Considering to upgrade my video card. Should I even bother?

[ibex333]

My budget is $250. I know that the best choice for just about any gamer right now, would be a G80, but I cant afford this thing, nor can I afford the system overhaul to use it.

Anyway... I need something that will hopefully last me through most of the next year.
My monitor's native res is 1280x1024, so I'm not looking to be playing at higher resolutions. What is my best choice, considering my system setup?

The games I'm playing are Oblivion(barely runs at all), Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (lags quite often), and Medieval 2: Total War(ok at lower res and med/low settings but looks like crap)
I will also be getting Neverwinter Nights 2, if that will run at at least medium settings.


I see the 7900GS being suggested to people fairly often, but I have serious doubts that this card will last me untill 2008.


When I got my 6600GT 2 years ago, it turned out to be such a damn good card, that I can still play most games on medium/low settings. Basically what I'm looking for is something that will last at least half as long as my old card.


If you think that no matter what I get right now in the $250 range will NOT last me for a year, be honest and say so. I suppose that is there's no good solution for me atm, I'll simply stop playing games(or catch up on the older ones I missed), and wait untill 2008, when I'll hopefully have enough $$$ to build a new system. $250 is not a joke for me, and I need it to be a worthy investment.

 

[happy medium]

This card is currently the fastest card at the $250.00 price point and will last you a year. It's at least 3 or 4 times faster then your 6600gt.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102067

EDIT: or grab a faster used card if you can

 

[ibex333]

Originally posted by: happy medium
This card is currently the fastest card at the $250.00 price point and will last you a year. It's at least 3 or 4 times faster then your 6600gt.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102067

EDIT: or grab a faster used card if you can

What about power consumption? wont my PSU choke on it?

 

[happy medium]

yea I looked up your psu it only has a 18 amp 12+ rail. Sell your 6600gt and power supply and grab a power supply with at least a 26 amp 12+ rail at 450 watts.

You should get at least 75.00$ for your stuff.

Edit : or grab a 200.00$ x1950pro..... Your psu can handle that. It's still 2 or 3 times faster.

 

[ibex333]

That's good advice. I'll try that. I see on newegg that this thing needs some kind of 6 pin power connector. I dont even know what it looks like... Can you please link me to some place where I can buy it?

 

[happy medium]

It should come with one??!!

 

[Captante]

Another vote for the X1950XT here ... thats a great video card for the money, but you will need to upgrade your psu as well.

 

[happy medium]

just in case here is one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812189120

What you do is connect 2 hard drive power cables to this.

 

[ibex333]

Originally posted by: happy medium
It should come with one??!!

There's a guy on newegg who says it doesnt. Can anyone confirm that it does?

 

[mozirry]

I have almost the exact same system as you, same vid card, same processor, same ram, playing same exact games.

I was personally going to tough it out until the Nvidia 8600GT's come out (they will be in the 200$ range I assume, and probably deliver performance above or at the Nvidia 7950 level, plus it will have DX10 capability)

However, with christmas coming and me getting a new LCD monitor with a high native res of 1680x1050, I have to upgrade my video card because theres no way I can play games at native res with medium effects.

I wanted to be as frugal as possible, but also see that I'm going to have to upgrade again here shortly when I go to XP Vista and then forced to buy a DX10 card. (maybe 1 or 2 years down the road)
My 6600GT won't last that long, but there are some good inexpensive cards that probably will.

I ended up choosing the 7900gs (7600GT wouldn't be bad, but the 7900GS has proven to be a significant step ahead that may have more staying power)

You can get a 7900GS as cheap as $150 with rebates (I recently saw one as low as $140.00 if you can tough the rebates) 7600GT can be found under $100.00

What this means is that you buy one of these cards now, play the games you currently play with high frame rates for this year, and maybe not so much next year, but then not feel so bad when you upgrade to a DX10 card that you are going to have to do eventually.


I would suggest getting a 7900GS or 7600GT and then wait it out as long as you can, then purchase an affordable and much much faster DX10 card.

