Members MistahMojoRyan Posted December 25, 2006 Members Share Posted December 25, 2006 I rec'd Call of Duty 2 and 3 as Christmas presents but my computer won't run it since I don't have a video card. If it helps, my system specs are: 2.6GHz Intel Celeron processor 768MB RAM ...not exactly a gaming machine. If I'm better off going with a cheap one given my system specs, that's fine with me but I'm willing to spend up to $250 if it'll give my gaming a decent boost in performance. Thanks for any help! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ssimontis Posted December 25, 2006 Members Share Posted December 25, 2006 Prices are from newegg.com. You can get a eVGA GeForce 7900GS 256MB PCI Express card for $209.99. Or if you only have an AGP slot, you can get a BFG Tech GeForce 7800GS 256MB for $235.99. If you don't have a PCI Express slot, an upgrade might be in the near future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Estebum Posted December 25, 2006 Members Share Posted December 25, 2006 Your Celeron CPU is the major stumbling block here... I don't know if just getting new card will help much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MistahMojoRyan Posted December 26, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Thanks for the advice guys. I just checked the slots based on what ssimontis wrote and I only have PCI slots ....not even worth upgrading. It looks like a new pc in the new year. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members King Kashue Posted December 26, 2006 Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Originally posted by MistahMojoRyan I only have PCI slots ....not even worth upgrading. You don't even have an AGP slot? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jazz Ad Posted December 26, 2006 Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Originally posted by ssimontis Prices are from newegg.com. You can get a eVGA GeForce 7900GS 256MB PCI Express card for $209.99.Or if you only have an AGP slot, you can get a BFG Tech GeForce 7800GS 256MB for $235.99.If you don't have a PCI Express slot, an upgrade might be in the near future. Are you crazy ? Have you seen what he's running ? That's more than the whole value of the computer. For 40 bucks, a Radeon 9550 or GeForce FX5200 will serve you fine and provide DirectX 9 support, giving compatibility, if not performance with most games on the market.Make sure you get at least 128 Mo of graphic memory. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MistahMojoRyan Posted December 26, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Originally posted by King Kashue You don't even have an AGP slot? Nope, there's only 2 PCI slots in there. It's an older, inexpensive computer...only intended to use it for web surfing, tax, forums, etc.... Thanks for the suggestions Jazz Ad. I'd still like to give it a shot so I'll definitely check those out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ssimontis Posted December 26, 2006 Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Originally posted by MistahMojoRyan Nope, there's only 2 PCI slots in there. It's an older, inexpensive computer...only intended to use it for web surfing, tax, forums, etc.... Thanks for the suggestions Jazz Ad. I'd still like to give it a shot so I'll definitely check those out. Don't bother. PCI cards are limited to a bandwidth of 133mb/s. That might sound like a lot, but keep in mind all of your PC cards are sharing that bandwidth. And an AGP 8x slot provides 2.1gb/s bandwidth for the video card alone. The PCI slot is a major bottleneck for the graphics card. As a one-time owner of a Radeon 9550, it isn't worth it. I had one and I swear my older 9200 was a better card sometimes. It was very buggy and made a lot of games crash, and I still couldn't run Battlefield 2, so I don't know if COD2 will work or not in that case. Can't comment on the 5200 though. Overall, it looks like an upgrade is the best option. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Anesthesia Posted December 26, 2006 Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Originally posted by ssimontis Don't bother. PCI cards are limited to a bandwidth of 133mb/s. That might sound like a lot, but keep in mind all of your PC cards are sharing that bandwidth. And an AGP 8x slot provides 2.1gb/s bandwidth for the video card alone. The PCI slot is a major bottleneck for the graphics card. While this is true, I was reading an article once that showed that real world performance didn't actually differ that much between the AGP and PCI bus. AGP is obsolete now anyway...but for an older PC a cheap PCI card should be sufficient. