ati radeon express card - how good/bad is it

[warthog9]

I got a used computer pretty cheap recently. It isn't to bad a amd 3800
processor 1gb ram and such. My only bad thing about it is it has a ati
radeon express 200 video card. I'm pretty sure this is a built in video
card.
My googling skills are bad so my question is what games can I expect to be
able to play with this card? Is quake 4 or fear out of the question? I wanna
know what I can play with it.
Also if I upgrade to a geforce 6800 or something is it hard to disable the
ati card? I'm guessing maybe the bios or something can do it. Thanks for any
help in advance.

 

[kony]

I got a used computer pretty cheap recently. It isn't to bad a amd 3800
processor 1gb ram and such. My only bad thing about it is it has a ati
radeon express 200 video card. I'm pretty sure this is a built in video
card.
My googling skills are bad so my question is what games can I expect to be
able to play with this card?

Very old ones at low resolution. Say two year old games at
800 x 600 without FSAA or Ansio filtering turned on.

Is quake 4 or fear out of the question?

Everyone has their own idea of what a minimally acceptible
framerate is for gaming, as an "average" rate tells little
about the lowest rate in certain games. Generally speaking,
it is not fast enough for modern 3D games.

I wanna
know what I can play with it.

You could do tons of testing, spend a lot of time to find
out for yourself, but generally it's easier to just take the
hint from everyone else that bought gaming video cards, and
just buy one based on budget and the various gaming
benchmarks on the 'net. Tom's Hardware has a large list
that should show a fair representation of cards at at least
a couple different resolutions and FSAA/AF levels.

Also if I upgrade to a geforce 6800 or something is it hard to disable the
ati card? I'm guessing maybe the bios or something can do it. Thanks for any
help in advance.

The onboard video is usually disabled automatically when an
AGP (or now PCI Express) video card is installed. In cases
where it isn't disabled automatically, yes there would be a
bios setting that should be obvious. In past years there
might've been a jumper on the board to do it but these days
that's very rare, expect there is no jumper but check the
manual if all else fails. I expect you can just plug in the
new card, plug the monitor into it and you're done... but
you might want to uninstall the old video driver first and
if not running DirectX9C, install that before the new video
card driver (newest from nVidia.com is the best to try
first).

 

[Paul]

I got a used computer pretty cheap recently. It isn't to bad a amd 3800
processor 1gb ram and such. My only bad thing about it is it has a ati
radeon express 200 video card. I'm pretty sure this is a built in video
card.
My googling skills are bad so my question is what games can I expect to be
able to play with this card? Is quake 4 or fear out of the question? I wanna
know what I can play with it.
Also if I upgrade to a geforce 6800 or something is it hard to disable the
ati card? I'm guessing maybe the bios or something can do it. Thanks for any
help in advance.

Is there a slot for a video card upgrade ? Some really cheap
computers don't even have the necessary slot for an AGP or
a PCI Express video card. That leaves you with perhaps an
ordinary PCI slot for the video card. And FX5200, FX5500,
FX5700LE PCI cards as (weak) candidates. Have a look inside
and see what slots are available for upgrade.

Also, if using a powerful video card, you'll need to check
out the label on the side of the power supply, to see whether
there is enough spare power for such a card. If the computer
doesn't work well with the new video card in place, it could
be the power supply is too weak for it.

Paul

 

[warthog9]

Is there a slot for a video card upgrade ? Some really cheap
computers don't even have the necessary slot for an AGP or
a PCI Express video card. That leaves you with perhaps an
ordinary PCI slot for the video card. And FX5200, FX5500,
FX5700LE PCI cards as (weak) candidates. Have a look inside
and see what slots are available for upgrade.

Also, if using a powerful video card, you'll need to check
out the label on the side of the power supply, to see whether
there is enough spare power for such a card. If the computer
doesn't work well with the new video card in place, it could
be the power supply is too weak for it.

Paul

It has 2 extra pci slots & 1 pci-e slot open. The power might be to little
for a new card. Is it hard to install a new power supply?
The video card I am looking into getting is this

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130249

which seems to have good reviews. Also it is a pci-e card.

One more thing how will I know what games can work with this card. I want to
get the new lord of the rings 2 - battle for middle earth game. here are the
min specs for it.

