Graphics Card Help

I don't know what new graphics card to get. That's under or around $100 and will work well with NoLimits Coaster and RCT3. I currently can't run RCT3 because it says my card isn't compatible with the minimum requirements. I only get a max of like 35 fps on NL. I have windows XP. A HP pavilion that originally had Windows ME. We have a ton of RAM. 800 MHz Intel Pentium III processor and over 15 GB left on the hard drive. I really want to play RCT3 but need help choosing a graphics card first. I need someone's help who really knows about PC's and graphics cards compatability.[?]

It would probably be a good idea to just get a new machine. At this time 800 mhz is less than a third of the processing power on most new computers. As for graphics cards, you could check out your local computer store. They should be able to tell you what would be a good card for what you need to do.

Agreed. If the retailer is stubborn and won't give you at least a radeon 9600 type card, you can get one at www.newegg.com (you can get everything there in fact, but watch for prices, a store might make an occasional offer better than the one online, and plus, its easier and safer in stores)

I'd recommend...

2.5 ghz or faster p4 proscessor, not sure about the AMD's

Radeon 9600pro (try getting a 9800pro if you have the money) or one of those geforce fx cards (but some of those have serious compatability issues with RCT3 soaked) or a geforce 6600 or 6800 card, those are getting cheap fast and people seem to like those for RCT3. If you use higher resolutions, a 256 mb card is a good choice. But I never go above 1152x864 since my monitor cannot support it with a descent refresh rate (75hz) If you have an LCD, it doesn't really matter, there's no noticeable flickering at 60 hz.

At least 512 is what I consider a requirement (well, it's what I have anyways, and it does lag quite a lot, I definately wish I could get more but I hvae no $$), try getting at least 1024 if you can.

Just a few recommendations, but try to get the best you can, I'm not that good with this. The only easy part seems to be the RAM.

Ram definitely helps a lot. I've noticed a considerable boost in performance and thats after adding only 256 mb. My NL runs better too.

/\Time to add 512mb ddr ram!

A place to start that is pretty decent with money: www.chiefvalue.com

Yea, a new machine definitely.
For pretty much anything but rendering, AMD simply beats down Intel, and nothing can change that. AMD really shines in games too, so AMD is definitely my choice here. If you can, $190 will get you a very powerful AMD Athlon 3200+ Venice Core. These are VERY quick processors that will easily run any of today's games.

RAM is a critical component too, $85 will buy you a quality pair of 512MB sticks (1GB total) which you can run in dual channel.

Anyways, for a new graphics card, you'll probably want a Radeon 9800 Pro or 6600GT video card. Those will run roller coaster tycoon 3 perfectly. If you want to go even further, a radeon x800gt is just around the corner too.

If you really are going to get a new machine though, think about motherboards carefully. You can find some cheaper $90 ones that will run perfectly, but you'll have to be careful in your selection. If in doubt, register at the anandtech.com forums and ask. They're very helpful.

I'm guessing you'll want a power supply too of course . A 420W power supple of GOOD QUALITY would do you fine. Antec and Enermax are a couple of the very high quality manufacturers.

Any case would do I guess...even your old one. Again, if in doubt, anandtech's members are always willing to help out.

I would love to get a new PC but it doesn't look like that is going to happen right now. But I will definately look at the graphics cards you all mentioned. If anyone has any more suggestions feel free to post more.

Thanks

I've got a GeForce FX 5700 with 256 ram and it runs RCT3 pretty well right now they are pretty well priced. But upgrading can only take you so far. So I guess if you really cant get a new PC right now, get a GeForce FX6600 or Radeons most radeons above 9800 Pro are good too. Then whenever you get a new PC just swap your video card out.

An 800Mhz machine is not going to run RCT3, period. My old machine (950Mhz Athlon with a Radeon 9600) would JUST BARELY run a very simple park at 10 or 15 fps, but it wasn't really playable. RCT3 really isn't worth it anyway. The 2D rct games play a lot better anyway.