Upgrading Video Card - Why Upgrade?

S

SlingXShot

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 25, 2004
Messages
152
Yo yo yo! :D

So this is the deal. I hate buying stuff that I won't use. I have been upgrading video cards since Voodoo 2. I always got the high end stuff.

Voodoo 2 --> Geforce 2 --> Geforce 3 --> radeon 9700 --> radeon x800 --> and now radeon x1900

I paid $600 for x1900 when it just came out.

I always ended up going home, benchmarking, running some cool demos, and 2 days later no benchmarks and no demos and no games.

So why upgrade? Give me a reason :D

I also stopped overclocking. I noticed after running CPUs overclocked for a long periods of time, they would degrade and would throw random errors even at stock speeds.
 
I upgrade when I can't run the games I want to play at a high setting. If you don't have a reason to upgrade its a waste of money.
 
Yeah, I got along just fine with an x1800xl till last week cuz I was out of the gaming loop. Then I got the itch to actually play some games for the first time in a couple years and really NEEDED the upgrade. If you aren't playing games, no need for a new card. Heck, if you're still gaming at some piddly res like 1280x1024 like I am the x1900 is probably still "fast enough" for most stuff.
 
Yoda4561 said:
Yeah, I got along just fine with an x1800xl till last week cuz I was out of the gaming loop. Then I got the itch to actually play some games for the first time in a couple years and really NEEDED the upgrade. If you aren't playing games, no need for a new card. Heck, if you're still gaming at some piddly res like 1280x1024 like I am the x1900 is probably still "fast enough" for most stuff.
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Street fighter 4 works very well at the highest settings on the card (2560x1600)
- thought i did play the game for a week then got bored of it, plus all my fingers started to hurt :p
 
I was dying for Eyefinity type of tech ever since I built my computer.

As soon the 5850 was available I jumped on it.
 
[L]imey;1034857935 said:
I was dying for Eyefinity type of tech ever since I built my computer.

As soon the 5850 was available I jumped on it.
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Don't you need like 3 monitors for that?
 
you could upgrade to a dx10 card but not a high end card. it will save you on power and you system will run cooler.
 
tesellation soon we will have serious difference in iq qith crappy consoles thx to dx 11 and AvP is first game who gonna show us this
 
verbel said:
I upgrade when I can't run the games I want to play at a high setting. If you don't have a reason to upgrade its a waste of money.
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this...

as long as i can play my games im not going to needlessly upgrade - with the sole exception being a completely new technology that im interested in

like the 3d from green or the eyefinity from red

but if i have a 260, im not going to run out and buy a 4890 or a 285 just because it's there

moving a few sliders isnt worth hundred$ of dollars
 
That reminded me of myself.
I used to upgrade, do the same thing with benchies then end up playing SOF2 again! lol
That all change after I got my 3D Vision though...now I cannot stop playing all the latest games. :D
 
If you dont play games then why upgrade? Also I have never had an issue with overclocking causing errors after being ran for many years. Some of my buddies are still running my old rigs that were overclocked. Even my old 300A @ 450mhz is still running. Good quality boards can make the difference. If your happy then don't bother to upgrade. For some of us upgrading is a hobby.
 
I don't do a lot of upgrading myself. But I don't play a lot of FPS games nor lately any RTS even.

Mine looks more like

Voodoo 3 --> Radeon 7000 -> 8500 -> 9800 pro --> vanilla x800 (only upgraded from 9800pro to get a PCI-e card) --> x850xt -> x1950xt (only upgraded because a friend wanted to sell).

I'm standing pat on the 1950xt for now...the only modern PC game with any sort of tough system requirements I'm considering is Dragon Age.
 
I upgrade when i have a buyer for my old stuff. At one point i was teh 3-6 month upgrader. I dont have as much time to play games anymore, so my current 4850 will last me a very long time. I only have a 22" monitor so it can run anything i play right now at full resolution and 8XAA.
If i fel it getting slow i will pick up a second one and go crossfire.
 
dslrjunky said:
I upgrade when the need is there and when I have the upgrade bug..
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I tend to get the "upgrade bug" more often then my hardware is started to just get down right dated...of course i haven't had a build up for long so i guess its a matter of time atm...
 
I upgraded to a 5870 from an 8600gt. Night and day. I would also only upgrade based on two factors 1. Can you afford it? 2. Will it benefit you (work with your components, help run the games you want to play, etc.)
 
I upgrade when my games start to run like poo. (Keep in mind I'm a self admitted graphics snob.)

Sadly even the 5870 wont let me run Fallout 3 to my liking. (1920x1200 on 24", Fullscreen, Maxed with 4x AA and 15 AF.)

I have to use iFPSclamp to stop the micro stutter (Game engine issue.) I get, but if the FPS go below what it's set to, the game runs in slow mo. Over, and it runs in high speed. So I have had to Settle on 1680x1050 (Scaled to full screen.) all High, no AA, 15 AF. Even then, I get the odd drop to high 30s for a second here and there. (I think a faster HDD would help this.) It's mostly at 60 FPS (Ini tweak to maintain 60 FPS without V-sync) and runs smooth, but those 35+ drops are jarring to game play and really snap you out of the immersion.
 
Well if you're upgrading just so you can read benchmarks, why not just read some benchmarks and keep your current card. If you're going to buy a new fast card, start using it to play some nice new heavy duty games.
 
Why upgrade? Guess you never played Crysis - lol. You sir, have no business buying video cards:cool:
 
SlingXShot said:
So why upgrade? Give me a reason :D
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what do you do on your computer? if you don't game then you don't need a gaming card. I you watch videos or the like I do suggest something newer, a 4650 or the like to make use of shader effects and such. and improve video quality. but if you don't game then you don't need a gaming card

eyefinity is a pretty good reason though. and the 5850 is not a bad card at all.
 
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