Do I need a better video card for Vanguard?

[imaloser59]

Currently I can play Vanguard at the absolute minimal settings with only about 15-20 FPS. I am rather tight on a budget and around $200 (give or take) is about all I can afford. Can you help me decide if there is anything I could do to increase the FPS and maybe play on higher settings?

Here is my current system (at least 3 years old).

* Antec Life Style SONATA Piano Black 0.8mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case TruePower 380Watt ATX12V
* 1.5 Gb DDR 400 RAM (256 x2 and 512 x2)
* Intel Pentium 4 2.6C Northwood 2.6GHz Socket 478 Processor Model BX80532PG2600D
* GIGABYTE GV-N66T128D GeForce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card


I was thinking that I could upgrade to a 7600GT or even a X1950PRO, but I am not even sure if my PS could even handle it. Please note that this is an AGP system. Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[worleybird24]

do you know how many amps you have on the 12v rail? Depending on that will depend if you will need to a upgrade your PSU, but a 7600gt would help in the graphics department even though your cpu is a 2.6ghz..

 

[imaloser59]

I am not actually at home to check, but I am going to guess it is something very similar to this.

Output +3.3V@20A,+5V@20A,+12V1@17A,+12V2@17A,-12V@0.8A, +5VSB@2.5A

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817371005

 

[worleybird24]

* Pentium 4/ Celeron, AMD Athlon
* AGP 8x slot
* At least 256MB of system memory
* Installtion software requires CD-ROM drive
* DVD Playback requires DVD drive
* Windows 2000/XP
* A minimum recommended 350W system power supply
* An AGP compliant motherboard.


-Those are the minimum requirements for a 7600gt, I believe you will be okay power wise too

 

[worleybird24]

yeah he woulld need to upgrade the psu also to use the x1950, 7600gt is a good fit!

 

[imaloser59]

I tried to compare the 6600GT and 7600GT as best I could on the VGA Charts and it seems in most cases the FPS is about double. Going from 20 to 40 ish. Is this really even acceptable to play at?

 

[fatcat]

The 7600 GT is a very decent card, price/performance ration is good and you should see an improvement.

 

[Mado]

Hi, brand new here, so you can be fairly certain that I have no idea what alot of the things you're gonna ask mean...

I have a similar (but worse) system:
Epox 8RDA+
AMD 2400xp Thoroughbred(?)
1.5G Kingston/Generic RAM @266Mhz
ATI X700 (or a Pro, not sure and Sandra wouldn't say)
PSU is 350W - but it was the original I bought in 2000 or 2001

I upgraded (though it felt like a side-grade) from a 9500Pro last year, or maybe 1.5 years ago.

I'd like to stay inexpensive, and still upgrade the Motherboard, CPU, and GPU, and possibly PSU if needed. I plan to donate this computer to my wife later this year (and she wants to use Video Editing Software that my current cpu can't handle) and upgrade to a Moderate Core2Duo CPU with a PCI-E Motherboard.

I'm hoping someone can assist me with a recommendation on what items to buy (Motherboard - brand and version, CPU, PSU, and GPU). The reason I'm not starting a new topic is because I would like the upgraded computer to be able to run Vanguard:SoH at something other than Minimum Graphics Setting and with a higher framerate than a slide show in populated areas.

Thanks in advance to any that can assist!

Mado

 

[3Ball]

Motherboard: ABIT AB9 Pro or Gigabyte DS3 ($130 - $150)

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 or 6400 ($180 - $220)

Memory: (DDR2 800mhz, 4-4-4-12 timings, micron D9 chips, "same as in my sig") http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16820231087

PS: http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=269998

GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814121031
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102067

That may help give you an idea or 2.

Best,

3Ball

 

[enforcerfx]

Go for a X1650XT. Outperforms the GT by just a little bit:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161064

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814131036

Either one will do very nicely.

 

[ikaz]

Also just for an FYI I play that game as well with a 1900xt and Amd64 3000 (1.8) in balance setting (a few items tweeted a little bit as well) and my FPS will range from ave of 5.0 to 40+ in some areas. Towns seem to kill my video card.

Basically what I'm saying is even with a 7600Gt don't expect a consant Frame rate. I also noticed that my system also only has 1.5 gigs of ram but I see my system peeking at over 2gigs of memory in use which means that I would get better over all response by moving to 2 or gigs of memory.

 

[Mado]

Thank you folks for the advice. I'll start with those choices as a basis and look around some. On a side note, how do I make sure or what do I look for when comparing GPU/CPU/Mobo combinations to make sure I don't bottleneck or limit one or the other?

Also, what do the numbers (4-4-4-4 or whatever) when talking about Memory, mean?

Thanks,

Mado

 

[nilepez]

Currently I can play Vanguard at the absolute minimal settings with only about 15-20 FPS. I am rather tight on a budget and around $200 (give or take) is about all I can afford. Can you help me decide if there is anything I could do to increase the FPS and maybe play on higher settings?

Here is my current system (at least 3 years old).

* Antec Life Style SONATA Piano Black 0.8mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case TruePower 380Watt ATX12V
* 1.5 Gb DDR 400 RAM (256 x2 and 512 x2)
* Intel Pentium 4 2.6C Northwood 2.6GHz Socket 478 Processor Model BX80532PG2600D
* GIGABYTE GV-N66T128D GeForce 6600GT 128MB GDDR3 AGP 4X/8X Video Card


I was thinking that I could upgrade to a 7600GT or even a X1950PRO, but I am not even sure if my PS could even handle it. Please note that this is an AGP system. Thanks in advance for your help.

Get the x1950pro. I tried the last Beta with an x800XL, and it was adequate in some places, and completely unplayable in others. IMO, a $200.00 GPU is the minimum you can consider with the game.

If the CPU bottle necks you, you can worry about upgrading that later on. At 175 or so, the X1950 is a great buy. Of course, if you can wait (i.e. give up Vanguard for a few months), you can probably get a lot more bang for the buck. For reference, there were some people with 8800 cards that said they still had problems in certain towns.

You cannot buy too much GPU for the game, but I can promise you the 7600 is not enough.

 

[nilepez]

I am not actually at home to check, but I am going to guess it is something very similar to this.

Output +3.3V@20A,+5V@20A,+12V1@17A,+12V2@17A,-12V@0.8A, +5VSB@2.5A

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817371005

No he doesn't. The X1950 Pro uses around 60 watts of power, vs a bit under 50w for the 7600gt.

Everyone just assumes that new video cards use a lot more power than they do.