Help me pick a video card?

[Rike]

See edit additions!

Here?s what I?m looking at:

Leadtek 6800 GT Winfast A400 GT TDH 256MB AGP8x VGA/DVI/TVout (Retail)

BFG GeForce 6800 OC 128MB

Leadtek nVIDIA GeForce 6600GT Video Card, 128MB GDDR3, 128-Bit, AGP 8X, Model "A6600 GT TDH" -RETAIL

Here?s what I have:

A7N8X Deluxe revision 1.04 (1008 Bios)
AXP 2100+ unlocked T-bred @ 12.5 x 185
SP-97 Heatsink 92mm fan w/ Arctic Sliver 5
2x512Mb PC3200 Patriot CL2-3-2-5
Antec 480W TrueBlue
4200Ti 64MB 8xAGP (needs to go!)
WD 80G 8MB PATA
Samsung RW Combo Drive
Fan Master Fan bus
XP Pro SP2

Yes, I?m a gamer. My strongest leaning is towards the BFG to get the 256-bit memory bus. I might try unlocking the extra pipes but I?ve heard that unlocking pipes is about a 50/50 proposition and some people have fried their cards.

I?m also looking for a card that can migrate with me when I?m finally able to move on to an A64 rig. Whatever I don't spend now goes towards a new mobo, cpu, hard drive, and OS in 6-12 months.

Suggestions and other options are welcome. Oh, and if anyone would like to help me on price, I?m in CA so I pay 7.75% more in sales tax for CA based vendors (including Newegg )

And yes, I?m ready to pull the trigger!

EDIT: The situation has chaged some what because of new information. As I mention at some point later in this thread, I've build a rig for my father-in-law. As follows:

Asus AV8 Deluxe
A64 3500+ 130nm
2gigs PC3200
XFX 6800 128MB

It's stable and score 8937 in 3dMark03.
Dropped the 6800 in my machine: score 8593 3dMark03. That equals more than a 500% increase in my scores. Meaningful?

Should I drop $300 for the video card only and bank $300 or upgrade the mobo, cpu, and vid card (6600 GT only option in budget).

What say you?!?

 

[rammstein junkie]

first of al its 8.25% tax in cali and if you gonna seve the rest of the money for a A64 rig then get the 6800 or the 6600gt cept *some* leadtek boards use the coustom cooling and are ingeneral more expensive so look at some other manufacturers too... *edit: wow those arnt bad prices on those leadtek boards i gotta look into that*

 

[fstime]

The GT is in another ballpark, id go with that.

 

[ts3433]

I think you're wrong on the tax, rammstein. Newegg charges your local rate (for me, 7.875%; Fresno County) and ZZF charges all CA customers 8.75%. [EDIT: meant as a clarification, prompted by an above post, not as a thread hijack...]

obligatory [prompted by subsequent post] </OT>

Depending on what kind of A64 rig you're planning on, try the 6800 or 6800GT.

 

[Rike]

Originally posted by: ts3433
I think you're wrong on the tax, rammstein. Newegg charges your local rate (for me, 7.875%; Fresno County) and ZZF charges all CA customers 8.75%.

Depending on what kind of A64 rig you're planning on, try the 6800 or 6800GT.

This is not supposed to be a thread on CA sales tax! Different counties have different local sales taxes on top of the statewide base rate of 7.25%. And I wonder what ZZF does with the % difference for those counties with a lower rate?

Anyway, back on topic. How about those video cards?

Any mobo/A64 I would be able to afford would most likely be a 3200+ 939 nforce4 ultra.

 

[rammstein junkie]

here its 8.25 (san jose)

 

[shinotenshi]

I would say dont' upgrade save your money, your in no mans land right now. you would need to get an AGp which is dead, no matter what people tell you. intel, ATI and nvidia are killing it. second amd is relagating its 754 to mans land, which means its going to get the left over chipsets. i would just save all your money and get everything at once.

