Halo 1 & 2 for PC
This topic has moved here: Subject: The Buyer's Guide to Graphics Cards
  • Subject: The Buyer's Guide to Graphics Cards
Subject: The Buyer's Guide to Graphics Cards
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i plan to get a new card soon.., is it easy to install a video card?

  • 02.21.2005 8:09 PM PDT
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yes.

  • 02.21.2005 8:22 PM PDT
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I can see you're sticking with the mainstream brands and that's good. I can give you advise on the video card because I have it. The ATI 9800 pro 128mb is a great bargin. The 8 pipelines is what counts. If you shop around you'll find it on sale often since it's ATI's prior generation family. The XT is a tad faster, but save your money. My general advise for video cards is pay attention to the number of pipelines whether it's ATI or Nvidia. It isn't always displayed in the specs. My latest home built system have an AMD64 cpu, Asus mboard, Audigy2 sound card, Nvidia video and Corsair memory so you're in good company. Newegg is an excellent place to shop for bargins and great selection. There are many computer shops (independent, not Best Buy type shops) that will custom build the system you want. You choose or bring the parts and they'll install it for you for a small fee. If you bargin with them for some of their hardware you can get them to give you a warranty (parts and labor) on the system. A good idea if something blows up on you. When you're on a budget you can't afford something like a bad pwr supply frying you're entire system. Of course you can take your chances for the thrill of it, like me.

Good Luck

  • 02.22.2005 2:27 AM PDT
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To dEEp_FrYeD (this reply and my last reply):

Forget the rubber gloves, etc. The gloves will drive you crazy building a system. Go over to radio shack and get an inexpensive static strap. If you don't be sure to keep touching the chassis or other grounded objects to eliminate static. The big problem is if you zap the electronics with static, it may show up as an intermittent problem that will drive you crazy when you try to T/shoot it. It's not worth the time and trouble. I know it's a big hassle using static straps and you may never see any problems. I'll admit that I have built many systems while grounding myself to chassis (touching chassis), but only at home, never at work. Also try to have a static free table to work on.

  • 02.22.2005 2:57 AM PDT
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yes it is very easy. al u do is this:
take off the cover

touch a peice of unpainted metal or ur power suplly(dont worry about static, it isnt that bad[so long as u dont take ne clothes off while building ur pc])

find your graphics card(should b the card in the slot which is different from the other white pci slots)agp

unscrew the little screw aat the end of the card

touch ur psu again to discarge any static

make sure the card is loose or any thingd holding it in place are open

gently pull it out by lifting upwards and ocasional side to side(if its old dont worry theyt tend to be quite robust)

once it is out place it in the new ones antistatic bagand get the new one ready

touch the psu again

place ur card in the same position as ur old one but put in the metal bit with where the monitor goes into 1st then GENTLY but with some force push it into position.

also hold the card from the top and sides and try not to touch the heatsink or fans.

now make sure that u cant see any gold bits at the bottem of the card and that it is all in the slot.
now screw in the card

tpuch the psu and put back on the case

now plug in ur monitor and boot up, windows and linux detct the card charge and intall temp drivers but u MUST use the cd to install the drivers for the card or some programs wont work.

hydrovision and all the rest isnt an essential but the drivers is a must!!
now restart and its all done.
:)
hope thats helping m8, its quite easy really.

  • 02.22.2005 6:27 AM PDT
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O AND DONT FORGET TO TURN OFF THE POWER SUPPLY FROM THE SWITCH AT THE BACK BUT DO NOT TAKE OUT THE CABLE!!!!!!
this grounds it and if the switch is off is still harmless to you

  • 02.22.2005 6:29 AM PDT
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I just unplug mine completely....

  • 02.22.2005 9:14 AM PDT
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First of all, we should say "thank you" sexy legs davis for putting together that excellent video guide post. I've read it 2-3 times and find that it's packed with good information.

Buying video adapters for PCs has always been a challenging task. I used to love the 3DFX voodoo cards and didn't bother with anything else. But they went out of business and left many of us without support. So I avoid being loyal to any one brand or another. It's good that there is healthy competition between two major players like Nvidia and ATI. The consumer win because the cards they produce are excellent. You just have to decide what you want and what you can afford. If you're new to this don't expect to buy a card today that will be adequate 4-5 years in the future. If you love games, especially the latest ones, spend a little more on video and enjoy yourself now or you'll end up frustrated (and broke later anyway). If you're a game enthusiast, then you may only get 2 years of happiness from your video card before requiring a faster replacement. How much you invest ($) will determine how long the magic last.

