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New "enthusiast" PCIe Video Card Help

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Phlargo

Senior member
Here's my goal: a year from now buy a nice 20-21" LCD and play games at native resolution on it (probably 1600x1200). I'll get a Dual Core AMD CPU sometime next year (for my new DFI Nforce4).

And here comes the choice: buy a single video card that can handle it now or buy a cheaper card now and buy another one late next year that will benefit from a year and a half's new technology?

I started with the x800XL vs. 6800GT but found both to be a little pricey. If I could score a x800XL for $240, I'd buy, or if I could grab a 6800GT for under $300, I'd grab. But I've been more recently considering the 6600GT - it seems like I should be able to play just about all games at 1280x1024 with pretty hefty details on. This should carry me over 'til I upgrade again next year, right?

So here are the questions:
Am I missing any of the best reasons to buy something more expensive?
If I'm on the right track, what brand of 6600GT would be a best bet?


I have a few weeks to wait to buy the card - I'm waiting for a Venice 3000 or 3200 before I'll even have PCIe system to put it in. So maybe I'll wait to find a better deal (unless you guys know of anything I shouldn't pass up right now).

Thanks for your help!

-Phlargo
 
I've been looking at many different guides (anandtech's, tom's hardware, others) to see how different 6600GTs compare. I don't care much about software bundle, but I really want to hear people's personal experiences with their cards - have you been satisfied? Can you run most everything comfortably at 1280x1024? With AA/AF?

Thanks again.
 
6600 GT is a good stop-gap card for what you're planning. It should be able to play all games @ 1280x1024 on full details. I'm not too sure about AA/AF. By next year, next-gen card should be readily available, and games using HL2/D3 engine should start to show up
 
Hans: How about O/Cers - I'm obviously planning O/Cing the rest of my system (DFI + OCZ 3200 Value + Venice 3200) - you get the point. I'll take a look at the leadtek. Thanks

Razor: That's was my thinking and you reminded me that it is quite likely that future games in the next year will be utilizing these two great engines - they may step up the detail or the like, but you're right, they're probably in line as to what can be expected to be required for performance.
 
Okay... so I looked at the Leadtek - I agree, it looks great. I also saw they have an extreme edition. Am I correct in assuming that the only difference between it and the regular one is the mild overclock of 50 mhz core and 60 mhz memory? And that's supposed to be worth $40? Ouch. Anyone know of anything else that's different about the "Extreme Edition"
 
The G70 (nvidias next gen chip) is going to be a monster, if your budget is so tight you cant afford high end now and later, the G70 is worth the wait.
 
Originally posted by: hans030390
leadtek is the best 6600gt (in quality) but not a super overclocker.
Click to expand...

WARNING! the memory chips on this 6600GT are bare and can be easily damaged by overclocking.
 
Thanks for the heads up, Acanthus - I'll keep this in mind. Do you have another good choice for a 6600GT that would better handle the memory overclock? Also, do you know if the Extreme edition comes with Ram heatsinks to protect the memory or how the chips differ? If they're the 1.6 ns chips, I bet they have some headroom.

And what's all this about a G70? That sounds like a new Volvo model.. I mean I want fast, but I don't think I need a competitive 0-60 time ;-)
 
Actually, just saw the Extreme edition on the Tom's Hardware review - it doesn't appear to have any ram-sinks. I wonder if the two versions use the same memory. If they do, I can't see why a 60 mhz o/c would be any problem at all.
 
Originally posted by: razor2025
6600 GT is a good stop-gap card for what you're planning. It should be able to play all games @ 1280x1024 on full details. I'm not too sure about AA/AF. By next year, next-gen card should be readily available, and games using HL2/D3 engine should start to show up
Click to expand...

That's my same thinkin'.
 
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