9500GT, who does it compare to 9XXX series?
highperf4x4
US
I have a couple of questions you guys might be able to help me with. I'll tell you what I've got first. It's also an Inspiron 531 with the Asus M2N61- AX mobo and an Athlon64 X2 6000+ Dual Core. I ordered it with 2GB of the DDR2 800Mhz PC2 6400 ram and a Geforce 8300GS video card w/128MB onboard memory. I'm obviously extremely disappointed with both especially since Vista chews up so much memory. Soooooo I ordered 2 more 1GB ram sticks (also the 800mhz 6400) directly from Dell on sale for 14.00 each and a Geforce 9500GT video card w/1GB onboard memory (also from Dell for 75.00). Since I'm pretty sure the factory PSU will jump straight into the trash can when I turn it on.(300w)....... how big of a PSU do you guys think I will need? And any suggestions on a particular one that will work best with the case/cables?
And secondly..... since 75.00 is a rediculously low price for a 9 series video card with 1GB of onboard memory..(especially from Dell).. what is it I'm not seeing? Is the 9500GT some kind of crap card that is gonna sqaush my Crysis and COD4 gaming experience? lol
And secondly..... since 75.00 is a rediculously low price for a 9 series video card with 1GB of onboard memory..(especially from Dell).. what is it I'm not seeing? Is the 9500GT some kind of crap card that is gonna sqaush my Crysis and COD4 gaming experience? lol
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AMD Athlon64 X2 6000+ 3.0ghz Dual Core
4GB DDR2 PC2 6400 800mhz
Geforce 9500GT 1GB PCI-e
Onboard Sound 7.1
Onboard Nic
56k Modem
320GB 7200 rpm Sata HDD
16x DVD +/- RW Double Layer Sata
19in1 Media Reader
1 80mm case, 1 90mm cpu cooling fans.
Well, to put it lightly, the 9500GT is like a slightly faster 8600 GTS. While not a horribly bad card, I had a hard time running Crysis on medium-low on 1024x768. COD4 is much better performance wise, however that 1GB framebuffer is essentially useless on that card, not even the (8/9)800 GT's can use that much effectively. However, the 9500GT is also a smaller chip, the 8600GT's being G86 on the 90nm scale, the G94 sits on the 65nm scale, using less power, producing less heat, and should not be a problem at all in the 531. I run 3GB RAM (2x1GB and 2x 512MB), Athlon X2 5000+ (unsure if its 89w or 65w model) and an 8800GT and it ran fine with 400 watts of power. Dell supplies a 300 watt PSU that should more than easily handle a 9500GT.
EDIT: if you really want to play it safe, a 400 watt power supply will more than handle that PC, again running what I do above, I use a whopping 218 watts peak (gaming), thats overclocked video card too. Trust me, a 400 watt will be more than sufficient, but I'm pretty sure the stock PSU will do it as well (but it's cheap, being a no-name dell part, so god knows when it will bite the dust 'just cuz it feels like it')
Lacking in stream processors will negatively affect some games quite a bit, which games, I'm not sure. You can find used 8800s and 9800s for about the same price as a new 9500GT that will probably blow it away.
Get a second opinion on the gaming aspects as I'm not a gamer.
Also, would you please a link to the card you are interested in?
update: OK, back in business - all elements are back in the single thread now
Just a second and I'll grab that link............
Ok, that's the card
Hey, I understand that fatness (or thinness) of the wallet often dictates our choice of computer components. Can you just wait a couple weeks, save up $30 more get a 9800GT? You'll most very likely be glad you did.
This is my thinking. My other machine running XP only has a Geforce 7300LE w/512MB onboard memory and the system only has 2GB DDR2 667mhz. While I don't max out the graphics in my games (Crysis, COD4), they are set higher than this machine with the 8300GS w/128 and that one runs awesomely. Very smooth. When I bought this machine (1 year ago) I thought hey, this 8300GS should perform better even with the 128MB memory because it also uses 700MB of system memory if it needs it. 7300 vs. 8300...... higher number = better card right? Stop laughing at me.
Even though I proved that theory wrong (7300LE walks cirlces around 8300GS)......... I still thought to myself, hey, higher number plus twice as much memory = better card right? You still laughing?
Since I've already ordered this card........... someone tell me that it's gonna work better than the 7300LE for pete's sake! lmao
You've got a good sense of humor. You'll fit in fine here! Stick around. Not everyone here is an expert. We've all levels, from noooob (extra 'o's for ultra) all the way to technology professionals. We are a big tent, only requiring interest in tech good behavior (mostly good ).
I'm a little bit leary of buying used components from individuals but if you happen to come up with a better card than this 9400GT in the future I might give it a shot.
I'm not worthy of your trading forums yet ! lol I'll check it out again later.
Start poking around in trading forums even before you are looking to buy. Get a feel for how they work. Start looking at people's styles, at their references. Go to that link I posted above and look at our rules and the safe trading guide ("sticky" thread) I posted. I keep several computers very nicely updated. More than half of my upgrades are purchased used.
My 8800GT did it too, 512MB RAM with something like 1210MB system RAM to the card. While it is annoying, it doesn't actually use the memory to my knowledge.
Even my newest addition: the GTX 260 says its got 2175MB total memory, yet only 896MB is on board. I think it's just a Vista thing, not sure if it does it on boards without onboard video but I think that may have something to do with it.
Ok, I just wanted to make sure that the system wasn't setting that much memory aside for the video card when it didn't even need it.