[PCat video card debacle!] Help improving graphics for new PC - updated.

[Piratecat]

Hoo boy, I need some advice. I have a brand new machine from Dell:

Dimension E510 ,Intel Pentium D Processor 940 with Dual CoreTechnology (3.2 GHz)
2GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
20 in (20 in viewable) 2007WFPWide Aspect Digital Flat PanelDisplay
256MB ATI Hyper Memory PCI-Express X16 (DVI/VGA/TV out) Radeon X600 SE
250GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM)

Problem is, I'm having trouble getting the graphics quality that I expect. When I play City of Heroes, it is MUCH choppier and laggy than a machine I bought a year ago (with a 15" LCD monitor). Is it my video card? My monitor? My settings? My mother-in-law?

Thanks!

 

[XCorvis]

1. Check for patches to City of Heroes. I don't see them on the website, so I assume you have to download them as part of the game. Check and see if there's a manual way to do this or if it happens automatically.

2. Get the latest video card driver from ATI. (Catalyst is what it is called.) Don't use Dell's.
https://support.ati.com/ics/support/KBAnswer.asp?questionID=640

 

[trancejeremy]

What card does your older machine have? I don't think the x600 is that great a video card these days. According to Wikipedia, it's basically a PCI Express version of the 9600, and the SE seems to be the budget version.

 

[Piratecat]

What card does your older machine have?

The older machine has:

Dimension 8400 Series, Intel Pentium 4 Processor 630 (3GHz) w/HT Technology and 2MB cache
1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 400MHz
17 in (17 in viewable) E173FPB Flat Panel Display
256MB Nvidia GeForce 6800 Graphics Card
160GB NCQ Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)

I should have the new ATI drivers, but I'll doublecheck. I know that CoH simply works better with an Nvidia card than an ATI car, but the difference is really extreme. I'll be psyched if I can make any improvements.

 

[Rackhir]

Yeah, the video card basically sucks. The Hypermemory "feature" means that it sucks up system ram to use as video memory. Which aside from the obvious nature of that sin, is slower.

This is actually for a newer video card, but read their comments on it. And then remember that it is a later more advanced card than what you got.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/05/15/graphics_card_buyers_guide_2006_part3/page25.html

This is some Doom 3 results. The x600 card is down at the very bottom and the 6800/series cards are up near the top.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/05/24/vga_charts_vi/page8.html

Long and the short of it is you have a graphics card that is fine for buisness work, but completely inadiquate for playing games.

Here's the starter page for the comparison charts.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/05/24/vga_charts_vi/index.html

 

[trancejeremy]

Yeah, definitely the video card. A 6800 was pretty much the top end card for a while and still pretty good. While the x600 SE is pretty much a budget card - new-ish based on older technology (sort of like the 6200 from Nvidia)

 

[Piratecat]

Well, crap. I had no idea it was that lousy.

What do you guys recommend for an nvidia video card? The Geforce 6800 GT SLI is looking pretty nifty, if I can find it at a reasonable price...

 

[drothgery]

What do you guys recommend for an nvidia video card? The Geforce 6800 GT SLI is looking pretty nifty, if I can find it at a reasonable price...

SLI (or ATi's Crossfire) and reasonable price don't exist in the same universe. By the time two of any video card are under $500, there's a single $400 video card that's better than two cards in SLI (i.e. a single 7900GT will always outperform two 6800 GTs in SLI).

In the $100-$200 price range, and only considering current-generation PCI Express parts, you're basically looking at a GeForce 7600 (7600GS is the low-midrange part, 7600GT the high-midrange part), a Radeon X1300 (low-midrange), or a Radeon X1600 (high-midrange). Which basically means get a 7600GT.

 

[trancejeremy]

SLI is actually a thing for high end gamers who want to use 2 video cards at once. Your motherboard has to support it.

If you just play CoH, a 6800 like your old one should probably do fine. You might also look at a 7600, which I think Newegg sells for around $150

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Dude, you work for a video game company - buy a good one and take it as a tax deduction!