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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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 Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 2:01 pm Post subject: Video card shopping, your thoughts? |
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So instead of waiting until I'm ready to buy a new PCIe compatible motherboard I've decided that I could probably go another year without doing that if I upgrade my video card.
But the price is still a factor- I DO NOT want to plunk down $250+ for a GeForce 7800 or higher, especially given that I need to buy an AGP card which I probably won't be using as my primary for more than a year to 18 months on the outside.
So... I've been thinking of getting a
XFX GeForce 6800 Xtreme / 256MB GDDR3 @ $159 Cdn (then taxes and shipping).
Any thoughts on this one?
or a comparable ATI x series (again, it would be the AGP version)?
For example, I'm wondering if I shouldn't just get either a
HIS Radeon X1600 Pro IceQ / 256MB GDDR2 @ $120 Cdn
or even a
HIS Radeon X1300 IceQ Turbo / 256MB GDDR2 @ $105 Cdn
Oh boy, I was fairly knowledgeable on video cards before SLI and PCIe, back when the the ATI 9700 and then the 9800 were the undisputed kings of video cards.
Now, I'm just another dinosaur...
Can anyone help? |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 6:39 pm Post subject: |
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I'm in the same boat here. I need more graphics power. I can't play any of the new games on anything more than medium settings. It feels unsatisfying to not be enjoying the games potential.
Unlike yourself, I've pretty much decided to get a new Motherboard, CPU and GPU. In other words, I'm going PCI-e.
As for graphics cards.....Here's a great article from Tom's Hardware (essential site to read before buying I think) about AGP cards Vs PCI cards. Combined with a review about the GeForce 7800GS. A new-ish AGP card.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/02/02/nvidia_7800gs_confirms_agp_aint_dead_yet/ |
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Demophobe
Joined: 17 May 2004
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| Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 6:40 pm Post subject: |
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| ATI X800GTO AGP 256MB is a good deal. Overclocks like mad. |
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cubanlord
Joined: 08 Jul 2005
Location: In Japan!
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 12:25 am Post subject: |
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| go for a geforce 6600GT. You should have no worries until you buy a new pc. I think (don't quote me) that the 6600GT is the highest you can get in AGP. |
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Cigar_Guy
Joined: 05 Dec 2005
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 5:52 am Post subject: |
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Might I recommend doing a little extra legwork and seeing if you can get one with one of the nicer Zalamn fans already installed? When I made my desktop, I had all sorts of quiet components (including a case), all of which went for naught when that tiny little video card fan geared up (even just basic Windows stuff).
I can also tell you this--whether or not you decide to overclock, the greater cooling power will give you better performance and a little more peace of mind. The fact that it's built-in will save you a few bucks (and the headache of changing it). Just make sure you take a few measurements inside your machine to make sure it'll fit. |
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Demophobe
Joined: 17 May 2004
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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I too am a fan (har!) of Zalman, but I have found the performance of their video card solutions far less than stellar.
I bought the big, hard-to-install "noiseless" contraption, and it wouldn't let me overclock at all and I had some artifacts showing up even at stock speeds. I had to put a fan on it to get it to operate smoothly at stock. The ATI stock cooler performed far better in overclocking and stock speed environments.
Their CPU coolers are top shelf, but I can't trust their ideas about noiseless graphics solutions anymore. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 4:10 pm Post subject: |
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| cubanlord wrote: |
| go for a geforce 6600GT. You should have no worries until you buy a new pc. |
I was orignally thinking of a 6800XT, but I think I might go for the 7800 GS that eamo linked to. Both are AGP and better than a 6600GT, but thanks just the same.
I don't buy new PCs- I just keep swapping out the parts; eventually everything gets changed. My floppy drive is almost 10 years old, along with one of my hard drives.
But swapping out the motherboard is pretty major upgrade.
With a 3Ghz cpu and bumping up the RAM to 2GB and a 7800 GS, I should keep this cooking for a couple more years and then I can hand it down to the wife or somebody else in the family, and really buy a 'new' pc.
Now if I can find out if any AGP 7800GSs come with Zalman fans I'll be all set... |
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cubanlord
Joined: 08 Jul 2005
Location: In Japan!
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Bulsajo wrote: |
| cubanlord wrote: |
| go for a geforce 6600GT. You should have no worries until you buy a new pc. |
I was orignally thinking of a 6800XT, but I think I might go for the 7800 GS that eamo linked to. Both are AGP and better than a 6600GT, but thanks just the same.
I don't buy new PCs- I just keep swapping out the parts; eventually everything gets changed. My floppy drive is almost 10 years old, along with one of my hard drives.
But swapping out the motherboard is pretty major upgrade.
