Recommended graphics card?

[Robban_Sweden]

Hi!

I have a built-in graphics card that isn't that hip and I can't get any reasonable framerates if I want good graphics quality.
So now I've decided to invest in a new graphics card.

What kind of card do you recommend?

/Robert, Sweden

[ChrisM]

I've heard 6600GT's are real good value for their price.  At the moment i have a MX4000 which is crap :-/, so i am upgrading too

You might want to post this in the hardware forum.

[Robban_Sweden]

OK.
Sorry, didn't think about that.

[ChrisM]

That ok, just thought you might get a few more replys there

[GA_Pilot]

AGP cards are also better than PCI, if you have an AGP slot on your motherboard, and if you want the water textures and reflections you need to get on that supports DX9, which is the problem with the MX cards, which only support DX8!

[Robban_Sweden]

I don't have a AGP slot :=(
My only option is to get a PCI graphics card, and from what I've discovered on the net, there aren't as many cards to choose from for PCI as there are for AGP and PCI Epress.
But anyway, most of them must be better than the one i've got now.

[JBaymore]

Robban_Sweden,

If you look thru the postings on the first few pages in "Hardware" as well as look back thru old pages in this forum, you'll find LOTS of discussion about fs2004 and performance.

One thing is abundantly clear... it is NOT just about the graphics card.  In fact it seems that the main CPU and the frontside buss and the RAM all have to be pretty robust to make this thing work really well with high levels of graphics enabled.

So if your core machine is a little on the weaker end........ it is likely even the best graphics card will not give you the "boost" that you might be looking for.

That being said.... look at the graphics card comparison tests on FS2004 on Tom's Hardware.  Those graphs are reproduced in some threads in the "Hardware" section if you can find them there too.

best,

.................john

[Hyperion2]

If you don't want to spend your children's college fund on a graphics card, but still want a good, DX9 compliant card, check out the FX5200 128mb PCI card....'round $100 last I checked, prolly even lower now.  Great entry level card that I'v been pleased with for more than a year...

[TacitBlue]

...MX cards, which only support DX8!

so thats my problem! For the life of me, I couldnt figure out why my MX440 couldnt do good water textures. I knew that card wasnt the greatest when I bought it, but it was ultra-cheap. Im getting 6600GT soon though, maybe by next week.

[Gary R.]

I already have the 6600 GT.  It's a lot better than the radeon 9200 I used to have but I'm still not getting what I'd like to.  I am also using an older maxtor 60 gig 5200 rpm hard drive.  My wife just gave me consent to upgrade the hard drive and we will be getting a 7200 rpm 120 gig seagate with 8 meg cache.  That should be good to sqweeze me out and extra 2 or 3 frames.  

[MattNW]

[quote]I already have the 6600 GT.

[ChrisM]

Like JBaymore pointed out however you definately need the faster processor, RAM and bus to get the best performance.

Is a Pentium 4 2.8GHz and 512MB RAM good

[cobzz]

get a X850XT PE, bit expensive tho, lol
i arnt shore but if you dont want to spent 800$ AUSTRLAIN, get like a ati radeon 9800.

[Hyperion2]

A 2.8 with 512 is good...you could always get a little more out of it with a full gig of ram, but I wouldn't be crying with 512 either....just run a decent card inside and you'll have a great sim.