What current videocards do you think will handle....

[bleach87am]

Hello. My father and I just purchased a new computer and I have a few questions on how you think it may run for some games... heres the specs:

AMD Athlon 64 3000+
DDR 1024mb PC3200
Seagate SATA 80gb 7200
MSI FX 5600 256mb tvout dvi


...the rest isnt too important, I dont think at least.. :\

Well anyways, one game I'm wondering about is Farcry. We aren't picking up the computer untill about a week from now so I haven't been able to try the demo or anything. Do you think this videocard can handle full detail settings and such? Other games I plan on getting when they come out are Half-life 2 and Doom 3. I know HL2 has been said to have problems with the nvidia fx series... As for Doom, I know its probably a long ways ahead but do you think the 5600 will be able to do it?

How does my videocard compare to some others out there now?


Sorry for the length...
Thanks in advance.

 

[BlindApex]

I'm not so experienced with nVidia cards, but it looks like you'll be enjoying many nights of high-quality gaming

 

[aye29]

I have a 128Mb Go5650 with 14.Gz Pentium-M and I have to set the game to 800x600 with medium details to get a smooth frame rate. I know that you have a better CPU and your destop card is better than a mobile card but I still don't think the 5600 can handle high details at high resolutions. But the game still looks great at medium settings. I have also tried the Doom3 and HL2 betas. Doom3 ran pretty well at 800x600 (although I wasn't able to get to change settings without it crashing). HL2 also ran really well. The new Forecware drivers seem to have improved performance a lot.

 

[|Sp@Wn|]

If I was you, I would go for a ATI Card, preferably a Radeon 9600Pro seeing that they are so cheap nowadays...

I remember seeing somewhere that ATI cards are getting better 'FPS on FarCry than nVidia cards... However a FX 5600 isn´t so bad but at full Detail it may get below 30FPS on some places

 

[bleach87am]

Alright, much thanks to everybody for the help.

 

[Chubz]

Well, running FarCry on High Detail with everything turned on would probably not be very good with that card. I have a Radeon 9600XT (see my sig? ) and that is a great card. It only costs $200 and I can play the FarCry demo with everything on High and get framerates of 25-30, which isnt the best, but is at least playable.

Another good budget card is the Geforce FX 5700 Ultra, but the Radeon 9600 XT has bypassed it in every benchmark I have seen (I saw this when deciding to buy the Radeon or the FX a while back )

Anyways, good luck with your PC! Either way it goes, with the Ram and SWEEETTT processor (wish i had that one), it will most definetely be a monster!

 

[bleach87am]

Thanks a lot! Because we still have about a week untill we go get it, I'm thinking maybe we might be able to change the videocard? I'll call soon and find out... But actually what you have, the 9600 xt, is exactly what I was thinking to switch too and has been suggested by a few other friends as well.

 

[jacob77y]

no prob

im runin far cry just fine with a fairly crapy computer. ur comp should have no poblem maybe just get a beter video card like ati radeon 9800, i got one for 200 at newegg. other than that u should be golden

 

[Chubz]

Yea, Jacob is right. Newegg.com is a pretty nice place to shop around, and i REALLY wish i had the Radeon 9800 PRO!! =)

If you cant find a 9800 pro, then try getting the 9600 XT. You wont be let down by it. I have yet to play a game that it doesnt run fairly well with everything on High. (FarCry is the only game that has challenged it, but other than that EVERY other game runs PERFECT)

So it is your choice. Finding a 9800 Pro for cheap wont be very hard though. Try searching Newegg.com, Pricewatch.com, or even Ebay.com !!!

Good luck!

 

[Jorsoft]

My PC isn't quite as good as yours, but I've got the same video card (should've gotten a Radeon lol) and I get smooth performance at maximum details when I run the Far Cry demo.