how well will this vid card work?

128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8300GS

from WinCustomize Forums
I'm getting a new Dell with Vista Home Premium. The video card it comes with is a 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 8300GS.

I cannot find out a lot about this card as it seems to be an OEM card.

Does anyone know if this will handle the full Vista 'experience'? Like Flip3D, Aero, etc.

I'd appreciate your help very much.

I've never purchased a system, always built them myself and Nvidia is not the way I would normally go.

Thanks,
werewolf
12,377 views 28 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
believe the 8300 is an OEM card. It's based on the G86 GPU, like the 8400/8500, but with fewer stream shaders and reduced bandwidth. The
8300GS runs at 450Mhz, has 8 stream shaders (versus 16 for the 8400GS),
can have 128MB or 256MB GDDR2 and has only a 64-bit memory bus. The
8300GT runs at 500Mhz, has 16 shaders (I believe), 128MB or 256MB GDDR2
and a 64-bit bus. They are very much entry level cards.


i am pretty sure this card will support aero on windows vista, only way to find out is see if it works on your computer (i am assuming it is a laptop?) good luck
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I would recommend at least a 256mb or higher. And lots of ram.
Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
thanks for the replies...

It's a desktop with 3 GB of RAM

What is the least expensive vid card which will do Vista well? I have a PCI E-16 slot.
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
What is the least expensive vid card which will do Vista well? I have a PCI E-16 slot.
End of quote


I have and recommend the Nvidia 8600GT 256mb DDR3, it supports Aero/Dreams and is not too expensive. It's worth looking into, now the 8800 series cards are coming down in price, there are some good - great deals on the 8600GT to be had. :)
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
What is the least expensive vid card which will do Vista well? I have a PCI E-16 slot.
End of quote

If you haven't ordered it yet, Dell has an upgrade to the card Starkers is refering to for $100.00. I just bought the wife a new system for Christmas with that card in it.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

If you haven't ordered it yet, Dell has an upgrade to the card Starkers is refering to for $100.00.
End of quote


There ya go, werewolf... CarGuy just mentioned one of those good deals. If you can go that way, a 100 bucks isn't a bad price for an 8600GT. :)
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
thats a very good price......... i recently bought nvidia gforce 7600 for my upgrade to vista.
.....Which reminds me, I have a great link that will help i think........ill start a post about it.
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I've got an 8500GT w/ 512mb ram. Got a really good deal on it. Paid around $129.00 for it.....
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
ahhh or should I say AAAAAAGGGHHHHHH.... ;)

already ordered it. I saw the upgrade and just couldn't bring myself to go for it. Sometimes I wish I weren't so cheap LOL.

The new machine is coming Tuesday, so I guess I shall see.

Just checked out that card online. Tiger has it for $119, but I noticed that it only has digital and S-Vid outputs. My monitor has an S-input and analog input. No digital.

Does S-Vid work well on an analog LCD monitor?
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Most come with a digital to analog adapter so you should be set.
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
ahh that's cool. didn't see that in the package contents. will check again.

I certainly appreciate your help and comments :)
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Brand name is all but I think EVGA has a lifetime warranty.
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top


Brand name is all but I think EVGA has a lifetime warranty.
End of quote


What do you mean by "Brand name is all..."?
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Same card, different names. EVGA has a lifetime warranty.
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thanks CarGuy, for all your advice. At Newegg, the EVGA was a 12 month warranty, but this whole thing may be moot. The new box arrives tomorrow (12/11) and we shall see. I have to prepare this box for my kids so, hopefully, after all the proggie installations, I will write back here and let you know how the 8300 works out.
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
you should do fine, i run 7800GT and 2 GB ram and run vista ultimate... everythings just fine other than the typical bugs in the operating system, you'll be fine...
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I would either go with the Radeon HD 3850 and 3870 graphics cards or the Nvidia's GeForce 8800 GTS.these are some kick butt cards.
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If anyone is still out there....

How's this card? It seems quite nice, but not very expensive:

Diamond Viper Radeon X1650 PRO 512MB PCI-Express Video Card
Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Diamond Viper Radeon X1650 PRO 512MB PCI-Express Video Card
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It's a DirectX 9.0c card and will not run Vista DirectX 10 games. It's old technology, a good card for an XP machine. If you're looking for Vista stick with ATI 2600 or 3800 series or Nvidia 8600 or 8800 series.
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
well, if he isn't running all those new games, it'll do just fine. my x1950xt pro 512 does just fine on vista ultimate 64. i may end up getting a 3870 card someday but i see no reason to hurry.
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
One of the things I'm trying to do is get my computer connected to my LCD HD TV without using a media extender.

My son has an Xbox360 which works really well, but he won't let me mount it permanently into our home theater system. LOL

There is a NVidea 8500 GT 512MB DX10 card which has TV out and something called a Breakout Pod, which sounds promising. It's $99 at our Staples.

Any other media extender I've found is around $100 anyway, so I could boost my video a bit by getting the 8500.

I'm not running games, just trying to stream movies
Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I wouldn't recommend anything below an 8800GT if your going to be gaming in DX10, matter of fact... I honestly wouldn't even bother with DX10 for nvidia or ati to be honest. The performance is still not up to par with where it should be by now.
Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
sorry... "I'm not running games, just trying to stream movies"
Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The 8600 will be fine then, someone above mentioned DX10 gaming and the 8600 wont be very good in that department. But since you arent gaming it should be a perfectly fine card.