With a 3Ghz cpu and bumping up the RAM to 2GB and a 7800 GS, I should keep this cooking for a couple more years and then I can hand it down to the wife or somebody else in the family, and really buy a 'new' pc.
Now if I can find out if any AGP 7800GSs come with Zalman fans I'll be all set... |
Why not just purchase the fan and replace it yourself? |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 4:57 pm Post subject: |
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| That's probably what I'll end up doing. |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 5:32 pm Post subject: 7800GS |
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Bulsajo,
Do me a favor..
If you find the 7800GS for sale in Korea send me a PM and let me know where. I searched for it on the Danawa (read Yongsan dealers) site with no luck. I think availability might be scarce.
I might still save myself a lot of money, time and effort by just upgrading my graphics card. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 5:57 pm Post subject: |
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(I thought you knew) I'm no longer in Korea. I've been looking on the Tigerdirect.ca site, but I believe Tigerdirect.com ships to Korea:
TD AGP Video cards
Those 7800s aren't cheap; Cubanlord's suggestion certainly falls within the price range I was shooting for... then again, if I get that raise I'm hoping for...  |
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Cigar_Guy
Joined: 05 Dec 2005
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 6:26 pm Post subject: |
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| cubanlord wrote: |
| Why not just purchase the fan and replace it yourself? |
Because if you're not buying too high-end a card to begin with, you can save yourself like $10-20 by buying it with the Zalman fan already on it.
In terms of constantly upgrading things, I'm not totally against it--but a 10-year old hard drive on your PC? Aren't you just asking for failure? |
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eamo
Joined: 08 Mar 2003
Location: Shepherd's Bush, 1964.
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 6:29 pm Post subject: |
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Well, I'm running a 6600GT now and I can assure you it struggles with the newer games. Especially Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.......But then most sub-300 dollar cards would struggle with that game.
The last game I played that the 6600GT coped well with was Doom3. That's been left behind by this years crop.
F.E.A.R wasn't too bad. It looked well. But again, all settings were no more than medium.
Tomb Raider: Legend. A 7.4GB game!! It runs smoothly with my 6600GT but at really low levels. Actually, on my monitor, Tomb Raider: Legend looks a little like it used to do on my TV using the Playstation 1!!!! The 6600GT doesn't do the new game justice.
Same with Ghost Recon. It runs but the games auto-detect GPU will not be impressed with a 6600GT. It will set everything to medium or low.
Get a 6600GT and you will be constantly thinking, "I wonder what this game would look like at more than medium settings....". |
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cubanlord
Joined: 08 Jul 2005
Location: In Japan!
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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| eamo wrote: |
Well, I'm running a 6600GT now and I can assure you it struggles with the newer games. Especially Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.......But then most sub-300 dollar cards would struggle with that game.
The last game I played that the 6600GT coped well with was Doom3. That's been left behind by this years crop.
F.E.A.R wasn't too bad. It looked well. But again, all settings were no more than medium.
Tomb Raider: Legend. A 7.4GB game!! It runs smoothly with my 6600GT but at really low levels. Actually, on my monitor, Tomb Raider: Legend looks a little like it used to do on my TV using the Playstation 1!!!! The 6600GT doesn't do the new game justice.
Same with Ghost Recon. It runs but the games auto-detect GPU will not be impressed with a 6600GT. It will set everything to medium or low.
Get a 6600GT and you will be constantly thinking, "I wonder what this game would look like at more than medium settings....". |
Yeah...this is true. I have a 6800GT with 512ram. Thankfully, that runs everything on ultra with no problems. However, wait a few more months until the new games come out...
Games I run:
Quake 4
Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hour
F.E.A.R.
Silent Hill 4 |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed May 24, 2006 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Cigar_Guy wrote: |
| cubanlord wrote: |
| Why not just purchase the fan and replace it yourself? |
Because if you're not buying too high-end a card to begin with, you can save yourself like $10-20 by buying it with the Zalman fan already on it.
In terms of constantly upgrading things, I'm not totally against it--but a 10-year old hard drive on your PC? Aren't you just asking for failure? |
It's extremely redundant, it's a place to store temp data for ripping DVDs, and well, I have it and I have space for it in the case, and I have slave IDE spot for it... (I also have 2 sata drives and an external).
Back to video cards... what I gleaned from the previous thread on the 6800/512 was that the extra 256MB video RAM it had was superfluous... did I remember that wrong?
It's interesting because the highest end cards (for AGP) do not have 512 MB for the most part. The ones with 512MB video ram are more mid-range it seems, and quite reasonably priced:
TigerDirect.ca AGP 256 MB Cards
TigerDirect.ca AGP 512 MB Cards (Note there are no 7800 or 7900s in here...)
Does anyone know how the 6600, 6800 and 7800 relate to each other?
What am I going to potentially lose or gain by choosing one over the over? |
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