Video card for fallout3?

[Jade Falcon]

I asked this over at over clock net and they thought it would be fun in to lock the thread and ban my user.

Anyway I recently got my 604 system back minus the video card. I want to play fallout 3 and maybe new Vegas on the system. I never played the games before and they look really cool and not owning a modern computer levels me at a conundrum.

The system is as fallows.

Asus ntc-d (pcie 1.0)
2 3.8ghz Xeons at 4ghz.
4gb ecc ddr2 3-3-3-12 (@421mhz if my math is right)
760w psu.
Xp_64. (I Hate XP atlest it's 64bit)

Basically I want to get as close to maxing out fallout3 and new vegas as possible at 1600x1200@30fps or better. It sould be doable if not close.

But I'm clueless on the video card, I personally have a few ideas, 8800 ultra, 9800gtx, 260 216core, or some new low end card
I'm thinking the best bet is the 260 216core, but something tells me the 8800 would be better for the system. A newer low end card may have problems with pice 1.0.

Your thoughts?

[leileilol]

Modern 2011+ video hardware. Forget about even the earlier GTX cards and the good HD radeons

It's going to be slow with your suggestions. after all these are bethesda games, you have to overshoot to compensate for their poor optimization

[agent_x007]

Budget option : GTS 450 GDDR5 or Radeon HD 5750.
Radeons HD 5770/6770 are good for a bit higher performance.
For DX10 hardware, I would go for 9600 GT or GTX 260 "216p"/275/285 (55nm versions, depending on price).

Forget about 8800/9800/GTS 250, you risk taking "GPU cooking lessons 101".
Radeons from HD 4xx0 series should be OK, as long as they have non reference cooling.

PS. I'm guessing those Xeons are Prescott-2M based ?

[PhilsComputerLab]

Building the Fallout 3 Retro Gaming PC Video

[Jade Falcon]

Thanks for the advice guys. I found a 260 216 with none reference cooling for cheap, I may pick it up. If not for the power draw I'd go for a 480 as it's the netburst of video cards.
The problem I see is anything fast enough will be held back by the cpus and possibly just flow the system down. This is why I thought the 8800 would be a good pair. Maybe a 460 I found a good deal on one of them too.

[Jade Falcon]

PS. I'm guessing those Xeons are Prescott-2M based ?

Yes
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Xeon/Inte ... FA%29.html

[Jade Falcon]

I ended up picking up a pailt 260 sonic. Given the system I fingered this would be a good match, anything newer may have caused problems.

[swaaye]

I've run a Radeon 6950 and 560 Ti on a nForce4 939 system. It also POSTed with a GTX 970, but I don't remember if I tried gaming. With DirectX 9 games at high resolution, there absolutely are benefits to that kind of GPU power on such an old platform.

I read that PCIe 1.x motherboards had problems with PCIe 2.0 and newer cards, but that Abit AN8 seems cool with them.

[agent_x007]

I had read that PCIe 1.x motherboards had problems with PCIe 2.0 and newer cards, but that Abit AN8 seems cool with them.

I ran GTX 780 Ti in S939 without issues, proof : LINK

Problem with PCI-e 1.x boards starts with PCI-e 3.0 GPU's.
Since both Fermi cards (GTX 4xx/5xx) and Radeon HD 5xxx/6xxx series are PCI-e 2.0 native, they should work in any PCI-e 1.x board.

Kepler and Radeon HD 7xxx series, may not work on all PCI-e 1.x MB's.

[swaaye]

I ran GTX 780 Ti in S939 without issues, proof : LINK

Problem with PCI-e 1.x boards starts with PCI-e 3.0 GPU's.
Since both Fermi cards (GTX 4xx/5xx) and Radeon HD 5xxx/6xxx series are PCI-e 2.0 native, they should work in any PCI-e 1.x board.

Kepler and 7xxx series may not work on all PCI-e 1.x MB's.

I've read of problems with some PCIe 2.0 cards on some PCIe 1.x boards. I guess motherboards vary.

[agent_x007]

I've read of problems with some PCIe 2.0 cards on some PCIe 1.x boards. I guess motherboards vary.

Indeed, but since they work on something as funky as ASRock AGP/PCI-e (with few BIOS tweaks, more : LINK).
I think they are "OK" in compatibility department (if they don't start, you can blame MB/BIOS and not GPU's).
I should mention how good is compatibility on Intel chipset based PCI-e boards.
Here's video done on 955X based MB (from 2005), with GTX 780 TI : LINK

[Jade Falcon]

It really all depends, some pcie2.0 cards have problems with some pcie1 boards.

