new video & sound cards

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Mon Jun 21, 2004 7:17 pm

Howdy folks.

I am looking to replace my video and sound cards. I've got one computer with an nVidia GeForce 4 Ti 4200 and a SoundBlaster Live! 5.1, and I think it's about time they got moved to my minor league machine where I'll retire the ATI Rage Fury Pro card and onboard AC97 sound.

Does anyone have any recommendations? I'm looking for a combination of inexpensive and moderate performance. I'd like to get out for $200 for both.

Thanks in advance.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 12:47 am

The best recommendations I have for graphics cards at the moment is the GeForce 5900XT which combines price with performance - especially the Club3D should be very good and rather inexpensive, and I'm considering to purchase one of them myself. (Dunno what Club3D costs in dollars though)

Got no knowlegde of soundcards myself, so can't advice there. I usually go for a (cheapish) Creative for some reason, when purchasing soundcards.

Mr Flibble · Post by **Mr Flibble** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 3:46 pm

[QUOTE=Xandax]The best recommendations I have for graphics cards at the moment is the GeForce 5900XT [/QUOTE]

I'll second that.

I bought one a few months ago and I'm quite happy with it.
Your Live 5.1 soundcard should still be OK.

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 7:06 pm

My SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 has been a rock steady component ever since I bought it three(+) years ago. However, when I went to play Farcry, it sounds horrible. I dialed back all of the sound settings, patched the game, updated Direct X and reinstalled my sound drivers and it still sounds horribly distorted. I don't know if it's the game or my hardware. Everything else runs fine with the card.

I'm thinking about picking up a Shuttle LAN party box, dropping a high-end video card and a big HDD in it as my next computer upgrade; my Athlon 1800 machine is fine for everything I do in my everyday life, but I think I'd really like to build myself a dedicated LAN party/game box.

Mr Flibble · Post by **Mr Flibble** » Tue Jun 22, 2004 8:08 pm

If it's one of the early Live! cards it may not be capable of sample rates above 44khz. In that case I'd suggest an Audigy 2.

Malta Soron · Post by **Malta Soron** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 6:54 am

Video card: I'd buy the Radeon 9800PRO. It's a good card with which you'll be able to play the coming games with (at least) acceptable graphics, and with all the new cards coming, prices are bombing down.

Xandax · Post by **Xandax** » Mon Jun 28, 2004 7:44 am

[QUOTE=HighLordDave]My SoundBlaster Live! 5.1 has been a rock steady component ever since I bought it three(+) years ago. However, when I went to play Farcry, it sounds horrible. I dialed back all of the sound settings, patched the game, updated Direct X and reinstalled my sound drivers and it still sounds horribly distorted. I don't know if it's the game or my hardware. Everything else runs fine with the card.

I'm thinking about picking up a Shuttle LAN party box, dropping a high-end video card and a big HDD in it as my next computer upgrade; my Athlon 1800 machine is fine for everything I do in my everyday life, but I think I'd really like to build myself a dedicated LAN party/game box.[/QUOTE]

Funny - my main problem with Farcry was graphics, and not the sound. I use a "Sound Blaster Live Player 1024" thingy - which I think is a rather cheap knockoff of the quality Sound Blaster Live cards, but apparently still adequte. (although I wouldn't mind a better) But however, I don't think Farcry's sound is much to praise either, I've heard much better in other games.

But even with 2.4 gHZ P4, 1024 RAM, Geforce 4 TI4400 128 MB - I still had to run with all graphics settings on low in Farcry, for the game to run stable ... sheez.
But at least I had no problems with high FPS on low setting

But if I were to upgrade, I'd certainly choose the 5900XT chip.

Unfortunally though - I have next to no knowlegde of soundcards