Questions about graphics cards

[Magpie2121]

I recently purchased a Radeon HD6450 which cost a mere £40. I need some answers about graphics cards in general as I really am struggling to understand the differences:

1) I played Half Life 2 with all settings on high using this graphics card. I found the graphics don't seem very sharp. Is this because the graphics card is quite cheap or is this because the game itself is fairly old?

2) What exactly should I be looking for when upgrading the graphics card? My graphics card is relatively new and I see there are other graphics cards that are much much more expensive. What is the difference between a cheap one and a more expensive one? If I buy a more expensive one then will games like Half Life 2 look much better even if the settings are on the highest like when using mine? Or will it make no difference because the game is fairly old?


Many thanks any graphics cards you would recommend?

 

[scrlk]

1. Do you have anti-aliasing on?

2. The more expensive the GPU, the more powerful it is.

3. The 'sweet spot' for GPUs in my opinion is the £200 price mark - decent performance at a decent price. At this price, you might to consider the AMD 6950 or the Nvidia GTX560Ti. There are many cheaper cards from the last generation though that are cheaper and provide performance, like the Nvidia GTX460 or the ATI 5850.

 

[TheMorningStar]

The 6450 isn't really a gaming grade gfx card, sure it can do 3D but not all that well, saying that I would have thought a 6450 should do pretty well with HL2, what resolution are you playing with?

As for your gaming, if you want the latest games to be the best they can it is going to cost you money, as stated above 200+ but the rest of your system would need to be in the same ball park, 4gb of ram etc at least a duel core cpu but a quad would be better etc. also the size of monitor your are gaming on is important

 

[Magpie2121]

My PC is fine, I only purchased it a few days ago (i5 overclocked with 8GB RAM).
Maybe I'm too used to the stunning graphics of my PS3 but I thought Half Life 2 graphics were not sharp and seemed a bit jagged.

What I need to know - is this because of the cheap graphics card or is it because it's an older game? I don't really want to spend another £200 if the graphics on older games like Half Life 2 and Doom 3 etc will be the same as what they are with my current card.

I'm not a home right now so not sure if I had anti-aliasing on. I have a 23.5 inch monitor connected via HDMI (I think resolution is 1920X1080).

If I purchase a graphics card for around £200, will it smooth out the jagged graphics on older games or will it make no difference because the game is older?

 

[Rik1254]

Looking at benches, the 6450 is a very low spec card.

The only place I found a comparable bench (which is just a score, to give you the jist of performace)

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/gpu_list.php

The HD 6450 scores a low 373.
My HD 4830 scores an OK 1254 (almost 1400 using that benching program with my card).

If someone has a better benching program, Id be more than happy to test mine on there to give a more accurate figure.

Mine was only £40 new, so I think you got had somewhere.

 

[Magpie2121]

Well, if I've been had then I've been had here on Overclockers as somebody with a reputable post count recommended it to me and it was purchased from Overclockers themselves.
But my main question still hasn't been answered - will a £200 graphics card make games like Half Life 2 look even better than my current card?

 

[Rik1254]

Yes, the higher powered cards lets you render games better to give the higher detail finish.
Just had a look at HL2 on youtube and it looks to be a very low detail game anyway, so dont expect miracles.

I bet though, you wont need a £200 card. What type of games do you play?
If you have already got recommended a HD 6450 from a reputable forum member, it must mean you either gave incorrect details for them to spec you from, or youve suddenly jumped into more demanding graphical games or your expecting too much from a dated game.
I recon a £120 HD 6850 would do you nicely (GTX 470 ish in nvidia, but a lot cheaper)

 

[Magpie2121]

Yes, the higher powered cards lets you render games better to give the higher detail finish.
Just had a look at HL2 on youtube and it looks to be a very low detail game anyway, so dont expect miracles.

I bet though, you wont need a £200 card. What type of games do you play?
If you have already got recommended a HD 6450 from a reputable forum member, it must mean you either gave incorrect details for them to spec you from, or youve suddenly jumped into more demanding graphical games or your expecting too much from a dated game.
I recon a £120 HD 6850 would do you nicely (GTX 470 ish in nvidia, but a lot cheaper)

I enjoy first person shooters and remember playing HL2 around 5 years ago on a friends PC but can't remember the graphics being that bad.
I'm planning on playing games like FEAR 3 and the new Deus Ex as well as older FPS such as Doom 3.
Since I've spent almost £1000 on my PC just a few days ago, I'm thinking maybe I should have invested more on the graphics card but will only do so if it will make games look MUCH better than with my current card.

 

[j.col]

Looking at benches, the 6450 is a very low spec card.

100% right, here is another benchmark http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-hd-6450-caicos-blu-ray-3d,review-32162-5.html
and its beaten by a HD5550, so its not really a gaming card.

Well, if I've been had then I've been had here on Overclockers as somebody with a reputable post count recommended it to me and it was purchased from Overclockers themselves.
But my main question still hasn't been answered - will a £200 graphics card make games like Half Life 2 look even better than my current card?

sorry to hear that. are you sure he recommended that card and not a different one?
here is a HD6870 for £120 that will blow that card out of the water, and run most games on high to max settings on your pc. you will defo see the difference, full HD goodness
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18309920

as for half life 2, the game is quite old now, and it will look its age no matter what high end card you use.

 

[Rik1254]

Lately I have been researching into GPU's myself, so Im not master of the trade, but I know what cards are good or not.

If you put a thread in the Graphics Card section and ask to "spec me" and list the games you want to play, Im sure someone with a wider knowledge of GPU's will no doubt help you out.

Quick question though, are you an ATi or Nvidia preferred? Might influence the cards you get specc'd if you say which you'd prefer or if your open to both sides.

