New Hardware - Advice?

[~Lazarus~]

Guys,

bear with me on this. I Know there have been other threads out there on this subject.

Birthday is coming up and the wifes been nagging m about "What I Want", so I thought if I dont ask for something I get the standard Boxer Shorts and Terry's Chocolate Orange.

So I throw it open : what do you reckon ?

1. New Sound Card.
Currently using out the box sound - good enough (i think) but maybe you know better.

2. New Gaphics Card.
Currently have a Geforce 2 MX 32 MB (Elsa Gladiac) which gives about 40fps in CS

Give me your thoughts on these and any advice you might have on possible replacements. I dont want to go over £100 (Scottish Background )

P.S.
OS = WinME
900Mhz
384 RAM

 

[Testin da Cable]

I'd say get a n00 gfx card Laz mate. [this without knowing anything about your usage of the pc at all] imo getting something like a [pricedropping gf3] will put more oomph in your pc than upgrading to a high range soundcard.
a soundcard would imply also getting a new speaker-set to enjoy it properly methinks. anyhoo, that's my two cents.

 

[Wij]

GF4 Ti4200 isn't much over £100 and u won't regret it

 

[~Lazarus~]

Found the Abit Siluro GeForce 3 Ti200 128MB AGP RP DVI VO at Dabs for £112.79

------------------------------


Also found the 64MB DDR GeForce3 Ti200 at Novatech for £92.82.

I take it there wont be much between these cards.

Thanks for the input Wij, but the Ti4200 is coming in at £140.00 which is a little steep. I will think about it.

 

[S-Gray]

I would have said:

A Cheap GeForce 2 32mb MX (Around £30 / £40), the one i had "Super" got me 70fps in Counterstrike. Which was good.

Sound, i would go for Soundblaster Live 1024 / 5.1 (Under £35)


Now im only saying them two, because you only wanna go to £100, but they are decent enough

 

[Stazbumpa]

Originally posted by old.Lazarus
Found the Abit Siluro GeForce 3 Ti200 128MB AGP RP DVI VO at Dabs for £112.79

------------------------------


Also found the 64MB DDR GeForce3 Ti200 at Novatech for £92.82.

I take it there wont be much between these cards.

Thanks for the input Wij, but the Ti4200 is coming in at £140.00 which is a little steep. I will think about it.

I was told in no uncertain terms that the more expensive GF4 card would have been better. I got the 128 Mb Abit card that you are looking at, however, and my CS frame rates have gone ballistic. UT is also running impossibly fast. The only trouble is that my CPU (AMD 800) isn't fast enough, so newer stuff like Medal of Honour and especially SoF 2 still have frame rate issues even when the detail is on medium. Jedi Knight 2, though, runs like an absolute dream, so I suppose its down to the game rather than your hardware.

Apart from that I'm very pleased with it. I'm also pretty certain the card will really kick in as soon as I upgrade my CPU

 

[throdgrain]

Yeah Staz is right, that vid card of yours is a bit old laz. A GF3 would be a bargain for £100
Btw Staz yep a new cpu will speed it up summat rotten. I currently get 200fps avarage on the Q3 demo at 1024-768 !

 

[Ukle]

Sound Card Suggestion...

Given that everyone else has suggested a G.Card or Gcard + Sound card then i will suggest a Sound card

Upgrading your soundcard depends on what are your current speakers / soundcard are and what you using the machine for. If all your using the machine is for Surfing then stick with the onboard sound / v.cheap s card.

My suggestion is to get Sound Blaster Audigy Player + Creative Inspire 5300 Speaker set. Bit over bugget at around 110 squid (via CCL) but if all you been using up to now is a 10 quid card and 10 quid speakers, then it will make a world of difference.

Although if you already have 5.1 Speakers / soundcard then dont bother with a sound upgrade.

 

[Wilier]

Surley to benefit from super sound cards, you need to be able to crank up the volume and scare the neighbours. In Laz's situation, 2 kids, wife, plays in a boot cupboard under the stairs, a spanky SC isnt really going to be of benefit.

I would go for the vid card.



Or a new hoover.

 

[bodhi]

Radeon 8500's should be coming down in price soon, LE's should dip under 100 quid. The new driver sets are supposed to be solid on 8500's now.

