Graphics card for a P4 2600MHz system

Got my hands on a 2.6GHz system for race and flight simulations.

Now I'm wondering what a good graphics card for this system would be.
After all, most of the simulator stuff is heavily CPU dependant and
I would hate to spend too much money for a top notch graphics card
only to find out that the CPU is not powerfull enough to use it properly.

Looking forward to your input.

TIA

An ATI9800 Pro or XT would probably be a great value - you could get
one used pretty cheap these days.
In the next-gen cards nVidia 6800GT is probably the best bang for the
buck, but a casual scan of newsgroups seems to indicate ATI is doing
slighty better driver-wise these days.
I'm partial to ATI myself, and am waiting for the next pricedrop to
upgrade my 9700Pro that is still doing fairly well.

HTH,
Kendt

Intense 3D
"Tob Lerone" > wrote in message
...
>
> Got my hands on a 2.6GHz system for race and flight simulations.
>
> Now I'm wondering what a good graphics card for this system would be.
> After all, most of the simulator stuff is heavily CPU dependant and
> I would hate to spend too much money for a top notch graphics card
> only to find out that the CPU is not powerfull enough to use it properly.
>
> Looking forward to your input.
>
> TIA

In article >, Tob Lerone
says...

>
> Got my hands on a 2.6GHz system for race and flight simulations.
>
> Now I'm wondering what a good graphics card for this system would be.
> After all, most of the simulator stuff is heavily CPU dependant and
> I would hate to spend too much money for a top notch graphics card
> only to find out that the CPU is not powerfull enough to use it properly.
>
> Looking forward to your input.

Consider that recently I upgraded my video card, from an old Radeon 8500
AIW to a new X800SE. My system is less powerful than yours, I have an
Athlon 1900+ with 768 MB of RAM. Well, now I can play with GTR, rFactor
and Flatout very smoothly at 1024*768 with filters, before it was
impossible (very low frame rates). Actually, I am very happy for the
results of the upgrade. So, I think that in your case you can buy a good
video card without be limited by the processor.

Regards,

Socius

Tob Lerone wrote:
> Got my hands on a 2.6GHz system for race and flight simulations.
>
> Now I'm wondering what a good graphics card for this system would be.
> After all, most of the simulator stuff is heavily CPU dependant and
> I would hate to spend too much money for a top notch graphics card
> only to find out that the CPU is not powerfull enough to use it properly.
>
> Looking forward to your input.
>
> TIA

What manner of graphics port? AGP? PCI Express? SLI?

In either case, a good entry level card is something in the nVidia 6600
line.

My P4 2.4Ghz works well with a Ti4200 - I just love the card. Haven't
even found the need to upgrade yet.

wrote:
> An ATI9800 Pro or XT would probably be a great value - you could get
> one used pretty cheap these days.

I second that. You would get a pretty well balanced system for GTR, LFS,
N2K3... at a reasonable price. Do not go below that kind of graphics
card, though, as current racing sims are more GPU-limited (not CPU) than
you would think.

Regards,
Mr. S.

Mr. Sylvest
>> An ATI9800 Pro or XT would probably be a great value - you could get
>> one used pretty cheap these days.
>
> I second that. You would get a pretty well balanced system for GTR, LFS,
> N2K3... at a reasonable price. Do not go below that kind of graphics card,
> though, as current racing sims are more GPU-limited (not CPU) than you
> would think.

Hi.
I would like to ride N2K3, 4AA/8AF, with everything maxed out, on
1600x1200. 36fps min., with full field of cars. How high should I go,
regarding graphic card (with AMD 3000+)? What would be the best solution (I
mean, I do have a high expactations, but I am not a Rockefeller, : )). What
cards are better (nVidia or ATI), for N2K3?
TIA
Mario

ATI 9800xt would probably be the only thing I can think of that might
handle that - your processor would probably be your bottleneck after
installing one.

Gil:
> ATI 9800xt would probably be the only thing I can think of that might
> handle that - your processor would probably be your bottleneck after
> installing one.

Hm, funny thing happened. I cannot find 9800xt in my town. I can
only find 9800 Pro. How about newer generation? -- Mario