Good Graphic Card?

Ok... so im a big RCT3 fan and love all the rides, but after i build about 10, my park starts to get slower and slower at its frame rate.... I know this will eventually happen on any video card , but i was just wondering which one can i download (preferrably free) online that will ensure i can keep building on and on until i have a full park and when i ride a coastercam, it doesnt skip around and chop up the gameplay... if anyone wants to help please do cuz im short on cash but want the ultimate experience... Thanks

You cannot download a graphics card....

*bites tongue*

You may download better drivers on-line, what card do you have? Nvidia or ATI?

[stoning][lol][lol]

Fail.

Originally posted by Casper

You cannot download a graphics card....

*bites tongue*

You may download better drivers on-line, what card do you have? Nvidia or ATI?

Ati, i think.

[slosprint]

You download SOFTWARE

Graphics cards are HARDWARE

hardware is a product which has MASS, which means that you cannot simply transfer it from computer to computer without physically throwing it across the room. Until transporters are invented, as in Star Trek, it remains impossible for graphic cards to be downloaded.

Long Story short: FAILURE

Originally posted by slosprint

...transporters...

You mean teleports?

[slosprint]

Yeah, that's what I mean.

Fail? haha

Yes, so, at this time, u can download new video drivers which will make thigs run a little better

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

If u want a good graphics card, ATI make better value for money then nvidia, depends how much you can spend

^^

Originally posted by slosprint

Long Story short: FAILURE

originally posted by Danny16242

Ok... so im a big RCT3 fan and love all the rides, but after i build about 10, my park starts to get slower and slower at its frame rate.... I know this will eventually happen on any video card , but i was just wondering which one can i download (preferrably free) online that will ensure i can keep building on and on until i have a full park and when i ride a coastercam, it doesnt skip around and chop up the gameplay... if anyone wants to help please do cuz im short on cash but want the ultimate experience... Thanks

As mentioned numerous times before, FAIL. But on to the serious part of this post...

I must warn you, danny, that a new graphics card may not be all (or what) you need. On my old computer, I had the same 128MB graphics card for like 6 years, then upgraded to a 512MB one about a year and a half ago, and my framerates (this is in NL, not RCT3) rose by only like 10 or 12 FPS (up from 20, so while noticeable, definitely not optimal). My problem? My processor was 533 MHz. So, when I got my new computer with a 3 GHz dual-core processor, they were at a constant 100, even with only 256MB video memory. So I would look into a new processor (or even a new computer, for that matter) before a new graphics card, especially if it's as old and shitty as mine was.

[Brtnboarder495]

Not sure what's been said in this thread thus far, but the GPU is most important when it comes to playing most games. You can upgrade your GPU pretty easily in most desktops, but the CPU is more difficult. Provide more information and maybe we could help you out.

I know the GPU should be the most important, but I was basing my suggestions off of personal experience.

[coolbeans326]

in RCT, majority of the lag comes from the ammount of ram and cpu power you have. While the GPU does play a lot, I would look more towards upgrading the other. Actually it may just be time to consider upgrading your whole system all together.

Originally posted by Brtnboarder495

Not sure what's been said in this thread thus far, but the GPU is most important when it comes to playing most games. You can upgrade your GPU pretty easily in most desktops, but the CPU is more difficult. Provide more information and maybe we could help you out.

One, try reading the topic before saying, not sure what's been said in this thread... Especially since it's not even a page long.

And two, you couldn't be more wrong. Where graphics cards do help improve games, sims, etc, they can only run off of what your CPU can give it and how fast it does it. I have the first true dual core processor(very out of date) and I use to have a 7300GT graphics card. Looking for a little boost, I upgraded my ram from 1GB to 2GB(all my motherboard would allow, yes again, a two year old computer which in the computer hardware world, is pretty ancient) and I got a nice new GT 220 graphics card with 1GB dedicated ram. My old card only had 256MB. So there is a big difference there, but my processor isn't fast enough to put my new card to it's full potential. In other terms, my card got bottle-necked, stop at a certain point, shall I keep going? Haha. So where if my computer had a good enough processor yes, that would have been a pretty nice improvement with the graphics card alone. But that wasn't my case and I'm sure it's not Danny's case either. We have older computers that yes, can use the upgraded graphics card, but it's only going to let us go so far with it.

