Help Please

[imported_JJJJ]

Hey there, I have a yesterday system and like to play games. Mostly first person shooters. I have about $200 to kill and would like some suggestions. I don't play a lot but like games to look good and movies as well. Thanks
2.8 p4
1g ddr
40 gb
ati 9600se

 

[mwmorph]

agp or sli?
either way though, id go 6600gt.

 

[imported_JJJJ]

agp, I was looking at the ati 9700 pro. or 9800

 

[mwmorph]

6600gt will be faster at any resolution. just search 6600gt review on google.

as for 9700pro, you can get it for about $100 used.

 

[imported_JJJJ]

where did you find the 9700 for 100

 

[mwmorph]

used. ebay or for sale/trade forums. my friend picked on up fro 108.50 shipped from ebay 3 weeks ago.

 

[imported_JJJJ]

thanks, I'll check out the 6600

 

[2Xtreme21]

Make sure it's a 6600GT, though. The 6600 will perform about as well as your 9600se does now.

 

[imported_JJJJ]

one more ?, does the bits make much of a difference. as my card now is only 64bit, then there are 128 and 256bit cards?

 

[mwmorph]

yes. it's memory bandwith. how much memory it can move between memory chips and gpu is important.
difference is quite large. around 10-25% for 64 to 128 and 128 to 256.

 

[imported_JJJJ]

so would you go with an ati or nvidia card? I am looking around right now and it is giving me a headache! so you think the 6600gt will show me the biggest performance gain? thanks once again

 

[Wolfshanze]

The 6600GT will give you the biggest performance gains across the board for that price point, and something nobody else has mentioned, it will also support more features then any 9700 or 9800 card will, since the 6600GT is fully DX9.0c compliant in hardware. You will get more "special effects" with the 6600GT then the Raedon cards you mentioned.

As for memory-bits, 256 is better then 128, but not as important as overall chipset architecture... I went from a GeForceFX 5900 (256bit) to a GeForce 6600GT (128bit) and my benchmark scores from 3DMark05 basically trippled!

For $200 bucks, the 6600GT is a value hard to skip... just realize there are two versions of the 6600GT PCI-E and AGP... make sure you get the right one for your motherboard (presumeably AGP).

 

[imported_JJJJ]

ok thanks, but now which one should I be checking out? gigibyte/xfx/albatron,etc.?

 

[Malak]

Originally posted by: Wolfshanze
The 6600GT will give you the biggest performance gains across the board for that price point, and something nobody else has mentioned, it will also support more features then any 9700 or 9800 card will, since the 6600GT is fully DX9.0c compliant in hardware. You will get more "special effects" with the 6600GT then the Raedon cards you mentioned.

As for memory-bits, 256 is better then 128, but not as important as overall chipset architecture... I went from a GeForceFX 5900 (256bit) to a GeForce 6600GT (128bit) and my benchmark scores from 3DMark05 basically trippled!

For $200 bucks, the 6600GT is a value hard to skip... just realize there are two versions of the 6600GT PCI-E and AGP... make sure you get the right one for your motherboard (presumeably AGP).

Explain what the 6600GT will support that my 9700 Pro won't, besides the useless shaders 3.0? And your 3DMark score tripled because the geforce FX line sucked.

 

[imported_JJJJ]

so malak, you would save a $100 and go with the 9700pro instead of the 6600gt

 

[mwmorph]

fx was one of the worst lines in recent computer history.

besides the 128-256bit only applies for same model. for ex 9800pro 128bit sucks a lot more than 9800pro 256bit.

 

[Wolfshanze]

Explain what the 6600GT will support that my 9700 Pro won't, besides the useless shaders 3.0?

Do I detect some jealousy?

First of all, you answered your own question, because it's quite obvious 9700Pro owners don't get to see everything 6600GT owners can see in a game, like a lot of the special visual effects in Far Cry and Doom3... sorry, you don't get them with a 9700Pro. Secondly, the rendering process on the 9700Pro is old-fashioned compared to what the 6600GT does, so things just run smoother/faster on a GT. Don't get all worked up because your card doesn't support all visual effects and start trashing others simply because you don't get the same effects. Argue all you want about the price points, but feature and speed ability the 6600GT defeats the 9700Pro on all counts. The 6600GT will also "last longer" then a 9700Pro in features and game speed... if he saves a few bucks now, he'll be wanting to replace his card all the sooner next time around.

your 3DMark score tripled because the geforce FX line sucked.

Okay... combine your two quotes and it's clear you're an ATI fanboy... I understand you now. I'm just trying to recomend a good card for a good pricepoint to JJJJ that he won't have to replace all the sooner because some ATI fanboy recomended a card already missing features that other cards have.

JJJJ... if you want to go with a 6600GT, here's a few options of the AGP GeForce 6600GT. Some folks around here seem to have "issues" with XFX cards, so that might be a company to steer clear of... otherwise, go with whatever tickles your funny bone.

If you want to save money, you can listen to malak, but realize your card will be slower, you won't have full DX9.0c support and you'll probably be asking which card to upgrade to even sooner then you would be if you had bought a 6600GT instead.

 

[mwmorph]

BFG is usually one of the better companies. though their cooling solutions can be a bit loud. MSI is good too.

 

[Wolfshanze]

Well, BFG is VERY good (that's what I have in my system, BFG 6600GT OC), but they're a bit more then the other brands... I was trying to stick close to his $200 price point... but YES, BFG has been very, very good to me!

Everyone keep saying the BFG cooler is louder... honestly, I haven't noticed (but maybe my case fans are drowning out the video card fan). Perhaps one's ears have to be more sensitive, but I haven't noticed any pickup in system noise since going with the BFG 6600GT OC.

 

[CraigRT]

I'd go with a 6600GT as well.
eVGA, or BFG are the top brands.

 

[mwmorph]

MSi has great customer service.

 

[imported_JJJJ]

ok, I seem to like what you have to say. So I think I am going to try out the 6600gt. One last question about the card, is there a difference or should I say any real benefits of having 128MB or 256? thanks

 

[mwmorph]

256 helps out usually a lot at higher resolutions but with a 128bit memory bus, 256 wont help too much.(about, maybe a little more than 5-10%)

 

[Wolfshanze]

The chipset on the card is more important then the amount of memory... a better chipset with less memory will always beat a crummier chipset with more memory.

Obviously if the chipset is the same, more memory is better, but as for the GeForce 6600GT, as far as I know, there aren't any that come with 256MB, so the choice isn't difficult; and I can assure you a 6600GT with 128MB will beat any inferior chipset card that has more memory.

Good luck with your new card!