Upgrading video to PCI-E

[TeamZero]

The time has come for me to upgrade from my 6600GT...and in order to do so I'm practically forced to upgrade my mobo/CPU for PCI-E video. (not that I'm complaining, <3 faster video aperature)

Therefore I'm looking at an XFX 7950GT 512mb. What kind of gains would I see? Any problems with XFX cards in general? Is this a wise investment, seeing as DX10 cards are going to be becomming more mainstream in the not so distant future?

Just looking for educated opinions outside of newegg reviews. The system will probably feature a mid level mobo with an AMD64 3800+ or some such comparable processor (maybe a cheap FX) and 2 gigs of DDR400.

*edit*

Sorry forgot to mention I have a widescreen LCD and run a 1680x1050 res on games that I can.

 

[StopSign]

The gains will be astronomical. I just went from a 6600GT to a 7900GS this past weekend and I can run CS:S with 4x/4x @ 1280x1024 and still average around 120 fps, whereas my 6600GT ran CS:S at around 65 fps with 0x/0x at the same resolution. The 7950GT is reasonably faster than the 7900GS.

But if you're thinking about DX10, it might be wiser to get a slightly lower card right now and replace that with a DX10 card when DX10 becomes mainstream. Games won't be using DX10 for another little while.

 

[jimbob200521]

If you really want to get a card now, then personally I'd go with an eVGA over XFX. Both will be very nice/fast cards, but eVGA is a better brand, imho.

 

[40sTheme]

I love my eVGA, but that XFX passive cooling is pretty tempting. If you have a well cooled case, get the XFX. If not, go with the eVGA. Or, get the eVGA and slapa Zalman VF900 on it. I recently did and raised my original OC of 600/1600 to 710/1750. The temps on both of these OCs (which are stock cooling -> Zalman) are 55/86 to 45/65. With the Zalman, a massive OC is lower than before.

 

[mozirry]

almost all 7900gs cards will OC very well. I received this card this Christmas, and IMHO, is one of the fastest cards you can get for the money if you plan on upgrading to a DX10 card once the Nvidia 9600GT's come out (Yes, I said 9600GT, since that will likely be out by 2008)

I just OC'd using NTune and increased my score from 7207 in 3dmark 2005 to 8500 and didnt have hardly any 'C increase with the stock XFX Fan

 

[Kromis]

Nobody play the ATI card just yet...wait for it...