Graphics Card Questions!!

Hey guys,

I am running a Sapphire Radeon X800 256MB card right now.

I was looking to upgrade that card and I seem to be having a hard time finding out what card I should move up to.

Price in not an option but I am looking for under $600.00 US.

Some things I am having trouble understanding that you might be able to help me with are:

#1. Is a 516MB card always better than a 256MB card?

#2. If I have a PCI Express* x16 compatible motherboard can I use the ATI and the GeForce cards or am I limited to just one brand?

#3. Is there a good website out there with all the newest cards tested against each other? All I can seem to find are benchmarks for the older cards.

#4. Whats the best place to order online, New Egg , Tiger Direct, or should I look to go to the store and pick it up myself?

Thanks for the help guys

1. 512MB is only useful if you have a large monitor (1920x1200 or bigger)

2. Both ATI and NVIDIA have PCI-E x16 card's.

3. Anandtech,Tweaktown,Xbitlabs,Guru3D have good reviews on recent card's,check them out.

4. Newegg.

To answer the first question,$600 can get you a 8800GTX (or Ultra),just make sure your PSU has enough amps on the 12V rail and TWO PCI-E power connectors.

How can I check my PSU? It has no writing on it at all other that the word ULTRA.

And it looks like I have 2 empty slots on my PSU with 4 metal prongs in them? Will they work?

As far as I can tell my PSU has ZERO writing on it .... nothing at all other than the word ULTRA.MatthewRM

Okay I took my pc apart and the side facing away from me had the label... Its a 500W PS.

I need to get off this crappy card asap lol, and by the way I have a 24 inch widescree Dell LCD monitor.

Now what do you think my options are for the best card upgrade?

Okay here goes

Motherboard: Intel Desktop Board D915PBL with 1 PCI Express* 16X bus add-in card connector

Motherboard chipset: Intel Grantsdale i915

Procdesser: Intel P4

System Memory: 1024 MB

Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon X800 (256 MB)

Hard Drive: WDC WD2000JD-22HBC0 ( How do i tell if its SATA or IDE?)

Floppy Drive: Standard

DVD CDROM: Sony CD-RW CRX320E ( two of them both DVD ready)

Okay here goes

Motherboard: Intel Desktop Board D915PBL with 1 PCI Express* 16X bus add-in card connector

Motherboard chipset: Intel Grantsdale i915

Procdesser: Intel P4

System Memory: 1024 MB

Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon X800 (256 MB)

Hard Drive: WDC WD2000JD-22HBC0 ( How do i tell if its SATA or IDE?)

Floppy Drive: Standard

DVD CDROM: Sony CD-RW CRX320E ( two of them both DVD ready)

MatthewRM

Fans: I have a fan on my PSU of course ( 0.17 Amps), a fan on my Hard drive( 0.19 Amps), two exhaust fans on the rear ( 0.19 Amps) and 1 intake fan on the side ( 0.19 Amps).

Lights: The exhaust and side fans have small LEDs in them

Processor Speed: That website said I had 2 processors running Intel Pentium 4 3.40 GHz rated at a speed of 5.10 GHz

Both of those card options look like they need to be plugged directly into my PSU, is that correct?

If so how do i know I have the correct slots available to do that?

It looks like I have 2 free slots with 4 pins in them. Is that what I would need?

Also it said I need 2 slots to use the cards. Currently my Graphics card is in the top slot on my motherboard and directly under it is a modem I got when i bought the PC. I don't use it. Does the second slot need to be above or below the slot you install the card in?

Both of those card options look like they need to be plugged directly into my PSU, is that correct?

If so how do i know I have the correct slots available to do that?

It looks like I have 2 free slots with 4 pins in them. Is that what I would need?

Also it said I need 2 slots to use the cards. Currently my Graphics card is in the top slot on my motherboard and directly under it is a modem I got when i bought the PC. I don't use it. Does the second slot need to be above or below the slot you install the card in?

MatthewRM

Both of those card options look like they need to be plugged directly into my PSU, is that correct?

If so how do i know I have the correct slots available to do that?

It looks like I have 2 free slots with 4 pins in them. Is that what I would need?

Also it said I need 2 slots to use the cards. Currently my Graphics card is in the top slot on my motherboard and directly under it is a modem I got when i bought the PC. I don't use it. Does the second slot need to be above or below the slot you install the card in?MatthewRM

The second slot needs to be below the card; take out the modem. Also, I'm pretty sure your PSU is a piece of crap. I recommend getting this. It's a power supply that goes in an empty drive bay. It'll give plenty of juice to the 8800GTX.

kodex1717

I believe they're all 11 inches long.

How many amps are on +12v rail or your power supply?

I read that the Power supply you linked would cause the card to run in reduced efficiency mode. Is that true?MatthewRM

There are 34 Amps on the +12 volt side ...

Will that work for me?

Damn, I guess you bought that before ATX 2.0 was decided, eh? Yeah, that should run it fine. There are Molex --> PCI-e adapters that come with the card that will allow you to run the 8800Ultra. Just make sure that each adapter is hooked up to a seperate cable with nothing else attached.

A Molex to PCI-e adapter.

There are 34 Amps on the +12 volt side ...

Will that work for me?

MatthewRM

Yeah thats fine. But I will just say that tomake it an all-around better system, get an 8800 GTS 640 mb, a Core 2 Duo, and another gig of RAM. You might be able to do that for 600, and it would kill your current system.

[QUOTE="MatthewRM"]

There are 34 Amps on the +12 volt side ...

Will that work for me?

JSDempsey

Yeah thats fine. But I will just say that tomake it an all-around better system, get an 8800 GTS 640 mb, a Core 2 Duo, and another gig of RAM. You might be able to do that for 600, and it would kill your current system.