Sims2 Video Card!

S

SkuLLy|RT

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 16, 2002
Messages
499
Evening guys,

Recently my lil sister gave me a call, stating that her monitor was broken. I went over to her house, and there were a ton of lines screen as well as random color spots. Hooked up her laptop to output to the monitor, and it was fine. So I ran to a local mom & pop store, picked up some $5 AGP garbage card, threw it in her machine, and she went about doing her projects.

About 3 hours later, she calls me again and says that the Sims2 is running like ass to the ninth degree. Fantastic.

Her computer was running my old GF4 TI4600. I'm looking for a comparable AGP card, but I'd like to keep the selection under $75 if possible (she graduates from highschool in a few months, and I'll be buying her a new comp/laptop for college). What would you guys suggest?

PS- HOOK EM HORNS!@# :D
 
I gave my sister my old FX5900XT and it runs smooth as ice (well, smooth enough ~25FPS) with almost everything turned up. So any 5700, 5900, 9800 or 9700 or even 9600 should be more than enough for her. You could probably go a bit under those if she just wants it running without any eye candy, but a 60 second froogle search found all of those cards for $80 or less.
 
Awesome, I'll swing by some stores tomorrow and look for one of those. Thanks much! :)
 
yeah, just pawn a used 9700/9800 off the forums somewhere, should be able to get one well under $75

edit: these cards are several generations old, and you wont find em in any stores... :(
 
^I don't know about that. My local BB still has FX5700's, lot's of them, actually.
 
the FX5700 sucks donkey balls. very, very large donkey balls.

the 9700 would CREAM any FX series card, in pretty much anything but DX8/OGL stuff, where the FX would still be competitive.
 
All very true. I do regret getting the 5900XT (though I do consider it the best of the FX series) instead of the 9800Pro, but regardless, ANY of those cards are good enough for The Sims 2.
 
also, don't buy a video card from a store, unless its a sale. cuz normal price is gonna be way more than normal price on say, newegg or clubit.
 
dude why was she having so much trouble with a 4600 i had an mx4000 before my 6800gt came and it worked no lag all graphics high @ 1024x768 but my other hardware probably had something to do with that as well
3.0C Prescott @ 3.6Ghz
1GB geil paltinum ultra etc.
 
That doesn't seem remotely possible. My X300, which is already vastly more powerful than an MX4000, already performs not-so-great with The Sims 2 @ highest detail (0xAA) 1024x768.
 
STR said:
^I don't know about that. My local BB still has FX5700's, lot's of them, actually.
Click to expand...

yeah, lol, do does the local walmart and staples.
 
lithium726 said:
yeah, just pawn a used 9700/9800 off the forums somewhere, should be able to get one well under $75

edit: these cards are several generations old, and you wont find em in any stores... :(
Click to expand...

My local Wal*Mart still sells XFX GeForce 2's

>_<
 
XteriorMotive said:
dude why was she having so much trouble with a 4600 i had an mx4000 before my 6800gt came and it worked no lag all graphics high @ 1024x768 but my other hardware probably had something to do with that as well
3.0C Prescott @ 3.6Ghz
1GB geil paltinum ultra etc.
Click to expand...

I dont think the GF4 was the problem on the speed. It was the one that died on her in the first place, and the $5 crap card he just got is giving trouble.
 
never buy a nvidia card with xt on the end = low end. you will be running dx8 on the cards you are looking at and shouldnt see to much of a workload with any card. a used 9800pro can be had for that price or a 6600gt if you can find it. the game responds well to cards that have 256 ram as apposed to 128 or 64.
 
TheGamerZ said:
My local Wal*Mart still sells XFX GeForce 2's

>_<
Click to expand...
yeah. the MX's... not the GTS or the Ultra or something, same as 5200's (suckage!) 9250's and the like crap is still being made, but not 9700s,9800s, TI4600s, 5900U's... you get the picture.
 
mrbigshot said:
never buy a nvidia card with xt on the end = low end. you will be running dx8 on the cards you are looking at.
Click to expand...

That's not right, my old 5900XT ran and still runs DX9, just not as quickly as the contemporary 9800.
 
mrbigshot said:
its not fast enough to run sims 2 in dx 9 mode with any sort of quality
Click to expand...

Yeah, you keep spouting that. You might even convince other people that have no idea what they're talking about.

I have one, it's used almost exclusively to run the Sims 2 on my sister's PC with quality set to high. Who are you to say it isn't working, when it is?
 
STR said:
Yeah, you keep spouting that. You might even convince other people that have no idea what they're talking about.
Click to expand...
bottom line is that hte FX series is slow as all hell compared to a 9800, so why in the world would one buy one at this point?
 
They're dirt cheap and they're sufficient for the job this guy wants it for. That's about it. Who's arguing that th 9800 isn't better?
 
I say 9800pro. I recently upgraded to x850pro (going to try to unlock but it runs at xt pe speeds!) my 9800pro ran sims two with everything on high at 1024x768 with no problem. no stuttering whatsoever. even with university and nightlife installed.

my specs

abit IC7-G max2
intel 2.8c
1 Gb (2x512)corsair XMS cas 2 (it even ran fine with 2x 256 pc2700)

heck! I was playing C&C generals with a radeon 7000!
 
mrbigshot said:
its not fast enough to run sims 2 in dx 9 mode with any sort of quality
Click to expand...

Blah blah blah. I don't know about you, but I never saw any kinds of DX7, 8, 9 switches on the Sims 2. This is the Sims, not HL2. When I had my FX5700 I could run it with shadows and lights to mid, everything else to high and some AA at 1024x768. Pretty much the same thing I run it at with my 6600gt, except bump the res and AA a notch.

The Sims 2 will run damn near identical on a 5700 or a 9600pro. Or on a 5900 vs a 9800. Anything more than a GF MX and your sister will be more than happy.

Personally, at the time a 9600pro was about 150 and a 5700nu was 107, that was enough to decide for me.

-wil
 
You seriously underestimate the kind of video card needed for the Sims 2. This is NOT the Sims 1, where a GF2 would be enough. A 9600XT would probably be the minimum for playing at the highest settings @ 1024x768.

I'd recommend a 9800 pro.
 
Here we go, I'm pretty sure most peoples sisters or wives don't mind playing at least at 1024x768 w/o AA at over 50fps. I know mine doesn't. Still, damn do those FX's take a beating. Oh well, still wasn't a bad buy at the price back then. However 9600pro's are at about 70 bucks at the egg. FTW.



 
^That looks about right, though lowering few unnoticable features and the 5900XT's incredible o/cing does wonders.
 
I never thought there'd be such an epic debate over a video card to run the Sims. :p I ended up grabbing an ATI 9600PRO locally for around $55 or so bucks. My sister seems content with her game again, since it's not a slideshow.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top