I never buy the latest, greatest, fastest graphics card when it's released. It's just too expensive. What I find is that the card that is one or two notches below is the best price-performance point. And if you learn to OC (overclock) the card and CPU you can have your cake and eat it too. I usually end up with the top card when ATI and Nvidia move on to their new generations and the old top card price drops like an anchor.

It's good to research the cards and see how they perform with actual users. Also pay attention to the number of pipelines the card has because it's a true indicator of performance potential. I prefer video cards with 8 or more pipelines. I like to research on sites like tomshardware.com and anandtech.com. Tomshardware have this excellent "VGA Charts" series that can help a buyer determine which card to buy. First you decide which games are important to you, then compare the cards in the charts. You can see how your card stacks up with others in the more popular, demanding games. Halo is a very demanding game, so if you want all that hi-res eye candy, the charts will tell you what card you need to buy.


Well, I hope this advice is helpful to some.
%

  • 02.22.2005 10:21 AM PDT
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yes, u could unplug it all completely but it all depends on how serious you think static is. some people are much too cautious and insist on buying antistatic wrist straps and gloves and special anti staic workstations. now i dont mind having the workstation but the rest is pointless. when you touch a conductor that is in turn conected to earth the static build up is discharged from you and lost into the earth. theres no real need for the strap and stuff. i would not be suprised if someone replies saying that its dangorous..blah blah, but i have built many pcs including my own few and its fine. so long as u dont take off any clothes, especially nylon.
if u were to unplug it, asuming your table/desk is wooden u would not be earthing it aswell as leaving it in. theres no harm if it is in and the supply is switched off from the switch at the back.

  • 02.22.2005 11:26 AM PDT
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hey thx kissmaass :D

  • 02.22.2005 3:52 PM PDT
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so basically i can just touch the chasis of the computer after taking off the case and ill be static free? will i get some sort of shock assuring me of this? how excactly will i know? if i stand/ sit on my skateboards and be butt naked will i have to worry about any static?i just wanna make sure so ill do it right the first time.

  • 02.22.2005 4:48 PM PDT
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Posted by: CoolRayJ
I can see you're sticking with the mainstream brands and that's good. I can give you advise on the video card because I have it. The ATI 9800 pro 128mb is a great bargin. The 8 pipelines is what counts. If you shop around you'll find it on sale often since it's ATI's prior generation family. The XT is a tad faster, but save your money. My general advise for video cards is pay attention to the number of pipelines whether it's ATI or Nvidia. It isn't always displayed in the specs. My latest home built system have an AMD64 cpu, Asus mboard, Audigy2 sound card, Nvidia video and Corsair memory so you're in good company. Newegg is an excellent place to shop for bargins and great selection. There are many computer shops (independent, not Best Buy type shops) that will custom build the system you want. You choose or bring the parts and they'll install it for you for a small fee. If you bargin with them for some of their hardware you can get them to give you a warranty (parts and labor) on the system. A good idea if something blows up on you. When you're on a budget you can't afford something like a bad pwr supply frying you're entire system. Of course you can take your chances for the thrill of it, like me.

Good Luck




any recommended sites to get it from for cheap???
any pc stores u know of that are good???
where are they located if in los angeles

  • 02.22.2005 4:52 PM PDT
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No, pc stores are BAD!!!

Well, not really, just more expensive than zipzoomfly.com

newegg.com is good too, but zipzoomfly has free 2nd day shipping (!!!)

:D

  • 02.22.2005 6:25 PM PDT
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cant i just get a warranty from zipzoomfly or newegg.com???

by pc stores i meant independent shops like he mentioned above

what kind of cooling and power sources do u guys recommend???

know of any cheap 17-inch lcd monitors??? and where??

oh man!!! i just went to zipzoomfly.com and it would only cost me 911.50 bucks as opposed to over 1150.00!!!!!!! to build this computer im glad i asked in this forum first!!! thanks a bunch guys!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Edited on 2/22/2005 9:01:08 PM]

  • 02.22.2005 7:43 PM PDT
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Most cases come with power supplies built in. I saw one on Newegg.com for $270.

  • 02.22.2005 8:56 PM PDT
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the one that i want from zipzoomfly.com doesnt come with one thats why i asked.

