Upgrade to 6600GT?

[tiggers97]

Looking for some advice here.

I'm finally able to upgrade my computer and I wouldn't mind moving from AGP to PCI-X since I probably won't be able to upgrade again for a while. I have a 5900 ultra that I can probably ebay for ~$200, which would give me enough cash to get a 6600gt. From what I have seen the two cards are almost identical in performance so I don't think I'm loosing much, and the 6600gt has some newer features.

I'm on the fence on this one part of my upgrade. Opinions?

 

[Pete]

Nitpick: the shorthand is PCIe. PCI-X is another technology, basically a double-speed (regular) PCI. PCIe is a much faster beast.

A 6600GT should actually be (much) faster than your 5900U, especially in newer, shader-heavy games. It's also your best bet at the $200 price point. If you can sell your 5900U for $200, don't think twice about upgrading to a 6600GT. Yeah, it's only got half the RAM, but the extra speed more than makes up for that.

If you're a serious/frequent gamer and want to play at higher than 1024x768 with 4xAA, then I'd recommend a X800XL. For $100 more than a 6600GT, you get a card with almost double the pixel pushing power, double the bandwidth, and double the RAM. Yeah, you give up SM3 and some fancier effects in certain games, but that's an argument for another thread (there have been many of them here, if you want to search for SM2 vs. SM3 debates). IMO, I don't think the 6600GT will be fast enough to make SM3 effects worthwhile (see that even a 6800GT isn't that fast in Far Cry or Riddick with SM3/SM2"++" effects, nice as they are). So, my main criteria is speed and IQ in current games, and the XL can be much faster than the GT at high res.

Again, though, if you just want to break even, a 6600GT is a fine upgrade.

 

[Amplifier]

6600gt will play every game you can buy well. A X800XL will do it better. It's *only* $100 more 😉.

 

[Creig]

It would also help if you told us what your proposed system specs will be, what games you intend to play, what resolution you want to play them at and the maximum you want to spend on the video card.

There are a lot of variables to consider when making a video card purchase. You've already stated that you won't be able to upgrade again for awhile. So right there I would eliminate the 6600GT and jump right to the next level of either a 6800GT or X800XL as the cheapest card I would recommend.