Rubbish Graphics card

[MarkM]

I currently have an SiS 651C and it was terrible.

I got it with the PC as i wasnt planning on playing game at the time , but now I want to play Pro Ev and San Andreas. It suggests on San Andreas that the minimum graphics card i should ahve is a GeForce 3 one. After doing a crucial scan it says The Crucial Radeon X1300 256MB AGP would be suitbale. so this means i must buy an AGP , Non-ECC graphics card.

I am kind of a noob when it comes to things like this and dont wnt to buy the wrong thing.


So , any suggestions people? Price is priority Cheapness ftw!
thanks

 

[Me__2001]

whats your motherboard model? or the make and model of your pc ?

 

[MarkM]

Processor is a Intel (R) Celeron CPU 2.66 GHz

Not sure how I find out aboutt he motherboard :S

The PC is a packard bell , purchased from PC World (Rip Off lol)

 

[floppybootstomp]

Some refurbished cards here that would suit you:

9800 Pro 256Mb £32.34
X800 Pro 256Mb £48.00
X850 Pro 256Mb £60.00
AIW 9800SE 128Mb £24.00

Cheap Cards

 

[floppybootstomp]

A few more:

£41.71

£37.37

£27.09

 

[Ian]

Some refurbished cards here that would suit you:

9800 Pro 256Mb £32.34
X800 Pro 256Mb £48.00
X850 Pro 256Mb £60.00
AIW 9800SE 128Mb £24.00

Bargains!!!

Thanks for that link Flops, think I'll be recommending these for a few people as cheap upgrades

Bex has a 9800 and I have an X800, both smashing cards at that price.

 

[MarkM]

thanks mate , a lotta help.

 

[MarkM]

After playing San Andreas on a mates computer , I was very impressed with his Nvidia GeForce 6200.

Anyone know if this would work in my machine and how much id be looking to pay?

Current Graphics card is an on-board SiS.

I really want to make sure the card I buy will work on my computer .

 

[floppybootstomp]

Yes it would. And you can get one at Maplins for forty quid. Link

 

[MarkM]

That says DDR2 memory though , I dont think thats the kind of memory i have installed.

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=108852&_LOC=UK
Is this the same as the one you posted earlier?

Also how easy is it to install a graphics card. I was thinking about the AIW 9800 one you posted the link to earlier but it doesnt come with a setup disk , installing it manually seems a bit daunting for a noob like myself. and one more thing , the other graphics cards you linked to , they would all run GTA smoothly?

You've been a big help mate , cant thank you enough

 

[floppybootstomp]

They should all run GTA ok, what does the game specify is the minimum graphics card requirement?

Don't confuse the graphics card memory with the memory fitted to the motherboard, the 6200 will work ok in your setup.

Also, you don't need a setup disk to install a video card, just drivers. You can download the latest Nvidia drivers for your card from http://www.nvidia.com, I think it's V97.81 for the GeForce series at the moment.

Fitting a graphics card is easy.

First, remove old video drivers from the Control Panel/Add Remove hardware and reboot. Your screen will look awful as there are now no drivers, don't worry about it.

In your case though I think you have onboard graphics so if that's the case you'd have to disable it in the BIOS. If you're not sure how to do that, ask here and me or somebody else will explain.

Turn off computer and remove mains lead. You can discharge any static from yourself at this stage by touching something conductive that's grounded, such as a radiator pipe, but it's not that important.

Open case, remove one screw holding card in place and remove. There may be a retaining bracket or clip at the end of the slot the card sits in, so if the card doesn't want to budge don't force, operate the retaining clip then lift out.

Fit new card, boot up, browse to where you stored your downloaded drivers (you may have had to unzip the downloaded file first, I'm not sure) double click on the file and they will install.

Reboot, set resolution and refresh rate and you're done.

If there's anything you're not sure about, ask away.

 

[MarkM]

thanks a lot mate.

Ill get back to you on how the installation went

 

[MarkM]

After considering it , I'v purchased the AIW Radeon 9800 SE.

On the ATI site for drivers it asks if you need drivers for a Radeon or an All-In-Wonder card.

Whihc one is it i have?

http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html