What card should I buy my brother?

[gozulin]

My brother wants a new gpu for gaming and I need to buy him one. The price cannot exceed $300 (including shipping) and the card will be used for gaming. He's a counter-strike fiend but he also plays other games.

I'll take suggestions as for the chipset, the brand and the store.

Thanks!

 

[Lonyo]

What are the rest of the specs of his system?
AGP/PCIe?

7900GT definately if it's PCIe, as they can be had for $260 or so + shipping.

 

[crazylegs]

i'd second the 7900GT... but aren't they only REALLY awesome if you plan to conductive pen volt mod the VCORE?

alternative is the X1800XT 256 / 512mb supposed to be very good but you wouldn't get me to swap my 7900GT for one
- but i have modded it to 1.4v (v.v.v. easy) and it runs 24/7 @ 625/400 IDLE temp = 34c

GL

 

[thilanliyan]

X1800XT is another cheaper option. Hehe, this is gonna turn into another 7900GT vs. X1800XT thread.............................

 

[videogames101]

Originally posted by: Lonyo
What are the rest of the specs of his system?
AGP/PCIe?

7900GT definately if it's PCIe, as they can be had for $260 or so + shipping.

 

[keeleysam]

7900GT if PCI-E
7800GS if AGP

 

[Gautama]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102007
x1800xt

 

[fierydemise]

Originally posted by: Gautama
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102007
x1800xt

This would be your cheapest and fastest option.

If you feel comfortable voltmodding then a 7900GT would probably be better but considering this is a gift and the volt mod could cause some problems I'd advise against it in this case.

 

[Cooler]

I second the x1800xt for less $250 is a steal.

 

[Ika]

7900GT for overclocking goodness. If your brother doesn't upgrade much or has a small/badly ventilated case, then I would change my reccomendation to the X1800XT.

 

[fierydemise]

Originally posted by: guoziming
7900GT for overclocking goodness. If your brother doesn't upgrade much or has a small/badly ventilated case, then I would change my reccomendation to the X1800XT.

I'm not sure OCing is smart if this is going to be a gift, OCing can cause problems and if they occur the OP will become tech support

 

[acegazda]

go with the x1800xt...actually this should be a no brainer...
x1800xt: higher clock speeds, more frames=better performance
7900 gt: lower clock speeds, less frames= less performance
Newegg.com $225 shipped for the 256mb retail box x1800xt. Use the saved $$ to buy the arctic cooling accelero x2 for $30

 

[Cabages]

Just bought and put in X1800XT 512MB version. Great purchase. Runs flawlessly.

Great card for the money. If you can stretch it, I would go for the one with 512MB.

 

[RyanVM]

Can I be your brother?

 

[hemmy]

Originally posted by: acegazda
go with the x1800xt...actually this should be a no brainer...
x1800xt: higher clock speeds, more frames=better performance
7900 gt: lower clock speeds, less frames= less performance
Newegg.com $225 shipped for the 256mb retail box x1800xt. Use the saved $$ to buy the arctic cooling accelero x2 for $30

did you pull that thinking method out of your ***?

Things called pipelines my friend

 

[mikek753]

x1900GT for $271

 

[Gbaby1008]

Originally posted by: thilan29
X1800XT is another cheaper option. Hehe, this is gonna turn into another 7900GT vs. X1800XT thread.............................

 

[Cooler]

the x1900GT loses in most benchmarks to the cheaper x1800xt.

 

[acegazda]

srry hemmy...we can't all be supergeeks like you... jk
im a noob what can i say.