Hi Guys
Help me get the best out of LFS , Been playing for 1 1/2 years and think I need a new GFX card.

I've searched on this subject loads, But the more I read, the more confused I get. Some of the threads just turn into an argument about whether to upgrade to better processors and motherboards or not, and all I want is a graphics card! Defiantly no cash to change pc
And then, the GFX card manufactures use their model numbers just too really screw you up.
So can you point me in the right direction?
I presume I need AGP card and I have 4xAGP. That’s about all I know.(Any point in 8XAGP?)
I have read about processor / motherboard bottlenecks, but am unsure when this would become a problem.
Also would the PSU, being 220w, be able to handle another fan on the GFX card if required?


Current specs

Compaq Presario 6263EA
Windows XP sp 1
2.53 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
8 kb primary memory cache
512 kb secondary memory cache
Board: Compaq 0804h
Bus Clock: 533 MHz
512 MB Memory 266 MHz PC2100 DDR
160gb 7200rpm Barracuda Hard drive ATA100 8 MB Buffer
Creative SB Live sound card
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420
PSU 220 W
Samsung SyncMaster 17" widescreen LCD Monitor pixel response 23ms http://www.samsung.com/Product ... S.asp?page=Specifications
PC spec
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfr ... 299&docname=c00032388

I don’t want to spend loads and don't mind buying 2nd hand.
Seen any great deals?

an x800gto or a 6800 gs both of those are considerably cheap by now... and you dont want to drop big bucks now with dx10 coming out soon


i'm pretty sure those cards will run at 4xagp. wait.. u have a 220w psu....

i guess you could get a 9600xt. i'm not sure your psu could handle the 2 cards i mentioned before

another stick of 512 ram would do ya some good

I had lots of problems finding a card that would go slow enough to run on an AGP 4x speed port. There seems to be a cutoff at 8x before which most modern cards wont run, in the end I got an nVidia FX5200 working, but nothing more modern than that seemed to work. It wasnt a bad card though, hardly modern but it does have shader 2.0 support and so on.

If the PSU was a big issue then i would be willing to change if not to costly.
would there be a significant difference in graphic quality running without a fan
on memory I wasn't sure either on the correct type. non-ecc / cl2.5 ??
184-Pin PC2100 (266MHz) DIMM is what i got from google

Quote from Becky Rose :

I had lots of problems finding a card that would go slow enough to run on an AGP 4x speed port.

Mmmh damm , did you try any of the cards mentioned by Gabkicks.

one good thing they should be cheap now

It's the not fan on the graphics card that will suck the power, but the GPU. 300w is really considered the minimum for a modern system, 220w might struggle with anything much more powerful that you've got.

Don't spend too much money on an AGP card at this point in time, it's now looking rather antiquated. If at any point you upgrade your whole system, you'll have to replace it anyway.

Your CPU isn't that fast though, so after upgrading it's more than likely you will be CPU limited for FPS. At the moment though I couldn't say which would be the limiting factor, probably fairly evenly matched. On the plus side, you can ramp up FSAA / AF in such situations.

i'd reccomend trying not to spend more than 200 bucks spiffing up your current pc

the 9600xt will run at 4xagp and they're really cheap nowadays. with that you should be able to run lfs at high quality with a little aa and af

another stick of 512

so.. both the 9600xt and the 512 stick of 2100 should cost about 120 dollars american.

then just save up for building a whole new pc later on since direct x 10 and vista are coming out soon.

Quote from Bob Smith :

Your CPU isn't that fast though, so after upgrading it's more than likely you will be CPU limited for FPS. At the moment though I couldn't say which would be the limiting factor, probably fairly evenly matched. On the plus side, you can ramp up FSAA / AF in such situations.

It's not that slow, my 2.8 P4 runs LFS just fine, 60-100 FPS most of the time. I have an ATi Radeon 9550, by the way, it was really cheap and runs LFS just fine, you'll be screwed with newer games though.

Quote from Gabkicks :

direct x 10 and

Potentially worth getting, although nobody has got DX9 right yet...

Quote from Gabkicks :

vista are coming out soon.

Which won't let me use my PC how I want, so I'll pass on that one.

Quote from Turbo Dad :

Hi Guys
Help me get the best out of LFS , Been playing for 1 1/2 years and think I need a new GFX card.

I've searched on this subject loads, But the more I read, the more confused I get. Some of the threads just turn into an argument about whether to upgrade to better processors and motherboards or not, and all I want is a graphics card! Defiantly no cash to change pc
And then, the GFX card manufactures use their model numbers just too really screw you up.
So can you point me in the right direction?
I presume I need AGP card and I have 4xAGP. That’s about all I know.(Any point in 8XAGP?)
I have read about processor / motherboard bottlenecks, but am unsure when this would become a problem.
Also would the PSU, being 220w, be able to handle another fan on the GFX card if required?


