Video card for BF2

H

Hulk

Supreme [H]ardness
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Nov 4, 2005
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To make a long story short I need a video card to play BF2.

My monitor is a have a 21" dell crt monitor with max resolution of 1880 x 1440. The only problem is that my processor is a Sempron 3300. It's an emachines computer and I don't think there is a way to upgrade the processor, and if there is it's probably way too much trouble.

So anyways, I was thinking about getting the 7600GT, but since it's so cheap now I was thinking of stepping up. What cards do you recommend? Perhaps a card that costs a little bit more than the 7600 GT and has twice the performance?

Thanks!
 
i had a 7600gt for bf2, i played it maxed out 1440x900 x4 AA at good fps. but get a 8600gt because the 7600 is power hungry.
 
I dunno...i've played a lot of BF2 in my day. 7600gt - 8600gt with a Sempron 754 3300+?


That's going to run slow unless you turn many of the settings down.


I'm not sure, but i've had an emachines with the Sempron 3300...I think that might even be AGP, not PCI-express.


You might want to check before you buy a card.
 
Yes, it actually has PCI-express.

I know that the processor is really weak, but dont video games these day mostly rely on video card power rather than processor power?

Also, I went to tomshardware, and on the CPU chart on the sempron 3300, on the far cry test, it says it got 155fps. I am not sure how he tested that (cpu for video games) but that doesn't sound like a bad number to me.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2005.html?modelx=33&model1=263&chart=68&model2=212
 
Hulk said:
Yes, it actually has PCI-express.

I know that the processor is really weak, but dont video games these day mostly rely on video card power rather than processor power?

Also, I went to tomshardware, and on the CPU chart on the sempron 3300, on the far cry test, it says it got 155fps. I am not sure how he tested that (cpu for video games) but that doesn't sound like a bad number to me.

http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2005.html?modelx=33&model1=263&chart=68&model2=212
Click to expand...


Yeah...that's Far Cry on LOW. If you want to play BF2 on LOW...have a blast.

If I were you, i'd grab a 7900 or 7800 series card from ebay. At least you'll be able to run decently on some high settings.
 
Battlefield 2 ran fine for me on my old sempron 3100 with an 8600gt, the 1gb ram I had made it harsh tho.
 
TopGun said:
Battlefield 2 ran fine for me on my old sempron 3100 with an 8600gt, the 1gb ram I had made it harsh tho.
Click to expand...

What kind of framerates where you getting? Max, average, low. Thanks.
 
thats what I heard, BF2 is a source hog. I'm really thinking about getting the 8600GT, its only $60 for the 256mb version @ the egg. Would a 512MB version offer any advantage for me?
 
Yea, snag the 512MB version. BF2 burns through texture memory.
 
The 8600GT isn't fast enough to take advantage of the extra VRAM. So don't get the 512MB version. The 256MB version will be enough.

However, I think the CPU will limit you some. But try it and see what happens. At the very least, you have a video card for a future PC build.
 
I don't remember, spent most of the time swapping but while it wasn't it ran smooth.
I gotta buy the game now so I can play it when I get my new video card :p
 
Definetly go with 512MB on any video card that you buy. 256MB Frame buffer will cripple you. BF2 is a resource hog. When I went to 2GB of ram, it really sped up my system.
 
Here is what BF2 looks like running on a 256MB ATi All In Wonder X800 with just medium settings:

BF2%20Graph.png


Free Video Memory.. notice how it went down to .43

Free Texture Memory... notice how it has 490MB and it went down to 201...

A 256MB card will be swapping out memory running BF2 on medium. High or at least high textures will be worse.

Spend the $5 more on the 512MB version.

Heck, get this 1GB version for $99.99... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130341 :D
 
I've said this before...i've been playing BF2 for years....


If you really want to be happy playing BF2, you need at least an x1900 GT 256 MB or 7800 GT 256 MB. Or even an X800 or 6800 (with 256 MB memory). I'm sure you can find one to fit your budget.

8600 GT is a terrible video card....that's why they are practically giving them away.
I personally wouldn't give two nickles for an 8600 GT (unless I planned to sell it to someone else.) I'd rather buy something from ebay with more power.

You need that 256-bit memory bus, 256 MB of VRAM and at least 2 gigs of system RAM for a nice BF2 experience.
 
Since both the 7800 & x1900 are sold out @ the egg what other card would be a good choice?:confused:
 
In your other post you asked for... this... a card using the least amount of power. That puts you into an 8600GT. It will play the game well but you may need to add more system ram. I doubt you will be able to enjoy the game at your native resolution though. In that case you may need to get a higher power card. It's one or the other.

If you check out tweakguides there is information on what settings greatly improve the game environment and which are negligible. Usually running all high is a waste and you may get by with an 8600GT and some tweaking.

Also, 8600GT 512MB cards are typically only DDR2 memory. Pay attention to all specs if you go that route. I'm not sure the extra video ram will help as much as system ram.
 
My 7800gtx x 2 sli did awsome for this game really crisp graffics very smooth love it.
 
saw an X1900XTX on ebay for 80 euros today...thats about 100 dollars i think
i'm sure you could get one for less then that.
a 7800GTX will also do the job.
since you have PCI-E, why not just future proof a little bit and get an 8800GT
aren't they going for a handy price in the states?
 
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