 

[ts3433]

If you're going NF4 Ultra (PCIe) that soon, I feel your best short-term option may be a used 9700 Pro or 9800 Pro. That way you have a little extra to help you get an X800 XL or something later (this PCIe-only card is supposed to provide performance near the 6800GT at ~$300, probably unseating it as the high-end value king in GPUs).

Sorry about my flagrant violation above, I'll have it baleeted if you want.

 

[Rike]

No worries ts3433.

I really wish I could get myself to wait, but I've already been waiting for a year to upgrade. HL2 on 800x600 with low rez textures and DX8 rendering path just isn't doing it for me.

 

[ts3433]

If 10x7 or 11x8 (possibly medium details) is okay with you, I think a 9700 Pro would be perfect for a stopgap solution. They can be found pretty inexpensively used, usually $100-$120. They'll still give acceptable levels of playability with current games.

 

[Rike]

Know any good sources?

 

[Rike]

Ok I'm going to buy! I found the BFG GeForce 6800 OC 128MB for $259 shipped. Link
Really good reason I shouldn't?

 

[ts3433]

Maybe this (the lifetime rating's so-so, and they haven't been reviewed in the last 6 months). Aside from that, possibly to save more to get a better card when you go NF4U.

To find a 9700 Pro, check FS/FT here, eBay, or similar.

 

[Rike]

Yeah, I read those too.

I think I'm going to go insane!!! Heart says, "Yes! Buy it, it will be fun!" Mind says, "Hold out just a little longer." AAAAAAHHHHH!!!

I'm going to go build my father-law-in's computer now. Be back later when sanity has returned. :frown:

 

[Rike]

OK, I'm alright now. I think I can wait a while longer. Maybe I can scrape together a bit more money and build a new system. It's soooo close, I can taste it!

 

[drpootums]

i have the leadtek 6800Gt...well, had...it ended up going bad on me after 3 days, and when i RMA'ed it to newegg it was outta stock so they just gave me my money back...

Before it went bad it was an excellent card. I got 10,900 in 3dmark'03. It was very quiet, and the temps were quite low.

And being i dont wanna go through the ordering process again, i think i'm just going to my local BB and get the BFG one!

 

[howdyduty]

As a gamer, you just gotta have one

That BFG looked nice. I think you would be very happy with it on your system upgrading from Ti4200. CPU at near 2300ghz should push it nicely.

 

[Rike]

I was so close to ordering. All I had left was to hit enter and it was mine. ts3433 talked me out of it. I'm so close to a full mobo, cpu, vid card upgrade. I'm going to wait a bit longer.

It's killing, but I'm waiting.

 

[techwanabe]

Has anyone noticed how the cost has risen significantly on "better" video cards? It used to be that you could get a very good performing video card for around $200 give or take. Now it seems you have to approach $300 or more to achieve the same goal. Is there a racket going on or am I missing something? The most I ever spent on a video card was $180 and that was when the Voodoo 3 3000 was hot off the press. Heck, for a while you could get a very adequate card for under $150 with the GF4-ti4200. Since then it seems prices for that kind of performance (for it's time) has shot up quite abit.

 

[Zebo]

Leadtek 6800 GT Winfast A400 GT TDH 256MB AGP8x VGA/DVI/TVout (Retail)

Or check this out good trader too
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...16&amp;highlight_key=y

 

[Rike]

Thanks, Zebo. That is a good deal. But now Quino and I are on the same mission. nForce4 and maybe an X800 XL if i can swing it. Just need a little more money.

 

[Zebo]

thats your best bet... wish ida waited too...

 

[Rike]

A repeat of my edit for a bump. . .

The situation has chaged some what because of new information. As I mention at some point later in this thread, I've build a rig for my father-in-law. As follows:

Asus AV8 Deluxe
A64 3500+ 130nm
2gigs PC3200
XFX 6800 128MB

It's stable and score 8937 in 3dMark03.
Dropped the 6800 in my machine: score 8593 3dMark03. That equals more than a 500% increase in my scores. Meaningful?

Should I drop $300 for the video card only and bank $300 or upgrade the mobo, cpu, and vid card (6600 GT only option in budget).

What say you?!?

 

[Rike]

One more bump to see what people think.