  • 02.22.2005 9:02 PM PDT
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Weird.

  • 02.22.2005 9:30 PM PDT
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OK, i finally got the new card a BFG GeForce 6800 Ultra OC 256 AGP/530-Watt Power Supply Bundle. Halo plays great!!

Edit: The problem has been fixed

[Edited on 2/23/2005 10:54:23 AM]

  • 02.23.2005 1:08 AM PDT
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dEEp_FrYeD

1) any recommended sites to get it from for cheap???
2) any pc stores u know of that are good???
3) where are they located if in los angeles


Reply:

1) I would have to agree with everyone else that online sites like newegg and the other one you mentioned in another post is your best bet on price.
2) When I lived in Los Angeles 15 years ago, I could have recommended 6 or more great places to buy computer hardware. It wouldn't be wise to recommend them now since so much time has gone by. There was a free computer mag that came out monthly called Microtimes. All the independent computer shops advertised in that mag. You could always pick up one in front of Fry's Electronics and supermarkets. You could also shop at Fry's, but don't expect much support or good advice. They do have a good 30 day return policy and excellent sale prices. Fry's is a great place to shop, they sell almost everything, but I never had them build any of my systems. If Microtimes is not available, then see if another free computer mag is there. They're usually chock full of ads.
3) In Los Angeles they're everywhere in fairly good numbers but usually smaller shops don't have the advertisement budget to be more visible. Ask around, check local yellow pages, etc. and I'm sure you'll find them.

Sorry, I wish I could have given you the perfect store to bargain with. There are some online stores, I'm sure, that will give you a warranty if you buy their hardware and let them install it like the popular "barebones systems". I can't recommmend any but maybe someone else in the forum can.

  • 02.23.2005 6:40 AM PDT
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ur welcome mate, yep, touching the side of ur psu or case will earth u or ne other unpainted metal surface. eg a raditor or heater.
also if ur case don't come wiv a psu (it should do so its easier to installl) but if not, then get a 400w power suply so ittl last and make sure its not too cheap aswell, because the chances are that cheap ones are very noisy.
to be honest i prefer getting the psu seperate bcos then i get a nice 450w QUIET one with a transparent acrylic top and side. this looks REALLY nice if u have a gd case with a few LED lit fane or neons. my case has 3 blue led lit fans, a see through psu (tinted purple) and i have 2 12" neons in the top and bootem insude of the case. now this kicks ass when its on.

so if ur case has a clear side panel, then get the clear psu as it looks great coupled with some lights, or if not then just get a QUIET one. ull regret it if its noisy. trust me

btw newegg is a gd and so is ebuyer.com BUT ebuyer is only good for cases and other things, but are too expensive when it comes to components.

  • 02.23.2005 8:18 AM PDT
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I need cash before I can finish making my new PC. I have enough for the case, processor, mobo, and the sound card. But I need to get more money for the hard drive.

  • 02.23.2005 2:11 PM PDT
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talkin to u guys makes this a whole lot easier!! i now know some good stuff for the future when iam all grown up and can afford a better computer! thanks a bunch!!!

i feeel like i just got my foot in the door!!

[Edited on 2/23/2005 3:49:54 PM]

  • 02.23.2005 3:48 PM PDT
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The only reason a noisey PC would annoy me is that I would always be nervous that it was overheating or something.

  • 02.23.2005 4:15 PM PDT
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Hey deep fryed, about the power supply. I would skimp on anything in a computer except that. It's important to get a quality one. The last LAN I went to, 2 of the 64 pc's power supplies had trouble. I suggest at least 400 watt bare minimum for fast cards and systems with intel processors, especially.

Personally? OCZ and Ultra are awesome. I have an Ultra X-Connect Modular 500 watt power supply. Basically, instead of having that bundle of cables with a normal power supply, you have cables with plugs on both ends...so you only have the cables in the case you need. Besides, the aesthetics of a clean case, it helps with airflow.

So do round IDE cables...much better than those ribbon ones.

  • 02.23.2005 4:28 PM PDT
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Hello I am new to the whole PC gaming scene. I just got Halo for PC but my video card is not up to date and I'm on a budget. I am mainly looking for an affordable video card that can run Halo at a normal setting. I would appreciate any suggestions on a video card thanks.

  • 02.23.2005 5:02 PM PDT