[Brtnboarder495]

Originally posted by jensen-nator

Originally posted by Brtnboarder495

Not sure what's been said in this thread thus far, but the GPU is most important when it comes to playing most games. You can upgrade your GPU pretty easily in most desktops, but the CPU is more difficult. Provide more information and maybe we could help you out.

One, try reading the topic before saying, not sure what's been said in this thread... Especially since it's not even a page long.

And two, you couldn't be more wrong. Where graphics cards do help improve games, sims, etc, they can only run off of what your CPU can give it and how fast it does it. I have the first true dual core processor(very out of date) and I use to have a 7300GT graphics card. Looking for a little boost, I upgraded my ram from 1GB to 2GB(all my motherboard would allow, yes again, a two year old computer which in the computer hardware world, is pretty ancient) and I got a nice new GT 220 graphics card with 1GB dedicated ram. My old card only had 256MB. So there is a big difference there, but my processor isn't fast enough to put my new card to it's full potential. In other terms, my card got bottle-necked, stop at a certain point, shall I keep going? Haha. So where if my computer had a good enough processor yes, that would have been a pretty nice improvement with the graphics card alone. But that wasn't my case and I'm sure it's not Danny's case either. We have older computers that yes, can use the upgraded graphics card, but it's only going to let us go so far with it.

Sorry man - but you're wrong again. The architecture of a GPU is FAR more important than the dedicated RAM. RAM can be a bottleneck for high-performing GPUs, but putting lots of RAM on a crappy GPU doesn't speed it up.

Bottom line - you need an on par GPU, RAM and CPU setup, but if you have to prioritize, choose the GPU over the CPU. RAM is cheap and 2Gb is baseline, but 4Gb is preferred. An Intel Core Duo 2Ghz CPU (very old by today's standards) paired with a recent GPU will provide better heavy 3D gaming experiences than a 3 year old GPU and new Intel Core i7 CPU.

But hey, I only build computers and have years of experience

Originally posted by Brtnboarder495

Originally posted by jensen-nator

Originally posted by Brtnboarder495

Not sure what's been said in this thread thus far, but the GPU is most important when it comes to playing most games. You can upgrade your GPU pretty easily in most desktops, but the CPU is more difficult. Provide more information and maybe we could help you out.

One, try reading the topic before saying, not sure what's been said in this thread... Especially since it's not even a page long.

And two, you couldn't be more wrong. Where graphics cards do help improve games, sims, etc, they can only run off of what your CPU can give it and how fast it does it. I have the first true dual core processor(very out of date) and I use to have a 7300GT graphics card. Looking for a little boost, I upgraded my ram from 1GB to 2GB(all my motherboard would allow, yes again, a two year old computer which in the computer hardware world, is pretty ancient) and I got a nice new GT 220 graphics card with 1GB dedicated ram. My old card only had 256MB. So there is a big difference there, but my processor isn't fast enough to put my new card to it's full potential. In other terms, my card got bottle-necked, stop at a certain point, shall I keep going? Haha. So where if my computer had a good enough processor yes, that would have been a pretty nice improvement with the graphics card alone. But that wasn't my case and I'm sure it's not Danny's case either. We have older computers that yes, can use the upgraded graphics card, but it's only going to let us go so far with it.

Sorry man - but you're wrong again. The architecture of a GPU is FAR more important than the dedicated RAM. RAM can be a bottleneck for high-performing GPUs, but putting lots of RAM on a crappy GPU doesn't speed it up.

Bottom line - you need an on par GPU, RAM and CPU setup, but if you have to prioritize, choose the GPU over the CPU. RAM is cheap and 2Gb is baseline, but 4Gb is preferred. An Intel Core Duo 2Ghz CPU (very old by today's standards) paired with a recent GPU will provide better heavy 3D gaming experiences than a 3 year old GPU and new Intel Core i7 CPU.

But hey, I only build computers and have years of experience

Years of experience? We're the same age, hahaha. [sillyme]

And the ram on the graphics cards aren't the only thing that matters. You also have the Core Clock, Shader Clock, and effective clock memory speeds. As well as how many steam processors are on it. When it comes down to it, you need all the parts to be up to par, it's just the CPU is the more expensive, more time consuming, and most of the time something you can't just switch out with another on most motherboards.(saying you have an old computer with a motherboard that came with a dual core, you're not going to be able to switch it out for an i5 or i7.)

