- Jan 4, 2003
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You guys want a revamp, I'll have a revamp
As oppose to the article created by Tom’s Hardware, This guide is more cut down to help gamer, or computer users to help with their Video Card purchase
First, you have to decide what type of user are you, so it is easier to narrow your selection. Here are a few types and recommendation.
Average Joe- You just want something that can display picture on your monitor and enjoy a little 2D tetris
(Please consider interrogated Graphics or Low end solution)
Gamer- You want to play games. (DUH)
(Your recommendation will be discussed later)
Professional- Graphic is your life and you make money with it
(Professional solution or maybe even Middle/High end will satisfy you)
Once you picked a category or still not sure, there is always the prime factor, money.
No matter if you’re the most hardcore player on earth, if you don’t have cash, you’re still stuck with Intel Extreme Graphics 3, that is why the buyer guide revolves the main issue, money. We call this C/P rating. Picking the best C/P rated card in each category is the best choice. Companies has also separate their line to four basic lineups
Low End- You are looking at about ($100-$200USD) at this range, the price will constantly change as well as the cards in the section. Gaming is possible but if will not make it a very enjoyable experience.
Predicted Performance with current games: (800x600 or 1024x768 max, none or low special effects, no AF or AA( enhancing graphics of gameplay) and it will cause more work for other parts of the computer)
Middle End- They are the biggest pie of the market, you can say the price will range from $200-$350 USD) the price will constantly change as well as the cards in the section. It is very capable of playing games and it is usually above what current games?required SPEC are nowadays.
Predicted Performance with current games: (1024x768, 1280x1024 (if supported by your monitor) (lower resolution are also supported), regular special effects, 4xAF or 2xAA will affect performance of game but will not injure overall experience if configured properly, games will be more graphics indenpendant)
High End- They are the dream cars of Graphics, what company fight over for the top speed crown, they range from ($350-$1000USD) They are made to kickass in games and they will provide the best performance one can want. Many card manufacturers also like to create more powerful versions of the card (water cooled, over clocked) which can increase the price of the video card, keep in mind, only pick what you are capable of purchasing, because Graphic Cards are highly replaceable.
Predicted Performance (1600x1200 (lower resolution are also supported) high special effects, full AF and AA and lag is history in most cases.
Special Use- these are special cards, they can cost up to $10000USD! They are “special?because they are design for a special purpose, like CAD or movie editing or 2D precision and exact Image Qualities. Only pick these card if you really need them. A lot of these cards don’t support gaming because they are made for a special purpose, not gaming.
Okay now you have a better idea of how much you can spend and what you’re looking for? Now let’s choose your Video Card. Oh wait! Before that! We have to find out if your computer can stick one of these bad boys in
There are three types of Graphic card slots
PCI- every computer have these, they are the earliest form for Graphic Cards, nowadays they are pretty much extinct. This guide will not focus on this. If you are not able to update to an AGP interface, you will have to look around for leftovers
Here are some last remaining PCI cards
nVidia
MX400 series
Ti4200 PCI version
ATi
Radeon 7000
Radeon 9000?
XGi
V3?
AGP- this is the most used slot at the moment, although it is being replaced by PCI-EX it will stay for a while, please look below for AGP cards. Also if you have an outdated Motherboard or an old computer, you have to find out if you AGP slot is not 3.3V because they are not supported with all the cards in this guide. Again they are outdated technology. If you have a current AGP slot then get picking!
PCI-Express- the new technology, the PCI-EX slots are x16 so they are longer. You can only find them if you just purchased your computer recently. Also note: some PCI-EX card will require a special power connector to connect to the cards, please assure you have a PCI-EX compatible Power Supply and Motherboard.
