Finally time for a new card

[Korporativ]

Well, after a few card setbacks(card and some ram frying and not enough to replace other card with an upgraded one AND get new ram), Its finally time for me to upgrade my videocard. I'm looking for some good reccomendations for a card around $250. I'm willing to go as high as $300 if it really gains me that performance, i'm just mainly looking for a card that will last me a while. I'm not a huge ATi fan, so someone had reccomended a 256-meg 6600GT to me, does anyone have any opinnions? Currently my motherboard only supports AGP 8x, I'd rather not make it a huge ordeal of ugprading the motherboard also just to get PCIe. But again, if the feeling is that it will last me much longer, that may be an option.

Also, I recentlyr eplaced 2 case fans and suddenly i'm hearing this high-pitched whining noise from my case. I've eliminated the fact that it could be any of the case fans by opening up the side of the case, and keeping them unplugged. I also got the noise when I unhooked my heatsynch fan(though I didnt let it sit unspun for long... because I was a little worried about the processor). I'm assuming the whining is coming from the fan in my power supply, but am not sure exactly how to test for this. With the new card, i'm thinking that I may need more power anyway. I'm currently using a 300watt antec powersupply.

 

[imported_zoros]

I have also been looking for a new graphic card and after all the tests I decided to buy a 6600GT.. In different comparisons this card has good performance, and not costing too much.

 

[Korporativ]

Yeah exactly. I would have just gone with a 9800pro since they're fairly cheap and saved for a PCI-express and motherboard etc. upgrade next year... but I have always had severe problems with ATi. I just picked up a BFG 6600GT because I was already at Fry's picking up a new power supply. Anyone have any opinnions on the BFGs before I break open the box and go to install it tonight? lol.

 

[Spike]

I really like my BFG 6800 GT, it is a great card. My impressions of the company is that they make some quaility stuff. That is probably why they sell out pretty fast.

Just out of curiosity, did you make sure your 6600GT was AGP and not PCIe? I don't know how common AGP 6600GT's are so you might want to take a look before breaking that open...

-spike

 

[maxcom]

interesting thread

 

[Korporativ]

Yeah its AGP8x from Fry's here for $249... with tax around $271. Thing is, I found a 6800 thats actually in stock(ghasp! so many are out of stock!) for $279 shipped. No tax and shipped for only 8 dollars more, if the 6800s are that much better... tempting to hold off breaking this one open. The 6800 is a BFG aswell.

Lets see if I understand this...

6600 pros:
- NV43 instead of NV40 on the 6800. This means at least some of the GPU flaws with WMV and MPEG decoding are fixed.
- Seems to have faster memory speeds.
- Rumored to have slightly higher graphical quality.
- Actually has slightly faster processing(maybe related to memory?)

6800 pros:
- 256-bit compaired to the 6600's 128-bit
- default 12 pipes instead of the 6600's 8, can perhaps be softmoded to 16 pipes.

Did I miss anything? any misconceptions?

 

[LoneWolf15]

Even if the flaws are fixed on the NV43 for video, they still aren't enabled in the drivers. All Geforce 6 owners are currently screwed on this, whether the hardware on their board works or not.

As for the 6600, it may only have 8 pipes, but it has GDDR3 RAM, which allows it to keep up until you turn on heavy AA/AF. The 6800 is a better deal provided you can get it at the same price; if you can't, it's a tougher call. Personally, I think the 6600 will be a great deal once the AGP version moves to PCIe pricing of $175-200; currently at $230-250 it's overpriced. BB and CUSA have had deals on the PNY and BFG 6800 cards respecitvely, whidh after rebate puts them in the $200-240 range.