Current specs

Compaq Presario 6263EA
Windows XP sp 1
2.53 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
8 kb primary memory cache
512 kb secondary memory cache
Board: Compaq 0804h
Bus Clock: 533 MHz
512 MB Memory 266 MHz PC2100 DDR
160gb 7200rpm Barracuda Hard drive ATA100 8 MB Buffer
Creative SB Live sound card
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420
PSU 220 W
Samsung SyncMaster 17" widescreen LCD Monitor pixel response 23ms http://www.samsung.com/Product ... S.asp?page=Specifications
PC spec
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfr ... 299&docname=c00032388

I don’t want to spend loads and don't mind buying 2nd hand.
Seen any great deals?

You have really bad Power Supply.Not enough juice for modern graphic cards.
I think for you is the only way to go a ATI9600XT.It can make some decent framerate in LFS.Cross the fingers that it will run with your PSU

I ran my straight 9600 128MB on a 250w supply without problems..wouldn't think the XT will draw that much more power.

Quote from DEVIL 007 :

I think for you is the only way to go a ATI9600XT

with that card i used to be able to get 60 fps with tons of custom textures (it was GFX limited)

Quote from Jakg :

with that card i used to be able to get 60 fps with tons of custom textures (it was GFX limited)

It depend also on your CPU.If it was less powerfull then it will limit also the LFS peformance.
I would recomend him better graphic card like 7800GS(+) for AGP but then it would be a lot of cash+another money for Powersupply.This is not good ivestement as its better then buy completly new PC.

Quote from Rtsbasic :

I ran my straight 9600 128MB on a 250w supply without problems..wouldn't think the XT will draw that much more power.

Check above...he even dont have yours 250W.He has 30W les and then could be really enough that he might have problems even with 9600XT.Hard to say as WAT dont say all - also Ampers on 12V are very important.
Even with 220WAT PSU the card could run fine but he could get less performance from graphic card if he wouldnt have enough juice from powersupply.This can really happen as well.

right had a look at the PSU
+5 v 11amp
+3.33v 15amp
+12 v 5amp
+12.8v 7.5amp
-12v 0.15amp
+5.05vaux 3amp

hope that helps you guys

Quote from DEVIL 007 :

It depend also on your CPU.If it was less powerfull then it will limit also the LFS peformance.
I would recomend him better graphic card like 7800GS(+) for AGP but then it would be a lot of cash+another money for Powersupply.This is not good ivestement as its better then buy completly new PC.

it was with an Athlon 2800, it ran at about 90% all the time in LFS, leading me to think it was GFX limited

as you are obviously on a tight budget I would recommend:

A 2nd hand Radeon 9600xt or 9600pro off ebay or other site & a minimum 300w PSU either from ebay or a local car boot sale as PSU's are heavy to send in post.

This would be a minimum upgrade to get the best performance running LFS at minimal cost. (the ati radeon series run LFS well)

If you have a few pennies left over I would go for a memory upgrade.

best of luck

Took your advice and bought a creative radeon 9600xt 256mb for £26 and got my eye on a few local power supplies.
Hopefully should be here tuesday

What would be the best drivers to use with this card?
I know using the latest drivers for my geforce card wasnt the best,and I went back to old drivers with better results.

I'm using the latest catalist control drivers for my x800 GTO and i havent had any problem in any game.

Quote from Turbo Dad :

Took your advice and bought a creative radeon 9600xt 256mb for £26 and got my eye on a few local power supplies.
Hopefully should be here tuesday

What would be the best drivers to use with this card?
I know using the latest drivers for my geforce card wasnt the best,and I went back to old drivers with better results.

i used the omegas, they worked fine, pissed that you got yours for £25, i got mine a while (bout 2 yrs) and it cost bloody £100!

If it ever gets a bit slow, try ocing it, you can push it to 535 MHz easily

Turbo Dad, I just upgraded a few months ago from an Nvidia geforce mx 440. I see people are suggesting the x800gto, and that is exactly the card I upgraded to. It is definitely amazing bang for the buck! Unfortunately I see your PSU is 220W, which is the same as my old one. The x800gto and I think a lot of newer cards require hooking up to the PSU and require atleast 300W. I had to also upgrade my PSU, so you might have to go that route too.

I bought a 500W PSU, x800gto, and 1gig of ram and it boosted the FPS from (everything off/low detail) 25-30 FPS to (everything on, high detail) 170-180 FPS.

i heard the best drivers for the 9600xt are the pre 5.11 drivers... so i guess 5.10, 5.9.

check out www.ocforums.com for more on this its probably the best pc hardware forum

guys dont forget to turn on AA and AF it makes lfs look a whole lot better

Quote from Gabkicks :

an x800gto or a 6800 gs both of those are considerably cheap by now... and you dont want to drop big bucks now with dx10 coming out soon


i'm pretty sure those cards will run at 4xagp. wait.. u have a 220w psu....

i guess you could get a 9600xt. i'm not sure your psu could handle the 2 cards i mentioned before

another stick of 512 ram would do ya some good

The 9600XT really ran best on a 350w, the 6600 can run semi well on a 250w though as it has a nice low power usage. But a new PSU would be a must.