Game Guides Archive
Thread: New Graphics Card
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oDano
Mon Jul 26, 2004 6:10 am
#1
I wasn't sure which forum to post this in, so sorry if this is considered off topic 
I'm building a new PC and obviously SWG is one of the main (and most demanding things) i will be running on it.
I plan to buy a graphicscard for around £100 and was interested in any advice on what to choose from anyone here.
I have heard that SWG runs better with GeForce GPUs rather than the ATI equivilent, what do you guys find?
Thanks in advance 
Bossman505
Mon Jul 26, 2004 6:20 am
#2
I recently upgraded from a Gforce 4 4200ti 128mb to a spanking new GForce 6800GT 256mb but the older card worked fine.
But I think a Radeon 9800 Pro (£150) is your best bet.....or a GForce 5900XT, around the same price.
Dont know if a Nvidia works better than an ATI...anyone else?
Just make sure you have 1gb RAM...that works wonders !!
Kedgeboy
Mon Jul 26, 2004 6:26 am
#3
I have an Abit GeForce FX 5600 256 Mb card (cost £120) and have very few probs with it.
My only let down is that I have 768 MB RAM.
if you are looking to upgrade, the RAM is the most important, you can reduce graphics quality to accomodate for a poorer card but RAM reduces your LAG.
get 1Gig minimum for a LAG free (ish) experience.
Regards
Kedge
Epyk
Mon Jul 26, 2004 7:06 am
#4
Yeah Kedge really summed it up... RAM is most important. I'm running on an ATI 9700, and it runs really smooth... until I get to Coronet with my 512MB of RAM
blurrin
Mon Jul 26, 2004 7:09 am
#5
true that, the rams a big part of the game. they do say that the programmers designed the game around nvidia so i pressume that would be the best
ThisIsTheMatrix
Mon Jul 26, 2004 7:39 am
#6
Im not sure what that would be in U.S. Dollars, id imagine around 200 though. So Id say maybe the 9600XT or if you can spend the extra to get the 9800 it would be well worth it.
The RAM is the crucial ingredient for lag free(ish) gaming. I have a Pentium 4 2.4ghz with a Radeon 9600SE and all games ran great except for this one. I then upgraded from 512-1024 and what a huge difference.
KraytDragonMan
Mon Jul 26, 2004 8:27 am
#7
I just got my computer upgraded with more RAM.... I went from 512 to 768 and even that made a HUGE HUGE difference! A friend and I were having swoop races through Coronet LOL. 
oDano
Thu Aug 12, 2004 1:40 am
#8
Sorry to bring up my old post, but i've finally got my act together and am ordering the bits for my new PC, thanks for the input so far. I agree; on the computer I currently use to play SWG i started with only 512mb ram and had to upgrade that pretty soon after starting to play, as i couldn't stand the lag, when ordering my new computer i will definitelybe buynig a minimum of 1024mb of fast ram.
Back to the graphics card, is the amount of ram on the graphics card important? I seem to find that a lot of the higher spec cards still only have 128mb onboard ram, and you only find the crads with 256mb kinda randomly dotted about the range (depending which card manufacturer you are looking at)
Any input would be great, thanks again
Kyodor
Thu Aug 12, 2004 3:24 am
#9
Cards to consider:
- GeForce Ti 4600
- GeForce FX 5600
- Radeon 9600 XT
- Radeon 9800 Pro
Just stay completely away from the GeForce FX 5200 and the MX series - very well away - trust me, don't waste your money on that.
- GeForce Ti 4600
- GeForce FX 5600
- Radeon 9600 XT
- Radeon 9800 Pro
Just stay completely away from the GeForce FX 5200 and the MX series - very well away - trust me, don't waste your money on that.
Janina
Thu Aug 12, 2004 4:05 am
#10
Running ATI X800XT PE atm, used to run on 9800XT, main difference is I upped my resolution to 1600x1200 /w 6x Anti-Aliasing and 16xAnisotrophic filtering looks pretty funky now 
There is little difference between nVidia and ATI cards running SWG, at least from what I've tried. Memory is what you need for the game, 1GB is great. 2GB makes it so much nicer to multitask tho
There is little difference between nVidia and ATI cards running SWG, at least from what I've tried. Memory is what you need for the game, 1GB is great. 2GB makes it so much nicer to multitask tho
jhh
Thu Aug 12, 2004 4:35 am
#12
Before:
Nvidia geForce 5950 Ultra FX.
After:
ATI Radeon 9800 256 Pro.
I really hate the GeForce now. The ATI turns laggy Coronet at 1 fps into 20 fps.
Edit: Ive had a ton of problems with the ATI - it didnt have enough power. I cannot stress enough buying a high powered 450+ watt PSU for this thing.
Nvidia geForce 5950 Ultra FX.
After:
ATI Radeon 9800 256 Pro.
I really hate the GeForce now. The ATI turns laggy Coronet at 1 fps into 20 fps.
Edit: Ive had a ton of problems with the ATI - it didnt have enough power. I cannot stress enough buying a high powered 450+ watt PSU for this thing.
Message Edited by jhh on 08-19-2004 04:20 AM
Ofodo
Thu Aug 12, 2004 5:38 am
#13
i HAVE A nIVIDIA 5600 ULTRA with 1.5 gigs of ram and it runs really smooth, but needless to say coronet can still get a little lagish. I dont know if anything can help that place! (lol)
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