graphics card

[Myrthe]

so thats why that desktop was so cheap...i looked to see what slot i had(PCI or AGP)and there wasnt a card inserted...

so im looking for a good card for PCI (can tell if its PCI, PCI express, or PCI express x16 cuz im on my laptop away from home.

i looked at bestbuy and, having no idea about specifics of graphics or sound cards, was in desperate need of help. the choices were geForce or ATI Radeon. both have plenty of both 256MB memory and 512MB memory (if that is important). as you can tell im in serious need.

thanks in advance

by the way, im running windows XP sp3 and have plenty of RAM and disk space so that isnt an object.

[hook]

Ouch 

I'd suggest a Nvidia and trying not to overdo it unless you know you're going to need the extra and expensive oomph from the card for something. But then again, I'm a Linux user who used both Nvidia and Ati already and prefer Nvidia, simply because Ati drivers for Linux are still pretty ...well ...poor (a lot harsher words come to mind, but I'll keep them there).

So, a non-biased opinion from me would be that you should buy an affordable graphic card (whichever brand you find out that works better on windows) taking in account what you actually need and want out of it. I'll just say that PlaneShift runs just fine on my laptop with ATI X600 with 64MB RAM and crappy drivers on 1280x800. ...It just gets a lil' bit choppy sometimes if I play with all the graphic settings set to highest.

[Myrthe]

well i realized i needed a new one when i went down whatever road leads to the gold mine and magic shop and instead of bushes, there were black and white checkered boxes...

Nvidia seems to be the favorite for windows users but i wouldnt know from personal experience.

thanks hook

any experiences, comments, etc. would be much appreciated.

[hook]

well i realized i needed a new one when i went down whatever road leads to the gold mine and magic shop and instead of bushes, there were black and white checkered boxes...

Oh, I think, those are just missing textures - nothing to do with your graphic card

Nvidia seems to be the favorite for windows users but i wouldnt know from personal experience.

Well ...What I understand about Ati vs. Nvidia on win32 is that the former Ati drivers were the pits, but the new ones (Catalyst) are really good, and Ati being the (ex)underdog overtook Nvidia (then de facto the one-and-only true gamers' card) already a few years ago from now. I lost track of the whole graphic card war she-bang a few years ago though - and at that time they were tied only each series competed with the opponents similar series - half of the times Ati won, half of the times Nvidia.

No idea how's it now though ...

I guess all you could take from my posts is that don't just fall for the package and gamer magazine reviews, but
1) evaluate what you need it for and look for something around that area (you can get a more then decent Nvidia fo less then 200 EUR easy!) - the newest cards usually offer effects that only one or two games support right now!
2) it's not all in the hardware - even with the greatest and newest card will be barelly good for showing icons on your desktop if the drivers are bad (try to find out which drivers are good right now ...things develop so quickly whatever I say was the case two years ago, is useless now)

thanks hook

's nuffin', glad to help :]

[Myrthe]

alright about the missing textures thats only one. is the road im talking about oja road?

anyway after i get out of the forest and into the rolling hills, i was walking on air. seriously. the ground was invisible. with patches of land scttered here and there. i asked someone and they said it looked fine...but thats not the point. so not entirely the game's fault.

i compared stats and all that and although i didnt understand it, most of it matched. the only difference was, of course, what it runs on. i also noted a trend: PCI express x16 is always more expensive. i was guessing that its all about the same. but i dont know how it works...can any PCI card (whether its PCI, PCI express, or PCI express x16) fit into the same slot? i assume that at least PCI express and PCI express x16 will fit in the same slot but im not sure. i hope dell wasnt stupid and put it a PCI express x16 if this isnt so...

also, i have confirmed that Nvidia is the most popular at the moment...because every sourse i looked up said that they bought a GeForce Nvidia card. including one of my friends and neighbors who bought a $300 one. but thats also irrelevent. im hoping that every source isnt biased and so im leaning toward buying a GeForce Nvidia 264MB (cuz thats the lowest and i dont see why you would want 512MBs) that costs around $100 (because i also dont see that i need a really great one sinse most things are fine with nothing at all ) i guess im cheap lol.