If you like to see what are the difference between them in depth, this is from priyajeet
AGP
The advantage of AGP over old PCI was increased bus speed/bandwidth. AGP has its own path way to communicate with the processor as well as to the memory whereas devices on the PCI bus have to share the 133 MB/s bandwidth allocated to it. Both the AGP (66 Mhz clock) and PCI Bus (33 Mhz clock) are on a 32 bit bus. So at 1x, AGP has double the bandwidth (266 MB/s). As it can transfer data multiple times per clock cycle, AGP 8x has ~2100MB/s of bandwith.
vs
PCIe or Nvidia's PCX (not PCI-X, see below)
PCI Express (not PCI-X) has an architecture that is serial based like the SATA while the old PCI is based upon a parallel architecture. So pin count reduces. Also the protocol is much like AGP. Devices do not share bandwidth. Theoritical bandwidth will be 250 MB/s per direction, roughly double the bandwidth of the current PCI and this is available to each device with PCI Express. The above will be the refernce lane x1. Extra lanes with bandwidth multiple of x1 can be added - x2, x4, x8, x12, x16 and x32. x16 is the new generation graphical bus interface. Low latency is also another goal of PCI Express. Nvidia, to be unique have misused the term PCX. It means PCI Express and not the specification below.
vs
PCI-X (Not PCI Express or Nvidia's PCX)
a.k.a PCI-X 2.0. You dont have to worry about this standard. It will not be used for graphics industry. Very few desktop systems support it. It is an acronym for PCI extended, an enhanced PCI bus. PCI-X is backward-compatible with existing PCI cards. It improves speed of PCI from 133 MBps to ~1 GBps. PCI-X was designed jointly by IBM, HP and Compaq to increase performance of high bandwidth devices, such as Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel, and processors that are part of a cluster. It is similar to the old PCI architecture though with 64 bit bus and 66/133/266/533 Mhz clock. Do not confuse it with PCX, a term Nvidia uses for thie PCI Express cards.
Almost forgot! Technology! This guide is a buyer’s guide so I will not go far as to what the technology is. However current games uses Microsoft’s Direct X 9 or Open GL and SM 2.0b/3.0, they are basically what games are made by. New technology will make the card last longer because it will support more games. If your are updating your video card to play a game, make sure the card can take advantage of all the new technology coded into the game
Note: all video cards support Open GL.
GENERAL NOTE: you can notice only ATi and nVidia are in the guide, where’s XGI? S3? Well basically, they should be on the things never to buy list. Any card in this guide will be better than what other companies can offer? More performance for cheaper price? Please don’t fall for the trick, these cards are poorly designed as well as terrible support. Until they provide a noticeable competition and stability avoid them at all cost!
Low End
New Products
ATi Technology
Radeon X300 ($65-$100)
PCI-EXPESS
The basic line up of ATi
DX 9 support
SM 2.0
Radeon 9250 ($47-$100)
AGP
A refresh to the 9200 series which is the 8500 series
DX 8 support
SM 2.0
Radeon 9550($60-$125)
AGP
A slower version of the discontinued 9600series
DX 9 support
SM 2.0
nVidia Technology
FX5500 ($72-$135)
AGP
A refresh of FX5200
DX 9 support
SM 2.0
GeForce PCX 5300 ($88-$100)
PCI-EXPRESS
It is nVidia’s first line up of PCI-EX video cards. It uses the original FX5200 chip with nVidia’s bridge to transform it into a PCI-EX card.
DX9 support
SM 2.0
GeForce 6200 (Not Yet Released)
PCI-EXPRESS
It is the slowest of nVidia’s new 6 series (not the BMW)
DX9 support
SM3.0 support?
Discontinued Products
nVidia FX 5200
nVidia GeForce 4 MX series
ATi Radeon 7000 series
ATi Radeon 9000 series
ATi Radeon 8500 series
So which one is the best for me?
