A Pixel Shader question?

Question

I think I need to upgrade my graphics card to use Pixel Shader 3.0 which is required on a new game I have recently purchased. I currently use a radeon x850 series [x1900DS ] on a ATI PCI Express Motherboard. Do indeed need to upgrade on the hardware side on things? If so, then to what recommend graphics card?

Answer 1

You've got a pretty powerful card w/ outdated Shader version. A significant upgrade would be ATI X1900 XT. It has faster core and memory clockspeeds. Memory bandwidth is 30% higher.

BUT consider also a DX10 card such as the Geforce 8800GTS. It is faster and supports Shader 4.0.

Answer 2

If you need pixel shader 3.0 then you are stuck needing a new video card.

The major difference between the Radeon X... and the Radeon X1... series is the pixel shader (and the main difference between the Geforce 6 and 7 series).

Any of the Radeon X1... (or better) or Geforce 7/8 series will have pixel shader 3.0

As you have a good card already getting a Geforce 7300 or Radeon 1300 will be a big letdown. It will have the right pixel shader but no speed to do the games.

Depending on your needs my choices would be:

Nvidia 7600GT or 8600GT/GTX at the $120+ price range
Radeon X1650 or X2600 in the under $100 price range
Radeon 2900HD or Geforce 8800GTS in the $300 range

of course if money is no object the 8800GTX ultra rocks, but who has $550+ lying around

In the deep bargain bin variety the Radeon 2400HD or Geforce 8400GS both have pixel shader 3.0 and can be had for less than $50 (got my 2400HD for $39 after rebate)

Answer 3

You better believe it will!! The ATI Radeon HD4730 supports pixel shader 4.1 and DirectX 10.1 and everything below it. Including pixel shader 2.0.