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Deville Posted December 26, 2006 Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Originally posted by Jazz Ad Are you crazy ? Have you seen what he's running ? That's more than the whole value of the computer.For 40 bucks, a Radeon 9550 or GeForce FX5200 will serve you fine and provide DirectX 9 support, giving compatibility, if not performance with most games on the market.Make sure you get at least 128 Mo of graphic memory. Wait a second, Jazzy.The FX5200 claims to support DX9 on paper, but has nowhere near the horsepower to actually push DX9-related graphics in a real-world type situation. Besides, you're advising him to purchase a video card that is four generations old! A GeForce 6600GT AGP is the lowest one should go when buying a new video card. But any arguement over what card to get is irrelevant if he doesn't even have an AGP slot. Yup, it's time for a complete upgrade... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members King Kashue Posted December 26, 2006 Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Originally posted by Deville Wait a second, Jazzy.The FX5200 claims to support DX9 on paper, but has nowhere near the horsepower to actually push DX9-related graphics in a real-world type situation. Besides, you're advising him to purchase a video card that is four generations old!A GeForce 6600GT AGP is the lowest one should go when buying a new video card.But any arguement over what card to get is irrelevant if he doesn't even have an AGP slot. Yup, it's time for a complete upgrade... Absolutely. None of those cards has the muscle to push Call of Duty 2, much less 3. My old comp (P4 2.8, Radeon 9800 256MB) began to chugg on COD2 with average settings. I'm not sure any PCI card can handle it even on minimum settings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members King Kashue Posted December 26, 2006 Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Originally posted by MistahMojoRyan I rec'd Call of Duty 2 and 3 as Christmas presents but my computer won't run it since I don't have a video card. If it helps, my system specs are: Question: How did you get Call of Duty 3 for PC when it hasn't been released for PC? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jazz Ad Posted December 26, 2006 Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 I play COD 2 on my computer with a MX400. Works fine in 800x600, i get 30 to 40 frames and no glitch. Just sayin'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MistahMojoRyan Posted December 26, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Well, thanks again for the feedback. I can't wait to get a new system and I can probably swing that in a couple months after I move and start my new job. My Mom is getting this computer when I'm done with it...and she won't need a video card for mahjong. KK, I rec'd CoD 2 and thought I was getting 3 as well last night but since it doesn't exist.... (Turned out to be LotR dvd's.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members King Kashue Posted December 26, 2006 Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Originally posted by Jazz Ad I play COD 2 on my computer with a MX400. Works fine in 800x600, i get 30 to 40 frames and no glitch. Just sayin'. Okay, I guess it might run on the absolute minimum settings... But 800 x 600...ewwww Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dakhwon Posted December 26, 2006 Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Originally posted by Deville A GeForce 6600GT AGP is the lowest one should go when buying a new video card.But any arguement over what card to get is irrelevant if he doesn't even have an AGP slot. Yup, it's time for a complete upgrade... Good advice here, and if you're building a new system, you can snag a 7600Gt for about $130... or a x1900Gt for $150! It's a good time to be in the video card market. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members xOriginalNinjax Posted December 26, 2006 Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Funny thing is I was gonna go buy a new video card this week...runnin a 128 and was gonna go get a 256...hmm...dunno if it's worth it since I'll have to get an AGP since I don't have PCI express...do you guys think I should? I'm runnin an AMD Athlon 3000+ at 2ghz with 1 gig of RAM...and I still have the ATI Radeon 9200SE card I got my compy with...I custom built this thing over 2 years ago and it still runs faster than most other computers I pair it against new from Dell and Gateway...haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members MistahMojoRyan Posted December 26, 2006 Author Members Share Posted December 26, 2006 Originally posted by King Kashue Okay, I guess it might run on the absolute minimum settings... But 800 x 600...ewwww ...that's what I was thinking but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. I got a good deal on a GeForce FX 5500 so hopefully it does the trick. Even if it sucks bad with CoD 2 it should help out with the original CoD and other old games, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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