Graphics card - Saxperience

Saxo_Steve · 18th February 2009, 20:19

I got grand theft auto 4 on pc for my birthday, only problem is my graphics card isn't good enough to play it. I don't have a great deal of money to spend on a graphics card, maybe about £50, can anyone suggest any? The minimum it asks for is 256MB NVIDIA 7900

Stickyjam · 19th February 2009, 16:44

IMO if the budget cant stretch ebay is the way... look for 8800gt 512/ 8800gtx 9800's that sorta thing...

Bowey · 19th February 2009, 17:20

odds on your processor isnt good enough either if your gfx card isnt

Saxo_Steve · 19th February 2009, 17:28

2.4Ghz quad core processor, at the time everything was nearer the top end apart from the graphics card for some reason. What about the likes of a 9500 GT, would that be any good?

Stickyjam · 19th February 2009, 17:33

good no... might play it on lowest settings and not smoothly...

MarkyG · 20th February 2009, 11:33

2.4 qc CPU should be fine, as for the graphics card, i agree with Sticky. Might need something a bit more powerful to run it nicely. My GTX280 XXX has no probs of course

Penn · 20th February 2009, 11:39

What are the specs of your PC? Motherboard, memory, sound card, hard drives?? How is it setup, what speed is the memory what FSB does the mobo support etc etc?

Also, what type of processor is it? I'm assuming if it's a 2.4 quad core in a budget pc you'll have a Q6600. If your mobo supports 333FSB you can instantly clock it from 2.4ghz to 3ghz on stock cooling so that's a nice boost for you straight away.

It's impossible to tell you which card to go for without knowing the rest of your setup.

Day_hughes · 20th February 2009, 12:04

Just try looking for a 512MB graphics card, google it and check out if theres many good reviews on it.

Also make sure you have enough RAM and also enough memory free on your hard drive for the RAM to be able to work properly. for example if you have 4GB of RAM you need 4GB space for 'dumping' or something.

flynnsvtr · 20th February 2009, 12:27

8800GT's are awsome cards. Not sure whether you can pick them up for sub 50 though, think there about 80ish.

Stickyjam · 20th February 2009, 14:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by flynnsvtr

8800GT's are awsome cards. Not sure whether you can pick them up for sub 50 though, think there about 80ish.

thus ebay...

Saxo_Steve · 3rd March 2009, 18:17

This is the PC I have here and the spec: http://www.packardbell.co.uk/product...128501-46.html

I've decided that I can spend a bit more on a graphics card, I'm not talking a rediculous amount but as the saying goes, you only get what you pay for! Any further info would be appreciated!

Penn, that sounds like a nice little boost. I've been looking into overclocking recently, would you recommend it?

Saamuell · 3rd March 2009, 18:20

IMO you have to be lucky with what pc specs you have to play GTA4 on pc, theres been soo many problems with people trying to install and play it, found many results on t'inernet with people having problems so that put me off and decided not to buy it

but good luck with getting it to work

Penn · 3rd March 2009, 20:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saxo_Steve

This is the PC I have here and the spec: http://www.packardbell.co.uk/product...128501-46.html

I've decided that I can spend a bit more on a graphics card, I'm not talking a rediculous amount but as the saying goes, you only get what you pay for! Any further info would be appreciated!

Penn, that sounds like a nice little boost. I've been looking into overclocking recently, would you recommend it?

I'd recommend it purely as it's so easy to do with these cpu's. I've had mine on stock cooling at 3ghz for nearly a year now, not a single problem.

MarkyG · 4th March 2009, 07:17

Overclocking is a good way to get a faster system, as long as youre ok with with voiding your warranty.

But as long as you know what youre doing you shouldnt wreck the chip.

Im running my Q9650 at 4ghz with a Zalman 9700NT cooler, fast as f00k

Saxo_Steve · 5th March 2009, 17:38

I had quite a lot of trouble getting it installed etc but managed it finally and it does play, it just takes a really long time to respond to controls as the games moves so slowly, probably just because my graphics card doesnt meet the minimum requirements.

Warranty will be up soon anyway so once it is I might give it a go.

Penn · 5th March 2009, 18:48

Can currently get an ATI 4870 for £150 if you can push to that much, amazing card.

Stickyjam · 5th March 2009, 19:02

^ agreed... but at your budget look on ebay for a 8800gt 512...

dannyboy2005 · 5th March 2009, 21:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stickyjam

IMO if the budget cant stretch ebay is the way... look for 8800gt 512/ 8800gtx 9800's that sorta thing...

I built my own system about 2 years ago, was way ahead of its league when i built it.

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 4800+ (2.4 x2 GHZ)
4GB RAM
Nvidia Geforce 8800GTX (750MB Graphics iirc)
850W Thermal Cool Artic Cool CPU Fan (£80) (Temps never reach above 45 tho)
CD Drives
2x 500GB 7200 RPM Hard Drives
PLENTY OF COOLING FANS

I bought the game too, installed it and was rubbish. Frame rate buster.

Even with the latest drivers etc etc, it still stuttered like mad. So i turned the settings to min and was rubbish. Even defraged pc and helped a little but in the end i returned the game... Far too advanced for my computer

dannyboy2005 · 5th March 2009, 22:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by flynnsvtr

8800GT's are awsome cards. Not sure whether you can pick them up for sub 50 though, think there about 80ish.

I paid £250 for mine when it first came out, now you can get OEM ones for around £120 Inc. Shipping.

There not as good as people make out, make sure you get a well known brand like Atari (ATI) or Geforce (Nvidia) as these are the most supported cards if you have technical issues.

My card, they have not made a stable driver for it yet. Some games i can hit 100+ FPS where as some others i can get around 25FPS (Still good though) Just depends on the driver type. And sometimes you get ghosting of images.

Stickyjam · 5th March 2009, 22:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by dannyboy2005

I built my own system about 2 years ago, was way ahead of its league when i built it.

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 4800+ (2.4 x2 GHZ)
4GB RAM
Nvidia Geforce 8800GTX (750MB Graphics iirc)
850W Thermal Cool Artic Cool CPU Fan (£80) (Temps never reach above 45 tho)
CD Drives
2x 500GB 7200 RPM Hard Drives
PLENTY OF COOLING FANS

I bought the game too, installed it and was rubbish. Frame rate buster.

Even with the latest drivers etc etc, it still stuttered like mad. So i turned the settings to min and was rubbish. Even defraged pc and helped a little but in the end i returned the game... Far too advanced for my computer

thats jokes! something doesnt sound right there

should be able to get a lil game play out of that...