon 600Mhz, 128mb SDRAM and a 64mb GeForce 2.
A week tuesday and finally i can run all my games at full burn thanks to Mesh.

60085 "MANNA".

Yes, the Geforce 4 MX is just a 'hotted-up' Geforce 2.

I upgraded my Geforce 2 to a Geforce 4 Ti4200 with 64 mb and it is really good and not too expensive. The Geforce 4s with higher Ti numbers, 4400 4600 etc and 128 mb are of course better, but the price jumps quite significantly compared with the performance increase.

Make sure you get the latest Nvidia drivers though, and buy a card from one of the well known makers. Although all the Geforce 4 cards have the Nvidia chipset, the other ancilliary chips can be made by anyone and some of them are rubbish. My previous Geforce 2 card by an unnamed Taiwanese company ran at only twothirds the speed of my old Riva-TNT card

LucaZone · Post by **LucaZone** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 10:01 pm

Value Gaming Buyers Guide
High-end Gaming Buyers Guide
Extreme Gaming Buyers Guide

bjdick · Post by **bjdick** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 11:17 pm

I'm surprised at the comment about Dabs.com,regarding support.If you buy the retail version of something,it is the items manufacturer you contact for support.If you buy an OEM item it is the online sellers responsibility.Assuming you bought both thriugh Dabs,then they're only responsible for the latter case.

I'm slightly biassed towards Dabs at this very moment,as a HDD I got from them,OEM,over a year ago is now suspect.

On contacting them,they are honouring my original manufacturers three year guarantee(even though HDD's,by the same manufacturer,have only one years guarantee now),and the drive is RMA'd for repair\replacement.

Keep ALL paperwork when you purchase something,and swat up on consumer rights,but with reputable dealers like Maplins and Dabs,I've never had any problems.

tinsley · Post by **tinsley** » Sat Dec 07, 2002 11:58 pm

I'm delighted with my Gainward geforce4 ti4200 64Mbddr (Golden Sample) bought from the weekly computer fair in London....never had any problems with replacing products either as all are established companies that trade there. I buy ALL my gear there. It is run by the BCF (British Computer Fair) and they have fairs in many towns in the UK.
I paid Â£120 for it.

60085 · Post by **60085** » Sun Dec 08, 2002 12:48 am

Does MSTS run well with ATi cards?

I've heard comments about general support and up take for the technology in them not being great, with games companies tending to back behind support/compatibility with nVidia's GeForce cards.
Whether this was just opinions (i think all people have a slight persuasion on things, hell i defended 3Dfx from criticism... they went t*ts up like, but thats not the point) i don't know.

The system i'm getting isn't far off amazing, allegedly with a 2D benchmark score of 1.84 and a 3DMark2001 score of 14,500+
All this performance is a bit irrelevant if support for the chipset is poor.

60085 "MANNA".

johncarr · Post by **johncarr** » Sun Dec 08, 2002 8:13 am

Running a Radeon 9700 Pro with latest MS certified drivers on an Evesham 2.66 Mz (Intel) machine with 512 Mb Ram. 50 fps most of the time with all sliders maxed out on 1280 x ? 17 inch screeen. Drops to approx 25 fps going through Peterborough on MidEast 1.2. ATI seems to have got their act together re drivers and support.

John Carr

lacorbiere · Post by **lacorbiere** » Sun Dec 08, 2002 9:20 am

Hmmm.... I'm getting the same frame rates as you using a Gf4 Ti 4200 bought for considerably less than your 9700Pro would have cost (probably about half the price). The problem with MSTS is that it is so memory and HD intensive, that the graphics are only as good as the rest of the system....

Jonathan

LucaZone · Post by **LucaZone** » Sun Dec 08, 2002 11:29 am

3Dfx didnt go tits up, they started the graphics card industry, but sadly didnt keep up with the competition. Eventually they couldnt compete with nVidia and ATi, and so were bought out to save grace.

60085 · Post by **60085** » Sun Dec 08, 2002 4:57 pm

Thanks for that.

I know thy didn't literally go tits up, they were bought by nVidia yes.

60085 "MANNA".

Atomic Systems

Which graphic card for MSTS

Which graphic card for MSTS

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Pricing of ATI?