video card
Fair enough.
Look up the "video card confusion" (I think it's what it's called) thread in this forum. Links to a comparison chart.
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Hardly need to look for the thread and then the post.
Tom's Hardware Graphics Card Hierarchy - 12/21/10
Note there are also some laptop GPUs as well as integrated graphics in that list.
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Thanks for this thread. My video card seems to have gone on the fritz and I'm trying to decide what to do. I have to save up money no matter what but I'm not sure if I should replace my card or just replace the whole 3 year old tower. But looking at new towers I have no clue if their video/graphics cards can handle the game. I mean what the heck is an Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator HD? Or is an ATI Radeon HD 5450 any good? I may be overlooking it on that list in the link provided.
If I replace my current tower I could give it to my parents. It'd be a huge boost over the thing their using. I think it still uses Keypunch Cards to load programs, and I know their printer still types in pencil.
My current system:
iBuyPower Gamer 536AE Desktop (AMD Phenom Q9600 Quad Core Processor, 3 GB RAM, 500 GB Hard Drive, NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS 512MB)
Thanks for this thread. My video card seems to have gone on the fritz and I'm trying to decide what to do. I have to save up money no matter what but I'm not sure if I should replace my card or just replace the whole 3 year old tower. But looking at new towers I have no clue if their video/graphics cards can handle the game. I mean what the heck is an Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator HD?
If I replace my current tower I could give it to my parents. It'd be a huge boost over the thing their using. I think it still uses Keypunch Cards to load programs, and I know their printer still types in pencil. My current system: iBuyPower Gamer 536AE Desktop (AMD Phenom Q9600 Quad Core Processor, 3 GB RAM, 500 GB Hard Drive, NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS 512MB) |
Look at the video card chart on Tom's Hardware and get the highest rated card in the price range you want to spend.
By the way, the Intel HD graphics are, basically, crap. It's good enough for word processing and playing solitaire but no good for anything much more demanding than that.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
I mean what the heck is an Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator HD?
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Or is an ATI Radeon HD 5450 any good? I may be overlooking it on that list in the link provided. |
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Funny this thread just popped up. With my Christmas bonus I decided to order a GTS 450. It seems moderately high on that list, but with a gig of on board ram, it should be able to handle all the Ultra Mode goodies, right?
The card and the new power supply I need for it are on the way. Somebody tell me I made a good choice.
For point of reference, I'm upgrading from a Geforce 9500.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
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don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
Funny this thread just popped up. With my Christmas bonus I decided to order a GTS 450. It seems moderately high on that list, but with a gig of on board ram, it should be able to handle all the Ultra Mode goodies, right?
The card and the new power supply I need for it are on the way. Somebody tell me I made a good choice. For point of reference, I'm upgrading from a Geforce 9500. |
From the chart it's the best card out there at it's price point, so if that was what you had to spend you apparently got the best for the money.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
. But looking at new towers I have no clue if their video/graphics cards can handle the game. I mean what the heck is an Intel® Graphics Media Accelerator HD?
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No, subtlety is not one of my strong points.
To run all Ultra Mode options at once in 1680*1050 the starting point is around a AMD RadeonHD 4850 / Nvidia Geforce GTS 250. These have the respective theoretical throughput rates of
- 10,000 MegaPixel / 25,000 Megatexel
- 11,808 MegaPixel / 47,232 Megatexel
- RadeonHD 4730**
- RadeonHD 4770***
- RadeonHD 4850
- RadeonHD 4850x2
- RadeonHD 4860
- RadeonHD 4870
- RadeonHD 4870x2
- RadeonHD 4890
- RadeonHD 5750
- RadeonHD 5770
- RadeonHD 5830
- RadeonHD 5850
- RadeonHD 5870
- RadeonHD 5970
- RadeonHD 6850
- RadeonHD 6870
- RadeonHD 6950
- RadeonHD 6970
**I've never actually seen a 4730 for sale. On paper it has the shader and texture power to execute the OpenGL 3.0 calls in the 1280*720 resolution range.
