Man its hard to understand all these differant video card models.

[coolred]

My last card I bought was a 6600GT AGP version. I am now using a PCI express board with onboard video. The onboard is not even keeping my sims 2 looking peppy. I don't play a ton of pc games, with my last 3 being the sims 2, black and white 2 and age of empires 3. So I don't need a top of the line 600 dollar card. Heck i could probablly get by with an X300, but I want something that will hold me for at least a year if not 2. So I am thinking midrange, 150-300 maybe. But it is really hard to understand these models. Some of Nvidias models seems to be very close to each other if not overlapping. I mean 6800GS 7600GT which one is better, whats the differance?

My system is based on an Asus A8N VM-CSM, X2 3800+, 1GB Corsair PC 3200, WD 36GB Raptor, again the video is onboard from the 6150 chipset. So again I am looking for something mid to mid high end range, basically the sweet spot of price/performance/longevity. Any opinions wlecome.

 

[RichUK]

ahh i'm about to build a budget rig for a friends family. I'm going to be using that exact motherboard as a basis, can you tell me a little about your experience with it.

It would be much appreciated, just a quick blurb. I'd also like to know what the graphics is like with the 6150.

Thanks, and sorry for the OT

 

[RichUK]

Anyway back on topic, 7800GT/7900GT?

 

[Demoth]

It really dosen't matter if you play a ton of video games or not, it more matters which video games you plan on playing. Your post seems to indicate your into RP type games, thus you may want to play Oblivion at decent settings. Oblivion will be out very soon and is going to be the single best RPG ever made. In order to play this, you'd need a pretty high end vid card. The rest of your system is extremely high end so it would not make sense for you to go too low, especially along the lines of a X300.

The 7600GT is much faster then the 6600GT, in fact it is quite a bit faster then the 6800GS/GT. It is probably the best performance/price ratio card out at this moment, especially because you can get a decently factory overclocked model for $189.

If you think you want to go higher then that, your looking at approximately $100 more, and based upon your system specs, you should consider it. The Sapphire X1800XT 256 meg or the NVIDIA 7900GT (factory overclocked) are both almost equally nice in this category. The price of the 7800GT currently, even considering mail in rebates would not justify the performance difference between that and a 7900GT that is factory overclocked because the performance difference is major. A factory overclocked 7900GT is equivalent to a 7800 GTx 512 meg which was a $800 card just a few months ago.

 

[coolred]

Originally posted by: RichUK
ahh i'm about to build a budget rig for a friends family. I'm going to be using that exact motherboard as a basis, can you tell me a little about your experience with it.

It would be much appreciated, just a quick blurb. I'd also like to know what the graphics is like with the 6150.

Thanks, and sorry for the OT

Can't say much about it. Haven't had any problems with it. Its been very stable. The video is fine, it did even manage to run the sims 2 until i added some of the expansions and you get to the areas where there are like 12+ sims on the screen at once, then it slows down into a slideshow. Not much else to say about it.

Well one other thing of note, not sure if it applies, but the NIC is not recoginized in Fedora Core 4 with the default kernel, and the SMP kernel does nto seem to work with it either. There are fixes for this, and if your using windows or another version of linux, then you fine, just thought I owuld let you know just in case you planned to use FC4.


Also is one brand of card better then the other?

 

[RichUK]

Thanks for the info, its very much appreciated.

Right now a BUMP for the masses, common people don?t be shy!!!!

I believe the 6800GS to really be a budget card, and not really a card that is classed as mid to high end, or a card that will pull its wait for that long (if your looking at a 2 year life from it). So I would dismiss this straight away.

Personally I would be inclined to suggest the 7900GT, here in the UK it is very well priced and I can imagine that in the US it is priced similar. This card will suffice comfortably, I believe for your needs for the next two years easily.

But considering where you are coming from (onboard 6150), it would be either a 7900GT cost permitting, or the new 7600GT card which is extremely well priced. I?m not totally sure on the performance from the 7600GT, but what I do know is it should wipe the floor with the 6800GS and be very well priced at the same time, as it is in the UK.



EDIT: With regards to your question to which brand of card, I am more partial to BFG due to their quality of build and warranty / customer service.

Some people suggest EVGA which are supposed to be as good as if not better than BFG, but that is just preference, and I can?t comment since in the UK EVGA is not available. I believe EVGA have a step up program, but m unsure on how this works.

XFX was a brand of card to stay away from if I remember correctly, this was because of their woeful customer service. But I don?t know what they as a brand are like now.

In order from best to worst IMO, are as follows, and the top four are very good brands:

1. BFG Technologies / EVGA
2. Leadtek / Gainward
3. Asus / Point of View
4. XFX

Hope this helps.

 

[Tig Ol Bitties]

Originally posted by: RichUK
XFX was a brand of card to stay away from if I remember correctly, this was because of their woeful customer service. But I don?t know what they as a brand are like now.

They are a whole LOT better now and their cards are just as good as any EVGA, BFG, or LeadTek card. I have both a LeadTek and XFX 7800gtx in SLi and i love them both equally.

To the OP, you're getting the exact same answers here as in your exact same thread that you had in the general hardware section...either 7600gt for mid-range or 7900gt if you can spend a bit more than $300, but I guess coming to the video section to get more input doesn't hurt.

