Kevin's Watch

Upgrade time. I'm thinking of getting the FXF GeForce 8800 GT 512MB for around $250. It got an extremely good review in PC Mag back in December.

Any other suggestions? What are you guys running?

Currently, I don't have a graphics card at all. I've got a two-year-old Dell 5150 with a Pentium 4 processor running at 3 GHz, a gig of RAM, and a PCIe slot just begging for a graphics card.

I'm tired of playing 8-yr-old Quake III Arena, and would like to try out some new shooters. I'm really not sure which games I'd buy, but I want a card that can handle the best.

Malik23 wrote:Upgrade time. I'm thinking of getting the FXF GeForce 8800 GT 512MB for around $250. It got an extremely good review in PC Mag back in December.

Any other suggestions? What are you guys running?

Currently, I don't have a graphics card at all. I've got a two-year-old Dell 5150 with a Pentium 4 processor running at 3 GHz, a gig of RAM, and a PCIe slot just begging for a graphics card.

I'm tired of playing 8-yr-old Quake III Arena, and would like to try out some new shooters. I'm really not sure which games I'd buy, but I want a card that can handle the best.

Is it a PCIe x16 slot?

Anyway, I bought two HD2900xt 512MB cards and linked them to run as one. But the 8800 GT is a rather good card!

Is it a PCIe x16 slot?

I was looking in device manager and system information, but I can't find it. I thought it was x16, but I'm not sure. How can I find out?

I think you go into BIOS to find that out.

Anyway, I bought two HD2900xt 512MB cards and linked them to run as one.

Wow, I bet that's screamin' fast. I wish I could run a SLI configuration, but my motherboard is too old. What games do you play?

Malik23 wrote:

Anyway, I bought two HD2900xt 512MB cards and linked them to run as one.

Wow, I bet that's screamin' fast. I wish I could run a SLI configuration, but my motherboard is too old. What games do you play?

I played Crysis and managed to get it to run damn well. I also play STALKER and Gears of War.

I've been doing a bit of shopping, and the guy at Best Buy said that Crysis was designed specifically with the 8800 gt in mind (ran in SLI). Apparently, it's the most graphic-intensive game out there, right? I'm even more impressed with your setup. What resolution are you running? Do you have the highest settings for AA/AF?

I just won an auction for this card (over clocked version) for 242 incl. shipping! I'm pleased. Now I need a power supply that will run it.
What kind of power supply do you have?

Malik23 wrote:I've been doing a bit of shopping, and the guy at Best Buy said that Crysis was designed specifically with the 8800 gt in mind (ran in SLI). Apparently, it's the most graphic-intensive game out there, right? I'm even more impressed with your setup. What resolution are you running? Do you have the highest settings for AA/AF?

The highest resolution I can get it at is 1300 by 900 (I'm not sure if that's accurate), with 4xAA / full AF. Most of the settings are high, with two (water and post processing at Ultra).

I'm still searching for a power supply in the 500W-600W to make sure I have enough power to run this thing (I've got a 300W PS now). Will an ATX power supply fit a BTX case?

Malik23 wrote:I'm still searching for a power supply in the 500W-600W to make sure I have enough power to run this thing (I've got a 300W PS now). Will an ATX power supply fit a BTX case?

I hope this helps, Malik:

hardforum.com/archive/index.php/t-833643.html

Woo hoo! It came in the mail today. Damn what a deal . . . although I still can't believe I spent 50% of the total cost of my computer on a graphics card! I must be crazy. Oh well, I guess I'll be able to play games from this millennium now.

Now if I could just find the right PSU. . . on that note, I'm thinking about this one (if the seller will get back to me on whether it will fit my case or not). However, it seems too cheap to be true. Maybe I'm missing something. 680W for only $30??

Well, thank god CompUSA is going out of business. I picked up a 550W Antec Truepower Trio for $80 (40% off) and was able to install both power supply and graphics card in the same night. This is a nice PSU; it's actually a lot more advanced that my system needs. I didn't realize how important PSUs were until I started researching. But this should supply stable, clean current to my power-hungry GPU, and future-proof me for a while.

Now I just need to find some games that will show it off. My old games don't do this system justice.

Well done, Malik! Maybe some KWatchers should organise a games night.