WIll I see a benefit upgrading my Video Card?

[Tae]

I posted a similiar thread at Civfanatics.

My game plays well on a vanilla Radeon 9500 but I want to upgrade to a 6600GT. Do you think I will notice a difference in performance late game? Have NVidia cards had more problems with the game than the ATI cards?

Just wondering if I could be heading for some headaches with CIV 4 by upgrading or whether the upgrade will be a good one for the game?

[Urban Ranger]

What is the rest of your computer?

[Tae]

ASUS A7N8X
Athlon XP 2200+
1gb pc2700 ram in 3 sticks(1 512, 2 256)
200gb HDD
160gb HDD


I just use the on board NForce sound.

[Urban Ranger]

Wait until you can't handle it any longer, I say.

[alva]

You should notice quite a big difference, yes.

[Solver]

There will be improvement but not a humongous one. The video card helps you when there's a lot of stuff to render, such as when you zoom out or use the globe view. However, the video card will do nothing to make the AI turns faster, so it's also a question of what exactly is slow for you.

[Sabre2th]

I agree with what Solver said there. I'd definitely wait.

If you do feel the need to upgrade your video card, take a look at the GF6800gs, especially the ones made by XFX. You'll get much more out of that card for your money.

[Tae]

Right now the 6600GT fits my budget and an very nice value upgrade since my board is AGP. It is only costing me $120. If I move to a 6800 anything and I start getting into a price range where I feel I need to go PCI Express, which requires a new MB, CPU and RAM too.

I looked at just building a new rig but couldn't justify the cost with the PC games I play so I am pretty much settling for a cheap upgrade that is the most bang for the buck in my current rig knowing full well I may replace the whole thing in another year.

I am just hoping I see some benefit in CIV 4 since it is the game I am playing the most. Also hoping I don't run into the nightmares people have been reporting.

As you can tell I already decided to go ahead and do it. Thanks for replying.

[Sabre2th]

Originally posted by Tae
Right now the 6600GT fits my budget and an very nice value upgrade since my board is AGP. It is only costing me $120. If I move to a 6800 anything and I start getting into a price range where I feel I need to go PCI Express, which requires a new MB, CPU and RAM too.

There are AGP versions of the GF6800gs and while it is a little bit more than the 6600s, it's a significant step up in performance. Not to push you or anything :P

[Tae]

The cheapest one I could find is almost $80 more expensive and from what I have found on the net, the AGP version is slower than the PCI E version and not much faster than a 6600GT. Apparently not worth the higher expense.

Not pushy at all :-D

[Kagato]

I went from gf440mx to the gf6600 gt and was amazed at the difference! First thing I noticed was that there was way more detail and then noticed that everthing was moving! But I think it is because of the all the movement that mine is crashing at late game and/or large maps. But I'm very impressed with this card, because before I was paying the same, or more, for cards and there was very little improvement, but this card just blew my socks off. I know that the other cards much better, but the cost is way too much for my wallet.

[Tae]

This turned out to be a very good upgrade, almost all my stutter late game went away and I can pan out to see the world and it looks pretty cool.

Of course the AI turns can still take a bit, but the new graphics card really helped performance overall.