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Old 01-21-2005, 08:09 AM   #1
Kaelas
Elite Waterdeep Guard
 

Join Date: November 17, 2004
Location: A comfy chair in front of my PC.
Age: 46
Posts: 40
I'm thinking about getting a new GFX card for my outdated PC with the following specs:

PIII 933Mhz (socket 370 MoBo)
512 MB RAM
Geforce 2

Now, the question is if this system would actually profit from a new graphics card. I've heard people saying that slow processors (like mine) cannot use newer graphics cards to their full potential. Would a new card make a noticeable difference?

I'm usually only playing Infinity Engine games (BG, IwD, etc.) and Neverwinter Nights with my PC and it would be nice to have a little more performance especially when playing NWN.
Oh... and I've been playing KotOR, too, and it ran rather well at lowest settings. Playing KotOR 2 somewhat fluidly would be a great treat.

I don't want to spend much more than 50-60€ on the card and any advice you guys (and gals) have will be greatly appreciated.
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Old 01-21-2005, 08:17 AM   #2
Harkoliar
Jack Burton
 

Join Date: March 21, 2001
Location: Philippines, but now Harbor City Sydney
Age: 40
Posts: 5,556
well.. i think its true that you may want to buy a whole new computer instead .

having a new video card would mean new drivers and direct x requirements on your processor would be a little tough.

still im so outdated with computers so dont take my comments too seriously.

and you can get a gf4 graphics with that money
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Old 01-21-2005, 07:13 PM   #3
RoSs_bg2_rox
Zartan
 

Join Date: May 20, 2003
Location: Near Aberdeen, Scotland
Age: 34
Posts: 5,225
You should pick up a Radeon 9550 very cheaply of ebay. You can then softmod it to 9700 standards, and you will have yourself a fairly decent graphics card; ok so it's old by today's standards, but it's by far the best deal for that money, and it will run NWN perfectly.
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Old 01-21-2005, 10:31 PM   #4
Bahamut
Iron Throne Cult
 

Join Date: March 12, 2001
Location: Manila, Philippines
Age: 39
Posts: 4,864
Harkoliar is right. GeForce 4 would do the trick. If you are to buy better video cards it is better for you to upgrade your entire system.
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Old 01-21-2005, 11:25 PM   #5
Animal
Gold Dragon
 

Join Date: March 29, 2002
Location: Canada
Age: 51
Posts: 2,534
Nope, your motherboard, memory and CPU are holding you back.

Remember most of todays games don't even come close to taking advantage of the newer GFX cards, they are still FSB and CPU limited.
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Old 01-22-2005, 06:04 AM   #6
Kaelas
Elite Waterdeep Guard
 

Join Date: November 17, 2004
Location: A comfy chair in front of my PC.
Age: 46
Posts: 40
Thanks for all your input!

I was aware that my system would not take full advantage of any 'newer' graphics card. I had hoped, however, that I could get that last little push in performance I needed to play my RPGs at max settings (especially NWN and KotOR, which run fine but only at low to medium graphics settings) by upgrading that single component.

So, would there be an actual, noticeable increase in performance with a new GFX card or would it be rather insignificant due to my slow CPU and RAM?
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Old 01-22-2005, 06:23 AM   #7
Variol (Farseer) Elmwood
Jack Burton
 

Join Date: May 16, 2003
Location: Dartmouth, NS Canada
Age: 58
Posts: 5,634
Hey Kaelas!
It just depends on what you're playing. I have 2 PC's and the old one is an 866Mhz with 448ram and I think 64mb video. That darn thing works great and it's got to be 5 years old. Even new programs work very well on it.

If the card is a good price, I would go for it. I'm actually tempted to buy a Radeon 9000 for my old one 'cos I get 50% off today for employee discount day at Staples.
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