better values? mid-range game cards

[vtohthree]

With all the nitty gritty markets out there(GTO/XL, GT/GS) which one is to choose from? I like all the choices they have, don't get me wrong... but it does make it harder to choose from, especially how the prices on everything have been rather chaotic. oh darn, I"m late for work, gotta leave now... but just wanted to start a discussion on the currrent best bang per buck's out there....haha, sorry to cut it short.. ttyl everyone

 

[nitromullet]

If you're looking for the best bang for the buck without modifying the card and have PCI-E, I would recommend a 6800GS. If you are all into flashing the BIOS etc... go with a Sapphire X800GTO^2.

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/127/1

 

[Wentelteefje]

Yep, the 6800GS is the fastest at stock speeds, plus it does have nice overclocking capacities... Trying to make a list of the ones you could be meaning...

7800GT > 6800GT ~ X800XL ~ 6800GS > X800GTO > X800GT > 6600GT

For around $ 300, your best bet is a 7800GT, around $ 200 it is an unlockable X800GTO² (or maybe a 6800GS...), go any lower, and you should take a regular X800GTO...

 

[Munky]

The absolute best bang for buck is a connect3d x800gto - about $170 and can be unlocked and OC'd to x850xt speeds or faster. But not all of them unlock, especially lately many cards from newegg did not unlock, so if you want to get that one, buy it from monarchcomputer or some other place besides newegg. I got mine from monarch about a month ago, and it works better than I expected.

 

[nitromullet]

This XL might actually be a decent bet as well. It's used, but it's cheap from a reputable vendor.

http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant...=PROD&Store_Code=M&Product_Code=190665

 

[Eureka]

That looks nice...

However, I'd say the best one as is would be the 6800GS, then you have the x800GTO and GTO2 which may be unlockable... but that you have to do some modding.

Norm

 

[deepred98]

Originally posted by: Wentelteefje
Yep, the 6800GS is the fastest at stock speeds, plus it does have nice overclocking capacities... Trying to make a list of the ones you could be meaning...

7800GT > 6800GT ~ X800XL ~ 6800GS > X800GTO > X800GT > 6600GT

For around $ 300, your best bet is a 7800GT, around $ 200 it is an unlockable X800GTO² (or maybe a 6800GS...), go any lower, and you should take a regular X800GTO...

aren't these in the upper-range
i thought the 6600GTs and X700s were midrange

jeez, i don't see how you guys can put so much money into a video card

 

[siredge]

I'm in a similiar boat, but I have a couple questions. I play online games like World of Warcraft (WoW). My new computer has an ATI (x200 I think?) onboard chipset that does the graphics pretty good, but it can't handle densly populated areas where there are lots of things to render. I have been told this is because I don't have enough RAM (128 MB shared). I misunderstood when I read the specs for the computer and thought I was getting a seperate 128MB graphics card, but that's neither here nor there at this point. So first question: does the diagnosis I was given sound plausible? Second question: so I want to upgrade to a 256MB card with dedicated video RAM. Is the ATI X700 (PCI-Express) a good choice? I'm trying to keep this inexpensive. 3) What off brands (non-ATI) are worth buying? My brother said he is relatively happy with his Sapphire because the price was good and he's only had to replace the heat sink twice. Am I crazy for thinking I shouldn't have to replace the heat sink? Last, will adding a seperate video card make it so I'll need a case fan?

Here's my computer: http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=eMachines_T6412

 

[Eureka]

$200 is midrange. 6600GT and x700XT (well, if it came out) were the mid-range kings when they came out... both priced at around $200. Now they've become relatively lower-end, while 6800GS and x800GTO are the midrange... which is odd because now they're giving them a very powerful overclocking range. Then upper range is 300 and beyond.

Norm

 

[Eureka]

Originally posted by: siredge
I'm in a similiar boat, but I have a couple questions. I play online games like World of Warcraft (WoW). My new computer has an ATI (x200 I think?) onboard chipset that does the graphics pretty good, but it can't handle densly populated areas where there are lots of things to render. I have been told this is because I don't have enough RAM (128 MB shared). I misunderstood when I read the specs for the computer and thought I was getting a seperate 128MB graphics card, but that's neither here nor there at this point. So first question: does the diagnosis I was given sound plausible? Second question: so I want to upgrade to a 256MB card with dedicated video RAM. Is the ATI X700 (PCI-Express) a good choice? I'm trying to keep this inexpensive. 3) What off brands (non-ATI) are worth buying? My brother said he is relatively happy with his Sapphire because the price was good and he's only had to replace the heat sink twice. Am I crazy for thinking I shouldn't have to replace the heat sink? Last, will adding a seperate video card make it so I'll need a case fan?

Here's my computer: http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=eMachines_T6412

Good man, you bought a very nice computer with room to upgrade.

Now, x700 is not worth it... get the 6600GT if you need a nice card, it's $120 AR at newegg.com now. However, I'd think you should get the eVGA 6800GS for about $210, it's a very good deal.