Official min spec for BFME II:

* Microsoft® Windows® XP

* PC with 1.6 Ghz equivalent or higher processor

* 256 MB of system RAM

* 512 MB of system RAM for online play with 3 or more players

* 5.5 GB available hard disk space

* 16x speed or faster CD-ROM drive

* 64 MB GeForce3-class video card.

o We will only officially support cards with ATI and Nvidia
chipsets, and the Intel GMA 900 and GMA 950 products. We are not officially
supporting the GeForce 4 MX series.

Please note, WE ARE supporting all other cards in the GeForce 4
series including GeForce 4 TI, GeForce 4 Go, and GeForce 4200.

* Sound card with speakers or headphones.

* Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device.

* 56.6 Kbps or better modem for 1v1 online play.

* Broadband connection for online play with 3 or more players.

* DirectX 9.0c or above.

If you intend to play on the Ultra High setting and really want to enjoy the
experience to the fullest the development team reccommends:

3.0GHz Intel CPU, 1GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA 6600 or 6800 Ultra or 7800 GT or
GTX.

i'm not sure if my video card qualifies or not.

 

[Shawk]

The video card I am looking into getting is this

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130249

" If you intend to play on the Ultra High setting and really want to enjoy
the
experience to the fullest the development team reccommends:

3.0GHz Intel CPU, 1GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA 6600 or 6800 Ultra or 7800 GT
or
GTX."

i'm not sure if my video card qualifies or not.

The part I added quote marks to would suggest it more than qualifies...

 

[JohnS]

It has 2 extra pci slots & 1 pci-e slot open. The power might be to little
for a new card. Is it hard to install a new power supply?
The video card I am looking into getting is this

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130249

which seems to have good reviews. Also it is a pci-e card.

Youre going from one extreme to another.

$300 for a video card? Yow ! The 7800Gt is a great card.

I actually have this card though BFG brand.
You only need a 6600GT PCI express. You can get the evga for $109
after rebate at Newegg.

The 6800 GS etc for a bit more is also a good choice and a few other
cards up to 200.

Going way up to the 7800GT depends on whether you are really a game
fanatic or not and whether 300 bucks is worth it to you.

Youll be able to play all the modern games with a 6600gt but it
depends on like others have said --- the resolution you choose to play
it in, effects - quality settings and framerates you find acceptable.

Its all a personal thing. Frankly I dont see a huge difference after a
certain point.

 

[kony]

It has 2 extra pci slots & 1 pci-e slot open. The power might be to little
for a new card. Is it hard to install a new power supply?
The video card I am looking into getting is this

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130249

which seems to have good reviews. Also it is a pci-e card.

One more thing how will I know what games can work with this card. I want to
get the new lord of the rings 2 - battle for middle earth game. here are the
min specs for it.

That video card is plenty, perhaps even overkill for most
games unless you'll be playing at very high resolution. At
high-res, it may be necessary but only you know what
environment you will need or like to use.

As Paul mentioned, you are likely to need a power supply
upgrade if your present supply isn't a decent name brand of
at least 400W, even higher wattage "might" be necessary with
some marginal brands.

It is not hard to install one, is fairly straightforward,
just unplug the old and swap in the new, checking to be sure
the input AC voltage switch is set correct per your location
(if there is such a switch at all), and that all cables are
securely safely out of the way of other parts such as fan
blades. Be sure to ground yourself before working inside
the system, even continually ground yourself if possible to
prevent ESD damage potential to the parts.

 

[Paul]

It has 2 extra pci slots & 1 pci-e slot open. The power might be to little
for a new card. Is it hard to install a new power supply?
The video card I am looking into getting is this

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130249

which seems to have good reviews. Also it is a pci-e card.

One more thing how will I know what games can work with this card. I want to
get the new lord of the rings 2 - battle for middle earth game. here are the
min specs for it.

Official min spec for BFME II:

<<snipped some specs>>

If you intend to play on the Ultra High setting and really want to enjoy the
experience to the fullest the development team reccommends:

3.0GHz Intel CPU, 1GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA 6600 or 6800 Ultra or 7800 GT or
GTX.

i'm not sure if my video card qualifies or not.

