Question About PIC-Express Video Card

[Exenisel]

<p>I'm thinking of upgrading my graphics card. I recently bought a Dell Dimension E521 and it came with a Nvidia 7300LE graphics card and I have 2 gig of ram. Now I've not had any problems with the graphics card but I am a sucker for eye candy and since my computer is capable of having a PCI-Express card I thought it would be nice to upgrade. The one I'm looking at is the:</p><p>VisionTek^{^TM} Radeon^® X1300 256 MB PCIe Graphics Card</p><p>Any opinions on whether or not this is a good card. I'm looking at the Dell website because I wanted to make sure I get one that is actually compatible with my computer and it has 4 out 5 stars. Thanks for your time. Also, I'm not very technical at all so if you reply please make sure I can understand <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p><p>Here is my current setup:</p><p><a href="http://www.support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dime521/en/SM_EN/specs.htm#wp1052310" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.support.dell.com/support...s.htm#wp1052310</a></p>

[L]

Any PCI-Express video card would be compatible with your computer. I would check newegg.com for video cards. For Eq2, try to get at least a Nvidia 7600gt or Radeon equivalent. I think you can get a 8600gt for around 115 dollars. This would be good for EQ2 and you would have Directx 10.

[Exenisel]

<p>So the one that I listed above wouldn't be that great of a card? I went to newegg.com and looked up the one you mentioned. I believe it's</p><p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130085" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814130085</a></p><p>Would this be a good card for EQII? It's in my price range. </p>

[Neofa]

<div>no ..the 1300 series wouldn't be worth it.</div><div>I would recommend for the money.. a Geforce 8500GT .. 100-140$.</div><div>If you go ATI -- Minimum card to buy is a X1650 -- Preferably go higher than that.</div><div>If you can afford it.. going a little above the 8500GT is always nice, but don't spend more than 250-275$.</div><div>Have fun</div>

[Exenisel]

<p>Okay well I looked up the 8500GT and that I can afford. I can actually afford a little better than that.. what would be the next step up?</p><p>I went to this one: <a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130085" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814130085</a> and can afford it. I'm sorry for so many questions but I'm not technical at all haha so it helps to make sure I get the most bang for my buck. <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p>

[thyriel81]

best ATI cards for low budget atm would be either X1950Pro or nearly equivalent perfomance and DX10 (probably it will once be on one level when driver gets better) HD2600XT.for NVIDIA 8600GT, but i dont know what the dx9 low budget equivalent is.With HD2600XT im able to play solo with extreme quality a little tweaked with shadows.

[Exenisel]

<p>Okay so you're recommending..</p><p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102102" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814102102</a></p><p>What about this one?</p><p><a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121031" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814121031</a></p>

[Neofa]

<div>Considering you can spend a little more.  I would go with the 8600GTS model. </div><div>These are overclocked a bit, and just generally better cards than the 'GT'.</div><div>For about 199$ you can get:</div><div><a href="http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130286" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16814130286</a></div><div>Notice the core clock speed,.. and its DX10 Compatible, with 512MB of RAM.  You'll enjoy it.</div><div>I'm a bigger fan of Nvidia than ATI -- But ATI has its merits. </div>

[Exenisel]

Excellent Neofate! That actually looks like the perfect card for me. So with the one you suggested, what kind of settings could I play on with EQII? I'm already planning to buy it. The reviews were good and it's the perfect price. <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

[thyriel81]

i wouldnt bet the 8600GTS will always be faster as the HD2600XT. On DX9 the ATI was only 10% slower with the old 7.6 drivers at release (though i didnt found any benchmark compares with new drivers), and got 8% faster meanwhile due to drivers. (based on simple driver benchmarking), and is in most DX10 cards twice as fast as the 8600GTS.But your choice, for the HD2600XTs i would look to get a 512MB with DDR3. The difference between DDR3 and 4 is only marginal and not worth the more money.If its just going for pure DX9 speed, the X1950Pro is a whole lot faster then the 8600GTS and around the same price <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />