Best mid-range gaming card now?

[blackangst1]

Time to replace my aging 6800 GT haha. Looking for something in the $250 range (or so). I do a bit of audio/video encoding and gaming. I was looking at the BFG 7950 GT OC 512 for $249...seems pretty good...

Whatchu guys think? Here's my specs:

ASRock 775 Dual VSTA mobo
Intel C2D E6600 @ 2.8
2 gigs DDRII mid range memory
Viewsonic 22" widescreen flat panel
Rosewill 500w power supply with the following specs:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type ATX12V v2.01
Maximum Power 500W
Fans 1 x Silent 120mm Ball-bearing Blue LED Fan
PFC No
Main Connector 20+4Pin
Dual +12V Yes
PCI-E Connectors 1 x 6Pin
SLI Support No
Modular Cabling Support No
Hold-up Time > 16ms
Efficiency > 70%
Over Voltage Protection +3.3V, +5V, +12V1, +12V2
Input Voltage 115/230 V
Input Frequency Range 47 - 63 Hz
Input Current 10A/ 5.5A
Output +3.3V@30A, +5V@45A, +12V1@18A, +12V2@16A, -12V@1A, +5VSB@2.5A
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

[Munky]

You could get a 8800gts 320mb for about $250, which is the fastest card for that price. For under $200, there's the x1950xt, which is still faster than a 7950gt.

 

[Geomagick]

While the 7950gt is a pretty decent card, for a mere $50 more you can get an 8800GTS 320MB which will be quite a bit quicker.

Depending on what games you play the 8600gts can be had for less than $200, although the 7950gt is usually faster.

 

[blackangst1]

Seems I read people were underwhelmed by the 320mb 8800 (although a few months ago)...so it actually fleshed out to be a pretty decent card?

 

[incompleteunit]

Originally posted by: blackangst1
Seems I read people were underwhelmed by the 320mb 8800 (although a few months ago)...so it actually fleshed out to be a pretty decent card?

I don't think so - the 320Mb version plays pretty decently as long as you don't hit really high resolutions and a lot of AA. I think people were really underwhelmed by the 8600 though, which seemed to leave too much of a gap between it and the 8800 parts.

 

[Phlargo]

I think that the 8800GTS 320 is a great bargain - but it runs a little hot. At $99, that BFG 7900 GS was an awesome mid-range value.

 

[Flammable]

x190xt

 

[Noema]

The 8800GTS 320MB should blow that 7950GT right out of the water, not only in performance but IQ as well.

Get it!

 

[blackangst1]

Well it looks like I cantr do the 8800GTS. The EVGA card lists a requirement of 26 amps on +12v rail. My power supply is listed at 18a.

/sigh

I really dont wanna have to buy a new power supply just for a video card.

 

[chazzzer]

A 7950GT was available at Newegg last month for $150 after a $30 rebate, so $250 is way out of line. There have been several deals on the 7900GS lately, ranging from $99 (at Fry's, and they sold out instantly twice) to $130 after rebate. That card isn't all that much slower than a 7950GT, especially if you overclock it...and there's a lot of room to overclock most 7900GS cards. Another good choice is the X1950GT. I've seen them as low as $110 after rebate, and they can be overclocked a lot too. The X1950PRO is the same card with a factory overclock, but it costs more (of course) and cannot be overclocked further at all from what I understand; You're usually better off getting the GT and overclocking it yourself to run faster than the Pro.

I don't know of any great deals on these cards at the moment, but the month is young and the rebates should start showing up again soon. This is also the last month of the fiscal quarter at most companies, so they want to offer good deals so they can ship a lot of product and make their stockholders happy. Expect big rebates and sales, especially in the last couple of weeks of this month.

Here's a good site for checking out the differences between video cards:

http://www.gpureview.com/show_...hp?card1=443&card2=445

That link will show you the differences between the 7950GT and the 7900GS, but you can choose any card to compare to any other card. Look for the Memory Bandwidth, Shader Operations, Pixel Fill Rate, Texture Fill Rate and Vertex Operations; the values on the faster card are in bold text. Some cards will also show you the 3DMark06 scores, while others won't. It's usually best when comparing nVidia to nVidia or ATI to ATI, as bigger numbers in some of these areas don't necessarily equate to better performance as compared to the other brand...they just do things differently.

 

[blackangst1]

Thanks for ther great info Chaz...very helpful. I'll check out that site.

Even loioking at the 7900GS, Im going to have to get a new power supply. Although the watts are there, my rails just wont support the newer cards at 18A on the 12v rail. Even the 7900GS lists 22A as minimum. Bah. Oh well.

I'll keep an eye out at Fry's near me for a deal.

 

[Acanthus]

8800GTS at that price range.

It will stomp the hell out of a 7950.

 

[evolucion8]

Bear in mind that when a videocard asks for a certain amount of amps in a 12V line, are when combined. That means that if a X1950PRO asks for a 30A 12V line and your PSU has only 18V on 12V1 and 16V on 12V2, that makes a total of 34A combined, and those videocards comes with a PCI-E to 2 molex power connectors that will allow you to use two different 12V rails. There's no PSU currently in the market that carries more than 26A on only one 12 Rail. Look at my case, my Antec 500W has 2 rails with 19A on 12V1 and 17A on 12V2, and is able to feed the power hungry Radeon X1950XT with no issues. (I'll change this PSU soon anyways). And I currently have no issues, even worse that is combined with my power hungry P4EE. You should be okay with your PSU, but I'd recommend you to get a better PSU, Rosewill is not a very famous PSU maker.

 

[SVG223]

Your good for a 8800gts, you have 34 amps on the 12v rail.
+12V1@18A, +12V2@16A add them.

Dam dial-up!!!

 

[mazeroth]

You could definately use a better power supply (the rest of your computer is very nice) seeing how Rosewills aren't well-renowned for power supplies. However, I'm sure you'll be just fine with the amp rating on the rails of your power supply. Remember, you have two rails of power and not one, so it distributes the power and not just one rail is being used for your whole system.

 

[blackangst1]

damn double post

 

[blackangst1]

/blush

Thanks for the schooling on rails lol I didnt realize that was for combined. Even though I knew it had 2 molex connectors I didnt put 2+2 together haha

Yeah I know a better power source is in line eventually; however, in all honestly I have had zero issues with it, and when I got it 3 or 4 years ago it was a beast

Thanks for all he input. I think I'll splurge a little and get the 8800GTS 320MB. Hopefully they'll go on sale at Fry's soon...I have a $200 credit there so need to use it

 

[coldpower27]

Originally posted by: blackangst1
/blush

Thanks for the schooling on rails lol I didnt realize that was for combined. Even though I knew it had 2 molex connectors I didnt put 2+2 together haha

Yeah I know a better power source is in line eventually; however, in all honestly I have had zero issues with it, and when I got it 3 or 4 years ago it was a beast

Thanks for all he input. I think I'll splurge a little and get the 8800GTS 320MB. Hopefully they'll go on sale at Fry's soon...I have a $200 credit there so need to use it

There is also another issue you need to address, the DUAL-VSTA doesn't support the 8800 Series, it requires too much power and nees normal PCI-Ex x16 slots found on standard mobos.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: coldpower27

Originally posted by: blackangst1
/blush

Thanks for the schooling on rails lol I didnt realize that was for combined. Even though I knew it had 2 molex connectors I didnt put 2+2 together haha

Yeah I know a better power source is in line eventually; however, in all honestly I have had zero issues with it, and when I got it 3 or 4 years ago it was a beast

Thanks for all he input. I think I'll splurge a little and get the 8800GTS 320MB. Hopefully they'll go on sale at Fry's soon...I have a $200 credit there so need to use it

There is also another issue you need to address, the DUAL-VSTA doesn't support the 8800 Series, it requires too much power and nees normal PCI-Ex x16 slots found on standard mobos.

That could be a potential problem since it only has Pci-e x4 slot instead of the recommended x16.

 

[JimiP]

Originally posted by: blackangst1
Well it looks like I cantr do the 8800GTS. The EVGA card lists a requirement of 26 amps on +12v rail. My power supply is listed at 18a.

/sigh

I really dont wanna have to buy a new power supply just for a video card.

You have a dual rail PSU. +12V1@18A and the other +12V@16A. That gives you a combined amp rating of 34. Which (please correct me if I'm wrong) is sufficient enough to run an 8800GTS.

-Edit, Sorry guys, just noticed someone else already explained this.

 

[trake1]

The ASRock VSTA does support the 8800gts and it is listed in their VGA compatability matrix, so OP is good to get an 8800gts.
Also OP power supply seems perfect.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/vga.asp?Model=775Dual-VSTA&s=

Home » Product » 775Dual-VSTA » VGA Support List
» Supported PCI Express VGA Card List for PCI Express Graphics Slot
NVIDIA Geforce 8600GTS MSI NX8600GTS/256MB 158.19
NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS MSI NX8800GTS/320M 158.19

 

[coldpower27]

Originally posted by: trake1
The ASRock VSTA does support the 8800gts and it is listed in their VGA compatability matrix, so OP is good to get an 8800gts.
Also OP power supply seems perfect.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/vga.asp?Model=775Dual-VSTA&s=

Home » Product » 775Dual-VSTA » VGA Support List
» Supported PCI Express VGA Card List for PCI Express Graphics Slot
NVIDIA Geforce 8600GTS MSI NX8600GTS/256MB 158.19
NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTS MSI NX8800GTS/320M 158.19

Oh, curious, this seems quite recent to me, lots of users were complaining about the lack of 8800 GTS 640 and 8800 GTX, seems the situation has improved a tad.

 

[2Dead]

Remember, for PSUs, you do not add the rails for the total amps it can provide. The +12V1@18A and +12V2@16A are the maximums that those rails can provide. The actual max amperage would be lesser than the 2 added up. Assuming the OP has this power supply, looking at the side of the powersupply, it shows that it can provide 31 a combined on 12V max

 

[blackangst1]

Originally posted by: TrandM
Remember, for PSUs, you do not add the rails for the total amps it can provide. The +12V1@18A and +12V2@16A are the maximums that those rails can provide. The actual max amperage would be lesser than the 2 added up. Assuming the OP has this power supply, looking at the side of the powersupply, it shows that it can provide 31 a combined on 12V max

That's what I have. And to address a previous post, I realize the PCI-E slot os only 4x, but thats fine for now. I've been upgrading one piece at a time coming from an AMD system. After my vid card, mobo is last. It's really been a great board for the transition.

Im still torn between the 7950 512, the X1950XT, and the 8800GTS. but I guess I'll decide when I decide lol.