Graphics card for a new gaming rig

[jgbishop]

I'm building a new computer for gaming purposes, and I'm wondering what to get in the graphics card department (it's been a while since I've looked at video cards). Here's are the components I've chosen so far for my rig, for the sake of context:

• ABIT IP35 Pro Motherboard
• Intel Core 2 Duo E6850
• G. Skill 2GB DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) RAM
• (2x) Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 250GB Hard Drive
• Corsair 620W Power Supply

Last I knew, the NVIDIA 8800GT cards were the best "bang for the buck" cards, but that was a while ago. What do folks here recommend I go with for the above setup? Here are a few other points that may be helpful:

• I'm willing to spend up to $325
• Typical games I play: Team Fortress 2, Oblivion, COD4, Silent Hunter 4, Half-Life 2, etc.
• I'm not planning on doing any overclocking
• Ideally, something that runs cool would be nice (but after-market cooler suggestions are certainly welcome; I currently use a Zalman VF-900 and I love it)

Any and all suggestions are appreciated, and thanks in advance!

 

[happy medium]

8800gts for those games.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

happy medium, i just have to say i love my Rambus system P4 3.06 (533) hyper-threader

OP - depends what resolution you run at. I get between 30's and 80's in Crysis and I have a FX60 X1900XTX settings on medium to high. The only thing that slows me down is the Shadow level, don't know why, but these frame rates are achievable at 1280x1024 my lcd's native resolution. And on a side note, I play UT3, COD4... COD4 i see up to 200's with only the textures set to high, not extra, the rest is all low settings. But I'd be a little more satisfied with a newer card; just waiting for the 4870's. So, can you also tell us what resolution you will be running?

P.S. no AA in any of the games

 

[Piuc2020]

Go with a custom-cooler 8800GT like the MSI one at NewEgg or the Zalman Gigabyte one at ClubIT.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Originally posted by: Piuc2020
Go with a custom-cooler 8800GT like the MSI one at NewEgg or the Zalman Gigabyte one at ClubIT.

:thumbsup:

 

[Acanthus]

9600GT is my gaming cure-all at the moment.

Not enough? SLI 2 of them.(i know you dont have an SLI motherboard)

The bang for buck is just too hard to pass up.

 

[Lithan]

Originally posted by: krnmastersgt

Originally posted by: Piuc2020
Go with a custom-cooler 8800GT like the MSI one at NewEgg or the Zalman Gigabyte one at ClubIT.

:thumbsup:

:thumbsup:

You could go $40 cheaper and get a 9600gt, but at your price range, I don't see the point.

I DO have a 9600gt and Max HL2 and TF2 are no problem (DX9), can't speak for the others, but I suspect that at least in COD4 a 8800gt would let you run higher details than a 9600gt.

The advantage 9600gt has right now is that the cheapest one available comes with upgraded cooling, whereas on 8800gt's a card with upgraded cooling is an extra 15$ or so. But you're also likely getting a better warranty and smaller MIR, so both sides have their advantages.

 

[Jax Omen]

How much does the 6850 go for now? It might be a better idea to pick up an 8400.

I'm getting the 8800GTS (G92), but I also ordered a 1920x1200 monitor, so...

From what I understand, the breakdown is something like this:

<16x10: 9600GT
16x10: 8800GT
19x12: 8800GTS (G92)
25x16: lol no

 

[Lithan]

Your list is decent, but it depends a lot on games too. Unless I'm mistaken COD4 is the most taxing game you wanna run. (Don't know about SH4, but cant find benches for it anyway).

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articl...gt-512gs_10.html#sect1

According to this place you made the right choice.

 

[jgbishop]

I'd like to play Crysis, if at all possible, though I know that it's quite a beast (so I'm willing to play with medium graphics levels). I'd play most of my games at 1600x1200, though 1280x1024 is fine (I still use an old NEC 22" CRT).

 

[phexac]

I would wait a few months and get 9900GTX. 8800GTS G92 is a great card right, but once the true next gen cards come out, it will be badly outclassed. I think 3 months is not too long to wait to get the kind of better performance that next gen cards tend to bring.

 

[badnewcastle]

Originally posted by: Jax Omen
How much does the 6850 go for now? It might be a better idea to pick up an 8400.

I'm getting the 8800GTS (G92), but I also ordered a 1920x1200 monitor, so...

From what I understand, the breakdown is something like this:

<16x10: 9600GT
16x10: 8800GT
19x12: 8800GTS (G92)
25x16: lol no

25x16: lol no<--- 9800 GX2 (for most games)

 

[Jax Omen]

fair enough, but at the price point where you can afford a 30" monitor, you can SLI 8800GTX and get better performance than the GX2 anyway.

 

[Magnulus]

Geforce 9600 GT is a good choice, and you can get them for around $160 dollars. The cooling solution is also modest, which is getting to be unusual in this day and age of multi-slot coolers (which I'm not fond of, but grudgingly accept), and the 9600's power consumption is very good as well for a high-performance video card. Midrange cards are always a better buy. They don't really get outclassed all that faster than the high-end cards, either, and you can afford to upgrade them more often.

8800 GTS would be good if you want anti-aliasing in alot of games. Note that alot of newer games won't run AA + high dynamic range lighting. It'll work in Half Life 2, but not in alot of other games. That's why I believe the 9600 GT isn't a bad buy. Most of the time my 8800 GTS, which I've had for about a year, goes to waste.

 

[OCGuy]

Why on earth are you getting the E6850? The E8400 is cheaper and better!

 

[andrei3333]

im am going to be getting a 8800 gts 512 and from what i have read it should kill everything on a 22" lcd with AA on except crysis...there is no point waiting for new hardware cause who knows when it will come out, who knows how much it will cost and who knows if the cards will get larger in size and not fit in some older cases

for me the dual cooler and the low price/high performance ratio of the gts is what makes more sense...put it this way, if you cant enjoy games that you play today with the amount of detail/resolution that you like then you need a card today, and no point of wasting time nto enjoying your PC and waiting for future h/w.. by that time your CPU and everything else will be out dated... you live only once dude, enjoy

 

[jgbishop]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31
Why on earth are you getting the E6850? The E8400 is cheaper and better!

I have since changed my plans, and will be picking up the E8400.