***As far as I am aware the 4770 was only sold with a 512mb memory configuration. The card also had a 128-bit memory bus. While it's not far off from the 4850 in terms of theoretical power, the memory configuration places this cards target resolution more for 1280*720
For the Nvidia architecture these include:
- 8800 GTS*
- 8800 GTX*
- 8800 Ultra*
- 9800 GTX
- 9800 GTX+
- 9800 GX2
- GTS 240
- GTS 250
- GTX 260
- GTX 260 216
- GTX 275
- GTX 280
- GTX 285
- GTX 295
- GTS 450
- GTX 460
- GTX 460 SE
- GTX 465
- GTX 470
- GTX 480
- GTX 570
- GTX 580
*the Geforce 8800 series has the shader and texture power to execute Ultra Mode Code, but memory counts of 256mb and 512mb of local video memory really cuts into the ability of the cards to render Ultra Mode in high resolutions
The list of mobile cards that can render in ultra mode is significant shorter:
- Mobile RadeonHD 4850
- Mobile RadeonHD 4850x2
- Mobile RadeonHD 4860
- Mobile RadeonHD 4870
- Mobile RadeonHD 4870x2
- Mobile RadeonHD 5830
- Mobile RadeonHD 5850 GGD5
- Mobile RadeonHD 5870
- 9800M GTS
- 9800M GT
- 9800M GTX
- Quadro FX 3700M
- Quadro FX 3800M
- GTX 260M
- GTX 280M
- GTX 285M
- GTX 460M
- GTX 470M
- GTX 480M
Now, I have the well publicized opinion that most of the Geforce cards are rip-offs. Outside of the Geforce GTX 460, pretty much the entire street price for Nvidia cards are way over-priced compared to AMD cards with similar frame-per-second performance: http://www.pricewatch.com/video_cards/
Case in point: Nvidia wants $500 for the GTX 580. However, in realistic gameplay, the $500 msrp GTX 580 doesn't actually buy you higher resolutions, more anti-aliasing, or better texture quality... compared to a RadeonHD 6970 with an MSRP of $369, and a street price only a few bucks more. So... what are you spending nearly $125+ for? Best as I can figure, a little badge that says Nvidia.
One of the problems with my opinion is that Nvidia offers huge discounts to OEM vendors in order to keep system price parity with AMD offerings. So, if you are buying a pre-built computer from a major OEM like Dell, HP, or Gateway, their computers won't have the price / performance discrepancy you'll find in the add-in card market.
So it's very possible that you'll find one of the card listed here available in a pre-built system for not much off an equivelent AMD card.
Thanks CMA.
Ok, coming back to this thread with one more question.
What's the difference between this card and this card besides price?
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
Best Buy rarely sells computer components at MSRP. For example here, the GTS 450 MSRP is $129: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1408/1/
The EVGA model is a bit over MSRP, but it's also an EVGA, one of the few good Nvidia manufacturers left.
* * *
Also, before you buy, be aware that the GTS 450 is a dog: http://hardocp.com/article/2010/09/1..._card_review/1
The bottom line is simple:
It takes the GeForce GTS 450 more power to produce less performance when compared to the Radeon HD 5770. |
Best Buy's markup.
Best Buy rarely sells computer components at MSRP. For example here, the GTS 450 MSRP is $129: http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1408/1/ The EVGA model is a bit over MSRP, but it's also an EVGA, one of the few good Nvidia manufacturers left. |
Ok, so EVGA makes the Newegg one I linked, and PNY makes the Best Buy one? Is there anything else different besides the name on the card?
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
Good to hear, thanks. I ordered the EVGA, but I did get a $30 rebate on it.
Ok, so EVGA makes the Newegg one I linked, and PNY makes the Best Buy one? Is there anything else different besides the name on the card? |
As to your question in this post, up until recently Nvidia did not actually sell graphics cards directly. Technically, they still don't since Nvidia retail branded graphics cards are rebadged Foxconn parts.
