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I think I'm gonna need a new one:
I own a Radeon 9600pro 256mb. But I fear that that will not be enough to enjoy Age of Empires 3 on a decent level. Atleast not according to my internet searching (since no official specs have been released) So can anyone (looksat SaTsuJin, Link and BF) recommend me a new one, but my budget is like 150$ max.

so anyone got any ideas?

check out toms hardware guide to have full reviews on hardware stuff including video cards. He runs benchmarks on everything.

256mb, im sure it will....i have 128mb and i can run many high graphic games... i.e. doom 3 on high quality, MOH pacific assault high quality, rome total war most of it on medium-high

256MB PWN X-D

Originally posted by Fire
I think I'm gonna need a new one:
I own a Radeon 9600pro 256mb. But I fear that that will not be enough to enjoy Age of Empires 3 on a decent level. Atleast not according to my internet searching (since no official specs have been released) So can anyone (looksat SaTsuJin, Link and BF) recommend me a new one, but my budget is like 150$ max.

so anyone got any ideas?

That should easily run Age 3. Radeon 9600 is still a good card, its not worth upgrading yet.

Originally posted by crazy_shadow
256mb, im sure it will....i have 128mb and i can run many high graphic games... i.e. doom 3 on high quality, MOH pacific assault high quality, rome total war most of it on medium-high

256MB PWN X-D

Not all the time, some 128mb cards perform better than 256mb cards. I was gonna get a 256mb card, but the 128mb card I got is much better (and more expensive)

I'd suggest ATI X800 Pro, they're fairly cheap and painfully good. Should run anything you want for a good while.

Or if you want you can get the Nvidia equivilent...Geforce 6800 whatever. But since you already have ATi you might as well stick with them, since switching video cards can cause some problems on occasion.

Or, if you're really willing to blow a large chunk of money, you can get the brand new Geforce 7800, which is the best currently available, but is very expensive.

OR, you can wait a bit longer to upgrade, the 9600 is a fine card still and may be able to run future games fairly well, might as well wait for the games to come out and test them on your current card, then upgrade if you're not satisfied with the performance.

I'm planning on doing that BF, yea I was thinking the X800 pro would be a very good choice.

having good RAM would help also... it will help your PC run more smoothly while playing. Even if i had a high end graphics card i would still like to have RAM that equals the VC, just doesn make sense to have something like that.

I have enough RAM that's not gonna be the problem.

Originally posted by El_NINO
having good RAM would help also... it will help your PC run more smoothly while playing. Even if i had a high end graphics card i would still like to have RAM that equals the VC, just doesn make sense to have something like that.

I have 1.5GB ram....and buying another 512mb hopefuly sometime this week


I like being hardcore It helps me win with the ladies


Fire, how old is your computer? Well not really how old, but whats the best video card it can handle? Depending on how hardcore you are with gaming, it might be an idea to get the best card you can afford, at least you wont have any further upgrading worries for a long time

AGP mate (it's about two years old, with regular upgrading) I ain't that hardcore with gaming. I mostly play RTS and normally those don't require a heavy graphics card, but AoE3 looks really sweet so... But I'll wait and see.