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Advice on NEW video card for Vanguard
djnso
Member Posts: 47
Hi everyone,
I am coming from WOW, SWG and EQ2 to join Vanguard. I have a dual-core pentimum (3.0ghz) and 2GB Ram. I have a GeForce 6200 card.
This card is not powerful enough to play the game even on the lowest setting. My biggest problem is the fact that even on the settings screen, as soon as I move a slider the entire box grey's out and I can't see the rest of the options.
I have tried tweaking the vgclient.ini file as was suggested on some other posts but no success.
I am going to breakdown and buy a better video card.
I am thinking of the GeForce 8800 (640MB) card. Anyone using that for Vanguard? If yes, any problems?
Thank you in advance for helpful suggestions on high-end video cards that will run Vanguard.
Teak
Comments
Good but expensive, ATI is a good alternative, I found them to be as good but less expensive.
If you can afford ~$550 and demand high settings and a high FPS, get a GeForce 8800 GTX. Your PC will likely not be able to get the most out of it, but the card will still do wonders as it is an absolute beast.
Of course, do you need to spend $550 to play the game? No.
You can spend far less, but the trade-off is speed and/or quality. For ~$250, you can get a GeForce 7950 GT with 512MB of RAM. This is less than half the price of the top-of-the-line card, and will run the game quite well. Will it handle it on maximum settings with 40+ FPS...probably not. But it will be very playable.
So, like I said, buy the best card for your budget and needs. Also consider that the best cards are marked up heavily and typically not worth it unless you demand the bleeding edge and have cash to spare.
After that, AMD Graphics (Formally ATI) is better all around. Back in the days of 6800 and 7800 all I used was nVidia. However, ATI is now the king. With CF mk.2 it allows you to connect 2 diffrent model graphics cards together and the range is much better. Not to mention, if you OC at all, ATI runs cooler.
However, if you do NOTHING with your card, then the 8800 series is a good bet.
I use just one of these and I am very impressed, the only thing lagging me in Vanguard is my CPU.
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Godpuppet, the OP did not say if he can use SLI but the one of the topline newest series cards will outdo 2 of the previous generations topline cards for about the same price. Having said that, with the reported power usage of the 8 series cards, I am not sure I would go to one of them yet. I would probably find a good budget card that would run VG at playable settings and save the extra cash till later in the year and upgrade after the next set of 8 series cards come out as hopefully they will have addressed the high power comsumption issue.
One added note too is if the OP switches from a Geforce series card to an AMD/ATI card, they will need to make sure they fully uninstall teh Geforce drivers as I have heard of conflicts between left over driver files for each causing problems with the new drivers whereas if the OP stays with Nvidia, all Geforce except the newest ones for the 8 series use the same driver architecture so you can just swap cards without needing to change the drivers. One caveat I would add is make sure you aren't running old drivers from prior to the new card's release. Also the 8 series has its own drivers now and I don't know yet if the old drivers would need fully uninstalled before you put the 8 series ones in. Someone who has an 8 series card would need to tell that one.
You might not get the best performance/quality, but the most economical way of managing your GPU's is to buy 2nd best now, wait until the price drops then get another and SLI. The very top range cards have very little difference to the 2nd best when you compare the 2nd to the 3rd.
Btw, im not saying the 7800 is the 2nd best either, its just a very economical option that provides an impressive performance/quality level.
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I understand your point but unless someone says they can run SLI, I always go with the worst case scenario of they can't. Like I also said, I would recommend going with a budget card to keep prices down until all issues with the newest of anything are worked out.
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"If you want a picture of the future, imagine a robot foot stomping on a human face -- forever."
Hi
if you can wait a bit the new Nvidia are comming out in end of march . The 8600 will be very cost efficient
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Nvidia-Plans-to-Release-Geforce-8600-and-8300-44722.shtml
The best of the 8600 series will have 512 mb memory and will run DirectX 10
The good news is cost is about 200.00$ ,compared to the 599.00$ for a 8800, and be SLI compatible
For the price of one 8800 at 700mb you can have 2 8600 at 1g --not to shaby
Luck
PS: Tried that game and found --> Lord of the Ring <-- much better and your system will work on the one
Thank you for the information and advice. I am going to go with the 8800 for two reasons-----(1) the price just dropped from $499 to $400 and because it is Dx10 compatible. I am installing it tomorrow night and will post my results (good or bad) tomorrow evening.
Teak
ok-- here is my report.
I bought the GeForce 8800 card. I tried to put it in this afternoon and be warned, the card is actually so big that it takes TWO slots even though it really only plugs into one PCI express slot. UNfortunately, it wouldn't fit in the computer.
So i went back to Best Buy and bought the GeForce 7950. THis card takes only one PCI express slot and doesn't hog the rest of the space in the computer.
Installation was a breeze and Windows XP recognized it with no problem.
NOW FOR THE BIG $10,000 QUESTION: Would this card solve my problem of not being able to play Vanguard, even on the lowest setting?
VERDICT: The card not only runs Vanguard, but I am running Vanguard on the HIGHEST QUALITY setting with no problems.
Thanks for the assistance and advice and see you in-game!
Teak
Can you give me a link for your stated duel GPU graphics cards have been released statement.??? Nothing i have read in the past month or months on any tech forum not even Nvidia website has mentioned a duel GPU card . I don't think they would be pushing SLI if that was true and SLI for what its worth from my readings is not worth the money UNLESS you run very high resolutions above 1600x1200.
To the OP get a either and EVGA or BFGTech 8800. Both have lifetime warranties and both are Directx 10 capable. Buying a DX9 card *anything other then an 8800* is a waste. The 8800 GTS comes in 320mb and 640mb versions. I have the 640 overclocked version from BFGTech. GTX costs alot more only because its the fastest card in the world right now lol.. Nvidia is king of the hill for the time being.
Like the man said the 320mb 8800gts.
Unless you are using very high resolution its the same thing as the 640mb 8800gts since its identical cards just less memory.
Also its over £90 cheaper at least in the uk and is in same price range as x1900xt but better by nearly 20%
How is that card? Also is there a Nvidia card that is similar?
Naturally I'm getting a new motherboard as I don't have a PCI-E slot on the one I have now. Basically I'm thinking of getting a new PC from cyberpowerpc.com instead of trying to get things I might need for my current PC. Better to get a new one and the price seems decent and a lot of what I already have can be used again (dvd-rw, harddrives, monitor, etc). This card doesn't push the price on the new PC much and works within my budget.
- How can you talk if you haven't got a brain?
- I don't know, but some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they?
I'm running VG very nicely on this
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2427578&Sku=P450-7870
GeForce 7600 256 - I'm running Core 2 Duo 2.13 as well.
Good Luck!