AGP -> you choices are FX5500 VS Radeon 9550 VS Radeon 9250. The FX series was quite disappointing, therefore I recommend
Radeon 9550 > Radeon 9250 > FX 5500
PCI-EX -> there hasn’t been a lot of benchmarks released to find out which is better so the result will come out later, however the GeForce 6200 or X300 is recommended because the PCX still uses the terrible FX series chips
Mainstream (Midend)
New Products
ATi Technology
Radeon X600 ($150-$233)
PCI-EXPRESS
Mainstream version for ATi¡¦s PCI-EXPRESS line-up. Think of this card as a 9600pro with PCI-EX
DX 9 support
SM2.0
Radeon X700 ($179-$219)
PCI-EXPRESS (possible AGP)
Toned down X800, main product in the mainstream line; Provide similar performance as the last generation high-end
DX 9 support
SM2.0
nVidia Technology Corp.
New Products
GeForce 6600
PCI-EXPRESS/AGP
The mainstream version based on the 6800. A direct target at the Radeon X700
DX 9 support
SM 3.0
GeForce FX 5700
AGP
Last generation mainstream card.
Direct X 9 support
SM 2.0
GeForce PCX 5700
PCI-EXPRESS
FX5700 with the HIS bridge, clock speed different
DX 9 support
SM 2.0
Discontinued Products
nVidia GeForce FX 5600
ATi Radeon 9600
ATi Radeon 9500
So which steals the performance Crown in this Sector
PCI-EXPRESS- there only has been in lab result so no winners yet
AGP: Still lack new generation video cards. For now, I would recommend Radeon 9600 over FX5700 due to overall performance.
NOTE: still waiting for newer videocard release, also, please read the high-end section to answer the question, ¡§why isn¡¦t 9800pro in here? It¡¦s the best bang for the buck right now!¡¨
More to come
Highend
Ram selection
Vendors
Tips and Tricks
RIP Block Heater....HELLO P4~~~~~
120% nVidia Fanboy+119% Money Fanboy
GeForce 6800 Ultra--> The Way we thought FX 5800Ultra is meant to be played
THGC's resident Asian and nVboy<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Coolsquirtle on 11/15/04 10:47 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
As oppose to the article created by Tom’s Hardware, This guide is more cut down to help gamer, or computer users to help with their Video Card purchase
First, you have to decide what type of user are you, so it is easier to narrow your selection. Here are a few types and recommendation.
Average Joe- You just want something that can display picture on your monitor and enjoy a little 2D tetris
(Please consider interrogated Graphics or Low end solution)
Gamer- You want to play games. (DUH)
(Your recommendation will be discussed later)
Professional- Graphic is your life and you make money with it
(Professional solution or maybe even Middle/High end will satisfy you)
Once you picked a category or still not sure, there is always the prime factor, money.
No matter if you’re the most hardcore player on earth, if you don’t have cash, you’re still stuck with Intel Extreme Graphics 3, that is why the buyer guide revolves the main issue, money. We call this C/P rating. Picking the best C/P rated card in each category is the best choice. Companies has also separate their line to four basic lineups
Low End- You are looking at about ($100-$200USD) at this range, the price will constantly change as well as the cards in the section. Gaming is possible but if will not make it a very enjoyable experience.
Predicted Performance with current games: (800x600 or 1024x768 max, none or low special effects, no AF or AA( enhancing graphics of gameplay) and it will cause more work for other parts of the computer)
Middle End- They are the biggest pie of the market, you can say the price will range from $200-$350 USD) the price will constantly change as well as the cards in the section. It is very capable of playing games and it is usually above what current games?required SPEC are nowadays.
Predicted Performance with current games: (1024x768, 1280x1024 (if supported by your monitor) (lower resolution are also supported), regular special effects, 4xAF or 2xAA will affect performance of game but will not injure overall experience if configured properly, games will be more graphics indenpendant)
High End- They are the dream cars of Graphics, what company fight over for the top speed crown, they range from ($350-$1000USD) They are made to kickass in games and they will provide the best performance one can want. Many card manufacturers also like to create more powerful versions of the card (water cooled, over clocked) which can increase the price of the video card, keep in mind, only pick what you are capable of purchasing, because Graphic Cards are highly replaceable.