 

[StrangerGuy]

If Nvidia is bad enough, take a look at ATI "X" lineup:

X1900XTX
X1900XT
X1900 Crossfire
X1800XT
X1800XL
X850XT PE
X850XT
X850 Pro
X800XT PE
X800XT
X800XL
X800 Pro
X800 GTO2
X800 GTO
X800
X800SE
X700XT
X700 Pro
X700
X600XT
X600 Pro
X600
And many other X300 variants...

 

[Continuity28]

They really need a better naming system. X1900XTX is just silly for a name. :laugh:

 

[vois2]

You just can't beat the 7600 GT for price/performance ratio right now. ($190)
I bought the 6800 GS less than 60 days ago, and I so wish the 7600 GT had been available at the time I purchased the 6800 GS.

 

[coolred]

Originally posted by: Tig Ol Bitties

Originally posted by: RichUK
XFX was a brand of card to stay away from if I remember correctly, this was because of their woeful customer service. But I don?t know what they as a brand are like now.

They are a whole LOT better now and their cards are just as good as any EVGA, BFG, or LeadTek card. I have both a LeadTek and XFX 7800gtx in SLi and i love them both equally.

To the OP, you're getting the exact same answers here as in your exact same thread that you had in the general hardware section...either 7600gt for mid-range or 7900gt if you can spend a bit more than $300, but I guess coming to the video section to get more input doesn't hurt.

Yeah i actually posted here first, but I wasn't totally sure if it belonged here more then GH. I know this is the video forum, but I just wasn't sure if it was for asking about hardware as much as it was about tweaking/fixing video and all that stuff.

But your right, 7600GT if I don't want to o spend too much and 7900GT if I can tolerate that much, seems to be the concesus. Pretty much nobody has mentioned ATI(strangerguy just did)yet i have heard that nvidias image quality is slightly below ATI. I understand NV has ATI beat in the driver department especially in linux, but are there any other things that one has that the other doesn't?

I should have mentioned before, my monitor is a dell 1800FP. So native res. is 1280x1024. I've had it for a couple years now, but assuming it keeps on working, I don't see any reason why I would get rid of it. So I don't really need something that can play at 1600x1200 or better. It seems like the 7600GT can handle pretty much most games with quality settings at 1280x1024. So what does the 7900GT offer me at that res. that the 7600GT doesn't? I mean is 120fps, really that much more noticable then 70fps? I am not shooting down the idea of the 7900GT yet, I just want a bit mor einfo, so I can know why it would be worth it to me to pay the extra 100 bucks.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Originally posted by: coolred

Originally posted by: Tig Ol Bitties

Originally posted by: RichUK
XFX was a brand of card to stay away from if I remember correctly, this was because of their woeful customer service. But I don?t know what they as a brand are like now.

They are a whole LOT better now and their cards are just as good as any EVGA, BFG, or LeadTek card. I have both a LeadTek and XFX 7800gtx in SLi and i love them both equally.

To the OP, you're getting the exact same answers here as in your exact same thread that you had in the general hardware section...either 7600gt for mid-range or 7900gt if you can spend a bit more than $300, but I guess coming to the video section to get more input doesn't hurt.

Yeah i actually posted here first, but I wasn't totally sure if it belonged here more then GH. I know this is the video forum, but I just wasn't sure if it was for asking about hardware as much as it was about tweaking/fixing video and all that stuff.

But your right, 7600GT if I don't want to o spend too much and 7900GT if I can tolerate that much, seems to be the concesus. Pretty much nobody has mentioned ATI(strangerguy just did)yet i have heard that nvidias image quality is slightly below ATI. I understand NV has ATI beat in the driver department especially in linux, but are there any other things that one has that the other doesn't?

I should have mentioned before, my monitor is a dell 1800FP. So native res. is 1280x1024. I've had it for a couple years now, but assuming it keeps on working, I don't see any reason why I would get rid of it. So I don't really need something that can play at 1600x1200 or better. It seems like the 7600GT can handle pretty much most games with quality settings at 1280x1024. So what does the 7900GT offer me at that res. that the 7600GT doesn't? I mean is 120fps, really that much more noticable then 70fps? I am not shooting down the idea of the 7900GT yet, I just want a bit mor einfo, so I can know why it would be worth it to me to pay the extra 100 bucks.

As long as you don't play insanely GPU-intensive game like FEAR, the 7600GT is perfect for your Dell monitor.

 

[evolucion8]

Originally Posted by: StrangerGuy

If Nvidia is bad enough, take a look at ATI "X" lineup:

X1900XTX
X1900XT
X1900 Crossfire
X1800XT
X1800XL
X850XT PE
X850XT
X850 Pro
X800XT PE
X800XT
X800XL
X800 Pro
X800 GTO2
X800 GTO
X800
X800SE
X700XT
X700 Pro
X700
X600XT
X600 Pro
X600
And many other X300 variants...

Mistake, the X800XT PE usually performs a bit better than the X850XT because of the tighter memory timings and the memory running 40MHz faster. The X850 PRO runs slower than the X800XT due to it's 12 pixel pipelines. woooo

 

[coolred]

I went with the evga 7600GT OC, Got it for 207.36. A little more then newegg, but I didn't have to wait for shipping. So hopefully it works out well for me.