what kind of video card is able to play games these days?

Traveler

Senior member
May 30, 2000
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I've been out of the watch for a long time.
My Radeon 9600 can barely get game scenes to move.
Would someone give me some ideas of what video card capabilities do I need to play games these days? I mean at least a near-smooth run.
Btw, is XFX GeForce 7600GS 256mb ePCI good to keep me running for a year or two?
 

evolucion8

Platinum Member
Jun 17, 2005
2,867
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Depends on the resolutions, on resolutions like 1024x768 with medium quality settings on many games, the 7600GS, X1600 PRO will be enough, if you want more eye candy, you may go to the 7600GT, X850XT or X650XT and should be able to use the same resolutions with everything on high and Anti Aliasing, may be if you increase the resolutions you will have to slide down the anti aliasing a bit, we are talking about the most extreme cases like F.E.A.R., in other games, you should be able to crank up the anti aliasing with minimal impact. If you play on high resolutions like 1600x1200, or 1366x768 (Widescreen) or above, you should go for the 79X0GT(X) or X19X0 XT(X) etc. Todays games is not about capabilities, is about performance, look at the GeForce 6800 Ultra, with a SM 3.0 feature set and doesn't have the power to run next gen games with even the default SM 2.0 at a decent frame rate, and the "old X850XT" still able to even perform as the same or outperform in some cases the X1800XL, X1800GTO and the 7800GS and 7800GT in some cases. Look here http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2746&p=5 and here http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2746 and http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2686&p=1 Those articles shows how close are each other, is just a matter of likes, If I were you, I would choose a card like the 7900GT, or X1900XT 256 or X1950 PRO, depends of your budget too, or the 7600GT, X850XT and the X1650XT.
 

Piuc2020

Golden Member
Nov 4, 2005
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If you can stand the 9600 then the 7600GS will keep you running for a year or two though I do suggest you spring up for at least a 7600GT.