upgrading video card

[metal11]

ok so heres my setup:


motherboard is an ASUS A7N8X-E deluxe
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ 2.2ghz processor
1GB pc3200 DDR memory
ATI Radeon 9550 AGP 256mb
500W power supply


i use this for gaming, was looking into buying a new video card and for awhile was looking at the Nvidia Geforce 6600 GT.... was talking to a friend and he was saying to go with an ATI radeon x850 256mb ... just was wondering if there was a better card around this price range that i should go with.. and if i do go with the X850, will it bottleneck my system?

 

[BiGyLiLuPdAmIdL]

i like 660gt but that is just me. 660gt gives you the best bang for the buck.

 

[BiGyLiLuPdAmIdL]

sorry 6600gt* i was typing to fast so i could rush back to the football game lol

 

[SHAWN]

6600GT supports shader model 3.0 Ati does not. All in all, get the 6600GT, it will outperform the ATi.

 

[bonehelm]

if you have money for an X800 , why dont you go with 6800GS? Its twice to thrice as good as the X800.

 

[Brtnboarder495]

Newer games will be using SM3, which ATI's generation 2 cards (X000 series) do not have. Nvidia's Geforce 6 cards hold SM3, which is why they are probably the better buy.

Anyways, the X850 is a decent card, but I'd definetly reccomend at least the X1800XL which is a little more expensive, but also a little more powerful (if you want to stick with ATI)

If you want to go with Nvidia, I'd reccomend the 6800GS or 7800GT.

 

[Merkwürdigeliebe]

6600GT supports shader model 3.0 Ati does not. All in all, get the 6600GT, it will outperform the ATi.

that argument is getting old and very fast. the differences between shader model 2.0 and 3.0 is so insignificant when talking about present games and even near-future games. The only way you'll actually see a difference is through 3D benchmarking or probably in future games (within a year or so). But whatever, definatley go for the 6600GT. But not simply for shader model 3.0. There are many reasons that are more significant than that.

 

[fr34ky]

yeah get the 6600gt than OC it if you can.
dang dont to see to many of them anymore (ati fanboys)8)

 

[PZEROFGH]

You can get the 6800 which is awesome, and you can unlock it because you have the AGP version