Advice please, terrible video performance..

[Jabe Adaks]

Well, I have been running an ATI Radeon 8500 with 128mb for long enough. The fan on it has been dead for some time and so I expect it to malfunction sooner than later. SO I went out a bought a new nVidia card. I bought a BFG 5500oc.

It sucks. It performs worse than my Radeon by a long shot. I check that I had the latest driver from nVidia installed, the latest motherboard drivers installed and I even flashed my bios to the latest revision. My performance has gone from 20/30 fps in game to 8/9 on the new card.

So I am back to old faithful for the moment. Can anyone tell me if I am doing something wrong? Or do I just need to buck up and pay out the big bucks for a better card? I really want to trun on some of the more enahnced gfx options.

Jabe

[Skarr]

well i bet when you put in the new card and drivers, that swg reset all of the graphics options in game

take a look at em and lower them back down if needed

also I thought the 5500 was an slightly upgraded 4000 series nvidia card, could be wrong tho

[Jabe Adaks]

If I only have 4x AGP on my motherboard will that slow down the video card? I want to spend some good money now, but a lot of it runs up to 8x and I am wondeirng if the card won't run at top specs on my system.

Jabe

[Skarr]

If I only have 4x AGP on my motherboard will that slow down the video card? I want to spend some good money now, but a lot of it runs up to 8x and I am wondeirng if the card won't run at top specs on my system.

Jabe

possibly,but i have heard that the difference between 4x and 8 x is minimal

maybe the cards options itself need to be adjusted

[Illbleed]

This depends on what type of AGP slot you have on the MB. If you have an 8X slot and a 4X slot, this should run at 4X. If you run a 2X in an 8X slot, it will get toasty =)

[Novall]

This depends on what type of AGP slot you have on the MB. If you have an 8X slot and a 4X slot, this should run at 4X. If you run a 2X in an 8X slot, it will get toasty =)

Thats cause the voltage is different. Most new cards now days dont have to worry to much about that.

The 5500 card isnt all that great. I had an old LE before I got my 6800, and it was the suck. Your better off getting a 5900nu card and using that.

[Jabe Adaks]

The 5500 card isnt all that great. I had an old LE before I got my 6800, and it was the suck. Your better off getting a 5900nu card and using that.

How do you like your 6800? Do you think it will perform well on a 4x mobo?

Jabe

[Novall]

Personally, I love it. However there are driver problems with the latest driver...so until they update it I'm still using the old july 20 driver. I've seen the comparrisons between Nvidia and Radion, and the Radion is a smidge better...but its really nothing your going to tell unless your a vid card freak.

I think the 6800 card will do well as long as you have enough power and airflow for it. I had to space all my PCI cards out and pop in a PCI fan to get the air flowing for maximum cooling, and it works great.

[X'an Shin]

Jabe, just a warning, I've had nothing but nVidia cards, and every time SWG patched,

EVERY TIME,

I had to go and re-install the current drivers. Their patches do some wicked voodoo to nVidia cards.

[X'an Shin]

Personally, I love it. However there are driver problems with the latest driver...so until they update it I'm still using the old july 20 driver. I've seen the comparrisons between Nvidia and Radion, and the Radion is a smidge better...but its really nothing your going to tell unless your a vid card freak.

I think the 6800 card will do well as long as you have enough power and airflow for it. I had to space all my PCI cards out and pop in a PCI fan to get the air flowing for maximum cooling, and it works great.

Guys, the 6800 card is better than you know. I'm working with the Unreal Three engine at work presently, and it's the MINIMUM acceptable card. We're talking cloth detail down to the FIBER level with normal maps turned on. You're going to see some amazing shit coming out of games like Half Life 2 and the new Unreal Tournament.

You'd better start buying those coveted 6800s NOW.

[Jabe Adaks]

This is my first nVidia experience and I must say I am tempted to make it my last.

Jabe

[Skarr]

Jabe, just a warning, I've had nothing but nVidia cards, and every time SWG patched,

EVERY TIME,

I had to go and re-install the current drivers. Their patches do some wicked voodoo to nVidia cards.

same here and I never have to reinstall...just my 2 creds

[Krusshyk]

The Nvidia card I have in my compy has never given me problems. It's nothing top of the line or state of the art, but it runs everything pretty well with the settings adjusted. Its one of nvidia's Ti series, I forget which model. Never had to reinstall any drivers or anything.

[Lok'i Vidaar]

I run an NV 5900 Ultra w/256MB...

I have the latest drivers, and have never had the reinstall drivers/upgrade drivers due to a patch (I generally upgrade my drivers everytime a new one comes out though...)

I imagine the reason you guys have to update when a new patch comes out is because SOE utilizes whatever new features, or optimizations the latest driver has. I would also imagine that ATI users would have to do the same thing when a new driver comes out that has new or optimized features.

My card is in a 8x slot. I have read that the differance between 4 and 8x is minimal, but with newer cards I expect it will make a differance.

I may be wrong I haven't really kept up. I mean I just upgraded my machine but, I only looked towards the close to the top range of products...

[E-bo Obi]

I have an ati card and I haven't HAD to update my drivers since the game came out. I do it on my own after reading that the new drivers aren't hosing up any games that I have.