 

[S-Gray]

Originally posted by Wilier
Surley to benefit from super sound cards, you need to be able to crank up the volume and scare the neighbours. In Laz's situation, 2 kids, wife, plays in a boot cupboard under the stairs, a spanky SC isnt really going to be of benefit.

I would go for the vid card.



Or a new hoover.

Well, he could always buy a good pair of Headphones/Headset...

 

[FatBusinessman]

Originally posted by bodhi
Radeon 8500's should be coming down in price soon, LE's should dip under 100 quid. The new driver sets are supposed to be solid on 8500's now.

This is a staff announcement, could Xavier please deliver some nVidia fanboydom to aisle 5 please?

 

[Xavier]

Sorry Fatbusinessman but tbh I'd recommend looking out for the 'Hightech' 64Mb Radeon 9000 Pro (clocked 300Mhz/300Mhz) and coming in around £86 if your missus won't go above the £100 mark.

If you can afford slightly more then the Ti4200 is _seriously_ worth consideration, cheapest we've seen was about 109+vat but you'll have to shop about... go on, u know u want to!

Xav

 

[Xavier]

Originally posted by Super_Gray[SG]


Well, he could always buy a good pair of Headphones/Headset...

yeah, my sennheisers were about £100

 

[Summo]

Sound card? Sound card? Blimey, as long as it plays sound = win! I only bought a new sound card when my old one started getting 'choppy'.

Are you sure you can't stretch to a little more for a graphics card, Laz? I've found a Gainward GeForce 4 Ti4200 64MB for only £112 on Overclockers UK. Bound to be some slightly cheaper if you look around. I personally wouldn't bother with a GF3. Why spend the same money upgrading from one old card to another? Spend the extra £15 (on top of the £100) and get a card that'll really make a difference.

I insist.

 

[~Lazarus~]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Ill check out the prices and let the little lady know.



Summo - Ill PM you my address. Then you will know where to send the cheque for £15

 

[~Lazarus~]

Wooohooooo

Just got a bonus at work.

Looks like I might go for the GF4


Dont ya just luv surprises ::::

 

[~Lazarus~]

OR.....

may upgrade PC from

Compaq Presario 900Mhz AMD Duron
384 MB Ram
Geforce2 MX 32MB
20MB 5400 rpm HDD
Hayes Accura Modem
WinME
DVD/CD 40x
PD 16x

to

AMD Athlon XP 1800+ (1.533GHz)
Integrated NVidia Geforce 2 MX200 32MB
256MB 266MHz PC2100 DDR (max 1GB)
56k v.92
40GB Hard Drive 5400 rpm
16x DVD ROM
40x CDRW
Windows XP Home
10 Software Points redeemable online only
MS Windows XP Home Edition etc.
JBL Speakers

For the sum of £415

What ya reckon.

Decisions Decisions

 

[Wij]

Originally posted by old.Lazarus
OR.....
Integrated NVidia Geforce 2 MX200 32MB

Single figure frame rates give u a semi do they m8 ??

 

[Testin da Cable]

Laz, inte....intra....built-in thingys aer teh suxor mate.

 

[Xavier]

hmm, i kinda disagree

the board is clearly nForce based which means kickass core logic but the graphics are no better than you currently have...

best case scenario you'll see an increase in FPS in cpu-constrained games but DX8 games which will require the pixel shader shananigans will crawl along almost as tortoise-like as summos motaah.

yes its worth the upgrade but I'd try and strike a deal and get the GeForce4Ti 4200 thrown in for an extra £60 or so.

 

[~Lazarus~]

heh.

I was more or less looking to see how good it was for the price with a view to continuing to upgrade (gfx/modem etc) at a later date.

Just wondering out loud.....

 

[Wij]

As long as it has an AGP slot for upgrade.

 

[Summo]

Hmm... paying for an onboard graphics card which I'm planning to replace anyway would stick in my throat like one of Wij's pubic lice. There are cheaper boards out there that don't have all the onboard stuff that you really don't need.

XP Home? Puh-lease. Crappy speakers? No thanks, but more memory, ta and you can keep yer 56k modem and 'software points.'

 

[Scooba Da Bass]

Get a better sound card, and some nice headphones, then forget about the games and listen to your noisy cd rom drive messing up your sound, HUZZAH!

