pouët.net

Hey everybody, for quite a while now I have been using my Radeon 9600, and -- as you might have imagined -- eventually technology seems to have overcome the technical features of this card.

I would like to buy a new one, enabling me to watch a bunch of great new demos whose videos I am forced to watch now. Not a pleasure, you get the idea.

Now what I would like you to do is recommending a graphics card to me. I certainly don't need a big fancy state-of-the-art one, and I'd (of course) like to keep expenses low, but I would like to do a measurable step into nowadays' features.

This thread is not meant as a sole recommendation for me, but to everybody who -- just like me -- has not pursued the technical and price evolution of graphic cards for almost two years and who'd love to be part of the more current demoscene as well.

So any recommendation of graphics card would be highly appreciated.

Thanks, dudes,

/netpoet

just make it shiny. all that counts is the color.

well, to _really_ catch up with the technology you'd probably have to switch to a pci-e card, which costs way more, because of new mainboard, processor... you get the picture. i had thoughts about updating myself, but was not willing to do this step yet...

I just (like: yesterday :) ) bought myself a radeon X1600 pro.
it is an 128bit mem-interface card and does thus not perform as high as fully enabled ones, however I wanted to have features, not 800fps at 1600x1200.
it got SM3.0 and runs all latest demos, including those from BP06, fine (as far as they are not that bugged, that they don't run correctly anyway...).
price was 125.- eur. some companies even deliver you cards with a good cooler (read: silent)

the 'Wildcat realizm 800' looks like a good one

ati should be avoided. gimped openGL drivers and the suckiest most bloated .NET coded control panel ever to be found on earth which crashes and doesn't even work on my computer, also hard to find advanced features.
i'm very pleased with my nvidia geforce 7800GTX currently :)

the_Ye-Ti: especially if you want to spend your time waiting for demofixes that'll NEVER be done for your non-nvidia / non-ati card..

Try that out :]

Seems like GeForce 6600 or anything better is todays choice for watching demos. Personally I'll be waiting for a while before the next upgrade, the Radeon 9800 I have at home is decent enough for most of the demos out there (and the Radeon 9600 Mobility on the laptop is not easily upgradeable :).

jaw: the .net control panel is optional during the install, and also it's not ATI that should be avoided, it's OpenGL.
personally i think you should just trust whatever is in the compo machine at breakpoint.

netpoet: are you using AGP or PCi express ? that's important hehe
I am *very* satisfied atm with my geforce 6800GT AGP
it scored 11095 on 3DMark03 last time I ran it (Aug/2005)

gargaj, the fact is, he's asking about a videocard for watching demos, not for coding them. Supporting opengl is thus pretty much relevant.

Knos: I was referring to Jaw's statement as an explicit argument. My other sentence was aimed as an answer directly.

Gargaj: the problem with thrusting whats in the bp compomachine is that it will always be ATI.

Gargaj, ok, my post was kind of biased.. sorry about that.. anyway, the issue directX vs. openGL does not belong in this thread.. i didn't bash directx.. nor is it balanced of you say directX is the only way to go... let's just say that both API's have their benefits and disadvantages and as always are better suited for different things...

in any case my point is that both card manufactureres should be expected to keep up with the 2 standards we have (dx/gl).. it's not like either is gonna disappear. and the fact still is: ati has a somewhat poor GL driver implementation ;) (they haven't implemented pow() in GLSL for instance and I would assume it's available in silicon.. maybe they have as of now, things change fast in the gfx card business)..

so, on topic - from the little experience i have, i still would choose nvidia..

I bought an AGP 7800GTX recently. This was great value for money for me, as I didn't need to upgrade the rest of my system.

buzzie: problem being? what's good enough for the worlds biggest/best demoparty should be enough for anyone else who wants to watch demos... at least the demos ran fine as far as i saw, so why experiment?

jaw: the .NET control panel is still optional though!!! :D

- nvidia usually has better drivers
- buy midrange (150-200e)
- require 2-3 years warranty
- prefer silent cards (no fans)

the nvidia 6600/7600 models are good candidates.

you should know that "whatever is in the compo machine at breakpoint" is pretty random.

it could be rephrased as "whatever we manage to get from a sponsor that doesn't offend another sponsor".

it's also usually a damn bad idea if you plan on installing linux within the next half year - because we usually get brand new machines with components that don't yet have linux drivers.

well nvidia didn't have AMD 32bit linux drivers last time I tried installing linux.
then, my card melted (i wasn't even related to the scene then, so it was not because of heavy usage I think), and that was the last time I bought an nvidia.
driver support for windows is great, tho.

kelsey: nvidia proprietary 32bit Linux drivers have come a long way since 1995.

to pouetize this thread a bit and and to emphasize the simple fact of life: GROMBLETON INDUSTRIES ALWAYS WINS ['nuff said]

moT: the hoover fan on my 6600GT begs to differ. It's depressingly loud. I almost miss my ATI card in that regard :)

Other than that, I love it. It's a little purring cat that pushes quite a bunch of polygons without a hitch.

Anyway, why upgrade? Whining like a schoolgirl for a video works for most high-end demos.

One might note that Aether bugged like hell on that mighty bp compomachine :)

yeah that was almost embarassing :)