Graphic card suggestions?

[K. Ishitar]

Looking to improve my own as cheap as possible because...just about everyone else's pictures that come out look a lot clearer than my own.

Can anyone give the cheapest bang-for-your-buck card that'd give me the closest quality without having to dish out 150~ or less? Is it better to buy them used on e-bay or new ones?

I can give info on my comp to give the best choices when i get home...thanks ahead of time!

Edit: Doing because I'm just tired of the gritty graphics in my gallery some turn out good but others are just fuzzy, is my quality compared to others outdated or average?

 

[Bajaratt]

You can find some Nvidia 8600's for under $150 usually at some stores, my 8400 GS cost me $50 after a rebate. There's also the new 9600's which are around $200, but since they're cheaper than all of the 8800 models I've seen, I'm not sure how good they are.

 

[Keket]

I love my 8800 GT, personally. 512mb. Never have any trouble out of it. Granted, I don't run some of the more graphic intense games or programs.

 

[Tagrineth]

You might also want to registry fix your resolution. Part of the problem is that by default your background (3D graphics) resolution cannot match your overlay (foreground and screen) resolution. The adapter has to scale the 3D graphics to fit the overlay which makes them look shittier than they need to be.

Here's the fix -

Open Regedit (pre vista, start->Run, Regedit.. post vista, start, type regedit in start search, hit enter)

Search for "FinalFantasyXI" without the quotation marks

In the right panel you'll see a bunch of stuff listed

In the left column, 001 through 004 represent your resolution settings. Under Data, 001 is horizontal background, 002 is vertical background, 003 is horizontal overlay, and 004 is vertical overlay.

You need to change the settings so 001 = 003 and 002 = 004.. so like for example I play the game in an 800x600 window so both 001 and 003 are set to 800 (Decimal btw) and 002 and 004 are both set to 600.

That alone will get your graphics looking a lot cleaner.

 

[Kurgon]

What kind of slot do you have on your mobo? PCI-E, agp?

 

[Bajaratt]

You might also want to registry fix your resolution. Part of the problem is that by default your background (3D graphics) resolution cannot match your overlay (foreground and screen) resolution. The adapter has to scale the 3D graphics to fit the overlay which makes them look shittier than they need to be.

Here's the fix -

Open Regedit (pre vista, start->Run, Regedit.. post vista, start, type regedit in start search, hit enter)

Search for "FinalFantasyXI" without the quotation marks

In the right panel you'll see a bunch of stuff listed

In the left column, 001 through 004 represent your resolution settings. Under Data, 001 is horizontal background, 002 is vertical background, 003 is horizontal overlay, and 004 is vertical overlay.

You need to change the settings so 001 = 003 and 002 = 004.. so like for example I play the game in an 800x600 window so both 001 and 003 are set to 800 (Decimal btw) and 002 and 004 are both set to 600.

That alone will get your graphics looking a lot cleaner.

Don't MogToolz do all of that as well?

 

[Ryujin]

wow what a difference, it makes the game look so much better.

quick ? do you think its normal for a pc laptop to be running at 170'F

 

[K. Ishitar]

i forgot to give the schematics of my comp yesterday but it's a regular dell, I'll try what you said tag thanks for posting that maybe that's my problem.

I did a few months ago though increase the pixel size of the shots I take in ffxi by increasing the one on my desktop via properties command and using the ffxi-thing(forgot name) and increased the pixelation as well to max.

1200 x 800ish I think on both on them?

Kurgon- What do you mean by slot?

I'm fairly retarded in computer terms unfortunately.

 

[Rannoch]

I love my Dual 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT SLI Cards. But I hate using a touchpad, I need to buy a mouse for this laptop >(.

I say, go with NVIDIA.

 

[CmdrFly]

Nvidia is satanic, buy their equipment and your soul shall become his forevermore. He rapes his souls with a 200" nail bat every day. Do you want to be raped with a 200" nail bat every day? I didn't think so.

If you can provide the model of Dell you have, we can determine your slot type.

 

[Bajaratt]

Nvidia is satanic, buy their equipment and your soul shall become his forevermore. He rapes his souls with a 200" nail bat every day. Do you want to be raped with a 200" nail bat every day? I didn't think so.

If you can provide the model of Dell you have, we can determine your slot type.

I only got a 100" bat, guess he must like me.

 

[K. Ishitar]

Microsoft Windows XP
Home Edition
Version 2002
Service Pack 2

76477-OEM-0011903-00102

Dell
DELL DIMENSION DIM3000

resolution on desktop

1024 x 768

 

[K. Ishitar]

minibump

 

[CmdrFly]

The good: Highly configurable; excellent warranty and support coverage; great keyboard with well-designed audio controls.

The bad: No AGP slot; does not deliver competitive feature set for the money; weak performance; not easily upgraded.

The bottom line: It's a configurable and well-supported budget PC, but the Dell Dimension 3000 trails eMachines in terms of performance and features.

http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/dell-dimension-3000-celeron/4507-3118_7-31077378.html?tag=specs

Unfortunately, the Dimension 3000 has no video slots. It has regular PCI slots you could throw a card into, but the card would have technology over 7 years old.

 

[Neche]

ATI or bust.

With a computer that old, upgrading will be tough. Hell I tried to upgrade my machine from 4years ago and ended up with a new one.

$1,000 will get you a pretty decent machine nowadays, and if you can't afford that. I'd recommend buying it in pieces.

 

[K. Ishitar]

ouch lol...oh well it only costed lke 120bucks so yeah go figure thanks guys

 

[Bajaratt]

Along this line, does anyone know the difference between the 9600 and the 8800 line of Nvidia cards? I was confused when I saw the brand new 9600 cards were cheaper than some of the 8800 cards, and didn't know why. Are they just a cheaper version of an 8800, are they not as good, or are they better but just priced lower than I'd expect for a new top of the line card?