Can someone explain gt/gs/hdr/sm3

[you2]

Ok -- I've taken a year off from video cards and all the terms have changed. Can someone explain what the basic terms are such as gt,gs,hdr,sm3, ...

Basically I'm looking to upgrade my 9800pro (agp) in my 2ghz amd system so I can play some of the newer games (obvlion, fear, ...). I'll probably build a new system in 9 months when amd settles on ddr2 so this is just a stop gap. I like to get the best bang for the bucks with the greatest improvements over the 9800pro without spending a fortune - but it is hard for me to gauge since I'm so unsure about the terms (gt,gs,hdr,sm3,...). I'm notsure if a 6600gt is as good as a 6800gs as a 7600gtx - i'm not even sure if I want hdr since i don't know what it is !!!!

And yes i'm clueless so please don't be too harsh

 

[necro007]

Well okay here goes,...

Frist off:
gt:- thats just a name of a GeForce card, eg. 6600GT,6800GT,7800GT....

gs:- sameas above, eg.6800GS, 7300GS

Again thouse listed above are diff models of the Geforce cards.

2nd:

hdr:-High Dynamic Range, What is HDR.

3rd:

sm3:Shader Model 3.0 <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.elitebastards.com/page.php?
<b">pageid=4136&head=1&comments=1">What is sm3.</a>

Most people say that sm3 will make games look better and most of the newer games will use it.

4th:

6800gs vs 7600gtx : I think you mean is a "6800GS vs 7800GTX/7900GTX", so far to my knowledge of a video card called 7600GTX.

AS for bestbang for buck, how much are you willing to spend?

Well thats sums it up.

 

[you2]

Thanks necro - from your comments and some of the other threads it sounds like I should go with 6800gs for around $200 given that my processor is only 2.2ghz and my current video card is 9800pro. Anything more and my system probably won't be able to take advantage of it and anything less and it won't be much of an improvement over the 9800pro. Does that sound about right to you (or anyone else reading this thread?)

 

[AzNPinkTuv]

y7ep

 

[humanure]

yeah 6800 or maybe a x800gto

 

[you2]

What's the trade off between the 6800 and the x800gto and how much faster are they over the 9800pro ? (I guess the x800gto doesn't support hdr/sm3 but is other wise faster than the 6800?)

 

[JeffMD]

x800 isnt noticeably faster, an x850(xt? I forget the highest suffix for it) would be faster, but don't shrug off SM3. Many games these days are taking advantage of SM3, not only for special effects like HDR, but shadows because it is better and faster.

 

[you2]

hum so the 6800gs is not much faster than the 9800pro? Should I just stick with what i have until i upgrade the system ?

 

[tuteja1986]

6800gs can beat the living crap out of an 9800pro, even the 6600gt can too

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2277&p=3

 

[blatherbeard]

I threw away my Ati 9800 in favor of an Nvidia Geforce 6800gt and was not dissapointed. Even with a crappy compaq pc that i threw memory, a powersupply and the gt at it still runs Morrowind Oblivion on High graphic settings with a rez of 1280x1024.

And thanks to everyone who kicked me in the butt about the powersupply. (you may not remember it but i do) lol

 

[you2]

how much faster do you think the 6800gs is over the 9800pro for games like fear and oblivion? From the graphs it appears around 50% @ 1280x1024 - does that sound right to you? (my monitor is 2001fp so i run it in 800x600 or 1280x1024 - system too slow for 1600x1200)

 

[BassBomb]

you have 2.2 gzhz cpu? if thats an amd one then you should still be pretty well off, if its intel then oh dear

 

[you2]

Its an amd. Are you saying I'd be pretty well off with the 9800pro i have or pretty well off upgrading? Do you think a 6800gs will be much more than 30% faster on games like fear and oblivion?

(trying to gauage if it is worht $200 to upgrade as a stop gap until i build a new system in 8ish months).

 

[dug777]

It's an XP not an A64 i assume tho?

I have a 2.1Ghztbred-b, and while it is well matched with my 6600GT, i would honestly not bother with a much more powerful GPU. I'm hanging in there for a decent CPU (probably a dual core opty on the asrock agp/pcie mobo) before i throw any more cash at gfx cards. But then i am only gaming at 1024 so ymmv...

 

[you2]

Ok that's what i fear'ed. It is a tbred. So I guess you all are recommending i stick with the 9800 pro until i do the upgrade. The reason i'm holding off on the upgrade is I want to wait until amd settles on ddr2 then give a couple of months for prices to drop. I figure the new system will be around $1000 and be 2x the current system in game perf. Had silently hoped I could get a big boost with the 6800gs on my current processor.

 

[dug777]

Originally posted by: you2
Ok that's what i fear'ed. It is a tbred. So I guess you all are recommending i stick with the 9800 pro until i do the upgrade. The reason i'm holding off on the upgrade is I want to wait until amd settles on ddr2 then give a couple of months for prices to drop. I figure the new system will be around $1000 and be 2x the current system in game perf. Had silently hoped I could get a big boost with the 6800gs on my current processor.

Don't get me wrong, you will. You'll just still have the same CPU limited minimum fps. I personally would wait and do the whole thing in one go, especially because buying a new AGP card right now is a mugs game...but that's just me.