Thinking about going Nvidia... Suggestions?

[PTCvette]

Ok everyone, so here's the deal. I bought a 9600 Pro 256MB about 6 months ago... 2 months ago it started giving me such bad artifact/corruption problems that I RMAed it w/ Newegg. They exchanged it for a new 9600 256 from a different manufacturer. Everything worked well for a month or so, and then blam! I turn on the computer this morning and no display at all! Nothing works, but my old GF3 fires right up and works fine.

So here's the deal. I am going to try the 9600 in a friend's computer and if it's toast, return it for a refund. I don't overclock and don't even game that much, but have killed two 9600's in under 6 months. I used Nvidia exclusively before getting this 9600 and never once had a problem. So I am thinking about going back.

The question is: I want something that can game when I want it to. Mostly I play Doom3, UT2k4, and other FPS games. I don't have a bunch more money to spend, but I think I will get about $130 towards the new card. The absolute limit I can do would be $200 total, after you factor in whatever I get for a refund on this 9600. What should I go with? 5700? I don't want to hold out for the 6600, but I guess I might be able to if it will blow the stuff currently in my range away!

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Schadenfroh]

wait for this

 

[PTCvette]

That's kind of what I am thinking... Wait for that to come, but it's going to kill me to go a month or two with nothing. My GF3 is being borrowed by a friend right now, so all I have is an old Diamond S220.

I think I heard the PCI express 6600 would be out next month but the AGP might be in October... Is that right?

Jeff

 

[SneakyStuff]

Try and wait until late september/october, nVidia will be releasing the 6600 series. It's almost 20% faster than a 9800 pro, for $150 The AGP flavor will come after the PCI-E flavor.

 

[PTCvette]

Yeah, I would love to wait, but I don't know if I can go almost 2 months with NOTHING at all. I might be able to get my GeForce3 back, but I don't know... Assuming I can't get my temp card back, and I can't hold out, what current card would you suggest?

Jeff

 

[jlmadyson]

I just ordered the AOpen nVIDIA GeForce FX5900XT Video Card. Newegg has them for $174, but just sold out recently and will have them back in on 8/17 I think. I got this card due to the solid reviews and was convinced with the o/cing potential. If you want one today Ajump has them in stock for 180ish or so. Great card for the price imho.

 

[KevinH]

Anyone know if the sli feature will be useable right off the bat with these 6600 pci-express cards?

 

[lament]

i had an MSI 5900XT that was very overclockable. then I got a PNY 5900nu, and now a 6800 GT.

 

[Kondik]

Yeah. Need wait for 6600 Good performace,good value Good card

 

[Keysplayr]

Yes, the 6600GT is said to MSRP at 199.00. If you can hold out, that would be the very best purchase you could make for your price point. If you can't wait, I would say a 5900XT would be a fine choice. However, do your best to wait for the 6600GT as it supports all of the features (Ultrashadow II, SM3.0, on chip video decoder/encoder etc.) of it's bigger brothers (6800, 6800GT, 6800U) save for the 128-bit memory bus and number of pipelines.

 

[Insomniak]

The 6600GT looks almost unbeatable for price performance, and the PCIE version (which will be SLI capable) looks even better.

Yet another reason for me to put off upgrading until PCIE is out in force.