 

[Xavier]

Originally posted by Wij
As long as it has an AGP slot for upgrade.

Luckily all nForce based motherboards have an AGP slot...

Sound is 5.1 on that chipset (and pretty good for integrated, almost on par with SoundStorm which is Dolby Digital 5.1)...

as to the integrated graphics, i reckon it provides a good upgrade path will be far better than his current box anyhow

 

[~Lazarus~]

Right,

Been surfing and searching like mad for a suitable card at a suitable price and have settled on 2 :

Innovision Inno3D GeForce4 Ti4200 128Mb DDR DVI TV-Out AGP

£130
Product Information

Graphics Core 256-bit
Memory Interface 128-bit DDR
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec.)128MB -7.1
Fill Rate (AA Sample/sec.) 4.0 billion
Verticies/sec. (million) 113
Operations per second (trillion) 1.03
Effective Memory Clock Rate (MHz) 480 - 128MB
RAMDACs (MHz) (each have 2 RAMDACs) 350
Powered by nVidia GeForce4 Ti GPU
Lightspeed Memory Architecture (LMA) II Technology
NVIDIA nfiniteFX II Engine
128MB 128-bit DDR Frame Buffer Memory supported
Dual Programmable Vertex Shaders Engine
nView Display Technology, provides unprecedented flexibility and control for using multiple displays
Dual 350MHz RAMDACs with crisp and clear image quality at 2048x1536 resolution at 75 Hz refresh
Optional TV-Output support 1024x768 resolution
Accuview Antialiasing delivers unprecedented AA performance and quality to the mainstream market and enables high solution, high frame rate, full-scene antialiasing for the first time ever in the market segment
AGP 2X / 4X support with AGP Texturing and Fast Writes
Fully accelerates Windows XP multimedia and user interfaces, making it the ideal Windows XP graphics solution
Guarantees forward and backward compatibility with nVIDIA Unified Driver Architecture (UDA)
Microsoft DirectX 8.X Optimizations and support
Complete OpenGL 1.3 and OpenGL support
==============================================


128Mb Chaintech GT20 Ti4200 Ge-Force 4 DVi TV Out £130
Interface AGP interface
4x/2x AGP supports

Chipset nVIDIA GeForce4 Ti4200

Memory 128MB DDR SDRAM

General features - 128-bit Memory interface
- 256-bit Graphics Architecture
- 250 MHz Core Clock
- 444 MHz Memory Clock (128MB)
- 350MHz internal RAMDAC
- 113 Million Vertices/ sec
- 4.0 Billion Texels/ sec Fill Rate
- 1.03 Trillion Operations/ sec
- 7.1 GB/sec memory bandwidth (128MB)
- 4 dual-rendering pipelines
- 8 texels per clock cycle
- nView Display Technology
- Cube environment mapping
- Dual Programmable Vertex Shaders
- Advanced Programmable Pixel Shaders
- 32-bit color with 32-bit Z/ stencil buffer
- Multibuffering (double, triple, quad) for smooth animation and video playback
- Lightspeed Memory Architecture II technology
- Unified Driver Architecture (UDA)
- Accuview Antialiasing Engine

High quality
video playback - 350 MHz internal RAMDACs, 2048*1536*32bpp @ 75Hz
- Single-Link external TMDS (DVI 1.0), max resolution over digital port: 1600*1200*60Hz (VESA STD)

Full software
support - Microsoft DirectX optimizations and support
- Complete OpenGL 1.3 and OpenGL support
- WHQL-certified Windows XP, 2000, ME, 98, 95

Other features - 15-pin D-sub VGA connector
- S-Video Connector
- S-Video Cable

=======================

Choice has been severly hampered by the wife going on a mad spending spree at the sales. I have looked for the higher end GF4 but they are too far out of the budget.

Any one had any experience of the cards listed above (havent heard of innovision)?

The 2 cards I found before arent available anymore

 

[Xavier]

either are pretty good, it looks like the innovision has its memory clocked slightly higher now, but i'd recommend clocking it up to 500mhz anyhow.

are those prices inc vat? if not i hear gainward direct have a ti4200 64mb with quicker memory for 129inclusive and pny have ti4200 on shelves in dixons for 140 odd squids..