couple of amatuer video card questions

[MarcwithaC]

ok im a gamer who knows very little about video cards and is in the process of upgrading..................

1. what is anti-aliasing and should i keep it on and how does it help the performance of a game?

2. i know that i get better graphics by raising the resolution level, should i do this through my desktop settings or through the game settings im using when changing the resolution, or both.

3. when i do buy my new video card in 2 weeks, im going with the radeon 9800 pro, if i dont raise my resolution above 1024 x 768 am i cheating myself out of better graphics or will i still see a major perfomance boost from my crappy geforce 2 mx 400 card?

i know the questions are a little jumbled and may make no sense but any help will be appreciated. also if any other tips you have about boosting my graphic performance on my computer, please add them..........
thanx

[tony_j15]

1)Antialiasing takes those jagged edges on things and smooths them out.
2) You probably will want to change the resolution in game, since you probably will run the games much higher than you have the desktop set at.
3) regardless of the resolution, you will see a major improvement. Still, the higher the res the better.

[MarcwithaC]

wow thanx alot..........................how much i love the effeciency of this board......................only place in the world where you ask a question and get an answer in minutes

[dlh75]

You will see a HUGE difference in performance when you change from a GF 2 mx to the ATI 9800. Much better card. The 9800 should handle all the performance tweaks turned on with no problem like higher resolutions and AA. BTW what is your PC specs that this vid card will go in. Just curious.

[ShawnD1]

I would have to disagree with tony about the resolution settings. Just set the resolution to whatever looks good. Take the game Half-Life for example. If you set the resolution at the lowest which is like 400 x 320, it looks terrible but if you set it at something like 1024 x 768, the text size of chat messages is so small that you can barely see it on a 19" monitor.

[tony_j15]

Which do you disagree with, #2 or 3?? Until I know, one comment should do. Lets keep things in context, who would run a game at 480x320??? As for 1024x768 on desktop, I see it just fine so that must be a personal preference thing.

[Omardeth]

gonna go with tony here . he is right on the money . the resolution really depends on your monitor and your eyes . some can't see the text some can . i know people that run at 1600 and love it i can't see text at that res . i myself like 1024 on my 19'' monitor . 1280 the text gets alittle small . but rememeber the higher you turn the res the slower the card will go . but with a 9800 pro i don't think you will have any speed issues at anything 1280 res or under. the only speed issues you will have with the 9800 pro is in open gl type games . the ati doesn't do as well in those games . but there aren't many of them so it isn't a big deal .

[MarcwithaC]

my specs are

pentium 4 2.0
512 megs o ram
400 mhz fsb
thats all thats important, not a bad computer but the video card blows..........................

[sunxiaol]

Get the 9800, you'll notice the difference from your Geforce2 MX400 immediately. I just upgraded from a 9000 PRO to a 9800 (non-pro) and the difference is really amazing, more than I thought it would be.

[MarcwithaC]

yea im doing that, just waiting till for my birthday next week lol.................................the worst part about that statement is that im 25 years old