The Ultimate Video Card Guide!

Hi. I was wondering what setting would best suit Guildwars for my PC. My Specs are:

-Intel Pentium 4 Processor
-3.00 GHz
-Windows XP Home Edition (S.P 2)
-512mb of RAM
-Nvidia FX5200 with 128Mb RAM
-1024 x 768 Monitor (75Hz)
-DirectX 9.0c
-Fully Updated Computer (Graphics Drivers etc)

Help would be greatly appreciated.

Good post.

What are you asking....Settings? Your system should run Guild Wars quite well. Personally for me I would add another 512Mbs of ram. Your Video Card is showing it's age but it will still work. Your Processor is just fine....fast enough. So what are you asking? There are some "stickies" at the top of the Tech Page that can answer some equipment questions...like Video Cards and such.

Hey I'm a recently new player and I was unsure about my video cardf when I bought it because its not on the supported card listing (it even told me before I ran the game that it probobly wouldn't work)

Its an ATi Radeon FireGL 7500 (or a number similar maybe 7000)
anyways I have that and

768MB DDR
1.5Ghz Pentium M (runs closer to 3Ghz when not running on battery)

my card is a 32MB card and it displays the game beautifully it's one of the most impressive games I have ever played visually and gameplay wise
just thought I would let you all know that there are some cards that work great that aren't over 64MB

Update: incase no one catches it, I'm running it on an IBM thinkpad R51 (Laptop) it's SUCH A GREAT GAME! I LOVE IT!

ive scanned this thread, but havent seen any real commentary on the guide. i dont think it has been mentioned anywhere, but i am a stickler for technicalities and nothing bugs me more than the spreading of false information:

this is not true at all. i do not claim to know everything there is to know about what video interfaces that motherboards have used, but I have had experience with ISA videocards and can tell you that those are pretty dang old. in fact, i am not sure if 3d cards were even made for those.

The vast majority of PC motherboards i know of will have PCI slots. In the context of the guide, you may be referring to using PCI as the dedicated video slot, in which case is not likely nowadays. However, integrated chipsets, as you mention, ARE fairly common and many of these types of motherboards do not offer any other slot besides PCI for video upgrade purposes, (as is the case with Char Killer and Tels' Dells).

Thankfully, with the relatively light requirements of GW, these people have hope. I, for one, also have an old pIII 900mHz compaq and was in the same situation. I bumped up my ram to 512 megs and stuck in the best PCI card i could find and can get decent playability. 800x600 at medium settings with ~30FPS isnt the best thing in the world, but works great for those with few alternatives.
PCI cards I would recommend:
Ati Radeon 9250 256mb
NVidia Geforce FX5500 256mb
NVidia Geforce FX5700LE 128mb

Those are just a few links that popped up after a quick search at newegg and MUCH more powerful than an old TNT or Rage card. At least these are DX8 compliant.

You give these people little credit and make it sound like they have no alternative other than to buy a new mobo, (in which case you will likely need a new cpu, which isnt that far from getting a whole new pc altogether). There are plenty of people in this boat and think they deserve as much support as anyone else here.

the 6600GT is the best bang for buck at the moment.

heck if your just gaming though why not get a 7800.. I really like the ati's aiw line cause it's basically free tivo with remote especially if you own a hdtv and it's nice on high end gaming.. think old dood mentioned he runs the X800XL which is a pretty good deal for the money- I've o/c'd it to 550/550 very stable (top end air cooled looks like 555/570).. 3dmark 2005 scores over 7k pretty much all you need to run everything out there up to 1280x1024 4x tempor alias 16x ansio- what I run quake 4 on that card

the 6600 looks like it's good out of the box but I have'nt seen anyone with the card yet.. I would probably recommend it though cause so many people look like they're happy to own one if your a price/performance guy

nowdays I would'nt really sell myself short on the video card- no point cause the stuff is so comparably cheap.. as long as your running a 64 and stay away from the p4 (sucks compared to the 64 line gamingwise in both price and performance).. don't get sucked in by the fanboi's of the pentium line.. they are smokin crack- the numbers don't lie

If you want to get technical, I believe Intel, with PCI-SIG, developed the PCI express protocol. Intel made AGP after all. (And of course Al Gore invented the internet. )

For card specs a good site to check is www.gpureview.com

P4s can still game. In fact, at higher resolutions, games become GPU limited anyway, and performance between the A64 and P4 is nearly nonexistant. Of course, if you play at 8x6 you will notice the difference, but who cares between 80 and 140 fps? Perfectly playable in both caes.

