Frugal graphics upgrade

[Walsingham]

I have been struggling all day with playing Fallout 3 on my card ( a 9600GT with 512 MB of RAM). It seems to work more or less ok, but not great with the fans labouring like a pregnant elk. Then after about an hour of play it just shuts the whole PC down.

 

1. Is the problem my graphics card?

2. Can I solve the problem with additional cooling?

3. If I get a new graphics card, for about 80 pounds what should I get? I'm open to ATi suggestions.

[WorstUsernameEver]

I'm going to refrain from suggesting you to change your video card, Wals, but if there's one thing I can say, it's that Fallout 3 is badly optimized. I really mean it.

Try to get a couple of optimizing mod like the stutter reducer.

[Spider]

Since I don't really know what the price range is in the uk for graphics cards, it's hard to keep within the budget. But it would seem to me you should be looking at an Radeon 5770. It's the best card in the midlevel range and a good buy. But it could be a bit more than

[WorstUsernameEver]

but if you can increase performance with mods, that's better of course. Personally I didn't think performance in FO3 was that bad, so I never tried any mods to fix it.

 

It's not really a framerate problem, it has more to do with stuttering (especially microstuttering). At least on my rig. Installing that mod (well, actually it's more of a FOSE plug-in) resolved my problems.

[Pidesco]

For that price get an ATI 5750.

 

http://www.ebuyer.com/search?page=3&st...ow&limit=10

[Spider]

From what he's describing it doesn't sound like a stuttering problem. it sounds like his card is overheating, which means it's pressuring itself to it's limit and the cooling is failing to keep up.

 

If it's an older card, it could be a sign that the cooling is starting to wear out. It could also mean that cleaning the fans on the card (and in the case) could help a bit. Dusty fans are a lot worse at moving air than clean fans are.

 

So I'd start with whatever performance enhancing mods I could find and cleaning the fans in the case. If that doesn't help, I'd look at the ati 57xx series. The difference in performance seems to be around 10-15%, so the 5750 is good value for it's price (though I think it could be worth getting the 5770 if the few extra pounds can be found).

[Janmanden]

I would suggest changing the game as it still going to suck with a better graphics cards. If only frames per second were the only point of interest, then ATi 4850 would be enough. Even the ATi 4770 or the ATi 5670 would be an upgrade compared to the 9600GT, but the ATi 5750 would at least make sense in a somewhat larger perspective.

[Walsingham]

Thanks for all the thoughtful advice.

 

1. I'm running XP on this machine. I forgot temporarily that this will (presumably) render some cards non-functional.

2. the 5700 series are about 110-150 pounds.

3. Going beyond 100 means the card should be forward compatible with my next PC.

4. My next PC, god willing, will be a proper gaming rig while this one gets put on pure office work.

5. Going above 100 means the new card should be forward useful.

6. The power supply in my theramltake case is helpfully hidden, and I don't want to stuck ****ing about with it to check the supply total. Can't I work this out with software? This is important to both more cooling and a bigger card.

[Pidesco]

3. Going beyond 100 means the card should be forward compatible with my next PC.

 

 

It will be. So if that's the problem, go ahead and buy something beefier. Right now, ATI seems to be the best value for your money.