A moment of silence...

Photics · #1 03-11-2008, 08:48 PM

My NVIDA GeForce 6800 died today.

I had to switch to the motherboard. Yuck!

I can't even play Guild Wars!

Really, how sad is that? I can't even play Guild Wars... GUILD WARS! I'm thinking it's time to upgrade my computer. I can't just buy a new video card. That would be silly. My computer is 3 1/2 years old. Modern graphics cards laugh would laugh at the AGP slot... at least they might, if graphics cards could experience emotion. If they did, my graphics card would be very sad today. This is the second NVIDA card to just burn out on me.

I keep wondering if I should just get a laptop, but that also seems silly. Gaming laptops are crazy expensive. Maybe I should just give up this fansite thing and just play some flash games? HA!

UPDATE: Wow... that new vBulletin lightbox effect for attachments is pretty awesome!

UPDATE #2: I learned that I can play Guild Wars if I drop down the graphics to the lowest settings. Heh, it looks awful.

Nemisari · #2 03-14-2008, 09:39 AM

Wow, too bad about your video card .. but now you have an excuse to upgrade!

I've got the same problem with AGP, I'd like to upgrade just my video card, but there aren't many good AGP cards hanging around these days. I'll most likely be moving up to one of the lower end Intel core2duos the next time I upgrade with a geforce 8800 gt most likely. I'm tired of having the worst video card possible just because it's cheap lol (GeForce 5200)

That new lightbox is neat!

TimeToTalk · #3 04-19-2008, 11:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Photics

My NVIDA GeForce 6800 died today. :cry:
I keep wondering if I should just get a laptop, but that seems silly. Gaming laptops are crazy expensive. Maybe I should just give up this fansite thing and just play some flash games? HA!

you could try the gateway p-6831fx or p-6860fx they are around 1250-1350 from bestbuy.com and they include geforce 8800 mgts graphics see here

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage....=1204332501169

Photics · #4 04-21-2008, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TimeToTalk

you could try the gateway p-6831fx or p-6860fx they are around 1250-1350 from bestbuy.com and they include geforce 8800 mgts graphics

Hello! Welcome to the forums!

That's a nice laptop. It's still expensive to me. It's about double the price of an entry level laptop. I did start thinking about life with a laptop though. They were fun thoughts... like playing Guild Wars at the beach. There were some serious thoughts too. Once at home, which is more comfortable to use - a desktop or a laptop?

I looked around a bit. Dell has a business class laptop called Vostro. I customized it for gaming and it was around $1200. That's still a lot of money to me, but it's better than I originally expected. Yet, it wasn't clear to me why a business class laptop was less expensive than a gaming laptop. Looking at the Dell website, I saw a $2,999 World of Warcraft themed laptop. While it looked impressive, the price seemed excessive to me. Are gamers really getting value for their money?

I'm starting to wonder if consoles are the better value for gaming.

Photics · #5 05-31-2008, 10:51 AM

I thought about this issue probably longer than I should have. Yet, I don't want to waste money. I wasn't convinced that it was time to get a new computer. When I compare a computer from 1991 to 1998, I see a huge difference. When I compare a computer from 2001 to 2008, I really don't see a major difference. Maybe the graphics are a little better, but I'm not excited enough to buy a whole new machine. I knew that if I simply replaced my old video card, I'd have a machine good enough to run Guild Wars.

Yet, I wasn't happy with the idea of replacing the card. My computer has an AGP slot. There are not too many choices for improvement. It felt silly to pay for a $100+ card when I could get a GeForce 8800 for only a little bit more. To run the better cards, I'd need a new computer. It was a circular debate that was annoying me for over two months.

In the end, I made a decision that was a reflection of the times. I purchased an NVIDIA GeForce 6200 "low profile" card by PNY. Why would I downgrade? My old 6800 was a much more powerful card.

Here's why...

It's quiet! - My computer doesn't sound like a hair drier or a mini jet engine. I don't hear the card running at all. It has no fans.
It was cheap! - I picked up the card for roughly $60 through Amazon. I already had a store credit and the shipping was free.
It uses less power! - There seems to be this growing "Go Green" sentiment that is sweeping the nation. Power is expensive.

But most importantly, it's good enough. I realized that I needed to resolve this issue. I needed a decent graphics card to take quality screenshot and videos. I run a Guild Wars Fansite and I've been getting questions about the next episode of Lost in Ascalon. Yet, I also realized that this wasn't the best time to buy a new computer. Windows Vista doesn't seem as popular as Windows XP, which means developers are slow to switch to DirectX 10, which means I don't need to upgrade my computer.

ArenaNet is in hiding... I don't know what kind of computer that I'll need to run Guild Wars 2. As for other game companies, I don't see anything on the PC that I find as fun as Wii Sports, Wii Fit or Rock Band. New experiences - that is the key. I remember when I played EverQuest for the first time. It was amazing. PC Gaming hasn't made me feel like that in a long time.

The new card is installed and Guild Wars looks pretty again. Although, the frame rates are unimpressive. I used to see frame rates in the 40-60 range, with bursts over 100. This new card is in the teens and 20's. The 6200 is good enough. That's a sign of the times. Instead of going for the most powerful card I could find, I went for something that was quiet, cheap and friendlier to the environment.