Upgrading My Video Card...

daredairmen · October 15th, 2006, 10:47 AM

I currently have a Nvidia Geforce 258mb Ultra Pci-e vid card...I would like to upgrade it to a 512mb video card. I have been reading some of the stuff on these forums and a lot of people are saying to wait until the directx 10 cards are out... Also I belive that my video card is a DDR2 video card.. all of the 512 cards i have seen are DDR3... What would a DDR3 card do to my computer specs? Compatibility?

carl33p · October 15th, 2006, 12:16 PM

Welcome to TechIMO.

First off, you didnt tell us what video card you have. We need a model #. Download Everest Home Edition, it tells you everything about ur PC.

Do not buy a video card based on the amount of video memory.... Many 512mb cards are slower than there 256mb counterpart; unless your dealing with the very best cards out(7900 series, x1900...).

What games do u play? Is the performance you get from ur graphics card at the moment not good enough? Could you wait a couple months for newer cards?
Windows Vista will be needed for DX10.

daredairmen · October 15th, 2006, 12:34 PM

MSI K8N NFORCE 4 SLI PLATINUM
AMD ATHLON 64 FX-53
MSI NVIDIA GEFORCE 6800 Ultra PCI-E 256MB
2GB XMS CORSAIR
600-W ENERMAX PSU
10K RPM RAPTOR

-I play sports games, NBA Live, Madden, Also play FPS, some Matrix Online, and Space games like freelancer...

-I have no problem with waiting a couple of months but i hear that the first DX10 cards arent going to live up to the hype just like the DX9 cards didnt at first... I know i can run Windows Vista with what I have.

-My games run smoothly right now with my current configurartion...

him61 · October 15th, 2006, 12:46 PM

If your games run smoothly right now, then why upgrade? I'd wait if I were you, for DX 10, or until your video card starts to hinder your gaming experience.

daredairmen · October 15th, 2006, 12:53 PM

Well I have had the 6800 ultra now basically since it first came out... im just going in and upgrading several things on ym pc and though i would do the same for the video card.

Ok so tell me this guys... When the DX10 cards come out, does that make the the DX9 cards obsolete or we still going to be able to use them like some people i know still use old old video cards? you think there will be a simple patch/download that you can get if you have a DX9... plus most games can and will still run fine with the DX9 cards right?

him61 · October 15th, 2006, 12:57 PM

You'll just loose a bit of eye-candy (and some FPS), that's all. I'm still running a DX8 card, and for my gaming needs (not much ATM), I'm fine with it. But I can still play DX9 games on it, just lost a little bit of performance.

Edit: And Welcome to TECHIMO!!!

daredairmen · October 15th, 2006, 01:04 PM

Thats what I figured... some of these people on some of these forums make it seem like the end of the world if you dont upgrade your vid card to a DX10 when DX10 cards come out... like if you arent going to be able to play anything at all... which is a bunch of crap... But anyways...here is what I would like to go with... let me know what you think..

I want to get two more gig sticks of RAM.. Making it 4GB...
Want to go up to 512mb Vid card...Not too expensive though..
and im going to upgrade my psu to a 700 watt modular psu...

But what i wanted to know if i were to upgrade the vid card to a 512mb... almost all of them are DDR3 mem based. my 6800 ultra i believe is DDR2 mem based. How will this affect my system specs? my mobo? my cpu?

him61 · October 15th, 2006, 01:10 PM

It wont affect anything at all, except the performance of the video card.

IMO, 4GB is much overkill. Nothing but a lot of video encoding would even utilize that much memory. 2 GB should be good for now.

A 600W enermax will last you a little while longer. A 700W psu isnt needed unless you have like 2 7950 GX2's in your system, 10 Hard Drives, and all your RAM slots filled. What I'd do, if you have $$ to burn, get a dual-core processor, possibly an FX-60, sell the FX-53. And if you feel you NEED more RAM, try 3 GB before 4. As for a video card, wait for DX10, or get a 7950GT.

daredairmen · October 15th, 2006, 01:27 PM

Well you know what, i totally agree with you... i already knew that i didnt need all that upgrading but i got the mad scientist sickness and felt the need for more POWER... lol.. but i will only upgrade to the 3GB RAM then...

Also, I wanted a modualr PSU to be honest... I know that the enermax i have is really good. i have researched it a lot... but the modular cableing would be nice...

now about the processor upgrade.. i cant upgrade to the FX-60 because my motherboard only allows me to go as far as the FX-55 which is 2.6Ghz and the FX-53 is 2.4Ghz... Now they are having a great sale on the FX-55 right now online... for only $200!!!! what do you recommend?

him61 · October 15th, 2006, 06:37 PM

Since you cant go dual-core, keep the 53 and overclock it.