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+--- Thread: Is the Radeon 128 Meg Good Enough ? (/showthread.php?tid=11929)
Is the Radeon 128 Meg Good Enough ? - robirob - 04-08-2005
I have a pentium 4 , 2.6Gig computer with one of those built into the motherboard graphic chips
60 meg allocated to graphics from main ram
Available Ram is 750 meg
With this set up with all sliders at 3/4 I average about 12-15 frames which is just bearable.
Any clouds or busy airports and the rate drops to about 8 fps.
Our local computer store is selling the Radeon 9250 with 128 meg for about $50 US dollars
A 256 meg version is abour $70 US installed.
Any comments appreciated as to how much this system might improve the frame rates... especially from other Radon users.
Or should I consider some of the other brands of video cards
With all the addonons - planes , mesh etc I need something better than my built in chip.
All advice welcome
Thank you
Rob
Re: Is the Radeon 128 Meg Good Enough ? - Cuda - 04-08-2005
Built in graphics cards are just bad... i am playing on a Radeon 9800pro and have never had any issues, but then again that is probably more than
what you want to spend. I would get the 256 version for the extra $20.
Re: Is the Radeon 128 Meg Good Enough ? - silo - 04-08-2005
I had a Radeon 9800 Pro with 128MB of RAM and it was pretty good. In my experience though you need to have a Pentium 10 to run FS9
smoothly with the sliders set at maximum. There are many sites around that tell you how to best configure FS9 and all tips and tricks that
will get you a decent framerate. But you definetly need to buy a videocard though, the onboard one is a killer. And if I were you, instead of
spending $50 dollars now, I would wait a couple of months and save money and buy a better one then.
Just to give you an idea, I own a BFG GeForce 6600OC ($200.00) and FS9 still is not running as fast as I'd like it to.
Post Edited ( 08-04-05 08:58 )
Re: Is the Radeon 128 Meg Good Enough ? - Cuda - 04-08-2005
Pentium 10???
Re: Is the Radeon 128 Meg Good Enough ? - silo - 04-08-2005
Yeah, it doesn't exist does it! Then I guess we will never have FS9 running smoothly with all the sliders maxed out.
Post Edited ( 08-04-05 08:46 )
Re: Is the Radeon 128 Meg Good Enough ? - robirob - 04-08-2005
Thanks for the replies so far guys...
Waiting a few months to save up isn't necessary .. I can afford something better right now but am not quite sure
what to get.
Here down under we are not as fortunate with cheap components as Europe and the US .. so the $50 peaked my interest since this is
about 1/3 the usual cost.
I was just curious if the Radeon is a good choice..
Thanks so far
Rob
Re: Is the Radeon 128 Meg Good Enough ? - silo - 04-08-2005
By the way just make sure that your power supply has enough juice before you buy a new videocard. Some like the 9800 Pro require you
to connect a molex connector to it (the same one that goes to the hard drive) and I think it needs minimum a 350W power supply.
You can find this card for around $100.00 on ebay. Regarding the question if to buy a 128Mb or a 256Mb, as far as I know there will be
only a 5% improvement with the 256Mb one.
Re: Is the Radeon 128 Meg Good Enough ? - nevinch - 04-08-2005
I switched to ATI since VooDoo went by by yeras ago......I've had good luck. Running X800 / 256mb and it's perfect for what I need. FS9
still challenges it but any other 3d apps/games I'm in it really shows off what it can do!!
Re: Is the Radeon 128 Meg Good Enough ? - Cuda - 04-08-2005
Quote:silo wrote:
By the way just make sure that your power supply has enough juice before you buy a new videocard. Some like the 9800 Pro require you
to connect a molex connector to it (the same one that goes to the hard drive) and I think it needs minimum a 350W power supply.
You can find this card for around $100.00 on ebay. Regarding the question if to buy a 128Mb or a 256Mb, as far as I know there will be
only a 5% improvement with the 256Mb one.
So true, I am running dual harddrives and burnt a 400w powersupply in less than a year. It was very wierd, sometimes the videocard wouldnt work,
sometimes a harddrive would quit. It was a real PITA.
Re: Is the Radeon 128 Meg Good Enough ? - silo - 04-08-2005
So if money isn't a problem I'd recommend the ATI X800XL which is a good new generation budget videocard. Keep in mind though that
with the PC you have now you will only be able to use the AGP version. And if you decide to upgrade your PC in the future you probably
will not be able to use it because the AGP will be phased out in favor of the new PCI. Plus if you decide to buy this one, you will really need to upgrade your power supply too.
Post Edited ( 08-04-05 09:17 )
Re: Is the Radeon 128 Meg Good Enough ? - silo - 04-08-2005
Oh and one more thing. Make sure you have an option to turn off the onboard videocard from the BIOS. Otherwise you'll run into problems
when you install the new one.
Re: Is the Radeon 128 Meg Good Enough ? - Pierino - 04-08-2005
do NOT buy the Radeon 9250, it's far too slow and you won't be happy. A friend of mine has just bought it.
Better get one of the Radeon X.... cards, as already suggested. Or one of the older 9600, 9800.
I own an Athlon 64 4000 and a Radeon X850XT and FS2004 simply runs & looks great!
Check out this site: http://www.tomshardware.com/index.html
They usually have great reviews on any hardware. Didn't find anything about the 9250 though.
Pierino
PS: ATI rules!
Re: Is the Radeon 128 Meg Good Enough ? - Swag - 04-08-2005
In my limited experience, the graphics card doesn't change the fps very much in FS2004, it only helps with the quality of the picture (anti aliasing
etc.).
Only the CPU has a major impact on FPS in FS2004! Well except for clouds which require some DirectX tricks that not all gfx cards support.
But then, I wouldn't be surprised if your on-board graphics chip is so bad that *any* other gfx card speeds up things considerably. Your frame rates seem very low to me. Try putting all cloud sliders all the way to the left, that should help a lot.
256MB gfx instead of 128MB doesn't make any difference for FS2004 by the way, FS2004 can't handle that much graphics memory anyway and pretty just ignores it. 128MB instead of 32MB makes a big difference though.
I've got a Radeon 9200 with 256MB and it's just about good enough. No major FPS increases from the GeForce 2MX I had before that, that is because as I said the CPU determines the FPS for the most part. the 256MB gfx memory don't stop FS2004 from re-loading textures all the time.
Don't get the Radeon 9250, it's much too old now and too slow, bad value for money.
Post Edited ( 08-04-05 10:52 )
Re: Is the Radeon 128 Meg Good Enough ? - robirob - 04-08-2005
Much appreciated guys
Many thanks for all the comments.
After my onboard built in graphics chip I thought the Radon 9250 for $50 would make a big difference.
After reading all the comments I'll get more prices for the X800 or the 9800pro.
The advice about the extra power supply is appreciated.
I guess it is a real dilema .. in another year my 2.7gig pentium 4 will be old news so upgrading is a little risky.. one is always behind
Still my main interest on the game side is simulators (not DOOM etc where apparently you need real whomp),
so i guess the P4 -- 2.67gig with a new Radon 9800 pro will be adequate for 12-18 months where FS4 is concerned
Although with all the new releases PMDG 747 etc one never knows
Thank goodness I am only a pilot c4 rated at the moment.
Rob
Re: Is the Radeon 128 Meg Good Enough ? - JayKae - 04-08-2005
Robirob, here down under we are fortunate enough to have http://www.techbuy.com.au check their pricing out... they are reliable and fast, I get
all my hardware from there... apart from my AlienWare though lol