I would like to make a quick correction about the Geforce 6200. It lists it as a PCI-E/AGP card but, on my old computer, I have only PCI Slots so I use a BFG Geforce 6200 OC 256 MB card and it is, by far, the fastest PCI card out. It also supports DirectX 9, OpenGL 2.0, and Shader Model 3.0 so getting it is almost a must for people stuck with PCI. (Gives me about 40 FPS at 1280x1024 at Highest texture and terrain quality, medium shadows, and default reflections on a 3.0 ghz Intel P4 630 HT processor and 1 GB RAM, so its a pretty good choice).

Just some info that some people with PCI might find useful.

i would like to know if anyone out there would know how well my computer would play gw

i have a:

hp pavilion zv 6000
Amd Sempron Processor 3200+
640mb of ram
ATI radieon xpress 200m video card

just let me know your thoughts if it will work or how well

I'm not sure if any1 corrected the misconception about sm3 or pci-e having insane advantage over agp8x, but i'll say it here anyhow

SM3.0 is not just a visual enhancement, its a performance enhancement too. You're supposed to get more speed and not sacrifice it for better gfx quality. Google for it if you want.

Pci-e will only gain you a mere 5-10% fps boost, despite the larger bandwidth when compared to an agp-8x. Even the supposed benefit(no need for molex power) has been what ? smashed as newer cards needs the molex connector anyhow.

Tbh, i'm glad i stood with my agp-mobo and my trusty 6800 Pci-E really isn't worth the upgrade for me unless i am considering sli.
I'll wait for the real agp replacement =)

My sys
Intel Pentium 4 3.2ghz Extreme Edition.
1gb Corsair Pro
120gb barracuda 7200 HDD
Audigy 2 soundcard
Trusty Nvidia 6800Gs

I run guildwars pretty well, especially after that long overdue sound update.
Get the latest directx 9.0c august edition

Lol i got 256mb of ram.
And 512 Graphics card.
Thats all i know.

Hi, with Eye of the North looming i thought id bring this back up. Im a budget gamer and never spend much on my computer.

The new EOTN character select screen has brought the 'shader' graphic option to my attention. It dramatically changes the fire effect in the storm beacon. Having seen screenshot of the Burning Forest in EOTN i hate to think what im going to miss out on with a old 3D card.
An option for upgrade (without spending much $$$) is a ATi x800 GTO. This card got good reviews, BUT was criticised for lack of 'Shader model' something or other.

Will the x800 GTO hamper my GWs experience?

Does GWs (and now EOTN) need Shader Model support?

The different Shader Model versions are specifications for what the hardware must be capable of to support certain graphical effects. As far as I can remember the different versions of the spec, and the oldest cards from Ati and Nvidia that support it are:

Shader Model 1.0 - GeForce 3 / Some Radeon 8xxx
Shader Model 1.4 - Geforce 4 / Some Radeon 8xxx
Shader Model 2.0 - GeForce 5 series / Radeon 9xxx + Radeon X?00
Shader Model 3.0 - GeForce 6 series / Radeon X1000 series
Shader Model 4.0 - GeForce 8 series / Radeon X2000 series

As far as I know Guild Wars only uses Shader Model 2.0 effects, so any relatively recent video card should support its shader tricks. The game _will_ run without any Shader support at all but will not look very good (tried on my laptop).

The Radeon X800 GTO is quite fast and supports SM 2.0, so it should run Guild Wars just fine with all the fancy effects, although some newer games may have problems since SM 3.0 has been out for years and the card doesn't support it at all.

EDIT: fixed silly typo

How well would a:
nVidia GeForce 7600GS PCI-E 250mb
ATI Radeon RX1050 PRO PCI-E 512mb.

**I would go for a 8500GT/8600GT, but too many people say they are bad, and I don't want to spend 200AU on one.

Too many errors

Run on this game.

180G HDD
Windows XP
Intell Celeron CPU (2GH)
1G RAM
etc

Ok i bought the X800GTO AGP for AU$125 new. It's a good card, better than what my system can handle. Ive got the recommended specs 2GHz CPU and 1Gb RAM. I know its better than what i can handle because it overclocks from 400/700 to 510/840 with no change in FPS

Incase anyone wants to know, the FPS at max settings and 1024x768 res is 34 at login screen (rotated a bit so the fire is on screen). Goes uptp 105 FPS in guild hall and is about 30-50 when playing PVE. The lowest i saw it was 8 FPS in Kamadan #1 but this is likely my cheapo hardware not the card.

your 2ghz cpu is bottlenecking and at a low resolution like 1024x768 it becomes more cpu dependent. If you increase the resolution it becomes more gfx card dependent.

Avoid low end 8XXX series, they suck. I'd go for the X1950 over the 7600gs. Up your RAM also, 1GB is kinda falling by the wayside now.