*snip*
sorry to hear that. are you sure he recommended that card and not a different one?
here is a HD6870 for £120 that will blow that card out of the water, and run most games on high to max settings on your pc. you will defo see the difference, full HD goodness
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18309920

*snip*

You legend....my browser kept crashing whenever I clicked on that link and thats the GPU I wanted to spec, but had to settle for the 6850 (even though it is by Sapphire (fanboy ))

 

[Magpie2121]

Well, I did tell the person who recommended my card that I wanted a very cheap one.
Anyway, thank you both for your posts.

Some people are recommending graphics cards that are £200 and you have kindly recommended the HD6870 for almost half that price yet you say this card is brilliant.

So what difference will I see between the HD6870 and a card that costs £200 or more?

 

[Rik1254]

Simple answer:
In the games you mentioned, I doubt youd see a difference.

Big answer:
It will be better in almost everything, how much better is down to what the card has in terms of components.

As an example
The HD 6870 and the HD 6950 (the next step up in ATi cards). These cards are currently £120 and £185 on OCUK.
Few geeky specs for comparison.

HD 6870
Core Clock: 900MHz
- Memory: 1024MB GDDR5
- Memory Clock: 4200MHz (Effective)
- Memory Bandwidth: 135.6GB/s
- Processing Cores: 1120

HD 6950
Core Clock: 800MHz
- Memory: 1024MB GDDR5
- Memory Clock: 5000MHz (Effective)
- Memory Bandwidth: ??GB/sec
- Processing Cores: 1408
- Texture Units: 88
- ROPS: 32

*Using OCUK specs, you can search deeper later for yourself*

Benchmark comparing the 2.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/290?vs=331

Your looking at about 6-7FPS average difference in almost every game.
Then depending on what quality you play at and other in game features will determine the gap between cards.

Most users wont notice the 6-7FPS difference though, unless its a really heavy game and one card is 1FPS and the other is 7FPS.

Check reviews out for yourself on the HD 6870, its going to be my next upgrade unless other offers come up.

 

[j.col]

So what difference will I see between the HD6870 and a card that costs £200 or more?

that is the 100.000 dollar question lol.
it all depends on what you want.
i have a hd5850 that the hd6870 just beats (5-10% at a guess)
and i can run most games on high with some on max at 1920 x 1080.
on some games like crysis2 i have to turn down the AA and AF or it will lag,
where a £200 card will run it easier and at a higher fps

here is a comparison between the hd6870, my old hd5850 and a £200 gtx560ti
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2011/01/25/nvidia-geforce-gtx-560-ti-1gb-review/7
at 1920 x 1200 res
the gtx560 ti gets aa average of 58fps.
the hd6870 gets an average of 54fps
the hd5850 gets an average of 49fps


you may be better off asking the guys in the graphics card section, they will know way more than me.

 

[Rik1254]

Dont forget, most mid-high end cards can be Overclocked to a certain degree giving higher level performance. Im not sure of any reviewers that OC the GPU in tests, so finding a comparison of 2 you like/ want might be tricky.

 

[honosuseri]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/290?vs=313

That link should help you out. I compared the 6870 vs the 460 as they are in the same price range currently at £120. You'll notice your card isnt listed as it's not considered a gaming card. You can alter the search results to compare whatever you like to help you make a decision.

Remember if you have a good enough PSU and if your mobo supports crossfire or SLI you could add another card at a later date once they are cheaper still

 

[cmndr_andi]

Well, if I've been had then I've been had here on Overclockers as somebody with a reputable post count recommended it to me and it was purchased from Overclockers themselves.
But my main question still hasn't been answered - will a £200 graphics card make games like Half Life 2 look even better than my current card?

Sorry man, but looking back at the post - it was stulid who recommended you the card and that guy knows EXACTLY what he is talking about in terms of PC hardware. With this in mind, this was what you asked for and what he said:

Hi stulid, many thanks for your post. I very much like the spec but there's just one thing I won't go with at them moment and that is the graphics card. I don't want to spend £200 on a graphics card, especially since I won't be gaming for at least one year. Does this particular motherboard require a graphics card to function? If so, please can you recommend a much cheaper one so I can upgrade it after a year or so.

Yes the above spec needs a card to get a display.

So heres a cheap one - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-259-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1985

That actually has some useful, Blu-ray/Hd decoding acceleration etc.

So that instead of the 6950 card makes the total around £700.

So for what you asked for (a graphics card that will allow you to run your PC and do no gaming) then the card he picked is ideal. However, if you change your requirements and plan to play games then it simply isn't up to the task (hence his initial reccomendation of a 6950 or 6870 for a gaming system).

As it seems you don't want to spend a lot on a graphics card (but want to play modern FPS games as well as older ones) then I would recommend this card and nothing slower.

 

[mickyflinn]

Should have been posted in graphics card but what the hell. The golden rule when gaming is max resoloution with x2 anti aniliasing, because anti analising will strain a gpu.

take a look at this

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-performance-radeon-geforce,2997.html

 

[Rik1254]

If you want to stay budget, I cant recommend enough my current card, the Sapphire HD 4830 512mb.
It might not be the most powerful card ever, but it plays enough games at a reasonable frame rate (oblivion @ 60FPS on high settings 1080p according to ATi tools) and for £40 brand new (elsewhere as OCUK dont stock it).

Obviously it would be better going for what we have already suggested to future proof yourself for a little while.

 

[Tealc]

I seem to recall that hl2 defaults to minimal resolution when playing the first time. It is an older game but still looks nice when set up properly.

 

[Magpie2121]

Thanks for the recommendations. I think I'll just bite the bullet and go for a decent one.