And no, you shouldn't have to replace the heatsink unless you want to do modding work yourself. If you even have to replace the heatsink once because of problems, I think there is something wrong.

Norm

 

[vtohthree]

Alrite I just got back more or less, wow, thanks for the posts guys. Yeah I wanted to spend around $200 dollars on a video card, but realistically I'll be paying $250 give some...and at the point I mind as well just pay $300 for a 7800GT CO from evga.

I don't mind doing some minor tinkers and tweaks to get OC's, but right now, I don't feel like changing fans or other things that are even more extreme(such as soldering perhaps). I've heard a lot about these GTO cards unlocking, but I don't know what is involved to make them turn into X850XT's(which I think I can get for around $250 btw.)

heh, so when it comes to it, I guess I'm trying to spend the least as possible(even $100 more in my pocket would make my week, heck make that month!)... but my philosophy goes, "ya buy it once, ya buy it right"..if possible.... hence $300 bucks for the 7800 might get me further down the road rather than say... a x800xl??? Not sure.


edit* I just read that article that one of the posters put here, and now I know that "modding" this card just involves a bios flash more or less... I'm willing to touch that.. but of course I'm assuming I"ll need to beef up the cooling to run this safe. we'll see...we'll see

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: siredge
I'm in a similiar boat, but I have a couple questions. I play online games like World of Warcraft (WoW). My new computer has an ATI (x200 I think?) onboard chipset that does the graphics pretty good, but it can't handle densly populated areas where there are lots of things to render. I have been told this is because I don't have enough RAM (128 MB shared). I misunderstood when I read the specs for the computer and thought I was getting a seperate 128MB graphics card, but that's neither here nor there at this point. So first question: does the diagnosis I was given sound plausible? Second question: so I want to upgrade to a 256MB card with dedicated video RAM. Is the ATI X700 (PCI-Express) a good choice? I'm trying to keep this inexpensive. 3) What off brands (non-ATI) are worth buying? My brother said he is relatively happy with his Sapphire because the price was good and he's only had to replace the heat sink twice. Am I crazy for thinking I shouldn't have to replace the heat sink? Last, will adding a seperate video card make it so I'll need a case fan?

Here's my computer: http://www.emachines.com/products/products.html?prod=eMachines_T6412

A new video card will not help lag in densly populated areas in WoW. Whoever told you this does not know what they are talking about. The reason you have lag in densly populated areas (the cities, especially near the action house) is because of network traffic. Even with a 7800GTX SLI rig, I would get lag in Orgrimmar. That being said, that onboard chip should probably be upgraded if you want to do any gaming, I just don't want you to spend $200-300 on a new card and get disappointed because you get lag in Ironforge (I'm guessing you play Alliance, because the Horde know this)

 

[siredge]

You know, that's funny, because I was playing Horde when the guy told me to upgrade my video card. And it's Org that I lag out in. Haven't played Alliance enough to have visited IF. Anyway, question (I don't just want to talk about WoW.. I think) remains- who makes decent off-brand cards?

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: siredge
You know, that's funny, because I was playing Horde when the guy told me to upgrade my video card. And it's Org that I lag out in. Haven't played Alliance enough to have visited IF. Anyway, question (I don't just want to talk about WoW.. I think) remains- who makes decent off-brand cards?

I was just teasing about the Alliance thing, there are nice poeple and idiots on both sides in Aseroth. The PC that you8 have has a PCI-E x16 slot for video cards, so you can pretty much pick from the best value cards out there. AGP cards are starting to get overpriced.

My recommendations for you are either a 6800GS card for a sweet price/performance ratio out of box, or a Sapphire X800GTO^2 if you don't mind doing a bit of BIOS flashing and overlcocking. The procudure for modding the X800GTO^2 is probably more than most people wil want to do, but the option is there. Read up and know what you are getting into before buying into this. A good place to start is here:

http://www.techpowerup.com/articles/overclocking/vidcard/127/1

...welcome to AT forums btw : )

 

[L00PY]

siredge, two non-answers to your questions:

1) Since your on-board graphics is ATI, dropping in an ATI card will be the most painless upgrade. Same Cats and probably nothing you need to update or download.

2) The longer you wait, the better an upgrade you can get and the more choices you'll have. Case in point? If you're going budget, where does ATI's X1600 Pro fall into the picture when it's priced at $130? Or the X1600XT at $180? Given that those retail prices and street prices actually seem to be matching now, how does the picture change if you lop $30 off those prices?

Of course there's the school of thought that it's pointless waiting for the next gen card to be released since there's always another next gen card out there.

And this Inq article seemed to come to the same conclusion as others in this thread. To paraphrase, probably the best value nVidia card now is the 6800GS 256MB. A diffcult one to make sense of is the X800GTO2 256MB -- the overclock / BIOS hack skews the value of the card.

 

[vtohthree]

How much better is the X850XT over the X800XL? I've heard so many mixed things about the two, for example, clock per clock supposedly the x800xl is more efficient then the x850xt, but at the same time, the 850 is marketed as a higher product...I ask because I think I saw the x850xt on sale at microcenter for $249.99 after mail in rebate.