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Which Graphic Card To Get?

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veezhun

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i have a geforce2 mx with 32 mb of vram and am looking for an upgrade.. which is better as far as power issues go? Nvidia or ati?

i dont mind spending upto 200 USD.. what cards are you guys running anyways??

my system specs:

Athlon 64 2800+ (socket 754)

MSI K8N Neo platinum

512mb Ram

160Gb(80+80)ATA HDD

DVD ROM

CD Writer

SOund blaster live value

Geforce2 MX 32mb Vram

cheers

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Today Nvidia has taken a lead (by a little margin) with their GeForce 6000 series. I think GeForce 6600GT is very good choice for performace vs. price. Or if you find 6800GT at bargain it should be again a little faster and a good choice as your other harware is powerfull enough. But don't even think 6600 or 6800 without that GT or ultra tag. They are much cheaper, as well their performance.

Hope this helps.

btw. I'm not biased to nvidia (or ATI) as my own videocard is ATI Radeon 9700.

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First off, get 64-bit Windows. It's the shizzy.

The ram will have to go to 1gb (with at least 2ish timings on, and then wait a month or two as AGP cards will decline in price and get a high end 6800 ultra or higher end Radeon X850 class.

I just upgraded from a 2800 to a 3700, a socket 754 like yours. Wow, what a difference that makes. It's amazing how ghz can influence an Athlon.

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1GB is a must. I didn't notice that, sorry.

And yes, if you wait you always get faster components -it's a part of evolution. wink.gif

I do not know hardware prices in U.S or India, but here in Finland (and Europe), 6800 Ultra is about 400€ (470$) and X850 is about 500€ (600$). For these prices you have to wait some time. And 6600GT is 175€ (about 200$).

Nvidia announced a new upper class boards called 7800 and ATI is going to announce new graphic chip's (I don't know is this a right term?) and this will drop the prices, for sure. But how soon they drop, nobody knows.

But I really recommend that 1GB of memory. It really helps a lot!

Edited by L7R
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thanks for your replies smile.gif .. the issue is i am using agp and not pci-e..

kurisu, i have a limited budget sad.gif no money for a new processor.. just upgraded couple of months ago.. what i can do is get additonal 512MB ram.. i think i can manage that..

should i go for the 6600GT?? the game i play most is FIFA 2005 and sometimes cricket 2005.. am not a big fan of FPS..i tried tiger woods golf too..

i am going to get NBA live but i doubt with this card(my current) i will get any decent frame rates..

Edited by veezhun
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At least a 6600GT, but 6800 AGP are less expensive than PCIe 6800's, so you might wanna look into that (is going to cost up too about 300).

If possible 1GB mem.

DO NOT get Windows XP 64 bit, unless you need it for some specific software. There's still a lot of apps and hardware that don't work comfortable with it and the switch is atm not for anything normal necessary.

Edited by Breepee2
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i havent played around much with stuff like AA.. my monitor resolution is 1024 X 768.. the games i play i just run on default mode.. havent done any changes to the video setup.. fifa runs at 1024 768 so does golf.. cricket is at 800 600..

looked up for AA and saw some screen shots with AA and without at anandtech.. it does make a difference to the image quality...

as far as windows XP 64 bit goes, i havent seen it in india at my dealer yet.. i think there is a scheme where i can trade my 32 bit windows for a 64 bit windows.. but i lose the right to use 32 bit for ever( is that really true?) what speed advantages can i get??

kurisu, i remember reading what you had written about NET MD not working under windows 64 bit.. i happen to have an MZ n10.. so i am a bit apprehensive.. you have no issues whatsoever with 64 bit windows??

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You can play all games in on your current system even if you buy 6600GT and play games in 1024x768 with all eye candies on (AA+AF).

512MB is just slightly enough for even newest 3d games. Trust me.

1GB will help, especially converting mp3's or using digital imaging or video editing programs. Or if you want to use many programs at the same time.

I have to say; forget the 64bit windows if you don't want troubles. There's currently very few programs which support 64bit OS's. And hardware drivers are almost non-existing for current hardware, for example printers, scanners, soundcards etc.

Hope this helps.

Edited by L7R
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This is not true for hardware drivers, as I've said I'm not having any problems with 64-bit Windows and I have a variety of hardware devices - such as a Chaintech AV710, Radeon X850XT, etc. Let's not keep discussing fallacies of 64-bit Windows, let's focus on his upgrade needs..

As for the 6600GT, I just upgraded from one (BFG 6600GT OC to be precise). At 1024x768, it's really not that bad when you've got the AA at 2x and the AF at 4x for most games, but that's about as high as you can go without dipping into unacceptable framerate limits. It really depends on the game, though.

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thanks smile.gif i am reading a review of the 6800 as well as the 6600GT right now.. coming from my geforce2 MX, both these cards seem, well, unbelievable...

kurisu, assuming i dont convert the windows 64 bit, is there a comparable ATI card for a similar price?? i have never used ATI so dont know anything about it.. am tempted to consider the ALL IN WONDER!!!!

man, the more i search, the more information i get and the more greedy i become..

greed is good smile.gif

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its a done deal then... i shall wait for a while to check out the 6800..one last question (sorry for asking too many questions).

is the 6800(normal.. non GT and non Ultra) better than a 6600 ultra or GT??

cheers..

thanks for all your replies

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Let's not keep discussing fallacies of 64-bit Windows, let's focus on his upgrade needs..

You are right. And in fact, what I known about 6600GT is based what I've been reading from reviews. My friend also has 6600GT with his Athlon 3000+ and I was pretty impressed compared to my rig when playing some IL2-Forgotten Battles. That game is knowed to play best with ATI cards, but it was like night and day. Not to mention FPS shooters ie. Half Life 2.

Of course my Athlon 2200+ with 333MHz bus is nothing when compare to these new motherboards with dual ram 400 MHz bus . cray.gif

Edited by L7R
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In fact, there's no Ultra model for 6600 series as far as I know (here in Finland).

Which is better; 6600GT or 6800? That's hard to answer shortly, but in theory 6800 is a little faster what I've been reading from reviews, but it's also pretty much relative in a way you compare them (ie. what games you use for testing).

6800 was very popular when some people found some of 6800's can actually modify to 6800GT or even near to ultra. But that's whole another story...

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6800's are better than a 6600GT because they have more pixel pipelines amongst other things.

Remember veez, it's important that you have a nice quality power supply for this card with at least 350W. Remember, these newer generation video cards actually take their own power input, just like a hard drive or CD/DVD-ROM drive.

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