help picking a pci-express video card

[bokmunn]

I'm about to buy a new video card for my pc which holds a pci-express card. I'm on a tight budget and want one that will play half-life 2 and counter-strike source. There are just too many and you expertise is needed. Thanks.

 

[diabloII]

6600GT is very cheap now (only ~$160) and plays css and hl2 fine

 

[zenyora]

i would go to with the eVGA 6800gt i bought that one for my other computer so i can play hl2 an its great but it costs about $300 ...
but if you dont have the cash go with the 6600gt as diablo said it a great card 2...

 

[Counter-Strike]

6600GT hands down. Best price/performance ratio out there. I would recommend eVGA or MSI.

 

[vaderpro]

As above, great card, great price....you will love it. Leadtek also good brand.

 

[003]

if you cant afford a 6800gt, but you can afford a 6600gt, then I would get a 6800 vanilla, because it is only like $20 more than the 6600gt and it has 4 extra pipes.

 

[Hacp]

What price range? I would defenetly look at the x800 Xl for the type of games you are playing. ATI cards defenetly have the edge against Nvidia in Half Life 2 games. Also, right now, you can get this card for 250 at monarch. This card is very competative with the 6800GT in most games, and currently kills the 6800GT in terms of half-life2 performance.

Right now though, if you are looking for a graphics card to play general games with, and not one specific game, then the 6800GT is your card. This card, priced at 300 dollars at newegg, is currently a better bang for your buck, especially if you are going to overclock it. Overclocked, this card can pass Ultra levels in terms of performance. When this card was priced at 350, it was hard to reccomend, but now priced at 300 this card is just a little better than the x800XL because it does offer Shader Model 3.0, which will enhcance the graphics quality in some next generation games, and also because it overclocks better than the x800 XL.

Also 003, the Vanilla 6800 is like 220 dollars PCI-Express. Its the AGP ones that are cheaper.

 

[bokmunn]

I'm thinking of sticking with ATI because my mobo has the built in ATI radeon xpress chip in it already. I think they would work together? I'm not really sure. So if i stick with ATI, x800XL is the way to go? Which brand, any suggestions?

 

[alsj411]

I own Sony S460 laptop, which has 6200 GO 128mb in it.. Half life 2 and CS work great !

 

[Sh0r_ty]

u can use a nvidia card on a ati mobo so go nvidia as they have the best bang for buck cards at the moment

6800GT is a good card and it is definityly as fast as the x800xl except it has sm 3.0 fast can do just about anything and can oc to 6800 ultra levels most of the time

6600GT is great good at stock speeds and overclocks well. at stock speeds i play hl2 at 1280/1024 every setting maxed out and no lag at all. doom 3 plays at 1280/1024 HQ visual settings maxed except for antialiasing and it goes at around 60fps

6200 (NOT TURBO CACH!!!) is a really cheap card and if your prepared to do modding then its great. if modding is ok then get this card. first thing to do is unlock the other 4 pipelines then check that they work. then overclock it, to get best overclocks you will want to volt mod the mem with that done you should be able to get 500core/640mem without 2 many probs but you will want ram sinks to cool them. this is what im doing for a second comp (really cheap build). but remember at stock this card is generally crap (for a laptop card then it might be good in comparison with others but you don't really want this card if not prepared to do the mods)