Upgrade video card for UT3

I couldn't get UT3 demo to run on my 2.4Ghz computer. After installing the demo I try to start it I get a kernal32 error. I have a radeon 8500 card in my system now and I think that is the problem. The UT3 website recommends a Geforce 6 series as a minimum. Anyway, I have an opportunity to get on of these card and I wanted to get your advice on if these will be enough.

BFG GeForce 7800 GS Video card 256MB

BFG Nvidia Geforce 6800 GT

EVGA Nvidia e-GeForce 6800 GS 8x

I've checked out toms hardware site but I get easily confused on what card is what.

FodderFigure wrote:

I couldn't get UT3 demo to run on my 3Ghz computer. After installing the demo I try to start it I get a kernal32 error. I have a radeon 8500 card in my system now and I think that is the problem. The UT3 website recommends a Geforce 6 series as a minimum. Anyway, I have an opportunity to get on of these card and I wanted to get your advice on if these will be enough.

BFG GeForce 7800 GS Video card 256MB

BFG Nvidia Geforce 6800 GT

EVGA Nvidia e-GeForce 6800 GS 8x

I've checked out toms hardware site but I get easily confused on what card is what.

Fodder,

Consider these if you have a PCI-E slot:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150226

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150230

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150260

The entire list at http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=XFX+8600&x=15&y=32

I have 2 of these:
http://www.buy.com/prod/XFX-GeForce-8600GT-Fatal1ty-Edition-620MHz-256MB-PCI-Expresss-x16-SLI/q/loc/101/204823280.html

and I swear by them.

Here's a review on the Fatal1ty card if you are interested:

http://www.i4u.com/full-review-247.html

I don't recommend upgrade to a single 6800 for playing UT 3. I have 2 and am barely satisfied with the results when the action gets going.

What are you willing to spend on a video card/cards?

What motherboard do you have, agp, pcie etc.

how much ram do you have in your computer? is it multi-GPU?

Nvidia 8800GT is the way to go if you're looking to buy new... theres nothing but positive reviews out there and they're almost as fast as the 8800GTX cards which are twice as much. The 8800GT can be found for around $250 - $300 for the 512MB version around $200 - $225 for the 256MB version. Spend the money and get the 512MB version.

Llachior wrote:

Nvidia 8800GT is the way to go if you're looking to buy new... theres nothing but positive reviews out there and they're almost as fast as the 8800GTX cards which are twice as much. The 8800GT can be found for around $250 - $300 for the 512MB version around $200 - $225 for the 256MB version. Spend the money and get the 512MB version.

Gonna second this, go with eVGA's superclocked one if you can find one in stock. They have a lifetime warranty on their cards so yeah! They're sellin like hotcakes tho, came back in stock at newegg round 10AM and were sold out again by 11:30!

I have AGP on my ASUS K8VSEDX motherboard w/ 1 gig ram. It's single CPU. I'm not looking to spend a lot... maybe $100 at most. I take that none of the one's I mentioned are worth it?

I would do a search under google for the card. I did a couple of quick test searches and you should be able to find a good card for around $100.

The best that I saw was a 7600 gt, but with some refinement of the search you may be able to find better.

I prefer the EVGA cards for the lifetime warranty and the fact that they have a product upgrade program where you can upgrade your purchase and take the price of the original cards off of the purchase of the new ones. You only have 90 days to do this "step up" and you cannot use the second set of cards to get a 3rd, but it seems to be a pretty neat program.

here is the link:
http://www.evga.com/stepup/default.asp

Here is a tiger direct search, at the bottom of the list is a 7800 gs in agp for a little over a hundred.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/search.asp?keywords=NVIDIA+agp+video+card&image12.x=0&image12.y=0

FodderFigure wrote:

I have AGP on my ASUS K8VSEDX motherboard w/ 1 gig ram. It's single CPU. I'm not looking to spend a lot... maybe $100 at most. I take that none of the one's I mentioned are worth it?

Hmmm, if you're still using an older system (as described above) I'm afraid you're in for disappointment no matter what AGP card you'd purchase if you're trying to run UT3 with acceptable performance/quality.

You may be better off saving that money for when you can buy a PCIe motherboard/video card.

You might be able to keep your processor, and possibly that ram, just make sure you have all compatible parts.

FodderFigure wrote:

I have AGP on my ASUS K8VSEDX motherboard w/ 1 gig ram. It's single CPU. I'm not looking to spend a lot... maybe $100 at most. I take that none of the one's I mentioned are worth it?

On the contrary, they are worth the money, but they all are older models that will struggle with the increased graphics load.

The best card that will work for you might be this one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130099&ATT=14-130-099&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3watch&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3watch-_-Video+Cards-_-EVGA-_-14130099

Yea, I know--it's a 7600 and not a 7800.......but 512 vram vs 256!!!!

Sorry, I did not realize that you were using an AGP setup. Anything in the Nvidia 7 series is a good step up (you could try to locate an 8 Series, but I think they are all PCI-E). Don't use any of the Nvidia 6 series as they're too old.

Fodder, I do have to concur with Llach tho. Any of the 7 series card will increase the video performace of your pc, but you may still have to play with very low video settings.

Before you buy, use the calculator and see if the upgrade is worth it.

http://www.ut2341.com/UT3SystemScore/

Since I have similar problem, I'll ask here too. I am thinking on upgrading my PC too. Here is what I have now:
-AMD athlon 64 3000 (1,8GHz)
- 1 GB RAM
- ATI Radeon XT1600 PCIE

I tried UT3 demo with this comp and it was a joke (not playable). I'd like to be able to run UT3 at 1280*1024 as decent as I am running UT2004 at same resolution now. So, here are my questions (bear in mind I have a limited amount of money to spend):

1. I have to replace my graphic card, right?

2. If so, what range should I look at for a decent but not top class performance? Would 8600 GT 512 MB do?

3. I think the amount of RAM I have should be OK, right?

4. Athlon 5600 X2 is within my reach. Would it be OK? (I am switching my malfunctioning motherboard to AM2 socket anyway)

6. I want my comp to be silent. Is there a graphic card above 8600GT that has passive cooling (I have a passive one now and I love it). Water cooling is no-go.

