Friend looking for a new video card (again), need 2nd opinon

[Blín D'ñero]

Yes it plays all music cd's as well (except of course the music cd's that have a 'protection' against playing on a PC, as some do). It's an allround cd/dvd burner and player.

That PSU seems right.

[rditto48801]

Ok.
I got it ordered now.
If I heard my friend right, it should arrive between the 11th and 15th.

Tomorrow I will likely call the local computer shop and get a basic quote on costs of getting the new stuff put in.

[rditto48801]

I got everything, and after finding out the local PC shop was 'backlogged' and that it might be days until they could look at it (if I got it in today) I decided to do it myself (ack, no more waiting, PC Gaming levels in blood dipping to low!).
I had a friend give me a little help, since he knows some basics also (and since he has smaller hands than me). I managed to get the DVD ROM drive in with some trouble (darn zip tied cable vines hard to move around to get a SATA power plug in a usable position), and I got the video card installed also. I saved $60-90 doing it myself.

I am on the default VGA graphics right now, getting the up to date drivers downloaded right now.

So far, it seems like the computer will run without something exploding unexpectedly.

Edit:
I am trying things out with 1280x960 resolution, and for some reason, it seems to be giving me eyestrain. Could I just be to used to 1024x768?
I am having a tough time trying to get stuff setup so I don't have so much trouble reading stuff. I already set desktop font to large size, but it is still a little hard for me to read. More so with text files.

Where exactly do I go in the desktop options or where ever to adjust overall how large fonts are displayed in general?

[Blín D'ñero]

Hurrah for making the plunge!
You don't want to change font size before getting the desktop resolution correct.
Is the resolution too large? Icons and letters too small? Check the refresh rate also, in Desktop > Properties > Settings > Advanced > Display, you might want to lower it, from 85 Hz to 75Hz?
Could be the card's drivers read the monitor's EDID getting told the ideal, native, settings. Unless it is disabled in Catalyst Contrrol Center (CCC).
Which Catalyst did you install? Latest, 10.8?

[rditto48801]

I was toying with font size and icon size after I had set the resolution to 1280x960.
1280x1024 is the max my monitor can apparently support, but I am used to 4:3 ratio.

The manufacturer site had 10.8 for the drivers, which is what I downloaded.

My monitor apparently has things stuck at 60hz for the refresh rate.

I was trying out things with The SIms 3 and it still doesn't go fast, even with the same settings as I used with the 4670.
I don't know if it is good or not, but the temp spikes up to 55c when I got Sims 3 going, and the game has been basically 'paused' with nothing going on and it still can get that high. It seems to hover at 40c when idling with nothing going on other than my browser.

It seems I also have to 'redo' the thing used to limit the FPS on SIms 3, since it skyrockets upwards of 120+ (again, but at one point 160).
This is with the game knocked back down to 1024x768, it seems to be laggy/sluggish for a game supposedly hitting over 100 on the frame rate.
I wonder how many video cards have to cook before EA fixes the stupid frame rate issues with SIms 3.
I guess Sims 3 is simply a game that won't run well with higher details unless I get a super computer...

[Blín D'ñero]

In a way things must have been messed up. You should be jumping up and halleluja-ing for the great performance you're getting, not "same thing" or similar.

Um. CRT monitor, connected via VGA (D-sub)? Or a flatscreen, and DVI?
If you're on CRT you may be suffering the VGA bug in Catalyst 10.3+ and should revert to pre-bug driver, Cat 10.2. And no need to get the drivers from XFX: why not install those directly from AMD/ATI didn't they work?

[rditto48801]

I have a CRT using a DVI->VGA adapter.

What kind of VGA bug are you talking about?

I usually get drivers from manufactures. I guess it is just a habit of sorts.

[Blín D'ñero]

This bug.
Because of it, i decided to finally upgrade to LCD/DVI. Never regretted it for a second though.
Catalyst 10.2 is still good for VGA (DVI-Sub). Use that as long as you're on that interface but better switch to DVI (before installing any newer Catalyst). And use drivers not by XFX but by ATI.

[rditto48801]

I don't know if I ever had that bug.

Heck, I don't recall there ever being a 3D preview in Catalyst, but maybe it's because I got DirectX 9.0c on 32 bit XP.
Either that or it's buried someplace where I haven't found it.

On a side note, the second audio driver is back.
I don't know how I missed it before, but dxdiag reports it as 'ATI HD Audio rear output'.
I am thinking that when I installed my sound card, I must have missed something when disabling the onboard audio. I also noticed a mild 'quirk' with the sound test, one of the test sounds sounding a slightly lower quality in a way, which I think occurred back when I was using just the onboard audio.


On some positive news.
I don't know if it is due to the 10.8 driver, or the new video card, but both my Space Empires games (Space Empires V and Star Fury) no longer have the annoying 'flickering text' problem.

I did have to fiddle with the Catalyst settings since UFO Aftermath had the 'laggy/slide show' video problem, but it appears to have been corrected by tweaking options such as setting vertical refresh to always on, and setting a few options to not use application settings. I basically looked up on the thread I posted for the problem and located what settings I had previously used to get it to work.

Next up, maybe Supreme Commander. It is the only game I can think of (aside from Sims 3. which seems to be half broken still) that requires a fair bit of graphics power. I seem to be lacking on the 'graphics power hungry' type of games/applications... but then again, with sinking over $400 on my computer (and more a limited edition console game pre-order), it is not like I have had the money to get newer games that are graphics power hungry.

Do you have any suggestions of something that would be flexible and reliable (and hopefully free) for checking out how much horsepower my video card packs on my system?

[Blín D'ñero]

Just like on your previous ATI card, this one has an High Definition Audio Device. Go into control Panel > Device Manager, find it in the list and then disable it.
Also when installing ATI drivers, always select Custom (never "Express") install, so that in the next window you can deselect the parts in the list you don't want installed, e.g. the ATI Audio driver. Essentially you only need Catalyst Control Center and the ATI Display Drivers (Visual C++ is automated).

Also Catalyst Control Center on XP has a 3D Preview pane. Make sure you are using advanced mode. If you forgot to enable that, try Start > All Programs > CCC Advanced. Always use advanced mode.

You could run a benchmark, like 3DMark06 (the freeware version).

Your Sims problem: many games have to write a new config after you switched to a new card. This hasn't happened. Sims is probably expecting the old card, hence the disturbed performance. Un/Reinstalling the game should fix it. Then it writes a new system config based on the current card.