Predicted Performance (1600x1200 (lower resolution are also supported) high special effects, full AF and AA and lag is history in most cases.
Special Use- these are special cards, they can cost up to $10000USD! They are “special?because they are design for a special purpose, like CAD or movie editing or 2D precision and exact Image Qualities. Only pick these card if you really need them. A lot of these cards don’t support gaming because they are made for a special purpose, not gaming.
Okay now you have a better idea of how much you can spend and what you’re looking for? Now let’s choose your Video Card. Oh wait! Before that! We have to find out if your computer can stick one of these bad boys in
There are three types of Graphic card slots
PCI- every computer have these, they are the earliest form for Graphic Cards, nowadays they are pretty much extinct. This guide will not focus on this. If you are not able to update to an AGP interface, you will have to look around for leftovers
Here are some last remaining PCI cards
nVidia
MX400 series
Ti4200 PCI version
ATi
Radeon 7000
Radeon 9000?
XGi
V3?
AGP- this is the most used slot at the moment, although it is being replaced by PCI-EX it will stay for a while, please look below for AGP cards. Also if you have an outdated Motherboard or an old computer, you have to find out if you AGP slot is not 3.3V because they are not supported with all the cards in this guide. Again they are outdated technology. If you have a current AGP slot then get picking!
PCI-Express- the new technology, the PCI-EX slots are x16 so they are longer. You can only find them if you just purchased your computer recently. Also note: some PCI-EX card will require a special power connector to connect to the cards, please assure you have a PCI-EX compatible Power Supply and Motherboard.
If you like to see what are the difference between them in depth, this is from priyajeet
AGP
The advantage of AGP over old PCI was increased bus speed/bandwidth. AGP has its own path way to communicate with the processor as well as to the memory whereas devices on the PCI bus have to share the 133 MB/s bandwidth allocated to it. Both the AGP (66 Mhz clock) and PCI Bus (33 Mhz clock) are on a 32 bit bus. So at 1x, AGP has double the bandwidth (266 MB/s). As it can transfer data multiple times per clock cycle, AGP 8x has ~2100MB/s of bandwith.
vs
PCIe or Nvidia's PCX (not PCI-X, see below)
PCI Express (not PCI-X) has an architecture that is serial based like the SATA while the old PCI is based upon a parallel architecture. So pin count reduces. Also the protocol is much like AGP. Devices do not share bandwidth. Theoritical bandwidth will be 250 MB/s per direction, roughly double the bandwidth of the current PCI and this is available to each device with PCI Express. The above will be the refernce lane x1. Extra lanes with bandwidth multiple of x1 can be added - x2, x4, x8, x12, x16 and x32. x16 is the new generation graphical bus interface. Low latency is also another goal of PCI Express. Nvidia, to be unique have misused the term PCX. It means PCI Express and not the specification below.
vs
PCI-X (Not PCI Express or Nvidia's PCX)
a.k.a PCI-X 2.0. You dont have to worry about this standard. It will not be used for graphics industry. Very few desktop systems support it. It is an acronym for PCI extended, an enhanced PCI bus. PCI-X is backward-compatible with existing PCI cards. It improves speed of PCI from 133 MBps to ~1 GBps. PCI-X was designed jointly by IBM, HP and Compaq to increase performance of high bandwidth devices, such as Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel, and processors that are part of a cluster. It is similar to the old PCI architecture though with 64 bit bus and 66/133/266/533 Mhz clock. Do not confuse it with PCX, a term Nvidia uses for thie PCI Express cards.
Almost forgot! Technology! This guide is a buyer’s guide so I will not go far as to what the technology is. However current games uses Microsoft’s Direct X 9 or Open GL and SM 2.0b/3.0, they are basically what games are made by. New technology will make the card last longer because it will support more games. If your are updating your video card to play a game, make sure the card can take advantage of all the new technology coded into the game
Note: all video cards support Open GL.