Note in the product description, that the card uses a 2x3 PCI
Express power connector. If your computer doesn't have one, you'll
need to get an adapter of some kind. (In looking on the Newegg
site, they have several adapters, and user reviews note that
at least two of the products are not wired correctly!) This
adapter goes from two disk drive connectors, to one PCI Express
2x3 connector. (That 2x3 has three GND and three +12V pins.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812154001

For future reference, here is what the pinout of a power supply
with PCI Express connectors looks like:
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/assets/T51SLI/mb_T51SLI.gif

7800GT is roughly 12V@5A more power. The Newegg advertisement
says to use a 450W power supply, but the real issue is how much
current the 12V output(s) on your power supply have, and what
kind of processor, fans, and disks (or other 12V loads) you are
using. I wouldn't expect a problem, but you'll know soon enough
when you start testing the setup with a 3DMark benchmark.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gpu-consumption2006_5.html

Paul

 

[kony]

Note in the product description, that the card uses a 2x3 PCI
Express power connector. If your computer doesn't have one, you'll
need to get an adapter of some kind. (In looking on the Newegg
site, they have several adapters, and user reviews note that
at least two of the products are not wired correctly!) This
adapter goes from two disk drive connectors, to one PCI Express
2x3 connector. (That 2x3 has three GND and three +12V pins.)

That adapter is included with the retail packaged product
(video card),
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-130-249-04.JPG

 

[warthog9]

Well newegg had a place where they put their picks for buying parts for pc's
at different ranges. I picked the high end system tab. Thats how I got the
7800 video card. Picking the medium system option seems like a better choose
for me. They recommend this card a 6800GS. Which after looking into it seems
a little more reasonable.
Here is the website for the leaderboard http://www.pcper.com/hwlb.php in
case anybody wants to look at it.
Tnaks for everyones help. Sorry to top post but, i'm in a rush need to pick
up the wife from work.


http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814130265

 

[JohnS]

Well newegg had a place where they put their picks for buying parts for pc's
at different ranges. I picked the high end system tab. Thats how I got the
7800 video card. Picking the medium system option seems like a better choose
for me. They recommend this card a 6800GS. Which after looking into it seems
a little more reasonable.

I think youll be ecstatic with the 6800GS which is supposed to be
faster than than a GT.

eVGa by the way has 3 versions at Newegg take a look at this one a
really reasonable 154 after rebate vs 170 something for the GS you
picked
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130271

The only difference seems to be a tiny increase in core and mem speed
but its small. I think I would go for this one since psychologically
154 seems much lower than 170+ though its only basically about 20
bucks.

In a review they say Nvidia has discontinued the 6800 line. Maybe
theyll keep the 6800GS for last. Its a great card. Though they seem to
have been trying to confuse everyone with all these weird models like
the XT and LE etc.

When they first came out I think they had the plain 6800,6800GT and
6800Ultra. The GS I think is between the Ultra and GT. One review
claimed it was 40% faster than the 6800. CC was doing a clearance on
the 6800 AGP versions.

It was the AGP 6800 that can be unlocked cause it has more pipes that
are locked. The 6800 PCI express version I think uses a different chip
and has no extra pipes.

 

[Mike Ray]

I got a used computer pretty cheap recently. It isn't to bad a amd 3800
processor 1gb ram and such. My only bad thing about it is it has a ati
radeon express 200 video card. I'm pretty sure this is a built in video
card.
My googling skills are bad so my question is what games can I expect to be
able to play with this card? Is quake 4 or fear out of the question? I wanna
know what I can play with it.
Also if I upgrade to a geforce 6800 or something is it hard to disable the
ati card? I'm guessing maybe the bios or something can do it. Thanks for any
help in advance.

I have an X200 on a MSI motherboard(HP a1130n)with an AMD 3500+, 1gb
same as you. I just finished HALO with most settings on low to mid and
rez at 800 X 600 except for a few times I dropped back to 640 X 480 for
better speed. Also just finished Far Cry with setting mid. to high and
800 X 600 with no slow down. X200 is a good onboard DX9 pci-e chip set.
On my MSI I boot to BIOS and can set video to 'ONBOARD' OR 'PCI-e' or 'PCI'.
Here are some benchmarks and information:
http://www.tbreak.com/reviews/article.php?id=334

Look at X300 (same video chip HOWEVER the X200 shares system memory so
it is alittle slower then the X300 which is on a seperate PCI-e card
with it's own memory.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2004/12/22/vga_charts_v/page8.html

 

[JohnS]

I have an X200 on a MSI motherboard(HP a1130n)with an AMD 3500+, 1gb
same as you. I just finished HALO with most settings on low to mid and
rez at 800 X 600 except for a few times I dropped back to 640 X 480 for
better speed. Also just finished Far Cry with setting mid. to high and
800 X 600 with no slow down.

I cant freaking get past the swamp part on Far Cry. Theres more and
more of these annoying parts where you have to do them a million times
before you can beat the part and go on. The other annoying part was
the boat part where you have to kill the guy in the helicopter with
your rocket launcher.