Card Frustrations

[ollieplimsoles]

I recently bought a PNY 9600GT 512mb graphics card. This was to update my machine from the BFG 7950GT oc 256mb currently onboard. The 7950GT was lagging a bit on Crysis set at medium so I thought.... why not upgrade?

The 7950GT seemed to perform better than the 8600GT that I have in another identical machine though! The computer is an Acer Aspire M3641 with Q6600 processor and 4mb ram.

Anyhow, back to the point. Went to install the card and... it simply would not fit...too long. The rear of the card overhangs the SATA ports on the mother board which means it could not be seated properly as the cables from HDD & DVD were in the way. Even relocating the SATA cables from the HDD & DVD to the rearmost of the four ports and relocating the HDD further 'up' the case made no difference.

Can anyone recommend a make of card that has similar dimensions to the BFG 7950GT, is an upgrade but is 'fitable' to my case? I don't particularly want to get into trial and error....too expensive

Mainly for running FSX and Crysis type things.

Luckily a colleague has agreed to buy the PNY from me at cost as it fits his machine - a Dell Dimension of some description.

Many thanks,

Mark S.

 

[Onus]

An HD4760 or HD4650 should be able to fit. Those are short cards.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

The 7950 GT would out perform the HD4670...

 

[mactronix]

Um Raven are you sure ? Im fairly sure a 4670 is about the same as a 3850 and i cant see a 7950 getting anywhere near that, well it as always depends on the game and chances are that older games, say Far Cry would see the 7950 on top i wouldnt have thought a 4670 would have any trouble seeing it off in Crysis though.

Mactronix

 

[bobbknight]

Measure your space and look at the cards that you wish to buy and get the size specs from the makers websites.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

No the 4670 is less than an 8600 GT, while the 7950 GT outperforms the 8600 GT.

 

[mactronix]

Dont know where you got that from http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_4670/9.html

Mactronix

 

[roadrunner197069]

No the 4670 is less than an 8600 GT, while the 7950 GT outperforms the 8600 GT.

WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!


I have the 4670 with a e8400@ 4.05 and 4G of ram. The card benches 20.1 FPS in Crysis with everything on high @ 1680x 1050. I played the demo at the same settings and it was very playable.

It is a short card, and very quiet. It is a way better card then the 8600!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[shortstuff_mt]

WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!


I have the 4670 with a e8400@ 4.05 and 4G of ram. The card benches 20.1 FPS in Crysis with everything on high @ 1680x 1050. I played the demo at the same settings and it was very playable.

It is a short card, and very quiet. It is a way better card then the 8600!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

+1 on the 4670. I'm not sure where The_Blood_Raven is getting his info, but it's not correct.

 

[magicbullet]

Dont know where you got that from http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/HD_4670/9.html

Mactronix

good 1 Mactronix


PS:it's call fact, people. back it up.

 

[invisik]

4670 smokes the 8600gt and beats the 7950gt.
where are you getting your sources from blood raven?

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

Sorry you are right, I only read 1 review on the 4670 when it came out and it seems that the review was very wrong... Anywho the 4670 is slightly less than the 9600 GT in performance. However, I am still not convinced that the 4670 is a worthy upgrade to the 7950 GT, the 7950 GT is pretty close to the 4670. I will consider the options a bit and give you my recommendation. Have you tried right angle sata cables? Those were designed to fix the problem with long video cards...

 

[invisik]

i think it would be a good upgrade. specially using aa.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

True a lot of AA would make a big difference, but if he could only get longer cards to work he could get so much more performance for a decent price. I think once you go below the 8800 GT/9800 GT you start getting into an area where the price to performance ratio is not great.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!


I have the 4670 with a e8400@ 4.05 and 4G of ram. The card benches 20.1 FPS in Crysis with everything on high @ 1680x 1050. I played the demo at the same settings and it was very playable.

It is a short card, and very quiet. It is a way better card then the 8600!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You have a E8400 @ 4.05 and your running a 4670? Getting 20.1 FPS in Crysis with 4GB of RAM and an E8400 @ 4.05 is not all that great... I got 20-25 FPS on Crysis on medium @ 1280x768 resolution with a 7600 GT...

 

[roadrunner197069]

Well I never said it was great, I was letting the OP know what he can expect with factual information.

Lol well 1680 x 1050 on high VS 1280x768 on medium is not even comparable. I can run the bench if you like at that resolution and I'm positive it will be alot more then 20-25FPS.

Dude you are recommending cards that are 2+ generations old. They dont compare to the new generation tech buddy. Just because you cant afford new tech, doesn't make it ok for you to recommend CRAP!!!!

Run yours @ 1680x1050 on high then run your lip.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

I didn't recommend the 7600 GT... I just said that you have way to little GPU power for that beast of a CPU @ 4.05. I run my 4870 X2 @ high/very high @ 1920x1200 with 4x AA and never dip below 20 FPS... I'm sorry if I insulted you it was not meant to be so critical.

 

[roadrunner197069]

Its no harm no foul. I play games on my Xbox 360, I was just posting some info for OP. I used the single player demo for benches.

This PC is for my son and he uses it with his eyes. Where he looks the mouse goes, and when he blinks it clicks. I built this PC for Speed and his movies; therfore, the 4760 is perfect, even a little overkill. This PC had to be fast enough that when he blinks it clicks and opens instantaneous, and it is since i got the raid drives.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

Ah, in that case it makes sense. If only my father would buy me computers like that! I could quit working!

 

[roadrunner197069]

LOL, me 2. I building I7 for me as soon as Newegg gets em in. I'll probably get 4870 for me, just incase I ever want to game.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

If the new X58 boards supports SLI then don't be shy to get 2 8800 GTS 512s, they can be found for $100 at times. I have been thinking about I7, but I just can't justify it even though I have the money.

Edit: I mention this because I just built my cousin a computer with 2 that I got for $99 each!

 

[roadrunner197069]

I've used 8800s for customers and really dont care for them compared to ATI's offerings, since I mainly do movies.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

Ah, very true ATI cards tend to look better than nVidia in movies. However there are ways to fix that, you just need patience and time.

 

[ollieplimsoles]

Thanks for your help guys. Guess that unless I go for one of the smaller HD4670 or HD4650 cards, I really don't have much choice. Think that on reflection I'll just stay with the 7950GT since it is a 256 bit card and is the oc version compered to the 128bit ATi cards. Wouldn't have minded having a go at the HD4850 but I presume we're back up to larger dimensions again?

Regards,

Mark S.

 

[The_Blood_Raven]

Umm, Mark any news on the right angel SATA cable suggestion?