(Table of probability)

x1950xt will be a solid DX9 card for 1 1/2 years
7900gs will be a solid DX9 card for 1 year
7600GT will be a solid DX9 card for 3/4 year

x1950xt costs $250
7900gs costs $160 (stomach the rebate lol)
7600GT costs $110


In 2 years, you will be able to find the the following cards (prediction)

8800gt costs $175
8600gt costs $110

Table of probability (advanced 2 years)
8800GT will be a solid card for 1 1/2 years
8600GT will be a solid card for 1 year
----------------------------------------

Add all this up, and honestly the 7600GT is the most level-headed purchase, but if you want awsome frame rates right now i would go no less then the 7900GS. You can get much better frame rates with the x1950xt, but if you look long term it is not the best purchase.

Possible Future Routes:
Purchase 7900gs now, purchase 8800gt later: total years of great frame-rates = 2 1/2 years: total cost: $335
Purchase 7600gt now, purchase 8800gt later: total years of great frame-rates = 2 1/4 years: total cost: $285
purchase 7600gt now, purchase 8600gt later: total years of great frame-rates = 1 3/4 years



obviously, your definition of "Great" is personal preference. For me, playing a game at medium resolution at 1280x1024, with all effects on and some AA and AF with 50-60 FPS is highly preferable. But if you desire something "outstanding" by all means go with the x1950xt

whatever you do, don't sell yourself short if you want a faster card

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: ibex333

Originally posted by: happy medium
It should come with one??!!

There's a guy on newegg who says it doesnt. Can anyone confirm that it does?

All the PCIe video cards I've purchased that require the 6-pin power plug have come with an adapter, however if for some reason this one doesn't it should be a pretty part to purchase... I'm pretty sure Comp-USA sells them & they are available online as well.

 

[happy medium]

Originally posted by: happy medium
just in case here is one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16812189120

What you do is connect 2 hard drive power cables to this.

Right here!!!! 3 bucks

4 posts back!

 

[ibex333]

Originally posted by: mozirry
I have almost the exact same system as you, same vid card, same processor, same ram, playing same exact games.

I was personally going to tough it out until the Nvidia 8600GT's come out (they will be in the 200$ range I assume, and probably deliver performance above or at the Nvidia 7950 level, plus it will have DX10 capability)

However, with christmas coming and me getting a new LCD monitor with a high native res of 1680x1050, I have to upgrade my video card because theres no way I can play games at native res with medium effects.

I wanted to be as frugal as possible, but also see that I'm going to have to upgrade again here shortly when I go to XP Vista and then forced to buy a DX10 card. (maybe 1 or 2 years down the road)
My 6600GT won't last that long, but there are some good inexpensive cards that probably will.

I ended up choosing the 7900gs (7600GT wouldn't be bad, but the 7900GS has proven to be a significant step ahead that may have more staying power)

You can get a 7900GS as cheap as $150 with rebates (I recently saw one as low as $140.00 if you can tough the rebates) 7600GT can be found under $100.00

What this means is that you buy one of these cards now, play the games you currently play with high frame rates for this year, and maybe not so much next year, but then not feel so bad when you upgrade to a DX10 card that you are going to have to do eventually.


I would suggest getting a 7900GS or 7600GT and then wait it out as long as you can, then purchase an affordable and much much faster DX10 card.

(Table of probability)

x1950xt will be a solid DX9 card for 1 1/2 years
7900gs will be a solid DX9 card for 1 year
7600GT will be a solid DX9 card for 3/4 year

x1950xt costs $250
7900gs costs $160 (stomach the rebate lol)
7600GT costs $110


In 2 years, you will be able to find the the following cards (prediction)

8800gt costs $175
8600gt costs $110

Table of probability (advanced 2 years)
8800GT will be a solid card for 1 1/2 years
8600GT will be a solid card for 1 year
----------------------------------------

Add all this up, and honestly the 7600GT is the most level-headed purchase, but if you want awsome frame rates right now i would go no less then the 7900GS. You can get much better frame rates with the x1950xt, but if you look long term it is not the best purchase.