GENERAL NOTE: you can notice only ATi and nVidia are in the guide, where’s XGI? S3? Well basically, they should be on the things never to buy list. Any card in this guide will be better than what other companies can offer? More performance for cheaper price? Please don’t fall for the trick, these cards are poorly designed as well as terrible support. Until they provide a noticeable competition and stability avoid them at all cost!
Low End
New Products
ATi Technology
Radeon X300 ($65-$100)
PCI-EXPESS
The basic line up of ATi
DX 9 support
SM 2.0
Radeon 9250 ($47-$100)
AGP
A refresh to the 9200 series which is the 8500 series
DX 8 support
SM 2.0
Radeon 9550($60-$125)
AGP
A slower version of the discontinued 9600series
DX 9 support
SM 2.0
nVidia Technology
FX5500 ($72-$135)
AGP
A refresh of FX5200
DX 9 support
SM 2.0
GeForce PCX 5300 ($88-$100)
PCI-EXPRESS
It is nVidia’s first line up of PCI-EX video cards. It uses the original FX5200 chip with nVidia’s bridge to transform it into a PCI-EX card.
DX9 support
SM 2.0
GeForce 6200 (Not Yet Released)
PCI-EXPRESS
It is the slowest of nVidia’s new 6 series (not the BMW)
DX9 support
SM3.0 support?
Discontinued Products
nVidia FX 5200
nVidia GeForce 4 MX series
ATi Radeon 7000 series
ATi Radeon 9000 series
ATi Radeon 8500 series
So which one is the best for me?
AGP -> you choices are FX5500 VS Radeon 9550 VS Radeon 9250. The FX series was quite disappointing, therefore I recommend
Radeon 9550 > Radeon 9250 > FX 5500
PCI-EX -> there hasn’t been a lot of benchmarks released to find out which is better so the result will come out later, however the GeForce 6200 or X300 is recommended because the PCX still uses the terrible FX series chips
Mainstream (Midend)
New Products
ATi Technology
Radeon X600 ($150-$233)
PCI-EXPRESS
Mainstream version for ATi¡¦s PCI-EXPRESS line-up. Think of this card as a 9600pro with PCI-EX
DX 9 support
SM2.0
Radeon X700 ($179-$219)
PCI-EXPRESS (possible AGP)
Toned down X800, main product in the mainstream line; Provide similar performance as the last generation high-end
DX 9 support
SM2.0
nVidia Technology Corp.
New Products
GeForce 6600
PCI-EXPRESS/AGP
The mainstream version based on the 6800. A direct target at the Radeon X700
DX 9 support
SM 3.0
GeForce FX 5700
AGP
Last generation mainstream card.
Direct X 9 support
SM 2.0
GeForce PCX 5700
PCI-EXPRESS
FX5700 with the HIS bridge, clock speed different
DX 9 support
SM 2.0
Discontinued Products
nVidia GeForce FX 5600
ATi Radeon 9600
ATi Radeon 9500
So which steals the performance Crown in this Sector
PCI-EXPRESS- there only has been in lab result so no winners yet
AGP: Still lack new generation video cards. For now, I would recommend Radeon 9600 over FX5700 due to overall performance.
NOTE: still waiting for newer videocard release, also, please read the high-end section to answer the question, ¡§why isn¡¦t 9800pro in here? It¡¦s the best bang for the buck right now!¡¨
More to come
Highend
Ram selection
Vendors
Tips and Tricks
RIP Block Heater....HELLO P4~~~~~
120% nVidia Fanboy+119% Money Fanboy
GeForce 6800 Ultra--> The Way we thought FX 5800Ultra is meant to be played
THGC's resident Asian and nVboy
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Coolsquirtle on 11/15/04 10:47 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
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