Video card for Oblivion?

dave343

dave343

[H]ard|Gawd
2FA
Joined
Oct 17, 2000
Messages
1,875
Right now I've been lucky enought to test drive the 8800GTX (my bosses until until he wants it back next month). I need a PCI-E card and all I really play is Oblivion. I have a budget of around $250cnd + any taxes so max 300-325. AA is nice, but I've always lived without and still can. I do want maybe 8x AF and I only run at 1024 cause of my 17". I do want to max out most if not all the details in Oblivion only if I can so what card would fit the bill? I was thinking of a 7900GS unless ATI has better or similar for the same price. The 7950 GT is out of reach from my budget, I think I saw it retail at stores near me for 349. So anyhting up to 325 WITH taxes. Any advice appreciated, thanks in advance for any replies.

Pentium 4 3.0 531
Asus P5GD2-X (I think)
2GB DDR2 533
250GB WD 16mb
DVD 16x LG
onboard sound
 
An X1900XT or X1950XT will be your best bet.
I use the X1800XT at 1024 res and its great but you cant get them now.
The X1900XT is pretty damn cheap now so its a no brainer.
The X1950pro is around the same as the X1800XT in performance so if you can get it way cheaper you may want to consider that option.

The 8800 series are the first NVidia cards that support HDR+AA in Oblivion.
Cards before can use one or the other.
 
dude buy two 8800GTXs and run them in SLI thats what i am going to do only thing is hope you dont pay the power bill
 
Hayden123 said:
dude buy two 8800GTXs and run them in SLI thats what i am going to do only thing is hope you dont pay the power bill
Click to expand...
hell why even read his post where he points out his budget constraints.
 
ATI is the card to go for Oblivion, not Nvidia. ATI X1950XTX Destroys 8800GTX in SLI. Just head over to ATI section and ask them if im right.












sike
 
Hayden123 said:
dude buy two 8800GTXs and run them in SLI thats what i am going to do only thing is hope you dont pay the power bill
Click to expand...

If you want to sell him two 8800gtx's for 250 canadian, count me in for the same deal!

x1900 series rox for oblivion, and the price is right!
 
ATI MACH 32 SHOULD DO THE TRICK
sp178241wa2.jpg
 
Hayden123 said:
dude buy two 8800GTXs and run them in SLI thats what i am going to do only thing is hope you dont pay the power bill
Click to expand...


Are you an idiot? Do you even read the original post before blurting out a stupid response? :confused:

Chernobyl1 had a good point the x1950 pro is a good card for the $$$..
 
Hell, If your running at 1024x768 I might be tempted to get a new processor. Over clocking to 3.4 will suffice as well. I'll suggest the X1900XT
 
8800 owns Oblivion at the moment. As will R600.
In your price range, the X19xx are a lot better for Oblivion than 79xx series.
 
I've had an eVGA 8800GTS for a week now playing Oblivian at maximum settings at 1280x1024. It's beautiful. I'm looking to upgrade my 19" LCD to a 24" at 1900x1620.
 
Here in Canada...
(so forget all those useless NewEgg links)
ASUS x1950 Pro $199.00:
ShopRBC

....don't you hate idiots who quote huge posts only to add a three word sentence.
 
DEX1 said:
I've had an eVGA 8800GTS for a week now playing Oblivian at maximum settings at 1280x1024. It's beautiful. I'm looking to upgrade my 19" LCD to a 24" at 1900x1620.
Click to expand...

What does this have to do with this thread?

Martyr said:
hell why even read his post where he points out his budget constraints.
Click to expand...

Wondering why you even posted? at least his had something to do with the OPs question.


X1900 is a solid choice especially with oblivion but why not just save what cash you have now and put it towards a 8800? It will be a massive improvement over the X19xx series with some serious longevity to it. If you dropped your cash now on anything you can afford it will only be a DX9 card so youll be in this situation again all to soon.
 
X19xx xxx series should be the best bet...

hell why even read his post where he points out his budget constraints.
Click to expand...

Hell... why even use grammar in his post. Oh wait, he didn't.
 
I have access to an 8800GTX and X1950XF setup. 8800GTX is currently doubling the framerates @ 1680 x 1050 with effects turned on. With an overclocked C2D you can almost turn on v sync outdoors in heavy foliage.

Budget card for Oblivion without question would be the ATI flagship though. Mind you Oblivion can be a really tough game to get running well on any pc, its really that hard on the system. Recommended C2D and 512 texture memory g card and 2 gig ram. Forget AA, and full sliders and distant LOD's unless you dont mid stuttuers into the 20's. Also I just upgraded to a raptor hd and it helped with stuttering alot. I have spent the last month trying to optimize Oblivion on my computer, it takes alot of work but is well worth the effort.