7. I tried that UT3 calculator alredy... How reliable is that?

Edit: Look, I can't count!

Wonko The Sane wrote:

Since I have similar problem, I'll ask here too. I am thinking on upgrading my PC too. Here is what I have now:
-AMD athlon 64 3000 (1,8GHz)
- 1 GB RAM
- ATI Radeon XT1600 PCIE

I tried UT3 demo with this comp and it was a joke (not playable). I'd like to be able to run UT3 at 1280*1024 as decent as I am running UT2004 at same resolution now. So, here are my questions (bear in mind I have a limited amount of money to spend):

1. I have to replace my graphic card, right?

2. If so, what range should I look at for a decent but not top class performance? Would 8600 GT 512 MB do?

3. I think the amount of RAM I have should be OK, right?

4. Athlon 5600 X2 is within my reach. Would it be OK? (I am switching my malfunctioning motherboard to AM2 socket anyway)

6. I want my comp to be silent. Is there a graphic card above 8600GT that has passive cooling (I have a passive one now and I love it). Water cooling is no-go.

7. I tried that UT3 calculator alredy... How reliable is that?

Wonko,

I will address each individually.

1. Yes, you will need to replace your graphics card.

2/3/4/6. If you want to replace those parts, ok. You might want to think about the Intel Dual core processors. I was a die-hard AMD fan, but Intel's Duo/Quad cores are ripping AMD apart in speeds and benchmarks. In either respect, you may wish to consider a SLI setup with dual finned 8600GT's at 256MB (I recommend 2 of XFX's PVT84JU1D4). I do not know if the 8800s have any finned cards.

I would recommend staying away from the AM2 setup and use the latest 939 pin motherboard and the highest dual-core processor from AMD or the 775 pin motherboard (680 SLI) and the highest dual-core processor from Intel, depending on budget and import considerations (Uncle Sam may proscribe some of the parts from being imported outside the US).

If you want finned cooling, better research the net very good for finned cooling products and plan to have a constant airflow though the room the pc will be in. The duo/quad cores ARE VERY HOT, regardless of manufacturer.

Ram-wise, no. You do need to plan on a minimum of 2GB, preferably 4GB. The ram does need to be of a high speed variety, i.e Corsair XMS2 Dominator 8500.

The UT3 calculator is an educated guess as to where your current and proposed pc will rank in terms of the ability to play UT3. It is a good tool for planning any upgrades.

If you have not watch my posts on the building of my current pc, you might want to review them at http://www.disastrousconsequences.com/dcforum/posts/list/2695.page. This post starts at the beginning and goes all the way to the end, when I finally brought the new pc online.

Hmm.... the calculator (thanks Demon for the link) says my system rates around a "12" which is "Low-Med" - however, when I played the demo I thought it was just unplayable (maybe I just didn't like the fuzziness)

Anyway, I'm still stuck with AGP (Dell 8300, P4 2.8GHz, ATI X800GTO-512, 4GB Mem) I could upgrade the video card a bit but that's about all...

...unless there is a CPU upgrade? The problem with Dell is that you don't know what motherboard you have, etc...) Any thoughts on that?

I get around 12 with my system now too - unplayable.

Thanks deamon, you got me thinking, will have to sleep on that and I'll report back. I have some RAM questions though:
1. That UT3 calculator doesn't seem to rely much on the amount of RAM (makes about 0.4 difference between 1GB and 4GB), yet you suggest 4GB...why?

2. What are the differences between RAMs? I thought if I buy DDR2 @800MHz Im OK, but prices vary greatly even within the same manufacturer (with basic 1GB DDR2 800Mhz RAM price around 30€, and the deluxe ultra supersonic version with the same specs at 150€). Is that a concern to me (not planning to do any OC).

Spike wrote:

Hmm.... the calculator (thanks Demon for the link) says my system rates around a "12" which is "Low-Med" - however, when I played the demo I thought it was just unplayable (maybe I just didn't like the fuzziness)

Anyway, I'm still stuck with AGP (Dell 8300, P4 2.8GHz, ATI X800GTO-512, 4GB Mem) I could upgrade the video card a bit but that's about all...

...unless there is a CPU upgrade? The problem with Dell is that you don't know what motherboard you have, etc...) Any thoughts on that?

Ouch. Dell's motherboards are made by un-related 3rd party vendors and can be touchy (Dell will not even list their MB vendors). Replacing the video card can be dicey and I believe you will have to stick with ATI. Contact Dell support and ask them what newer cards will work with your current setup.

Wonko The Sane wrote:

I have some RAM questions though:
1. That UT3 calculator doesn't seem to rely much on the amount of RAM (makes about 0.4 difference between 1GB and 4GB), yet you suggest 4GB...why?

True, the calculator does not seem to worry about board ram, but it does lean very heavy on the vram. Remember, when the vram is fully taken up, the board ram will be utilized (similiar to the paging files/virtual memory). Thus, it's the old theory of never having enough of something. You can get by with 2GB of ram if you plan to stick with XP, but if you go to Vista, you will need to upgrade the ram.

The other item mentioned-types of ram. Normal ram for nongaming purposes will not stand up to the grinding that a high speed game will require. Ocz, Kingston, Corsair, and other ram manufacturers have spread sheets detailing the ram necessary in relationship to the usage and motherboard specs.