Is it worth upgrading video card?

LiftedNevermore · Post by **LiftedNevermore** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 3:55 pm

Hey

I have an ATi X700 at the moment, and I'm wondering if it would really be worth it for me to upgrade to say an ATi X1600 to play NWN2. It would cost £100 minimum for this new video card, so I'd need some persuading to make me buy it. To make things clear, the X700 falls into the "Minimum Requirement" Category, and the X1600 into the "Recommended Requirement". Thanks for any help.

m0rb1d · Post by **m0rb1d** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 4:13 pm

LOL. I use an "POWERED" by Ati Radeon 9550. This is pretty much as low as you can go and still meet the minimum requirements. To put things into perspective, this card operates at 250mhz. Not to mention, it only has 4 pixel pipelines.

What's the point? I play the game with everything on Medium settings, and get minimal lag.

Is it worth an upgrade JUST to play NWN2? No.

Is it worth the upgrade for things besides NWN2? Yup.

Just my 2 coppers.

m0rb1d

Lucita · Post by **Lucita** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 4:29 pm

Wait till after christmas....first, prices allways drop after christmas/1st january week and second I would wait until ATI comes out with their DirectX10 card ( which should be happening soon, otherwise Nvidia is getting to much of an edge ) after the release prices should drop for older cards anyway.

And I would go for an X1800 or X1900 then....maybe with 512 MB, so you won't have to buy another new card at the end of next year.

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 4:33 pm

This is just my view on purchasing hardware, take it for what you will.

I think it's never worth upgrading your GPU (and the rest of your computer for that matter) for a single game. When I build a computer or replace a component, I try to plan ahead a little and discuss my ideas with friends (-geek friends). Like a couple of years ago when I saw the first previews of Farcry I realized it was time, so I sat down and went through many previews/reviews just to get a general feeling of where the gaming industry was going. I came to the conlusion that I'd be fine for the next couple of years as long as my computer had enough memory to draw all those increasingly complex textures and shaders. CPU power came second to that. So I took the only GPU that had 256 MB video RAM and increased my mobo ram to 1024. Added on top: a low-budged AMD processor.

The result? In about one month my computer will have reached the respectable age of three years and it can still play most games very well. Oblivion, NWN2, you name it.

m0rb1d · Post by **m0rb1d** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 4:41 pm

Many games out now, and for the next 6 months to a year for that matter, will not require a 512MB video card. To be honest, it's not even really all that important. What you need to focus on is the power of the card, and the texils/vertices it can put out.

But who really pays attention to that crap anyway eh?

An X1800 Will keep your gaming fornication quite compelling for well into next year. As long as it's not a knock off that is.

I dont pay Nvidia much attention, so I cant offer up an equivelant card. The biggest problem alot of people, such as myself will encounter with upgrading video cards will more than likely be the AGP2.0 / PCI-E standard. I know that my mobo does not support these. If I were to put an AGP2 card in, my mobo would cry like a little doggy, and probably pimp slap me...if it had arms with hands attached.

After christmas, as someone stated above, prices will drop, and it may be more feasible to upgrade to a more standard mobo and vid card. And, lets not forget the CPU as well, as my poor Socket 478 wont be going into any AGP2/PCI-e mobos.

x700 Pro is about the best one in my position could get, and it will most assuredly run any game on the market.

Tricky · Post by **Tricky** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 5:26 pm

m0rb1d wrote:Many games out now, and for the next 6 months to a year for that matter, will not require a 512MB video card. To be honest, it's not even really all that important. What you need to focus on is the power of the card, and the texils/vertices it can put out.

I'm not sure if you're replying to me, but yes, I agree. Triangles have been on a comeback for the past year or so. To LiftedNevermore: that 2003 trend I talked about served as an example and indeed does not depict the development of current game engines.

Fljotsdale · Post by **Fljotsdale** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 4:07 pm

It's always worth upgrading your vid card for the best you can afford that is compatible with yout machine.

But if you mean 'is it worth it to play NWN2' - then, at the moment, I would have to say 'No!'.

De_Priester · Post by **De_Priester** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 3:23 am

I don't think the real power in an RPG lies with the graphics, if it does like Oblivion and the first Dungeon Siege, once the new graphics become normal the game loses flair. Now NWN2 has great graphics but I would still play it if it had the same graphics BDG2 has. I'd say play it in low settings if needed but like the game for the story, gameplay and action not the graphics because those get boring really fast.

It's not worth upgrading to a new card unless you have a real problem running the game in even low settings....