Sorting out the mess!
A lotta ppl here in need of a decent graphics card! This is gonna b a long post, and a must-read for any n00b!
Scenario 1:
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U have a p-4 basic/HT or an athlon XP anywhere between 1.5 gig's or 2000+ then there isnt any need to upgrade now unless ur an enthusiast (in which case u shouldnt have that system in the first place) or unless uve just won a lottery!
Right, now for getting this system up-to-speed, all u need is 512mb dd400 ram and adecent graphics card(if u have a geforce 4ti or radeon9700+, forget the upgrade and stick to it) otherwise get a r9800pro for around Rs-6K.
Contrary to popular belief agp-8X versions of these cards do NOT fare any better than the agp-4X versions, as for most agp-4x gen cards, the bottleneck isnt the bus! Also it doesent really matter if u have 64 or 128mb on the card! Both have their own advantages(128mb offers a minor framebuffer boost, while 64mb is generally clocked faster)
Now scourge the net for game tweaks instead, and use the latest drivers, modded cfg files etc.
Scenario 2:
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U have a p-4 dual core/Athlon64/Athlon64 x2 (939 or Am2-yeah right, in India) at 3gigs or 3000+(and above)
Then most probably u have a pcie x16 slot on the motherboard and should have a decent onboard solution(read r200 or n6100/6150). While the processor/MoBo is decent enough, u may have to look into graphics part of it!
If u own an asus motherboard (a8n-vm/a8n-vm/csm etc) then u need two ddr400 sticks in dual channel mode to actually feed the onboard graphics core enough bandwidth for any respectable gaming! I personally recommend Corosair, or kinston if ur on a budget!
Pop in the memory in the dual channel slots(as documented in ur MoBo manual) and assign 128mb for graphics!
Now check out the difference in games! At medium detail level all games upto Quake4 @ 1024x768 should be playable! Play fear at 800x600, same for black or prey, Ghost recon advanced warfighter(which is one mean Bit*h)
If u still want the extra edge, go for a better graphics card in the budget class!
I recommend a Galaxy or Gainward offering, a 7300GT is an excellent card, as both these offerings have GDDR3 and a heafty default overclock and extreamly silent cooling(galaxy has Zalman, Gainward uses passive) + if ur lucky ull get a card which u can actually turn into a 7600GT(read soft-mod the extra quad disabled in the g73 core for 7300Gt, old timers may recall the 9500-9700pro)! Details on
www.gpureview.com!
Even otherwise, its pretty close to the 7600Gt and a X1800 for lower resolutions (upto 1280x1024) which is what we in INDIA play at mostly!
If ur not an enthusiast or cant get the aforementioned two brands(near 5k-5.5k) then dont go for the forsa 7300GT, gddr2 is crappy!
Instead look for a 7600Gs with a nice default oc or a 7600GT (stay away from big names like asus, and u could get these in the 7k-10k range) as both are pretty good, though the 7600Gt is a tad better (hardly noticiable when u push the cards to extreams, plus once overclocked they both get to nearly the same levels provided they both use GDDR3)
Also check if the forsa uses gddr3 which i dont think it does(mighty strange as most companies use gddr3 even on the 7300gt)
This should put u in possession of one mean machine! Plus if u have a decent MoBo (a8n-vm csm) then u can push that athlon64 to atleast a 10% increase on the stock cooler without a worry! Max is 25% oc, but u need extra cooling and dont even think of going there if u dont know what u r doing!
Also the drivers/tweaks mentioned initially above wont hurt u either!
Okay
Scenario 3:
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U need a new system!
Hmmm... bad time for that! I moved away from Intel a long time ago, and am in no hurry to go back! But then there is conroe!
Anyways, AMD AM2 socket athlon64 X2 are about to go thru heavy price cuts in july, effective in India in late august, so i suggest holding off untill then!
Then, go buy yourself a asus board with the 6150b/430 chipset(i dont remember the model name) and equip it with a 4000+ X2 with 1mb cache(hard to get by, Amd stopped production) or the x2 3600+ which is in the pipelines! Plus the graphics options i mentioned above are just fine!
If u absolutely must buy a new system RIGHT NOW, then go for the A8n-Vm/csm plus an AMD64 3500+(gr8 value for money) as the bundle is around 10K right now, and if u can find one i ESPECIALLY RECOMMEND the AMD64 3700+ (the only San Diego core) which sports a 1mb L2cache and is as good as a FX-57 when oc! Again terribly hard to get by even oversees, but look out for it! U might just get lucky!
