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A hardware noob requires your assistance

S

sufood

Junior Member
I read anand casually but am not a hardware geek and am not particularly up to speed on the unlimited techno mumble jumbles going on with video cards and the seemingly unlimited marketing schemes and model names. However, I need to buy two video cards and was hoping for opinions from smart people (that'd be you.)

1) My own system is a 3ghz Dell Optiplex with PciExpress. I've checked around as much as I can and, to keep things below $350.00 or so, it seems I'd have to go with a 6600GT. Only 128mb and not a particularly ultra high end card, right? Is there a better option? I'd spend $350.00 but the higher end stuff seems.. VERY high end for us PCIE people. Half-Life 2, World of Warcraft, etc I want to really shine on this system if at all possible.

2) The woman's computer. She plays lower end stuff but still ventures into some 3D games like WoW and whatnot. She's got good ol' AGP and I'm willing to spend about $200.00 on her. It needs to be able to play all the upcoming stuff I mentioned above, just not at the same level.

I know this is kind of vague but any help would truly be very appreciated...

Thanks guys!
 
6600GT will do fine for your PCI-E needs. It's between midrange and high-end.

As for that woman, I'd suggest ATi Radeon 9800 Pro or XT. That card will last long enough. 🙂
 
The 6800GT and Ultras should be coming out with a PCI-e version soon. That will fit your requirements for games. The 6600GT wouldn't be a bad choice either but you may not be able to play at 1280x1024 with 4xAA and 4xAF. If the card is available with a 256Bit interface, get that and avoid the 128bit. From what I've seen the PCI-e 6800 and 6600GT are 128bit but that may be the only choice right now.

For your lady, an ATI 9800 Pro would be a good choice or you could wait until the 6600 or 6600GT's come out for AGP.
 
$200 range will get you a 9800 Pro, or even a 6800 OC ($250 at Outpost.com). You could also venture into the FS/FT forum here to get a used card for less than retail.
 
Originally posted by: Squally Leonharty
6600GT will do fine for your PCI-E needs. It's between midrange and high-end.

As for that woman, I'd suggest ATi Radeon 9800 Pro or XT. That card will last long enough. 🙂
Click to expand...

I would wait for the PCIe upgrade and spend $400 for a 6800GT PCIe. The 6600GT is squarely mid-range, no between mid and high end about it. Early SLI tests show that 2 6600GT's in an SLI configuration don't even perfrom as well as a single 6800GT.

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2258

Good recommendation for the woman's computer. The 9800Pro is the best card to be had for $200.
 
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