Need a Graphics Card with Min XNA specs

Question

I just ran a tool and it appears my card is not complient. I was ready to give up Beta'ing this app but then saw some of the cool stuff people are doing, so I gotta get me a card.

Do any of you guys have a link you can reccomend for the least expensive graphics card that should meet the requirements to develop with the express app?

If you know the specific brands/models likely to be the most resonably priced that would be usefull information as well.


Thanks in advance for any reccomendations.

Answer 1

Pretty much ANY 3D graphics card that you find on a retailers shelf (that hasn't been there for 3+ years) will be compliant.

The truth is, if your graphics card is too old, then your entire system is probably too old, and you might as well replace the whole thing.  Just double check what type of video bus your motherboard has before buying a video card.

Answer 2

Jurak wrote:

The truth is, if your graphics card is too old, then your entire system is probably too old, and you might as well replace the whole thing.

hardly, most branded pc's you buy in the shop today will not support XNA.

They usually come with an intel onboard graphics solution, which dont support pixel shaders at all.

 

Answer 3

Even Intel supports pixel shader since the last generation. The newest chips are technologically state of the art. But unfortunately still slow. One of the reasons why Intel have join the club may be Windows Vista which requires pixel shader 2.0 support for the new desktop.

Answer 4

ATI's X1300 supports the latest shader model (SM 3.0?), but you'll have to scout around to find one that supports AGP, if that's what port your PC has. And I wouldn't worry too much about the speed of PC - unless you about to embark on writing a physics engine I doubt that will hold you back.

Answer 5

I didn't say anything about "branded pc's", just 3D graphics cards you find on the shelf.  I would like to see one current 3D card on the shelf that doesn't support XNA.  Xna is built on Direct3D 9.  A current card that doesn't support Direct3D 9? Unlikely.

Now once the Xna foundation moves over to Direct3D 10, who knows?

Answer 6

I beleive anything from Geforce FX5200 up, and Radeon 9800 (maybe the 9600 series, but not sure about that) up is shader 2_0 compliant, and will work for XNA.

Answer 7

X-Tatic wrote:

I beleive anything from Geforce FX5200 up, and Radeon 9800 (maybe the 9600 series, but not sure about that) up is shader 2_0 compliant, and will work for XNA.

9600 should be fine, they support 2.0.

Answer 8

I would go for a Geforce 6XXX card. It supports Shaders 3.0. The ATI 9 series is only 2.0 compliant.

Answer 9

I can't run any XNA samples (many graphic gliches), but Call Of Duty runs fine on my pc...