Video Card Upgrade
I recently started to play Far Cry 2. Unfortunately, my computer was not up to the task of running it very well. It ran OK with severely reduced graphics options, but part of the charm of the game is the immersive, photorealistic graphics. Since I also had some framerate issues with other games I enjoy (notably Left 4 Dead and King’s Bounty), I decided it was time to try and remedy the situation. The only real choice for upgrading (aside from a full system upgrade) was the video card. My old card was a Nvidia Geforce 7600GT 256MB – at least 3 generations behind the state of the art. However, there were a few possible issues I had to consider before choosing a new card. New video cards consume a lot more power and tend to run hotter. Fan noise can be an issue, and the size of the card + cooling apparatus can also be problematic. The final consideration was cost – I was hoping to make a substantial upgrade for around $100.
I decided to go with an ATI solution this time; this is the first ATI product I’ve bought since the ATI All-in-Wonder (which was bought primarily for its TV tuner). There still seems to be a stigma attached to ATI driver quality; I don’t doubt that there are people and systems that have issues with them, but so far I have had no problems whatsoever. My concerns about power and heat seem to have been unfounded. My power supply does not have a 6-pin PCIe power connector – I had to use the supplied 2 4-pin connectors to 1 6-pin connector adapter. I was skeptical that this would work, but so far I haven’t had a problem. As far as heat is concerned, this card runs actually cooler than my old 7600! At full load, the 7600 would hit 76 degrees C; the 4850 only gets to 63 degrees C. The temperatures of the other components in the case seem to be unaffected. Fan noise isn’t that bad, either. Although I can hear the fan at full load, it is lower frequency noise and is easily drown out by game sounds/music.
The performance difference is simply amazing. It has surpassed all of my expectations. My system is about 2 and a half years old, and this upgrade makes it seem brand new. All of the games I have tried look glass smooth (even Far Cry 2), and with higher graphics settings to boot. I am now DirectX 10 capable (read: extra shiny)! Far Cry 2 with DirectX 10 is simply jaw-droppingly beautiful, and the frame rate is solidly in the 30s (admittedly, I don’t have ALL the settings at max – I suspect some of them are more processor intensive than others). Left 4 Dead is scarier than ever – with “real” shadows, it’s now even more important that I don’t play that game at night.
If you have a Core 2 Duo level processor and 7 or 8 series Nvidia graphics card and find your gaming performance to be lacking, I highly recommend you look into a video card upgrade. You can get a lot of bang for your buck with the ATI 4850! I still wholeheartedly recommend newegg.com – I ordered this card Thursday afternoon, and received it on Friday! I didn’t pay for rush shipping or anything, just the standard 3-day guaranteed UPS. A word of caution, though; free shipping at newegg.com means DHL and it’s SLOOOOOOOOOW. Don’t count on getting your stuff for at least a week. Seriously.
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