Nvidia sells the GPU's to Add-In-Board Partners (AIB). The AIB's are the ones that actually put the product on the shelf.
Nvidia's top 3 AIB's used to be BFG, XFX, and Evga. There is evidence to suggest that Nvidia conspired (perhaps illegally with Best Buy) to force BFG into bankruptcy. Nvidia has also kicked XFX to the curb, leaving Evga as the only Top Tier Nvidia board partner.
Nvidia's GPU's are significantly more expensive to make than equivalent AMD archicture chips, a result of Nvidia's focus on more transistors is more transistors. Because Nvidia's GPU's are more expensive to make, Nvidia has to sell them to AIB's for more money.
This higher cost on Nvidia's end is why Nvidia cards cost more than AMD cards with similar performance, even from the same AIB, such as Asus or XFX.
In order to make profits on Nvidia cards many Nvidia AIB's cut corners on producing the physical card, such as using cheaper capacitors that won't last as long, using printed mylar boards with fewer layers, using aluminum instead of copper heatsinks, and other such cost saving measures.
Evga, BFG, and XFX set themselves apart in the recent years by not skimping on board components, one of the few reasons why I tell people to buy Evga if they absolutely have to have that green Nvidia badge.
5 years ago it was "worked, until I finally did some research and popped in an eVGA GeForce 8600 GTS and OH WHAT A DIFFERENCE!"
When the 8600 GTS is weighed against what's on the market today....just go with the dedicated card.

Evga, BFG, and XFX set themselves apart in the recent years by not skimping on board components, one of the few reasons why I tell people to buy Evga if they absolutely have to have that green Nvidia badge.
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Maybe I didn't get the absolute most for my money, but if it runs the shiny parts of Ultra Mode, I'll be happy.
Where to now?
Check out all my guides and fiction pieces on my blog.
The MFing Warshade | The Last Rule of Tanking | The Got Dam Mastermind
Everything Dark Armor | The Softcap
don'T attempt to read tHis mEssaGe, And believe Me, it is not a codE.
For me, it's a question of compatibility. I'm not sure how my computer will work with a Radeon, but I know that it works with Nvidia.
Maybe I didn't get the absolute most for my money, but if it runs the shiny parts of Ultra Mode, I'll be happy. |
The Newegg card is faster than the Best Buy one since it's factory overclocked. By the way, Newegg also sells the PNY card. Best Buy is one of the worst places to go for parts; they don't carry the better models and they're overpriced for what they do have. The only advantage is you can walk in and get it now, although Newegg will have nearly anything in your hands in 2 days.
According to Tom's Hardware the card you bought is their top pick in it's price range... although looking over Newegg I see several ATI 5770 1GB cards coming in at that price or slightly less, and the 5770 is definitely the better card. The chart on Tom's shows the 5770 as a higher cost unit.
Either way that 450 will do the job, just not quite as well as a 5770. EVGA is a quality manufacturer as well and makes good stuff so you shouldn't have durability issues. If you have yet to order though I'd get the ATI 5770 over the 450. I'm not sure if it's worth the trouble to return and exchange if you already have the 450.
COH has just been murdered by NCSoft. http://www.change.org/petitions/ncso...city-of-heroes
So intel graphics are fishy, Je_Saist?
even if not an integrated "solution" I always avoid Intel video cards. In my experience they ship drivers that barely qualify as working, and it's easier to get truth out of a campaigning politician than the driver you need off the intel site.
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Also, make sure you register that card with EVGA to activate your warranty. EVGA has great warranty support, but you have to register your product within 30 days of purchase to get it.
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This is EVGA shorthand for 2 year limited warranty.
As such, this card is not eligible for the StepUp upgrade program.
ATI RADEON HD 4650 is this gonna work and make all the pretties work?
thank you