Death of the Graphics Card

[Dave]

Think my graphics card is dying, so need a new one. Hopefully I can persuade mum to buy me one so might as well get a good one.

Does anyone know what I need to look for, I hopefully want to make it SLI so I was thinking about either:

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=24097&category_id=479&manufacturer_id=0&tid=11132-11-20r

or

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=23033&category_id=479&manufacturer_id=0&tid=zt-x28e3la-fcp

but I have no idea if my PC can run it, if I have enough power, if I will need more RAM etc..

Any advice?

EDIT: Is this (http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=13256&category_id=482&manufacturer_id=0&tid=ocz2n800sr2gk) or this (http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=9028&category_id=482&manufacturer_id=0&tid=ocz2a8002gk) really 2gb of RAM for like £30? And is this (http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=13263&category_id=482&manufacturer_id=0&tid=ocz2g8004gk) 4gb for £56? Or have I made a nab mistake?

[bigcheese]

Yeah, not much of a difference between them two Dave.

One of them isnt bad, number 2 = super powered ultra super super duper computer system machine with built in machine gun and turbo powered battleship.

Think id go for first one though tbh cos 1. I doubt your mum would give ya £259 when you still owe her for car and driving lessons etc and 2. Its more likely that your machine will run with the first one and it will still do the same job....well nearly the same.

:D:D:D:D::D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

[Dave]

First it is :) Just want one that will last for years and be able to play the newest games and stuff.

Plus I never owed her for car/driving lessons, she paid for them for me :D I just paid insurance off :(

[Scott]

Think my graphics card is dying, so need a new one. Hopefully I can persuade mum to buy me one so might as well get a good one.

Does anyone know what I need to look for, I hopefully want to make it SLI so I was thinking about either:

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=24097&category_id=479&manufacturer_id=0&tid=11132-11-20r

or

http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=23033&category_id=479&manufacturer_id=0&tid=zt-x28e3la-fcp

but I have no idea if my PC can run it, if I have enough power, if I will need more RAM etc..

Any advice?

EDIT: Is this (http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=13256&category_id=482&manufacturer_id=0&tid=ocz2n800sr2gk) or this (http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=9028&category_id=482&manufacturer_id=0&tid=ocz2a8002gk) really 2gb of RAM for like £30? And is this (http://www.cclonline.com/product-info.asp?product_id=13263&category_id=482&manufacturer_id=0&tid=ocz2g8004gk) 4gb for £56? Or have I made a nab mistake?

Dont you just buy an SLI ready card(s)?

Also neither card has the tradtional blue, rgb crappy usual slot thing that most monitors use (or used as i think it is now) so you might have to bear that in mind. Your TV might be compatable if your monitor isnt. My graphics card has both slots, but ive never used the white one as ive never had a good enough monitor.

The price too, as Chris said, one 100 quid, and ones 250 quid.
The first one will probably do you fine, its not like your a high end gamer.
The second one is faster, and has a bigger memory. (1Gig)

I dont know if your power will be affected? Im guessing 99 times out of 100 you wont need to change your PSU when you get a new graphics card, and simply just pull the old one out and put the new one in.

Dont think you will need any more RAM either.

Yeah it would work on your system. but cheap ram doesnt mean good ram.
but you buy it first, and if its good ill buy some. gdgd. if its crap, you got ganked by cheap prices.

[Scott]

Also with the 4gig, is there any point? XP cant use it all can it?
Its something like:
Have --- Xp uses
4gig - - - 3.5gig
4gig with 1 gig graphics card - - - 2.5 gig

or something

[Dave]

It can use up to 4gb (not including graphics card memory, that's separate) but in reality will only ever use 3gb (1gb SWAP/PageFile makes up the other 1gb).

However for £56 may as well make it future proof, 64bit systems can use up to 32gb I think, 64bit servers somewhere close to 1TB so for the extra £20 may as well go for it.

Plus I have no idea of telling good RAM from bad RAM :-/

[Scott]

It can use up to 4gb (not including graphics card memory, that's separate) but in reality will only ever use 3gb (1gb SWAP/PageFile makes up the other 1gb).

However for £56 may as well make it future proof, 64bit systems can use up to 32gb I think, 64bit servers somewhere close to 1TB so for the extra £20 may as well go for it.

Plus I have no idea of telling good RAM from bad RAM :-/
Then, aside from changing the REPLY button to QUOTE, i redirect you to...
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=37

post there, they know what there on about.

[Dave]

I'll try TSR but I checked TechRepublic (http://techrepublic.com.com/) already.

EDIT: Hah lol at your thread :P

[Alex]

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard

[Kayneo]

didnt read all of it, make sure u can use pci express, make sure you have over 500watts if u want a card liek that, if your processor isnt good either it will bottleneck your card, same with motherboard and ram, you cant have 4gb of ram on windows xp unless its the 64 bit version sit will only use about 3gb. good ram, now ive read some post and realise some things i said are irrelevant, will have a fsb of usually 800 or up, i think its ddr2 6400 or better you want, or you could overclock it. and using sli, or xfire as it is called with ati cards is pointless unless you want the best computer on the market atm. and that 4750 or whatever it was you linked is not too much worse than the 280 so id say get that, you dont game that much, and for mmos wich im geussing is what youll play the most you dont need top of the range, that card would do just fine. any questions lol just ask me, upgraded my pc again this month but im regretting it as i realise i dont use it much at all anymore

[Alex]

Nice wall of text kayne :D

[Dave]

Thinking about getting a new processor, seen a 2.8ghz quad core processor I like :P

And you can have 4gb if you disable the Windows Pagefile (that is usually 1gb in size and makes the 3gb in to 4).

I saw a PSU that supplies 650W but had this funky cooling system on it, is it overkill?

What did you upgrade?

[Kayneo]

got a 2.2 dual core, and oced it to 3ghz with a artic freezer 7 fan, was only like 14 quid for the fan and 50 for the processor. and yeah the powers a bit overkill, but i spose ull be future proof. and i got a new gigabyte motherboard

[Dave]

Nice, I like future proof.