Need help picking video card

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.rctycoon (More info?)

I'm looking for a cheap card for play RCT3 as well as Sims 2 and The
Singles.

I'd like to be able to turn on all the eye candy and still get a decent
frame rate.

I got the following as a reply in another group. Is this good enough? Can I
do better?

XFX GeForce FX 5200

Specifications

GPU/VPU nVidia GeForce FX 5200
Video Memory 128MB
Memory Type DDR
Memory Bandwidth 6.4GB/sec.
Interface Type AGP
Interface Speed 8X
Connector(s) TV/S-Video, VGA

$59.99 @ TigerDirect.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.rctycoon (More info?)

"Bootstrap Bill" <wrcousert@yahoo.com> wrote:

>I'm looking for a cheap card for play RCT3 as well as Sims 2 and The
>Singles.
>
>I'd like to be able to turn on all the eye candy and still get a decent
>frame rate.
>
>I got the following as a reply in another group. Is this good enough? Can I
>do better?
>
>XFX GeForce FX 5200
>
>Specifications
>
>GPU/VPU nVidia GeForce FX 5200
>Video Memory 128MB
>Memory Type DDR
>Memory Bandwidth 6.4GB/sec.
>Interface Type AGP
>Interface Speed 8X
>Connector(s) TV/S-Video, VGA
>
>$59.99 @ TigerDirect.com


I'm using a GeForce FX5200 (which has 256MB BTW). I'm using it with a P4
3.0GHz system with 1Gb RAM.

I'm running RCT3 in 'medium' quality default settings but bumped up to
1024x768 and all water reflections enabled except peeps. The frame rate
is acceptable but not great. The typical scenario parks run OK. I
haven't tried a huge park yet. Graphics look beautiful although not set
for maximum eye candy.

On the other hand: for Doom3 the frame rate is barely acceptable (about
15fps) whereas I'm hearing reports of people with slower CPUs getting
50fps (or more) with higher end graphics cards.

I'll probably upgrade my card sometime in the near future. For now, I can
live with the performance of the FX5200. I can't say if this is the best
card for the money. If you're on a budget, don't expect to use the
highest graphic settings in these games. The good news is that the lower
settings still look pretty damn good. You won't be missing much at all.

Also, if you get an nVidia card be sure to download the latest *beta*
driver (66.81) from the nVidia web site. It fixed some minor problems I
was having with RCT3.

Good luck.


sda_mail Scott | Yields over 30 blasts or
@comcast.net Amspoker | 80 gentle honks per charge!
^ my email |

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.rctycoon (More info?)

Right now (until 11/16/04 at least) Fry's has a Radeon 9600SE for $40.

"Bootstrap Bill" <wrcousert@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:QnPid.572776$8_6.123697@attbi_s04...
> I'm looking for a cheap card for play RCT3 as well as Sims 2 and The
> Singles.
>
> I'd like to be able to turn on all the eye candy and still get a decent
> frame rate.
>
> I got the following as a reply in another group. Is this good enough? Can
> I do better?
>
> XFX GeForce FX 5200
>
> Specifications
>
> GPU/VPU nVidia GeForce FX 5200
> Video Memory 128MB
> Memory Type DDR
> Memory Bandwidth 6.4GB/sec.
> Interface Type AGP
> Interface Speed 8X
> Connector(s) TV/S-Video, VGA
>
> $59.99 @ TigerDirect.com
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.games.rctycoon (More info?)

Sale over - tw was a 9200 SE, not 9600

On Mon, 15 Nov 2004 19:38:41 -0800, "RCTfan" <no-one@here.com> wrote:

>Right now (until 11/16/04 at least) Fry's has a Radeon 9600SE for $40.