Ok I have alot of different questions and despite alot of searching I cannot find the answers to some of my questions so here goes. I am running a E6300 machine overclocked to 3.2 Ghz with 2 gb of memory and I am running a 7600GT video card with a 21" Viewsonic CRT for a display. My wifes machine is a 3200 AMD with 1 gig of ram and she is running a 6600 GT video card and she will inherit my 7600 video card. Her machine is starting to show slow down so she needs a bit of a boost.
Now with the basic systems out of the way I am looking to boost my frame rates a bit, but I am really reluctant on spending $260 on a 8800 GTS. I am trying to stay under $200 and the cards I am looking at are the Ati 1950 pro 256 meg for $124, Ati 1950 Pro 512 meg $132, 7950GT 256 meg $160. I have even considered the 8600 GTS $155 even though it performs below the previous cards in most games. I have no desire to upgrade to vista so DX10 is not a concern so I have pretty much given up on the 8600.
My main question is even though the 1950 pro is about 10 fps off of the 7950 GT would the 512 1950 pro out perform or at least equal the 7950 256 meg card. What difference does the higher memory make? I have found few references to the benefits of more memory other then vague references to slightly better performance with higher resolution & AA settings.
My second question, is it even worth upgrading now or should i just sit tight and wait for the price drop to come for the 8800 GTS. I hate spending over $200 on video cards because it is the quickest component to lose its value, although $250 is about where I draw the line.
So any advice is welcome, and I also am considering updating my display to a 22" Widescreen LCD although I dislike LCD's. My Viewsonic is starting to go and it is hard to justify spending almost $100-150 more for a smaller CRT.
Thanks ahead of time for any help offered.
Now with the basic systems out of the way I am looking to boost my frame rates a bit, but I am really reluctant on spending $260 on a 8800 GTS. I am trying to stay under $200 and the cards I am looking at are the Ati 1950 pro 256 meg for $124, Ati 1950 Pro 512 meg $132, 7950GT 256 meg $160. I have even considered the 8600 GTS $155 even though it performs below the previous cards in most games. I have no desire to upgrade to vista so DX10 is not a concern so I have pretty much given up on the 8600.
My main question is even though the 1950 pro is about 10 fps off of the 7950 GT would the 512 1950 pro out perform or at least equal the 7950 256 meg card. What difference does the higher memory make? I have found few references to the benefits of more memory other then vague references to slightly better performance with higher resolution & AA settings.
My second question, is it even worth upgrading now or should i just sit tight and wait for the price drop to come for the 8800 GTS. I hate spending over $200 on video cards because it is the quickest component to lose its value, although $250 is about where I draw the line.
So any advice is welcome, and I also am considering updating my display to a 22" Widescreen LCD although I dislike LCD's. My Viewsonic is starting to go and it is hard to justify spending almost $100-150 more for a smaller CRT.
Thanks ahead of time for any help offered.
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