Currently use 7950GX2 , I get 30-70 fps outdoors grass at half no lod with 512 mb texture packs. I stepped up to an 8800GTX which will be here soon. But to sum it up my friends rig maxes the game out with an 8800GTX single card and dips into the 50's occasionally outdoors in heavy foliage or with many monsters. His Crossfire setup achieves about half that. Hope my rant helped.


Cheers
 
X1900XT is what I'd reccomend.

I'm still happy with my 6800 :p
Runs it at "High" settings with HDR and shiz.
('Twas what auto configured for me)
 
Been running Oblivion with near max settings @ 1280x1024, 4x AA & 8x HQ AF with HDR and Oblivion is looking really good. Sure there are places where the FPS drop but nothing too big. I would recomend X19xx cards since they are on the OPs budget and are only cards to hand HDR+AA too, in that price range that is.

Ps. After doing the mods in this article Oblivion has been a totally new experience for me: http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article.asp?CIID=36546
 
Peter Mann said:
Here in Canada...
(so forget all those useless NewEgg links)
ASUS x1950 Pro $199.00:
ShopRBC

....don't you hate idiots who quote huge posts only to add a three word sentence.
Click to expand...

That's an excellent price. We're lucky here in the states if we can find it IN STOCK for $199 USD, which is about %15 more than your price.

Lots of resellers here are taking advantage of the shortage and are marking them up to $230 or more, which is a ripoff when you can find 7900GS cards for $160 USD.
 
I think I've settled on the x1900xt 256mb card. It's a tad more than I wanted to spend, 310 + taxes but it's the best I could find in my budget realm. Like I mentioned in my first post, I just want to run 1024 with max settings NO aa, and maybe 8x AF. As for the FPS, I'd be more than pleased if the x1900xt gives me above 25 all the time.
 
So I checked out about 15 computer stores today, none of which had the x1900xt in stock. Most if not all had either the x1900gt or the x1950pro. Would either of these cards do what I want in Oblivion? 1024 with high settings, no AA, 8x AF and 25+ FPS?
 
Yes. You might have to back off a little on the grass distance, but with those 36 pixel shaders you should be able to crank everything up to either high or highest settings.
 
the x1900gt is a great card but the x1950pro is a bit faster in some regards. if you can not get the x1900xt, then go for the x1950pro.
 
One more question I have about the x1950pro is that I plan on getting "Alan Wake" when ever it comes out. Will this card be sufficient?
 
dave343 said:
One more question I have about the x1950pro is that I plan on getting "Alan Wake" when ever it comes out. Will this card be sufficient?
Click to expand...

lol
will anything other than quad core dual 8800 be good enough? :)
I'd like to know as well.
 
Dont know what it is about ATi and Oblivion, but pre-8800 Nvidia cards, they're the kings of this game.

ATi works on Oblvion like spandex works on Jessica Albas arse, a sight to behold! :p
 
amenx said:
Dont know what it is about ATi and Oblivion, but pre-8800 Nvidia cards, they're the kings of this game.

ATi works on Oblvion like spandex works on Jessica Albas arse, a sight to behold! :p
Click to expand...

:LOL:
 
pfunkman said:
X1900 is a solid choice especially with oblivion but why not just save what cash you have now and put it towards a 8800? It will be a massive improvement over the X19xx series with some serious longevity to it. If you dropped your cash now on anything you can afford it will only be a DX9 card so youll be in this situation again all to soon.
Click to expand...

Agree, unless Oblivion is totaly unplayable on your current system save up the money for a geforce 8800GTS, will get you a lot more bang for the buck and last a lot longer.
Seen some overclock results on the GTS and it clocks very close to the default performance of the GTX for a lot less money.
 
Wolfkin said:
Agree, unless Oblivion is totaly unplayable on your current system save up the money for a geforce 8800GTS, will get you a lot more bang for the buck and last a lot longer.
Seen some overclock results on the GTS and it clocks very close to the default performance of the GTX for a lot less money.
Click to expand...

Right now I'm using a 8800GTX but only because my boss lent it to me to try out for a few weeks. Once he takes it back I won't have a video card at all.
 
Then I would go with something cheapish like a geforce 7600GT that would last you a while until you can save up the money for a geforce 8800 card or ATI R600.
Don't see any reason to spend a lot on a high end directx 9 card now, not when there is such a small difference in price between the top-of-the-line DX9 cards and geforce 8800GTS and such a large difference in power.
 
Considering that you only play 1024x and your budget you really might want to try one of the Sapphire X1950Pros. If not satisfied return it for the X1950 XT or X1900 XT 256mb.

I actually got a Sapphire X1950Pro to run Oblvion decently @ 1440 x 900 res with 4x AA|4x HQ AF and it was supported by an overclocked C2D.
 
I was able to special order a built by ATI x1950xt 256mb card for $319CND which came in the ATI oem white box. Now comes the wait until Christmas to use it :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top