Larian Studios Forums Divinity - Original Sin Divinity - Original Sin - General What video card should I use?

I backed this on Kickstarter last year, but haven't touched the beta. I'm thinking about getting a new video card in preparation for this release and the wave of upcoming Kickstarter RPGs(Wasteland/POE/Dead State/etc.).

So, any recommendations from people that have played the beta?

What is working well?

What's the best value in terms of cards that are working well with Divinity?

Any issues with overheating with any particular cards?

I want it to look nice and play smooth and fast.

What do you have now?

Desktop or laptop?

How much money can you spend?

Upgrading current PC or buying a whole new one?

I'm at work right now- don't remember all my system specs off hand, but

Desktop
8 GB system RAM
AMD - Radeon something card with 1GB RAM (no fan)

Just looking for a good video card, not going to buy a new PC.
I'd like to spend less than $200

I wasn't expecting this, or other similar style kickstarter games, to require much in the way in system specs.

Do you want to be able to play the latest AAA releases as well?

I find this can be a helpful reference when choosing a new card Tom's Hardware - Graphics Card Performance Chart

D:OS is running perfectly fine with max settings in 1920x1080 on my old radeon 4870.

@Robcat - Yeah, I was hoping the same thing. Would have loved to be able to play these games on my laptop, but I do want a smooth experience.

I'm sure I can play it with my current setup, but just figured I'd see what has been working well. I can afford a minor upgrade.

That might work. You certainly have enough RAM.

Have you played any other 3D games?

Once you know what kind of card you have just check it on one of the many 3D card charts all over the internet and see where it falls. Then just move yourself up the chart into the $200 territory. Then of course you have to actually find the card, buy it and install it. If your card doesn't have a fan you probably need an upgrade anyway. Even these isometric games are going 3D now, like PoE and others.

I was actualy surprised how well is Original Sin optimized. I'm playing it on laptop that is more than 3 years old and it wasn't all that powerful even back then. Sure, I have to play it on medium, but no performance issues so far.

I think your right. So far I haven't had any problems. Age of Wonders 3 however gave me fits, and this is on a PC that plays Skyrim at max settings and HD mods.

Pretty much anything in the $150 to $200 range will work just fine.
AMD R9 270 is a great bang for buck card.
Nvidia 750 ti runs great on low wattage systems.
AMD 7850 is an older model but at a great price. Still performs.

Make sure to verify your power supply has enough power and connectors first.

I'm running a Radeon 7850 myself, and it works great. Mind you, I usually just run at my 32" LCD TV's resolution of 1360x768. I can interlace to 1920x1080, but I don't most of the time, because it makes the screen darker, then I have to adjust the brightness.

Visit tomshardware guide, they do a round-up of the 'best graphics cards for the money' every month with different price brackets to suit every budget.

Sounds like D:OS isn't very taxing on the system.

my current setup is Radeon HD 7870XT with 8 GB Ram (2 Stick) ,

play DoS 1080P resolution with most of setting on High. work flawlessly...


but a few days a go, i have a random BSOD problem with my computer.

so i replaced some component with the older model
downgrade the RAM to 4 Gb (1 stick) and use Radeon HD 7770

DOS still playable with this setup, a little FPS Drop at city center area, but overall works great