I just bought a XFX 8600 GT for only $100 dollars and IMO It's very smooth I play all my games on max settings. I think it depends on your whole system. So not necessarily does the 8600 GT lacks in performance. It can also be the fact that the drivers are not doing so well at the moment for the 8XXX series. This is just my personal opinion and experience owning a XFX 8600 GT. ^^

Woops, I didn't read what I was typing..

Could anybody tell me the best valued card under 180AUD from this site, for casual GW playing..
http://itestate.com.au/category.asp?...10003062600081

Thanks for the tip about resolution! From 1024x768 to 1280x960 makes a awesome difference. Consistantly faster across the board, tip +1

http://itestate.com.au/products_deta...ode=PD00004959

Aussie prices are steep...1k for an Ultra, can get one here for £350.

Should me computer be able to run Guild wars Phrophocies (yeah I know I spelled that wrong) with an on board Intel Extreme 3d with 64mb shared memory? Other then that, the rest of my computer's specifications are better then fine. I do have 750mb ram.. That should be more then fine, right? Eventually I will probably get the Nvidea 5200 or 5500, is that a good choice?

Thanks,

i would say no
that machine is quite low on the ladder
it might be able to slide by
but i would reccomend a new machine rather then an upgrade
cept take out your ram (if it is ddr2 and not ddr) and put it in your new machine

Dude, with a 2.8ghz processor and 750mb of ram, shouldn't I be able to run Guild wars fine with a good video card. A new machine at the least, would cost $400 and that probably wouldn't be any better then what I have, a new video card would cost one less zero. I'm not looking for some fancy gaming rig, just to be able to play Guild wars.

i say but a new computer with and put it together yourself, or pay someone to put it together (should cost about 100 bucks if u go to a repair store) but if you wish i can send a you build cost just over 500 bucks should be able to run just bout any game out today on near max graphics and a playable frame rate, aside from oblivion in the outdoors. with a new video card, 256 mb ram chip if u got room you would be able to play gws sure...though if u did take taht path go with the nvidia 1950 gt, its i think like (i have no idea)...well its price has dropped tons in the past little while and its quite a decent card.

Trust me, if I had enough money to get eh kind of computer I wan, I would have ordered it by now. The kind of computer I want will cost over $1000 and needs to have a core 2 duo processor, and I hope to get a notebook computer. I don't have $1000 dollars right now, and no I can't put it on my credit card because I'm to young to get one. And I don't think that trying to build a notebook computer would go to well, lol. Thus, I will have to deal with my computer for the time being.

P.S
What about my computer isn't good enough for Guild wars, just wondering

I realized recently that my graphics card is integrated. That has to change. can anyone recommend a motherboard with PCI-E support, that is pretty cheap?

alternatively, can anyone give thoughts on this motherboard, is it good, worth the price, etc.

My graphics card is integrated, however I am able to put in a second video card and let it take over. You may not need a new motherboard..
But then again, what do I know

If you go into BIOS you should see the option to switch off integrated graphics.

You don't even have to go to BIOS or restart your computer to change graphics cards. Just go to the display properties, select your preferred card and check the box to make it your default graphics card.

the problem with that is, my board doesnt have PCI-E or AGP support, only PCI, and according to this thread all cards for that suck. =/

Save your cash a buy a new PC.

any other helpful suggestions?

U talking to me or the other dude?

Changing a graphics card is one thing, but changing a mother board is quite another. If your computer is a good computer, maybe you should consider it, but if it was a cheap computer, I'd say to buy a new one. My computer was one of those $500 computers and I do want to change my video card, but I really don't wanna mess with installing a whole new motherboard.

If you have an older system without a PCI-E slot, then the best you can do is a Radeon X1300. This is also called now the Radeon X1550 PRO, but they are essentially the same card with minor differences depending on the manufacturer. The Radeon X1300 will run GW okay. Just don't expect miracles or to be able to run on high settings or resolutions.

I would stay away from the NVIDIA 5200 or 5500. I thought it was a garbage card.

Personally I think is a waste and would save up to upgrade for something better. Today you can buy a PCI-E card that is much better than the Radeon X1300 for less money.

Best of luck to you!

I just realized that the 5200 and 5500 are on Guild wars official list of cards that can cause issues, so I guess they are out of the question.

I had a FX5500 and it worked great, for a cheap DX9 card i couldnt complain. You cant run at high res and max settings, but if you're on a budget, it'll get the job done. About 22 FPS on average @ medium settings.
In my case the CPU was holding everything back anyway (Celeron 2GHz).

FX5500 has been known to go *boom* though...