[PhilsComputerLab]

I read that PCIe 1.x motherboards had problems with PCIe 2.0 and newer cards, but that Abit AN8 seems cool with them.

I saw this with the 8800GT, which is AFAIK the first PCIe 2.0 card from Nvidia?

But later revisions, like a GTS250 have this fixed.

[r00tb33r]

I ran it with a GF 9600 GT 512MB back in the day. It was good.

The board had PCIe 1.x on nForce4 chipset. (Gigabyte GAK8-NE)

I used to sell video cards back in the day. I advise NOT to buy used G80 and G92 (65 and 55nm) cards, 90% of them are doorstops.(G92 cards were pretty much what caused BFG to go out of business.) Just friendly advice.

If you want a Tesla microarchitecture (which is what you mentioned) card a 55nm GT200 chip is the best buy.(GTX 285 is bulletproof)

[DosFreak]

Well I can tell you the Intel 4 series gpu had some issues with it on Windows 2000:
http://win2kgaming.prophpbb.com/topic109.html

So don't use that....not that anyone sane would.

[TheAbandonwareGuy]

I'm running it maxed out with HD mods @ 1440x900 to hell and back on a EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core216 SC. 60FPS usually with occasional drops into the 40s.

[TheAbandonwareGuy]

I ran it with a GF 9600 GT 512MB back in the day. It was good.

The board had PCIe 1.x on nForce4 chipset. (Gigabyte GAK8-NE)

I used to sell video cards back in the day. I advise NOT to buy used G80 and G92 (65 and 55nm) cards, 90% of them are doorstops.(G92 cards were pretty much what caused BFG to go out of business.) Just friendly advice.

If you want a Tesla microarchitecture (which is what you mentioned) card a 55nm GT200 chip is the best buy.(GTX 285 is bulletproof)

Not true. I've never had any issues with my XFX 8800GTX or my EVGA 9800GTX+ OR even my hotter-than-hell-itself MSI 9800GX2 which is literally 2 8800GTS on a single card. I think I paid 25 for each of mine on eBay.

G80 and G92 are fine. Just don't buy stuff that looks like it was hit by a freight train (and some does on eBay) and you will be fine.

[r00tb33r]

Not true. I've never had any issues with my XFX 8800GTX or my EVGA 9800GTX+ OR even my hotter-than-hell-itself MSI 9800GX2 which is literally 2 8800GTS on a single card. I think I paid 25 for each of mine on eBay.

G80 and G92 are fine. Just don't buy stuff that looks like it was hit by a freight train (and some does on eBay) and you will be fine.

I won't argue. I'm glad you got yourself good units.

When I said I sold video cards I didn't mean like, yay, I sold something on eBay. I mean, like, I sold liquidated refurb stock, some new store leftover stock. Have you ever seen a railcar before? Now stack video cards until you fill the whole railcar. That would give you a more accurate picture of the volume of stock I sold. I was in business 2010-2014, liquidating BFG stock was my early boost.

I will leave it there. I will not argue and I have really nothing to gain.

[TheAbandonwareGuy]

Not true. I've never had any issues with my XFX 8800GTX or my EVGA 9800GTX+ OR even my hotter-than-hell-itself MSI 9800GX2 which is literally 2 8800GTS on a single card. I think I paid 25 for each of mine on eBay.

G80 and G92 are fine. Just don't buy stuff that looks like it was hit by a freight train (and some does on eBay) and you will be fine.

I won't argue. I'm glad you got yourself good units.

When I said I sold video cards I didn't mean like, yay, I sold something on eBay. I mean, like, I sold liquidated refurb stock, some new store leftover stock. Have you ever seen a railcar before? Now stack video cards until you fill the whole railcar. That would give you a more accurate picture of the volume of stock I sold. I was in business 2010-2014, liquidating BFG stock was my early boost.

I will leave it there. I will not argue and I have really nothing to gain.

I withdraw my arguement then. ^ this guys word should by all means supercede mine if he has THAT kind of experience. Maybe i just have luck, idk.

[Jade Falcon]

I buy and sell parts a lot, probably had over 100 9800/8800 cards and never had a problem.

However I do recall nvidia haveing a bad batch of 8800 or something like that.