T&L DX9 Video Card

[Snorlax]

My kids just got a new game and it will not run on my current system. My system meets all the requirements except for the video. Here's what it says for video:

32MB AGP Video w/ hardware T & L

DirectX 9.0

Here's my question. I don't mind spending $100 or less to upgrade the card but really didn't want to spend more than that. Here's a couple of video cards I found at CompUSA that say they support DX9 or T&L. Will any of these work or which would you recommend. Thanks for any inputs.

Radeon 9600se Video Card, 8x AGP, 128MB DDR................$79.99

Xtasy 9200SE Video Card, PCI, 64MB DDR................$69.99

GeForce FX 5200 Video Card, AGP, 128MB DDR............$79.99

 

[LTC8K6]

The 9200 is not DX9.

Out of the 2 left, I guess I'd pick the 9600SE.

I would consider the 5200 and the 9600SE the bottom of the barrel, though.

 

[Algere]

Originally posted by: LTC8K6
The 9200 is not DX9.

Out of the 2 left, I guess I'd pick the 9600SE.

I would consider the 5200 and the 9600SE the bottom of the barrel, though.

I'd second that

What game is it btw?

 

[McArra]

9600SE between those, but for a little more you could buy a 9600Pro that is MUCH faster.

 

[rbV5]

The 9200 is not DX9.

Directx 9 is the runtime support, not video hardware requirement. All the cards would work, alhough not particularly powerful gaming cards.

 

[BenSkywalker]

To expand a bit on what rbV5 stated- they are saying that you need T&L hardware along with having the DX9 software installed which should be included on the game CD(if not, it's a free download from Microsoft).

Any of the boards you have listed there will work for the game, although if they have them the Radeon9600(not SE) or GFFX5600 would both be significantly better then the options you have listed there and they should be priced close to your range. Don't pay too much attention to how much RAM any of them have on board either. A 128MB FX5600 or R9600 non SE will perform significantly better then a 256MB 5200FX or 9600SE. For that matter, a GeForceTi4200 64MB board would likely be better then any of the models you mentioned in your post.

Are you certain you have an AGP slot available in your computer?(I mean no disrespect by that question if you build your own or are experienced- I don't know either way and if you a Compaq/Dell/eMachine with integrated Intel graphics you almost certainly have to go with a PCI board).

 

[Todd33]

Don't get a 9600SE, it's a crippled POS. Maybe a 9600 non-pro for $95 at newegg. Checkout the roundup at Tom's Hardware to see how close to the bottom the 9600SE and 5200 cards are, scary.

 

[VIAN]

The Xtasy 9200 isn't HDX9, but they like to think it is by posting 9700 capabilities on the back of the card. Losers. I hate that company. I e-mailed them about it and they didn't do anything.

For under 100. Radeon 9600

 

[timbuk2]

Sheesh, it's like cracking code, but anandtech site (reviews, roundups, forums) are an immense help.

So, Ti 4200 or 9600/128, or is it a wash? (i'm convinced to stay away from 9200, 5200, et al). Like a lot of other folks, trying to stay ~100 and milk 2-3 yrs to nextgen.

4200s are getting harder to find each day but some still avail.

Requirements are periodic gaming for new HL, Halo, Doom, Quake, etc ; digital home video processing/editing, etc.

Sys = ECS N2U400-A (FSB400/DDR400/AGP8x); AMD 2600, Dual 512 PC2700s; XP OS.
(upgraded from ECS K5, AMD 1000, GeF2 MX200, ancient os).

.25 viewsonic 17ps still looks ok but tax return is on the way.....

