Best Vaule Graphics card

[baileyphil]

Hi Guys

Wondering if someone could help me out here, just got a NVDIA Geforce fx 5200 128mb which to be honest isnt the greatest card ive ever seen, seen it on a website really cheap and just thought sod it ill go for it

Was wondering i am now going to do this properly and actually look into which card im buying, does anyone have any recommendations on which way i should be looking, is NVDIA the way or not and what cards around £100 are best for their price, i kinda had the thought of so long as its got more memory then the one ive already got then it will be better

Could someone share their expertise please

Cheers

Phil

[Thai3g_Eclipse]

What slot interface you have? AGP or PCI-e? Current PC specs?

[prathapml]

More memory is not that much of a differentiator.

Anyways, nVidia is quite the way to go - solid overall. ATi is rather off-and-on.

A GeForce 6600GT would be about the 100-pound mark today, and a decent buy.

[Thai3g_Eclipse]

Yep, the 6600GT sure fits the bill, whether it be AGP or PCI-e.

[ripken204]

evga or bfg 6600gt

[Jose Sigafus]

Could someone explain the difference between the 6600 and the 6600GT cards. I'm not a gamer but need to upgrade my "old" nvidia card.

[Crash&Burn]

@ Jose Sigafus

They're dumb keywords GFX makers use, basically to confuse the consumer.

Like the ATI 9600, 9700, 9700 XT, 9700 Pro

If I'm not mistaken the 6600 GT is SLI capable - meaning if your Motherboard actually supports it can use 2 Cards slaved together.

In general - though not always, a suffix at the end of a GFX card means better than standard edition/design of that particular model. There are a few exceptions, believe "LE" was a crap card of ATI's.

Thus comparing models becomes a headache when you start to look at features of say a 9600 Pro vs a 9800 or 9800 XT or 9800 Pro... ad nauseum.

And they're running out of "cool" 2 letter suffixes might have to go with whole words soon.

Edited October 24, 2005 by Crash&Burn

[ripken204]

its not to confuse, its to help you. its lets you know how good it is, the 6600 and 6600gt are based off of the same core but the gt is just clocked higher. get the 6600 if ur not a games, still a fine card.

[Jose Sigafus]

Thanks: I found the 6600 with 256mb for $150.00 at a local store. Sounds fine to me.

[quinriva]

I believe that all 6600GT's use DDR3 memory but some of the 6600s use regular DDR memory (hence they're cheaper).

LeadTek is one of the best brands for 6600Gt's the PX6600 GT Extreme edition from LeadTek is probably the best option for under 100 pound (I'm guessing, as I'm an Aussie.)

Have a look for yourself at prices in the UK on this card. The BFG 6600GT is also good but much more expensive (in Australia anyway).