Lastly, for all the hard core gamers out there(id b among them if i had enough cash on me) this must be a useless post, its mostly what v already know! Still, the Graphics cards to go for would b a 7600GT right now, coz ull b seeing a g80 based mid-range card (based on g83 in the 150-200$ range) in November which will kick any 7800GTX or 7900GT right where it hurts the most! So halt all upgrades unless u got cash to waste! And pray Nvidia doesent put out a ****ty lineup like the FX series, though the info n hype suggests a clear Nvidia dominance with the next-gen chpsets!
Jargon Buster:-
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SLI- Scalable link interface, modified version of 3dfx(if u remember the company) sli, basically two similar(right down to the make and company) cards in parallel processing-like mode (there are four diff ways in which sli is implimented, not important for the n00b to know) and it is, i repeat IS GOOD!
Especially with the 7300Gt suppoting it, plus all the g80 series supporting it!
People here have been going around telling u that two cards in SLI means overkill coz the mobo puts them in 8x pcie instead of the faster 16x, NOT TRUE! Only a select few Nvidia chipset boards support dual pcie 16X slots, and the cards run at full X16 speeds (which doesent make one itty bitty ****ty difference coz x8 in itself is fast enough for all current gen graphics cards, unless u go quad SLI. Hell, even AGP 8X was overkill, for there was neglegible speedup over 4x (do some reserch, the diff is attributed to minor revisions in the core and better driver support, newer bios)
AND u need atleast a Amd64 3500+ to take advantage of sli on anything over 7600gs! Still highly recommended if u can get two galaxy 7300Gt (unlock them to the full g73 core, volt-mod an oc them to 600/1400, easy with the stock Zalman cooling, and watch that x1800GTO die a slow death)
Crossfire: - ATi's reply to SLI, not as good for the average gamer but definately a strong contender in the enthusiast segment! Why? Coz u can hook up 3 CARDS, and with the latest catalyst drivers u dont even need them to be of the same make or model (though all cards auto adjust to the lowest level card in the triple pairing)
Result? Grate AA, plus HDR with FSAA!!!
Bad? Definately not if ATI can get it to support all the latest games without any hiccups, but ATI cards are costlier in India, so no point going there, unless uve3 got a cousin in the US!
Plus, u can put two cards on graphics and one on Physics processing, thus fully enjoying the effects in xbox 360 based games like the GRAWF etc.
Not generally recommended though!
GDDR3: - The latest standard in graphics memory interfacing, be it at 128bit(for entry levell to mid range) or 256bit (for mid range to enthusiast)
DO NOT SETTLE FOR ANYTHING LESS! Gddr2 is passe! Obsolete! Gone and forgotten!
GDDR4: - Will be the next level, not really needed for the entry level though, will make an appearance alongwith the g80 core series!
Dman this is a long post!
One last thing, do not ask me bout OC, do it at your own risk!
Do not ask me about Tweaks, they exist for every game, look for them!
DO not ask ANYBODY for drivers, KNOW ur Graphics card company, go to their website and download the latest WHQL certified drivers for ur OS without a Question!
Do not complain if u fried ur GPU! Be proud to have done so, Join the elite club! PM me!
SLI and Crossfire does not add up your memory! So using a 256mb card in 2xSLi or even 3xCrossfire will still mean that games treat your setup as a 256 MB card (which means no ultra details on GRAWF- god damn their souls to hell for an eternity)
SLI linkboost is good, but not really visible unless u have the absolute best cards in SLI! Dont splurge on motherboards that offer it unless u want the absolute best!
Volt-mods for memory oc on graphics cards arent recommended to the average n00b or a non-engineer! Be happy with the stock, find a factory default overclocked card instead!
Intel chips are factory locked, u cant oc them the easy way! AMD is for newbees plus the stock cooling on amd64 is much better that p4(or even the older AMD XP)
Brand Names are everything in PC's, check out their websites, if its a good company they will have almost everything u need to know online!
Prices are best found out yourself, and on the ground reviewing, after sales support etc are absolute must-haves! If u live in a small town, do not buy directly from a big store in DELHI or Bombay! Instead find out the ground rates there and the places where stuff u need is availible, and THEN get a local computerwallah to get it for u! He might charge u more than what are the ground costs, but its worth the peace of mind, especially as all liablity is his then!
Thats it for now! More later maybe! Do let me know if my one hour's time was of any help to anyone at all!