Video Card (tested)

[USMCNJ]

what works and what doesn't?
Total war has done it again. make me buy a whole new system just to play game. I've ordered the parts for the pc the only thing i need is to buy a good video card.
My specs are (once i put the pc together)
3.00 Ghz HyperTreaded (800 Mhz bus, 1 Mb cashe)
1 Gb RAM (400 Mhz DDR)
Agp Slot 4x 8x
i want to purchase a video card that will work smothly with RTW, and is under $250.

anyone with similars specs have a recomendation? (or what to avoid)

[Aelwyn]

supposedly ati cards are having trouble with it. its a shame too as I'm looking to get a new one as well, and i wanted a 9700/9800 pro, but now if its gonna have troubles I'm not sure.

Less than $250? Hmm you could get a pretty good card for that much. For just around that amount you could get something from the GF 6800 line (I believe Lamorak has one of these, so he could better fill you in on it).

Other than that, the x800 is out of that range, and since you have a 4x/8x AGP slot, I assume (I'm pretty sure ~:p ) that you don't have a PCI express mobo, so the x600 is out of the question...unless they came out with an AGP version that I don't know about.

Maybe if you're not worried about it, or have seen otherwise, you might want to go with an ATI based card. You could get a 256mb 9800 card for around $250 I believe, or a 128mb 9800 pro for sub $200.

Overall it all depends on what you want, what you want to spend, and what other things you'll be running on it.

Take a look at Pricewatch for basic pricing info. Also at Newegg as I find they have some of the best prices and shipping anyways.

Good luck.

[Red Harvest]

My 9800 Pro is working well on my rather old XP2400+/266 FSB system. The problem mentioned was small, and only happened to me twice. Still not sure what caused it. Some of the settings in the game don't seem to carry over from one menu to another, so I suspect it is an application problem rather than a vid driver issue. Not a big surprise in a demo.

[USMCNJ]

this pc is going to be used for RTW and RTW only. I'm ussauly on the go and do all my computer work on my labtop. this pc will only be turned on for RTW about 10hrs a week. (it's actually pretty sad, i'm spending $700 on a $50 game)
i just want a card that will let me smoothly run RTW in single player mode with everything turned on at about 1024 X 768 resolution.

[Fearless]

OKay! for what it's worth. We have two computers in one room. My son's with a Radeon 9700 Pentuim 4 from Dell and me with my Geforce Ti4600 Athlon 2600 from Mesh, both high speck machines. Now the interesting point!. My son gets the ray's of light that have been spoken about with Radeon cards but hey the game runs so SMooooth! Me I don't get any graphic problems but mine doesn't run as smooth as my son's and when I zoom into the battles it gets worse. This choppyness also occurs with Far Cry. Radeon is so much smoother and a patch will sort out the starburst effect which isn't too much of a problem. I am now looking at getting a new computer with a Radeon video card cos this game is going to need it.

[Degtyarev14.5]

supposedly ati cards are having trouble with it. its a shame too as I'm looking to get a new one as well, and i wanted a 9700/9800 pro, but now if its gonna have troubles I'm not sure.

ATI Radeon 9600XT here, and NO issues whatsoever. Now go get that card!

A.

[USMCNJ]

ATI Radeon 9600XT here, and NO issues whatsoever. Now go get that card!

A.

that's actually then one i was looking at. thanks
do you have all the option turned on?
what resolution are you running?

edit: who's the manufacturer of your card?

[Degtyarev14.5]

that's actually then one i was looking at. thanks
do you have all the option turned on?
what resolution are you running?

edit: who's the manufacturer of your card?

Lemme get the box...

Okay, manufacturer: GeXcube. 128Mb DDR-RAM. Ships with Delta Force: Black Hawk Down - what a frigging joke of a game!!

Running beautifully at 1280x1024, everything at highest except anti-aliasing, which I've set to low (it's probably not necessary at all at this resolution), and high quality shadows, which don't seem to want to stay enabled.

The demo doesn't seem to be working properly at 1600x1200: I can't start the battle if there is no "Start Battle" button!

A.

[USMCNJ]

thanks.
can some one explain what anti-aliasing is?

[Degtyarev14.5]

If I remember correctly, it involves running the graphical data through an algorithm to minimise the jagged effects of lower resolutions such as 800x600 or the dreaded 640x480.

Basically, it makes straight lines straight.

A.

[Rosacrux]

Basically, it makes straight lines straight.

A.

In certain quarters this would be considered quite an achievement

[SpencerH]

I've got a similar system with a 9800 (not pro). Counter-intuitively, the problem with the strobe lights disappeared when I turned up all the graphics requirements to their max. The game played great afterward (taking into account the changes I'm not happy with) with no hiccups at all.

[Sjakihata]

I'm happy with my 9700 pro and I have no red flares.

I suggest either 9700 pro or 9800 xt

[The Witch-King]

Also got a ATI Radeon 9600 XT recently. Very good card and RTW runs very smoothly. Only problem is the flare problem when archers are firing flaming arrows but that really is a minor problem (it has only happened to me twice) and really isn't that much of an issue (at least to me). It's also available at a good price (bought mine at 150 Euros) and really should be enough to last a couple of years. :)

[BDC]

I'd suggest at least a 9800. 9600 is pretty old now, and the 9800 is so cheap anyway that you may as well get it. Then you can play it with all the bells etc.

[bhutavarna]

if i were you, i'll go for a 256mb card, ATI 9800 pro perhaps. i'm currently using an ATI 9600 128mb card, and my computer spec is essentially the the same as yours, except that mine is 2.8 ghz. although i can run RTW fine, i still get a little stutter on the fps rate on very high graphic setting. it's not much, but the current demo battle doesn't have a lot of units in it, so i figure it may get worse on the actual game.

[Shorty]

Buy a Radeon 9800 pro 128MB for $200 or less. The 256MB version offers no advantage, unless you mod it and then it might perform as well as the 9800XT. I have a similar system, but with a slightly faster processor and I'm running the demo with all settings on high at a constant 40fps.

[andrewt]

I get the rays of light from my Radeon but so far, I only consider it a minor problem.

[Aelwyn]

I suggest either 9700 pro or 9800 xt

For the extra money an XT costs, I'd just get a 9800 pro and overclock it to XT levels. It wouldn't be that hard, and could probably be safely done on stock cooling. Look into it first though.