Please help a graphics cards newbie !

Thank you.

I have found out that the "gaming PC" (it's the one with the broken card) has onboard graphics, too.

I've downloaded the driver, and now I can at least do some maintenance work (like Windows Update) on it until I've got a "real" graphics card.

I'm writing these lines from that PC.
 

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Cool. Then maybe you want to sit it out until you can afford a slightly more expensive card. The MSI 7850 OC Silent PCG tested a few days ago seems a fine card, for example. This thing has just the 20% more I wish my card had.
 
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Well, I'm still a bit undecided and busy gathering more information. According to my plan I've got 1 week to go, after that I'll decide whether I'll wait a little bit longer or purchase what I consider to be good enough.

What I still don't know, however, are the capabilities of this onboard graphics chip.
 
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What I still don't know, however, are the capabilities of this onboard graphics chip.

Slightly better than a typewriter. Older Intel integrated graphics were notorious for their low performance.
 
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I already guessed so.
I never heard anything of better abilities than for pure office PCs.
 
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I would hold out if you can. Just be sure the power source is adequate for the higher end card you looked at. You don't want to settle and then have some new shinny come out that you can not play.
 
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Yes, I'm more leaning towards waiting right now - since I see that the PC is at least to some degree "playable" with the onboard graphics.

Which means that I'll at least wait until the announcement of the next NVidia card - then I'll decide how to proceed further.

Fittingly, the current issue of my favourite PC magazine, the c't , has a test of the whole ATI Radeon 77xx class.

I'm slow : The more expensive something is, the longer I take my time to gather as much information as possible regarding what I'm intending to buy.
Which can mean several weeks to a few months, depending on the prognosed / prognosted [ Denglish ;) ] / prediced price.
 
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Still haven't picked a card? With the time you've had to research you should be the foremost expert in the field.

Really though I think your over analyzing the whole thing.

1. Decide how much you can spend.
2. Decide wether you want nvidia to amd.
3. Pick the card in your price range.
4. Check out reviews, benchmarks and differences between brands.( which is usually negligible)
5. Decide if this card will fit your needs or if your better off waiting for better cards to drop in price or wait till you have more money to spend.
6. Never waste money on OC,SC,ETC. you can do that yourself for free if you want.

I've never spent more than a couple, three days deciding on a card there's just not that many choices but to each their own. Good luck in your quest.
 
I have decided to wait a little bit longer so that I'll have more money to spend in the end. ;)
 
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Probably a good idea. Typically for me my videocard is my most expensive component. Fortunately that doesn't have to be the case nowadays to get a decent card though.
 
Yes, I do hope so. I'm not intending to spend a fortune on that.
 
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Now I finally have a new graphics card (since yesterday) : An ATO Radeon HD 7850 by Sapphire.

It doesn't come without a price, though : My favourite game, Drakensang 2, has an texture/somewhat error which made me already regret I had bought an ATI card, because I never had these issues with my former NVidia-based cards : The beard of the market place baggar now hangs in the midst of his face !

Since this is my *favourite* game, this is almost like an insult to me. I very much regret having bought this card now. If I decide to go into an restaurant, trying out my *favourite* meal there, and they manage to spoil it, you can be pretty sure that i won't visit it again.

If I had decided for an Nvidia-based card, i wouldn't have had these isssues
(Although i must admit that since a few years ago, The Wsterner (English : "Wanted") and Star Wars Republic Commando were unplayable for me on my NVidia card due to bad drivers. Really unplayable !)

Attached is one screenshot of my problem, and PLEASE DON'T TELL ME that I would go over this ! Because I know that i won't, no matter how hard you'd argue :

Edit : Attached a second screenshot illustrating my problem.
 

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... And now my favourite Star Wars Battlefront I (the only shooter I play) map has a black ground instead of green grass textures ... *sigh*
 
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I assume you have the latest drivers and direct x. Also how long since a fresh install of windows?
 
There is no need to reinstall windows.
This smells as directx or card driver problem.

First make sure you install the latest Catalyst driver from AMD/ATI site:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

If that doesn't do the trick, browse the game disc (I know you like boxed versions) for directx redistributable installation and install that. You'll spot somewhere a folder named directx or a file called dxredist.exe or something like that.
Or install any game from Steam as their installations always update directx.
Or install with indirect setup from Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35
 
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There is no need to reinstall windows.
This smells as directx or card driver problem.

I reinstall windows every 6 months to a year. Probably overkill but it's quick and easy. Also I rarely ever run in to any of the many problems others have running games. There are very valid reason to reinstall windows periodically.

As for his problems I assumed driver related also that's why I asked if he had the latest drivers and directx. I believe he also is coming from an nvidia card and getting rid of all there drivers and regisrty entries can be a pain and sometimes require registry edits. Reinstalling windows might be easier and get rid of bloat that could be causing conflicts in his system.

Besides there's just something nice about a pc running a fresh install of windows.:)

First make sure you install the latest Catalyst driver from AMD/ATI site:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx

If that doesn't do the trick, browse the game disc (I know you like boxed versions) for directx redistributable installation and install that. You'll spot somewhere a folder named directx or a file called dxredist.exe or something like that.
Or install any game from Steam as their installations always update directx.
Or install with indirect setup from Microsoft:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35
 
As Sakichop stated, there might indeed be a conflict between Nvidia and ATI drivers if Alrik simply installed over the previous driver package. As an aside, I also tend to format and reinstall Windows every 6 months.

Alrik, I would recommend uninstalling your ATI drivers (and your Nvidia drivers are long-since uninstalled as well, right?), rebooting into safe mode, and then running Driver Sweeper to clean out the vestiges of Nvidia. After that, reinstall your ATI package. It's not as good as a full reinstall of Windows, but this may alleviate your problems.
 
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