• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Which to buy first: New display or graphics card

O

onewintersnight

Member
Hello all, this is my first post so I hope I didn't post in the wrong part of the forums.

I'm having a problem deciding what component of my computer I should upgrade first. I have about ~$250 to spend at the moment. I'm debating between buying a 17" LCD, the princeton senergy 714, for $210 from Amazon.com, or ordering a bfg 6800 OC from chumbo with the rebate offer, assuming thats still going on.

My specs should be in my sig but if they aren't here they are:
3.0 ghz P4 Prescott on a MSI Neo2 865PE board
1024 MB pc3200 Ram
Chaintech 5600 ultra <---from my old computer
19" Dell CRT

I suppose I've had a hard time deciding because for the price the monitor is pretty sweet, lowest dvi 17" on the market. Realizing that it will run at a native 1280x1040 I obviously would need a card that could support that in the games I play. I've already tried HL2 on that res with my setup and it works fine, granted its running the dx 8.0 codepath. Doom3 on the other hand runs pretty slowly, as one would expect, though I don't really care as I'm not a big fan of the game as is, but who knows what games will be based off of the engine to come.

If I decided to get the card I'm a bit worried about longevity, as well as the fact that I might not find an LCD display for that price for quite some time.

If anyone could give some advice I'd greatly appreciate it.
 
absolutely go with the vid card, imho... it will make you pc seem like a whole new system, vs the 5600u... you will be able to use the full capability of the monitor u have!

methinks the lcd's are not going to go back up in price hugely unless an earthquake causes a tidal wave that takes out the whole third world... chances are distinctly posible that prices will go lower if there becomes a glut due to the huge ramp up in production that has occured...
 
The 5600 definately holds my system back for sure. Does anyone know if there is a better deal going for a 6800nu, then the BFG offered at chumbo?
 
prices will continue to drop on LCD's...thus why i dont have dual 2001fp's on my desk right now, the $550 each deal was sweet but hey, I'm lookin for sub $500 here, I may hold out till $450 too
 
Excellent, I'm going to order one right now. Thanks for the link.

I was considering a 6600GT, but at this point they're almost the same price, though I think I've seen an xfx out there for 210.

Do you guys think the extra $40 is worth the performance increase, without considering the possibility to unlock extra pipes, as I understand its about a 50/50 chance?
 
i was in the same boat as you then i read some of the reviews and benchmarks comparing the 2 cards and reralized that the 6800 outperforms the 6600gt in most cases. The AGP 6600gts run worse under higher resolutions and with AA/AF running.
 
Well since you insist on it....yes the 6800 kicks the 6600GT ass mainly because its a 256bit card vs 128bit...open up the pipes and the 6800 vanilla is nearly at GT speeds.
BUT dont mistake it for a GT because the plain 6800s achilles heel is its 128mbs of ram. It simply cannot run alot of textures at 1600x1200 so if you ever got a Dell 2001FP or another 1600x1200 LCD you cannot game @ 1600x1200 as well as a GT can.


In 6 months GTs will be $300 so maybe you can get $150 for your 6800 then and upgrade.

 
I've read those too, seems that the memory bandwidth difference is the factor there. If only the memory on the 6800nu was ddr3, but oh well.

Yeah I think the 6800's will definately drop, and in 6 months the next line of cards should be out, but we'll see. Ideally I'd like a gt but thats just a lot of dough at the moment.

I guess I'll stick it out for a while with my old CRT, and enjoy the new gfx card goodness. I never bought far cry, probably the only one, so I guess its pretty sweet that bfg includes it.

Thanks for all the help everyone, I think I just needed to hear what others had to say on the topic.

 
Well I just placed the order for the 6800OC, who knew 2 day shipping would only be 2 dollars more. I'm pretty stoked about it, I'll update people with some bench numbers when I get it, and if I could unlock the extra pipes, though by now I'm sure everyone's kind of tired of reading those kinds of posts
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top