 

[modedepe]

By "dx9" it probably just means you need dx9 installed, not that you need a dx9 card. For t&l basically anything from the last 4 years will have it. A ti4200 would be around the price range of the other cards you've listed and will blow them away.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: Snorlax
My kids just got a new game and it will not run on my current system. My system meets all the requirements except for the video. Here's what it says for video:

32MB AGP Video w/ hardware T & L

DirectX 9.0

Here's my question. I don't mind spending $100 or less to upgrade the card but really didn't want to spend more than that. Here's a couple of video cards I found at CompUSA that say they support DX9 or T&L. Will any of these work or which would you recommend. Thanks for any inputs.

Radeon 9600se Video Card, 8x AGP, 128MB DDR................$79.99

Xtasy 9200SE Video Card, PCI, 64MB DDR................$69.99

GeForce FX 5200 Video Card, AGP, 128MB DDR............$79.99

i sincerely doubt you need a "DX9" video card, rather the DX9 runtime which should either be on the disk, or is available from windows update.

you should include which video card you currently have, and which game you are trying to play, allowing people here to give you a more thorough answer and/or recommendation.

 

[Pete]

Snorlax, what game is it, and what video card do you have? (You may as well list your CPU and RAM, too.) The game req's seem to specify nothing more than an original GeForce or Radeon with DirectX 9 installed on the system, not a DX9 video card. All three of the cards you listed are rip-offs, IMO. I wouldn't buy anything less than a GF4Ti 4200 or 9600 nowadays, with the former being prefereable for pure game speed, and the latter being a better all-around card (2D, DVD, DX9).

 

[Snorlax]

Thanks for all the great feedback. The computer I have is a Dell Optiplex 933 Mhz with 256 MB of ram. It was surplus from work but was alot better than what I had at the time so I bought it. I think the Optiplex computers are dumbed down in the multi-media area. I don't know about the AGP slot question. Will have to check into that. The game I'm trying to run is Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring.

 

[tenoc]

Snorlax, you really need to check what video you have have now and what you can upgrade to.

An old Optiplex may not cut it in either case.

 

[LTC8K6]

I should have known it wasn't a full DX9 game.

Another DX9 game release would start a lot of trouble around here!

Snorlax, you seem to be near the bottom edge of the system requirements for that game.

 

[CaiNaM]

Originally posted by: Snorlax
Thanks for all the great feedback. The computer I have is a Dell Optiplex 933 Mhz with 256 MB of ram. It was surplus from work but was alot better than what I had at the time so I bought it. I think the Optiplex computers are dumbed down in the multi-media area. I don't know about the AGP slot question. Will have to check into that. The game I'm trying to run is Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring.

does it not run at all, or just perfroms poorly? if it doesn't run at all, do you have DX9 installed?

i doubt a new video card will help much as your system barely exceeds the min. requirement, so i would expect you would have to run everything at the lowest settings, regardless of which video card you are running... but it should run if windows has DX9 runtimes installed.

Minimum Requirements:

Pentinium Three
Processor Speed: 800 Mhz
OS: Windows 98 and up
256 RAM
2 gigs of hard drive space (Ouch)
32MB video card
Direct X 9 and up

 

[BenSkywalker]

The game I'm trying to run is Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring.

That game runs silkly smooth on a GeForce4 Ti4200, Athlon 1.4GHZ and 512MB of RAM for certain(I was playing around with it a bit for a while on a machine with those specs). Not sure about a P3-933MHZ but I assume it should be OK with a decent vid card(anything current should be plenty, it isn't very gfx intensive). By default IIRC most of the Optiplex machines of that era shipped with an AGP slot and a TNT2-M64 installed though you will want to check on that. The TNT2-M64 is about the same performance as a TNT1(it has a 64bit mem bus) and would likely choke pretty bad on that title although anything GeForce1 and up should have you good to go, although the next game you buy may be more intensive on the gfx side so something along the lines of the GF4 or higher should have you good to go for quite some time.

 

[Snorlax]

I haven't had a chance to open the case and look but I don't think this computer has a AGP slot. I went to the Dell forum for the Optiplex GX110 and there were several threads talking about video upgrades using PCI cards. Ugghh.