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Prolly been asked a hundred times but...

Inspector Jihad

Inspector Jihad

Lifer
Hey guys,
Whats a good graphics card to play games like half life 2 and battlefield2 and ageof empires 3(when released). Also I hope this card wont become outdated in like a year. I was thinking that it would atleast last 2 yrs or so? Are there any cards like that that will be reasonably priced? thanks
 
Welcome to AT.

6600gt is a vary good card for the price.
There's an AGP version for $150 after rebate at outpost right now.

Do you need AGP or PCI-e?

Above that level,
6800nu
X800XL
6800gt

What kind of budget are you looking at? Naturally you're going to be able to get something better with more money.

 
thanks for the welcome. sorry for not posting info on my pc...but i was thinking of getting a new pc from www.cyberpowersystem.com so there is no actual specs to speak off. at first i was gonna go witht he 6200 256 mb but a friend told me it wasnt too good. so i'm trying to figure out what i want
 
Originally posted by: Inspector Jihad
thanks for the welcome. sorry for not posting info on my pc...but i was thinking of getting a new pc from www.cyberpowersystem.com so there is no actual specs to speak off. at first i was gonna go witht he 6200 256 mb but a friend told me it wasnt too good. so i'm trying to figure out what i want
Click to expand...

Don't waste money getting a 256mb version of a card slower than an X800XL. A 6200 256mb isn't going to be any better than a 128mb version.

I haven't heard of cyberpowersystems.

I know monarch is a good place to go if you want a pre-built system.

You're going to have more options if you build one yourself though. It's not as tough as most people think it is.
 
I think I saw Maximum PC review a cyberpower system once and gave it a good rating but do your research first.

And 6600gt is a great card.


 
the 6800, which is an awesome card, is only 250-300. great and beats most everything else. but if u have more money, the nthe 6800 gt is fine. it is better than the 6800 and for about 350-400 its a worthwhile card. i have it, and it works fine. but then if you really have alot of mula, a 6800 ultra would be great. better than both the other cards, it is super fast, games are smooth and everything is nearly cinematic. it is about 450-500 though.
 
If you want to play AOE3 on an ATI card you will have to wait for their next generation as I believe it is an SM3 (Shader Model 3.0) only game. But if you need to buy now you will have to the nVidia route (unless you plan to upgrade when AOE and any SM3 game comes out that you wish to play), and the best bang for your buck nVidia card is the 6600GT (with BFG or eVGA among the better manufacturers). If yoiu are willing to spend a bit more, a 6800GT is your best bet.

Oh and BTW: Welcome!

One thing I forgot to mention was the fact that the ATI cards are known to run Half Life 2 better than the nVidia cards, so if you really want to have the best fps for that game now you could get an X800XL, then sell it when AOE3 and SM3 games come out.

And it also depends on how high of game settings you wish to play at. The higher end cards (including the XL) will give you higher frame rates w/a lot of eye candy, and will probably play future games well. However, a lower end card may begin to struggle earlier than 2 years from now as more graphically advanced games come out.

Ever thought about SLI?

OK, I have edited this too many times now, so I will be quiet 😉.
 
It also depends on what kind of monitor you have. If you have a 17-19 inch monitor running at a resolution of 1280x1024 or lower, then the NVIDIA 6600GT is a great midrange card for less than $200 that can handle all the latest games fairly well. If you have a monitor that has a native resolution greater than 1600x1200, then I would suggest the NVIDIA 6800GT or the ATI X800 and higher. But be prepared to spend over $250 for those two.
 
If you are building a system fresh and you are on a tight budget.... put most of your money on the video card and monitor.

Since you are building/buying a new system get one with at least a 6800GT or ATI 800 series and go PCIe. That will buy you upgradeability.
 
You have a good friend.

If you plan on using Anti-aliasing and Anisotropic Filtering regularly in your games, then get the 6800GT. - but I don't think it will last you the two years with those features on.

If, not then get the 6800.
 
If you want to play AOE3 on an ATI card you will have to wait for their next generation as I believe it is an SM3 (Shader Model 3.0) only game. But if you need to buy now you will have to the nVidia route (unless you plan to upgrade when AOE and any SM3 game comes out that you wish to play), and the best bang for your buck nVidia card is the 6600GT (with BFG or eVGA among the better manufacturers). If yoiu are willing to spend a bit more, a 6800GT is your best bet.
Click to expand...
So what it's no gonna work if the card doesn't have SM3? What's wrong with you kid, there aren't many cunsumers out there that have sm3, why would a developer use ONLY that in their games. No matter what card he buys he's gonna be able to play it. You my friend are just a Nvidia fanboy.

Plus, if he buys the 6600GT it's not like he's gonna have the performance to play with sm3 on.
 
Again it depends on your screen size. If youre gonna play at 1600*1200, then get a 6800gt or a x800xl. A regular 6800 falls pretty far behind at that resolution, so no point getting it. And for lower resolution, you might as well get a 6600gt, it will do almost as well as a 6800 for a lot less money.
 
Get either the 6800 or 6800gt...you MIGHT be able to softmod the 6800 to a 6800gt (ask later if you get one). But, if you wanna play AOE3, you will really want shader model 3.0, which is ONLY offerered on the 6xxx cards. Basically, the 6xxx cards will last a couple years because of it, but the x800 cards cant be guaranteed (they only have 2.0)

and yes, he actually wants to use SM3.0, so it SHOULD be a buying factor for him.
 
I'd skip the 6800. It's not enough better than the 6600GT to warrant the price difference and not enough cheaper than the X800XL to make the performance hit worth it.

Personally, I got an SLI board and a 6600GT because there are so many things coming this next 6 month - 1 year that I'd like to wait and see. I predict the 6600GT will lose a lower percentage of it's value when R520 gets here and, even if it doesn't, you're out a smaller dollar figure when you upgrade.....which you may want to do when DX10 is released or when a value version of G70 or R520 is released that still smokes the X850XTPE.

The X800XL is a significantly better card, but is close to double the price, but if we get to the point where a 6600GT "can't play" a game at decent resolutions, then your experience with an X800XL or 6800GT probably won't be much more than passable.
 
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