Possible Future Routes:
Purchase 7900gs now, purchase 8800gt later: total years of great frame-rates = 2 1/2 years: total cost: $335
Purchase 7600gt now, purchase 8800gt later: total years of great frame-rates = 2 1/4 years: total cost: $285
purchase 7600gt now, purchase 8600gt later: total years of great frame-rates = 1 3/4 years



obviously, your definition of "Great" is personal preference. For me, playing a game at medium resolution at 1280x1024, with all effects on and some AA and AF with 50-60 FPS is highly preferable. But if you desire something "outstanding" by all means go with the x1950xt

whatever you do, don't sell yourself short if you want a faster card

You make a very good point. IF I can find a 7900GS for $150 or less I'll get that, since there's not reason to pay $250 for a x1950xtx and drool over a 8600GT if it does happen to come out soon, and will cost around $200.

However, if I cant find the 7900GS for less than $200, I'll definately go with the x1950xtx since the extra $50 will give me a lot more bang for the buck.


Tell me... since you got the 7900GS... How is your system handling the above games? Do you play with at least 50% of all settings on high?

 

[mozirry]

honestly, i dont know yet because I had to ask for the card for christmas. =)

best I can say is look around at the benchmarks here at anandtech for an estimate of how fast the card is compared to the x1950xtx and other cards

Most of the benchmarks do high quality settings with no aa and with aa (oblivion is always one of the benchmarked games)

 

[happy medium]

Oblivion and Neverwinter Nights 2 will rape the 7900gs!!!! The x1950xt is 40 % faster

 

[mozirry]

this is just a tough situation because the x1950xt is a great card for the money, but on the horizon it looks like Nvidia's next generation cards may be on the level of when the radeon 9700 pro was released (a significant advance in technology)

check out this review for a pretty good breakdown of the best bang for the buck for a variety of budgets

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/12/12/...raphics_cards_for_the_money/page2.html

 

[mozirry]

Originally posted by: happy medium
Oblivion and Neverwinter Nights 2 will rape the 7900gs!!!! The x1950xt is 40 % faster

in almost all tests, oblivion has raped every card, even the 8800 series Nvidia cards can't destroy it at full blast

 

[Sniper82]

Well I'd say next budget mid level DX10 cards is at least 3 months away. I am just wondering how they will compare to some of the higher end DX9 cards now? But it you just can't wait I'd go with the fastest you can afford now because games like UT2007 and Crysis will require powerful cards to run 1280x1024 on even low/medium settings I'd say.

 

[CrystalBay]

Much Higher minimum frames in oblivion ,Radeons rule, even my 165.00 asus 1950pro kills 7900gt
in shader heavy situations...

 

[Captante]

Originally posted by: mozirry

Originally posted by: happy medium
Oblivion and Neverwinter Nights 2 will rape the 7900gs!!!! The x1950xt is 40 % faster

in almost all tests, oblivion has raped every card, even the 8800 series Nvidia cards can't destroy it at full blast

Hmmm ... on my 8800GTX I'm running Oblivion currently at 1600x1200 with every setting maxed out + HDR/AA + the large textures mod (forgot the name) & I virtually never drop below 60fps, while with my X1900XTX in the identical system these settings were borderline-unplayable dropping to 12-15 fps.

Having said that, of the cards you are considering the X1950XT is a lot faster then any of the other options & is a great deal for $249... if you need to save a few bucks you could step down to an X1950 Pro for about $200, but the GS is going to be a larger dropoff in performance then you think.

 

[chansigrilian]

just bought a (used) 7900gtx for $260 shipped. thought that was a pretty good deal, there is another one in the fs forum for $275 shipped.

my old 7600gt ran nw2 decently however at 1280x1024 on mostly high with some medium settings, so if you are looking for a moderately economical solution that would be the way i would go. a 7900gs is also a good option altho the bb sale is over so online (read:newegg or something similiar) is your best choice there.