ASUS gfx card

dariocheca · 07-24-2009, 03:23 AM #1

I'm new here and i'm thinking about getting a new gfx card, I want to upgrade from my onboard geforce6150SE. I saw some ASUS cards that are freakin cheap.

I don't really know if these ASUS cards are good, one is an ASUS EN8400GS with a geforce 8400GS and 512mb; the othger one is an ASUS EAH3450 with a chipset Radeon HD 3450 also with 512mb.

My questions are:
-Are they good?
-Which one is better? ATI or Nvidia?
-Should I get one made by a good manufacturer?

**DacoTaco** · 07-24-2009, 04:03 AM #2

in b4 fanboys

both are good, it depends on what you want really. i prefer nvidia altho their support and multi display support is plain horrible and very very very bug avoiding

ati has kinda lame opengl support tho (even worse then nvidia)

lookup reeviews/benchmarks to see which card you like

also, why not get a 8600 instead? the 8400 series is kinda lame for its money.

jedikevin20 · (This post was last modified: 07-24-2009, 04:19 AM by jedikevin20.)

I personally have a Asus graphics card. I don't know much on the ati side, but Asus makes some pretty good cards on the Nvidia side. How much is your budget? Both these cards seem very very low end. That 8400gs seems really low end. Whats the price on those; 30 dollars?. For nivida, I would say to get a 9600. Maybe a 9600 gt or for more budget get a 9600 gso. Price range on those are 30-60 dollars after mail in rebates. 8400gs seems to low for you to enjoy. I'm a Asus fan and they have not let me down. I use to own a Asus nividia 8500 gt and I can tell you that it can only play mid-high level games in medium/low settings at 1440x900 resolution. 9600 will get you to high but with no antialiasing or extra bells and whistles. Ati to nvidia is more about taste in my opinion. Price ranges fluctuate on both. I started on nvidia and Asus and have stayed the course. Someone else would prob know more on the Ati side of things for you. Newegg/tigerdirect/slickdeals is always your friend when looking for a good card for cheap. Hope that helps you some daraiocheca. You can always check my signature and see some vids i have with the 9600 and see if that would be good enough for you.

CacoFFF · 07-24-2009, 04:17 AM #4

still in b4 fanboys.

8400 is a low end card, as well as HD3450.
Get a mid end card like, 8600gt, 9500gt, HD3650, HD4550.
Those should be fully capable of Dolphin at almost HD resolutions.

rene mauricio · 07-24-2009, 05:39 AM #5

I doubt that the GPU he chooses will allow him to play at any true HD resolutions. As I have pointed out in the past, increasing the internal resolution and/or applying AA+AF will decrease Dolphin's performance substantially - to a point where it begs the question if these things are really being offloaded unto the GPU.

Anyway, geforce6150SE you say? Would that be an nForce 4~ board you have (meaning you have a free PCI Express slot)? If so either card is fine, but sporting an nForce 4 MB would suggest that your CPU is going to be limiting your new purchase anyway. Might want to think about saving up even more and just buying a whole new system. Not just for Dolphin, but for everything else in general.

dariocheca · 07-24-2009, 05:52 AM #6

Thanks for the feedback.

I think I'm going to get a 9400GT I found a cheap one at newegg... I don't mind playing games at 800x600 at mid quality =D
My last PC was a P3@900Mhz, 512 Mb RAM, GeForce FX 5200, SB Audigy SE & SB Audigy 2ZS... it was only for recording audio projects and real time audio processing . I had that system for like 5 years until the motherboard died. SO i bought a cheap compaq presario single core 1 gb ram (waiting for 2gb to arrive) and a crappy onboard card.

(07-24-2009, 05:39 AM)rene mauricio Wrote: Anyway, geforce6150SE you say? Would that be an nForce 4~ board you have (meaning you have a free PCI Express slot)? If so either card is fine, but sporting an nForce 4 MB would suggest that your CPU is going to be limiting your new purchase anyway. Might want to think about saving up even more and just buying a whole new system. Not just for Dolphin, but for everything else in general.

I think you are right... because my MB only supports PCIe x16 I wont be able to upgrade. all the cards are PCIe 2.0 x16 and this leads to another question:
what would happen if i put a PCIe 2.0 on a slot that is not 2.0? would it work but not at full capacity or the system just wont start?

CacoFFF · 07-24-2009, 06:18 AM #7

(07-24-2009, 05:39 AM)rene mauricio Wrote: Anyway, geforce6150SE you say? Would that be an nForce 4~ board you have (meaning you have a free PCI Express slot)? If so either card is fine, but sporting an nForce 4 MB would suggest that your CPU is going to be limiting your new purchase anyway.

Not really, my bro has a Phenom 7750 on that same chipset, he only needs the video card.

07-24-2009, 06:21 AM #8

(07-24-2009, 05:52 AM)dariocheca Wrote: what would happen if i put a PCIe 2.0 on a slot that is not 2.0? would it work but not at full capacity

CacoFFF · (This post was last modified: 07-24-2009, 06:27 AM by CacoFFF.)

Buying a whole new motherboard only to get a little x% boost from ONLY highest end GTX cards? Or Dual gpu cards?

With the exception of those video cards, noooone will even saturate the PCIe1 x16, even if they are PCIe2, they will work the same on your MB.

/facepalm

jasong · 07-24-2009, 05:25 PM **#10**

Wow this really is budget. Ok here's my advice, take it for what it's worth and that may be nothing:
You are a gamer. Don't pretend otherwise Wink

. If you care enough to post on obscure emulator forums that makes you a bona fide gamer. Don't cheat yourself out of the experience of what Dolphin is all about - playing Gamecube/Wii games at better resolutions than your TV can offer. Otherwise you may as well just play the console.