Graphics cards

[Guest andy9164]

OK, I see a lot of posts on graphics cards and drivers and this begs me to ask some questions. I too see "steps" on the horizon, and "shimmering" to the extent that some of the areas, particularly towns, dont complete drawing until I have flown over them.I have a Nvidia TNT2 graphics card with 32mb of onboard mem. I have loaded 43.51 drivers and tried to tune using the latest atune from the 3dguru site. I set the recommended overclocking option but it doesn't seem to make any difference.I can only set filtering on and dont get x4 or x4s only x2.Not being a PC guru, but I suspect that I am in serious need of an upgrade to enable me to improve the filtering options and therefore get a better / faster image quality.Please can someone advise and even recommend what a good mid range card would be. Unfortunately I dont have megabucks to spend, but something around the

[Christopher Low 5,352]

Andy,With a system like that, you are DESPERATELY in need of a new graphics card. For that kind of money, maybe you could get a GeForce 4 Ti 4200. This would give you the 4xS anti-aliasing and 8x anisotropic filtering that I get with my GeForce 3 Ti 200, and you probably won't need RivaTuner to enable them either.Trust me when I say that you will see a MASSIVE difference in quality.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest cornclose]

You could also certainly get a reasonable Radeon 9000 card for that kind of money too. You'll be looking at a 64mb card though whether you go nvidea or ATI.Chris E, ENGLANDhttp://www.circle-software.co.ukAvoid AGP texturing = Better Performance ;)

[Guest andy9164]

Ok, thanks for the help guys. I'll do some digging on the web, but may wait till I go to the U.S. at the end of June.So, my next question. AGP or PCI. What is the difference, which gives the best quality, does it affect the price etc. etc. etc.Thanks (again)Andy

[Christopher Low 5,352]

The GeForce 4 Ti 4200 is a 128Mb card.Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest andy9164]

I have been talking with a colleague of mine in the U.S. He has found a Radeon 9000 PRO 128Mb DDR card at www.ecost.com for $87 (

[Guest glidernut]

Grab it quik and run!

[Guest cornclose]

Chris,Where can you get a 128mb Ti4200 for

[Guest cornclose]

The VAST majority of video cards these days are AGP. In simple terms this is a faster bus than PCI, but in most situations it is not that noticable. Only when an application tries to load more textures than the video card can fit in it's memory does the AGP bus come into it's own. This bus then allows 'AGP Texturing' to use system RAM as texture storage for the frame buffers.In any case you'd be hard pressed to find a decent PCI video card by today's standards anyway.As far as buying stuff in the US is concerned, you might get a slightly better deal, but for all the issues with VAT, customs, and warranties, and having tried it in the past myself, it really is not worth it in the end in my opinion. Be carefull of state taxes and exchange rates too.Chris E, ENGLANDhttp://www.circle-software.co.ukAvoid AGP texturing = Better Performance ;)

[Guest PaulL01]

>I have been talking with a colleague of mine in the U.S. He>has found a Radeon 9000 PRO 128Mb DDR card at www.ecost.com>for $87 (

[Christopher Low 5,352]

So you agree with me Paul ? :-eek That must be a first :-)Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest andy9164]

Chris E,As I will be in the US at the end of June the VAT and Import does not apply as I will be purchasing it while I am there, so as long as it does not exceed the customs limits for bringing back "presents" its OK. I did the same last time with a digital camera and save around

[Christopher Low 5,352]

Chris,You can get one from Novatech for

[Guest cornclose]

Ah, not for

[Guest cornclose]

Andy,Yes, last time I did it a few years ago I bought a whole system. Customs got me on the way back though.In the end I barely saved anything, it would have been about the same price as buying in the UK. Plus I had no easy warranty if anything went wrong, but thankfully it didn't.Chris E, ENGLANDhttp://www.circle-software.co.ukAvoid AGP texturing = Better Performance ;)