Video card - may be a dumb question

[Techrecruit]

I've done some personal research on video cards but it always seems to be canned responses from whoever ranks them.

I wanted to post here and see what real users suggest and not from some magazine that's probably getting a brother in law deal on the side.

I've got a 3yr old machine with a stock video card in it and need to upgrade. Vista asked me to and I haven't yet but it's def time.

I'm not a huge gamer but play a few war games from time to time. I'm looking to stay under $100

Thanks in advance for any input

[arctirus]

With your system being three years old I'm assuming you need an agp card. This 7600 GS is a good card for that price range, and passively cooled for silent opperation. I think you can get an nvidia 8600 for somewhere close to that range but don't be fooled; they are worthless. The only advantage they have over the 7 series is dx10 and they are too underpowered to play any dx10 games. The 7600s are faster in every other way.

Also, if you could up that to $140 this 7600 GT would be a worthwhile upgrade.

Edited July 19, 2007 by arctirus

[ripken204]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130056

7900gs 105$ AR

[Kelsenellenelvian]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814122019

nVidia 256 drr2 less that 100 bucks!

[bluescreens]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814122019

nVidia 256 drr2 less that 100 bucks!

7600GTs are routinely $70-ish at the egg, AR....

[Techrecruit]

Very cool - appreciate all the helpful info

I'll let you know what I end up getting and if things start smoking I'll dig through the post and find out who to blame. joking -

[puntoMX]

Everybody here seems to know if you have PCI-E (1x,4x16x) or AGP 8x, but I don´t, so my question is: What kind of chipset are you using and with what sloth?

If it´s AGP I would take a look at the nVidia 6800XT 256MB. For PCI-E at any speed I would go with the nVidia 7900GS or a ATi x1950GT. If you want to use directX 10 then a 8600GT would be a good choice.

[arctirus]

If you want to use directX 10 then a 8600GT would be a good choice.

Not to be a smartass but the 8600 isn't a good choice for anyone. It's much too underpowered for anything dx10 so if one needs dx10 an 8800 is really the only option. If one doesn't need dx10 a nice 7 series card would be the best choice.

[ripken204]

If you want to use directX 10 then a 8600GT would be a good choice.

Not to be a smartass but the 8600 isn't a good choice for anyone. It's much too underpowered for anything dx10 so if one needs dx10 an 8800 is really the only option. If one doesn't need dx10 a nice 7 series card would be the best choice.

well a 7900gs>8600gt>7600gt

the 7900gs and the 8600gt cost about the, give or take $20.

8600gt is dx10 and 7900gs is dx9.

so unless you want dx10, the 7900gs is the way to go, but the 8600gt is still a good card, not that much slower than a 7900gs.

also, an 8800 is kind of underpowered for dx10 also. take a look at some benchmarks.

Edited July 21, 2007 by ripken204

[puntoMX]

Not to be a smartass but the 8600 isn't a good choice for anyone. It's much too underpowered for anything dx10 so if one needs dx10 an 8800 is really the only option. If one doesn't need dx10 a nice 7 series card would be the best choice.

That depends on what resolution he want´s to play, the nVidia 8600GT works well on 1024*768 with DirectX10 and 1280*1024 with DirectX9. I personaly also would go with a DirectX 9 card like the ATi 1950GT and OC it.

Edited July 21, 2007 by puntoMX

[weEvil]

7600GT or 7800GS++ if you can get your hands on one. It has a 7900GT chip in it. Or get a 7900GT off eBay if the 7800GS++ is too pricey or too rare.

I wouldn't bother with the first-gen DX10 cards. Not even any real DX10 games yet.