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Cheapo graphics card

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
Hey, my girlfriend needs a graphics card that will run roller coaster tycoon 3. I've got a radeon 9800 se in my computer that runs it seamlessly, and you'd think her having onboard graqphics would work... but no. it says direct3d not initialiased or something stupid. (went to dxdiag, it's turned on, but she's got SiS graphics...). It says she only needs a 32mb t&L enabled graphics card, but something better would be nice.

Was thinking of an old radeon 9600 or a radeon 9800? Realised that some could be had for peanuts on eBay and they're better than mine, which runs most things at high settings and high resolution :). (not ultra though).

So yeaaaa any suggestions? What is the radeon 9700, it seems to crop up, is it inbetween the 9600 and 9800 in terms of power? If so it might be perfect... otherwise it's gonna probs be a low end 9800 i reckon.

I could always take the plunge, upgrade to a PCI-E motherboard and give her mine :p

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Maybe go for Nvidia instead of ATI, especially for the low to mid range cards. The 7 series cards have come out so have a look at those. I'm sure they will all run that game well.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    But new ones are gonna be a bit expensive, I've always found its better to buy a second hand high end cards that are now mid-range-ish. Will have a lookie though... I just have prejudices against Nvidia hehe.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    p.s. were you joking about the 7 series, i can only find 7800GTs and the like. Ridiculously expensive!
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    would a 6200 be adequate? They are only baout £40.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    LoL no there are others mirroring the 6 series. 7200, 7400, 7600, 7800 and probably more!

    A 100 quid 7600 will play all the latest games on Mid-High settings... I have the 6600GT from XFX and can play all the new games at almost high settings, overclocked of course..
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    minimi38 wrote:
    would a 6200 be adequate? They are only baout £40.

    Certainly not.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nash wrote:
    Certainly not.

    Why not? She's only after a step up from integrated graphics, which is exactly what the 6200 is.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Mist wrote:
    Why not? She's only after a step up from integrated graphics, which is exactly what the 6200 is.

    You're going to have a tough time playing RCT3 with a card just above intergrated graphics...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    recommended vdeo requirements:
    Video: Any ATI Radeon or GeForce 2 with 32MB or higher
    or other video card with 32MB and hardware
    T&L (ATI Radeon 64 MB SDR or GeForce 2 Pro or other video card with 64 MB or more memory and hardware T&L recommended)

    if a 6200 wont work than the geforece 2 that will work will be even cheaper.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    a 9800 goes for around £50 on fleabay. Just wondering if it was overkill :razz:

    I bought mine for about £100 well over a year ago and it still runs most things on high settings. The one issue I have is using AA on Oblivion, but that seems to affect all ATI cards.

    But anyway, budget cards here ;) rct3 doesn't take a lot to run. I had it on full everything with a 9800se using a 128mb ram, on max resolution, and it ran fine. (we had to turn the res down though cos things were too small on the screen :p)
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm not saying it won't work it just won't be adequate... I used to have a 5200 which is very similar to a 6200 and for graphical 3D games which RCT3 is, then it might not be a very enjoyable experience if you have all the settings turned down to low.

    What you listed there are the minimun requirements... and you just won't have a nice experience at all. Also if you want to play other games that'll ber coming out, it's best to invest in a mid-range card at least.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    the 9800 for £50 would be the best choice, imo.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    TheShyBoyInTheCorner wrote:
    a 9800 goes for around £50 on fleabay. Just wondering if it was overkill :razz:

    If the PC's got a slow processor then you'll hit a bottleneck if the graphics card is very good. But i'm sure a 9800 would be fine for what you need.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Nash wrote:
    I'm not saying it won't work it just won't be adequate... I used to have a 5200 which is very similar to a 6200 and for graphical 3D games which RCT3 is, then it might not be a very enjoyable experience if you have all the settings turned down to low.

    What you listed there are the minimun requirements... and you just won't have a nice experience at all. Also if you want to play other games that'll ber coming out, it's best to invest in a mid-range card at least.

    I got a 5200 for my computer, what an awful mistake. Mind you, my brother has got himself one and seems happy with it :p.
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