video cards for different settings

I am going to get a new video card because of texture annoyances. Can anyone tell any nvidia cards that would let me play the game on at least medium or possibly high settings?

 

I just ordered a Palit (Retail) Sonic PLATINIUM GTX460 1024MB for 225 Euros. The reviews I read about this card have been very positive. With this card you should be able to play with all on maximum, I think.

http://www.kmelektronik.de/shop/index.php?show=product_info&GID=298&MID=14&ArtNr=28103

 

Will it work on high settings with any of these video cards;

Gigabyte 1GB GeforceNvidia 9500GT or 9800GT

Gigabyte 256Mb Geforce 8400GS

ASUS GF9500GT 1GB or GF9800GT 1GB

Gigabyte GT240 1GB

Gigabyte GTS250 1GB


Also will all these work on a PCIE 16x slot? I have been doing some shopping.

 

GTS 250 1GB. I reckon you can even do everything Ultra. Do not get the 8400GS. That card's only for the HTPC crowd or those without integrated graphics on their motherboard.

GTS 250 > 9800 GT > GT 240 > 9500 GT > 8400 GS

If you're concerned about your power supply not being able to deliver enough juice for the GTS 250, the GT 240 should be fast enough for medium-high settings even at relatively high resolutions. StarCraft does seem to be fairly CPU-intensive, though, so you want to make sure your processor is up to scratch.

As far as I know, most of these cards should be PCIe x16. There might be some 9500 GT that are AGP and some 8400 GS that are PCI but those are exceptions rather than the rule.

 

I have an Intel Core 2 duo 1.8GHz which can be overclocked at the most. I don't know about replacing it though cause processors are more complicated to replace for me than video cards. Is this good enough?

 

I can upgrade the processor to an intel Core Duo E6500. Would that be better than the one I got?

 

Don't know, what one do you got? You never posted your systems specs. lol I'd worry about video first.
*Edit* CPU is more then fine for now.

IMO a 1GB ATI Radeon 4560 would be your best bang for the buck without needing a power supply upgrade, but I have no idea what the prices are on it in the UK (only about $70 USD).

 

4650 isn't that good for gaming. 5670 for $80-90 offers quite a boost considering the minimal price increase, not to mention it's also pretty low power.

 

Well, the difference to me is the amount of video RAM, i guess for about $100 you can get the 1GB version. I didn't realize those cards don't require additional power.

 

1GB extra of video RAM doesn't matter if the video card itself is too slow to make use of it. In general, you want to get the faster video card with a bit less RAM than a slower card with more RAM.

e.g. HD 5670 512MB > HD 5570 1GB

 

the extra RAM will start to benefit at higher resolutions
so it depends what your CPU can handle and your monitor
i can play on ultra with my 1GB 250GTS @ 1920X1080

 

Exactly. The thing is the HD 4650 isn't fast enough for gaming at higher resolutions unless you turn down settings. Your GTS 250 can benefit from the increased RAM because it's a relatively fast card. The HD 4650, unfortunately, is not.

A more extreme analogy would be integrated graphics with 2GB RAM allocated to it. Your GTS 250 with 1GB video memory would still be a hell of a lot faster than the integrated graphics despite the IGP having more memory.

 

So if I had the GTS 250 IGB with a intel Core 2 Duo 1.8GHz processor it would work fine on ultra or high settings? That is my current processor.

 

The GTS 250 1GB definitely won't be a bottleneck for ultra unless you're running your monitor at 2560x1600 resolution. Just not sure about the processor as SC2 can be a CPU intensive game.

TechSpot - StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty GPU & CPU Performance

 

what about if I upgraded the processor to an intel Core 2 Duo E6500? Also are any of the Pentium D dual core processors any good?

I never experienced any lag or though there was this once where I was doing a co-op vs A.I and I was terrain. I trained like 60-70 marines with 3-4 medivac dropships and attacked the enemy, it started to lag a fair bit then. Although I don't know if that is the CPU or video card or both.

 

Which CPU socket does your motherboard have? If you have an old Pentium 4, you most likely have a socket 478 which is a dead end. You cannot upgrade your CPU. For socket 775, there are pretty decent Core2Duo CPUs available. No cost effective quad cores though.

I would not recommend Pentium D CPUs, since this is a Pentium-4-architecture based CPU.

 

Pentium D's are slower than your current processor. What motherboard do you have exactly? I'm not aware of a Core 2 Duo E6500 but there's a Core 2 Duo E6550 2.33GHz (65nm) and a Pentium Dual-Core E6500 2.93GHz (45nm). The Pentium E6500 would be faster.

 

I have the Dell Dimension E520 PC. The motherboard chipset is 965. I am not sure about the socket, it doesn't say in the manual. But on the the website it says it supports Pentium D and Pentium 4 and the Intel Core 2 Duo E4300 (the one I currently have) and E6500. It supports 800 MHz and 1066 MHz for the clock rate.

 

I have finally bought a new video card and replaced it with my old one. And now the graphics are awesome. I ended up getting a Nvidia 9800GTX instead of the GTS250 because it wouldn't fit in my case. The GTS's fan was to big and bumped into the CPU unit. The game runs pretty well but every now and then it lags a bit but not to much to be a real problem. The GUI and menu's are a bit slow to load though.

 

should have got the 9800gtx+
it's memory clocks are identical to the 250GTS but no 1GB variant