Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > Graphics Cards > Is this a good cheap graphics card replacement?

Is this a good cheap graphics card replacement?

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - Is this a good cheap graphics card replacement?

Tom's Hardware: Over 1.4 million members in 6 different countries available to answer all your high-tech questions. Sign up now! Its free!
Ask the community Add a reply
Word :    Username :           
 
Rossini87   05-16-2009 at 01:48:45 AM

I had a 6800GS that died and am currently using my onboard graphics which is terrible.
My system is old 3000+ AMD64, 1 gig ram, etc. But I don't really play games all that much mostly Tribes 2, Age of Mythology, and Fallen Empire Legions. Would like something that is comparable if not better than the 6800GS because I do want to play Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 when they come out.

Here is what I am looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814140095

What do you guys think?

Add a reply
Sponsored Links
Register or log in to remove.
boonality   05-16-2009 at 02:07:15 AM
- 0 +

Well it only as 256MB of video memory, you'll want at least 512 for 1440x900 res or lower. If you have high res such as 1920x1200 then you will want 1GB of video memory. Also your system sounds like it's an AGP bus and not PCIe X16. Have you confirmed your video bus type?

------------------------------ Exchange Engineer - Why is it that when DNS goes down everyone thinks it's my exchange server?

Oh ya, email is the heart of work.
 Reply to boonality
Rossini87   05-16-2009 at 02:16:07 AM
- 0 +

My last card was PCI express. It is a little strange because I am looking at other sites saying this card is 512mb, while newegg is saying it is 256mb. 256-512 range is fine, especially since I want the card to be cheaper.

Reply to Rossini87
Rossini87   05-16-2009 at 02:19:21 AM
- 0 +

The main thing I am worried about is the 6800GS had 256mb 256 bit memory while this card just has 128 bit. I would certainly think this new card is faster though.


Message edited by Rossini87 on 05-16-2009 at 02:20:12 AM
Reply to Rossini87
jennyh   05-16-2009 at 03:21:22 AM
- 0 +

The 4670 is much faster than the 6800gs under all circumstances so no worries about 128 bit etc.

You probably have a problem with your cpu however. The 4670 will be better and you will notice it, but you will be holding it back with the rest of your system. I'd say go for it though if you aren't prepared to buy a whole new system.

Reply to jennyh
photonboy   05-16-2009 at 05:58:06 AM
- 0 +

I'd get the HD4770. It will max out your CPU but that's fine. It's the new 40nm so has excellent power consumption and the price is very reasonable.

Since Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 are so well coded you should be able to get a good experience with this setup.

Your CPU can decode some but not all video. Using this new card with K-Lite codec pack (with MPC-HC) will allow hardware video decoding. Under XP, a 1080p Bluray rip video would drop from about roughly 100% CPU usage to 10%. (you need to configure DXVA etc.)

This card is a newer one that does MPEG as well as AVC and VC-1 hardware decoding. It may even be worth getting the slightly better HD4770 for hardware video transcoding (though this app needs more work).

Message quoted 1 times
Reply to photonboy
edeawillrule   05-16-2009 at 07:58:58 PM
- 0 +

photonboy wrote :

I'd get the HD4770. It will max out your CPU but that's fine. It's the new 40nm so has excellent power consumption and the price is very reasonable.

Since Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2 are so well coded you should be able to get a good experience with this setup.

Your CPU can decode some but not all video. Using this new card with K-Lite codec pack (with MPC-HC) will allow hardware video decoding. Under XP, a 1080p Bluray rip video would drop from about roughly 100% CPU usage to 10%. (you need to configure DXVA etc.)

This card is a newer one that does MPEG as well as AVC and VC-1 hardware decoding. It may even be worth getting the slightly better HD4770 for hardware video transcoding (though this app needs more work).



An HD 4770 would be a waste on a pc with a single core cpu and 1gb of ram :non:

Reply to edeawillrule
AKM880   05-16-2009 at 08:00:15 PM
- 0 +

The 4650 would be a suitable choice, and it'll give you better performance than the 6800GS I'm pretty sure.

Reply to AKM880
Bronze Graphics badge jyjjy   05-16-2009 at 08:40:02 PM
- 0 +

4650 rapes the 6800gs.
It's a good choice. If you go for the 4670 instead obviously simply don't the 256mb version. It's DDR4 instead of 3 but unless you are using a really low resolution I'd go for the 512mb.

Reply to jyjjy
Ask the community Add a reply
Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > Graphics Cards > Is this a good cheap graphics card replacement?
Go to:

There are 443 identified and unidentified users. To see the list of identified users, Click here.

Forum map
Bestofmedia Forum ©
2000-2009 Bestofmedia Group
Page generated in 0.795 seconds
Please mind

You are about to answer a thread that has been inactive for more than 6 months.
If you still wish to proceed, please ensure that your posting is original and does not duplicate or overlap any prior responses to this thread.

Add a reply Cancel
Sponsored links
  • Ask the community now
  • Publish
Ad
Related Topics
See all relatives topics
They won a badge
Join us in greeting them