And my processor is a Pentium D Smithsfield. Witch isn't as good as Core Duo, haha. I know 2GB of ram is baseline, you don't have to tell me that, but I did research online before buying(the smart thing to do) and my computer would only support 2GB max. I wanted 4, but it wouldn't allow it. So I got the best Ram I could for DDR2 667 ram I could get. With my processor, ram, and graphics card setup, I basically have my computer maxed. Getting a newer graphic card would basically be pointless since everything else is high as I'm going to get it. That's why whenever it is I do need to get something new, I'm getting a new computer altogether.

Don't talk down to me like I don't know anything about computers. Especially when we're the same age, ha. Oh, and let me add this. I'm not trying to show you up or anything. I'm not a computer pro or anything, but you shouldn't be acting like you are either. Just giving the guy some computer knowledge. The main thing is, if his computer is as old as we expect, he might not even have PCI Express slots. So it's just all a bunch of stuff you have to take into consideration when upgrading computers. Compatibility is always something you have to look at with older computers.

It seems that the vast majority of computers these days, including many advertised for gaming, always come with cheaper video cards. If you're spending $800 on a system, you'll want to spend at least $150 on the card. For these computers that you buy in stores, the GPU is usually the bottleneck, as i7 computers are being put in with lower end Radeon 4000 cards and equivilent Geforce's. (I'm not very up to date on nVidia though since I stuck with ATI for my current build.)

RCT3 is very oddly demanding. The graphics themselves are a few years old and they still put some strain on the system which is evident when you set all the draw distances to zero which tends to increase the framerate considerably. The graphics aren't too well optimized either (think individual wall/track/etc. pieces with tons of unecessary polys) which doesn't help.

Upgrading parts for old computers isn't so viable anymore. The graphics slots change constantly and before we know it, PCIe 3.0 will be around. The AGP standard got well outdated before I could upgrade my old system, and I couldn't upgrade the processor either since Intel kept and still keeps changing slots. (Far more often than AMD does, though I don't know if the AM3 slot will last much longer either.)

So, upgrading is usually a bad option if your mobo is outdated.

As for RAM, you're limited to 4GB total (including graphics) if you're running a 32-bit OS and that's where it ends. 64-bit can address 128GB I believe, so the limit there is the mobo most of which tend to support 16GB these days. It's expensive however, and probably not worth it, so I stuck with 4GB. (But still need the 64-bit OS for the 1GB 5770.)

^ Yeah, all very good points. Especially the mobo statements. I'm to the max for my computer because of what my mobo allows. I really wish I had the money to make a custom computer, haha.

Maybe you should get a job? [;)]

Dude, you don't even know, hahaha. I'm still trying CP, I've tried like 15-20 places around where I live. I can't get any bites... Michigan, what can I do right.

Haha...good luck though!

Thanks man. I could use it!

Originally posted by jensen-nator
Michigan, what can I do right.

When you find a job in Michigan, let me know too, haha.

Alright, haha. Will do!

Building's supposed to be cheaper than buying, but I've seen some pre-builts that make me think otherwise. However, it seems that most or all pre-builds that have issues discourage users from solving the problem themselves. (i.e. Opening up the computer.) Plus, as I mentioned earlier, you have to find the right "brands" to build a well balanced system that doesn't concentrate all your money into the CPU and RAM and leave you with a graphics card that could at least be better. (This may be a way they try to coerce people to buying more expensive systems.)

Point is, you need balance. For most main manufacturers, the graphics card is the bottleneck, while an older computer with a freshly upgraded card may have the CPU or even RAM as a bottleneck. Don't place too much importance on one part or you'll create a bottleneck with the other parts that need attention. Even things like HDD speed don't get looked at, which is fairly important if the game needs to load often regardless of whether they're in loading screens or if the loading takes place on the fly. Checkpoints can also be saved faster with a good HDD, though it's true that the HDD does not provide as much benefit for NL once the scene is loaded. Loading times may more often be bottlenecked by low RAM than by "slow" HDD's though.