Need assistance on buying a Graphics card.

[fangs2000]

Hey all,

A friend of mine is planning on upgrading his comp in terms of Graphics card, memory and hard drive. The current ones are no good for modern gaming (geforce 440, 256bm ram, 40gig HD).

I've got the memory and hard drive sorted out for him, just the GC.

Looking to spend up to £120 (+VAT). I've been looking at Gainward 6600GT 128mb Powerpack and Sapphire X700 PRO 128MB AGP.

Can get your opoions on these? If you have any thing else to reccommened, please let me know, using web sites which deliver to the UK (so no newegg)

Also, how do the Geforce names work? I've always used ATI so i understand them (9700<9800<x800).

Thanks for the help all.

 

[PZEROFGH]

the 6600GT>X700pro

get the 6600GT though i would buy a leadtek 6600GT or gigabyte..

the Geforce names go 6600<6600GT,6800<6800GT<6800ultra<7800GT<7800GTX<7800GTX512MB

 

[beedubaya]

The 6600GT wipes the floor with the X700 Pro. Just get the 6600GT and don't consider it any further.

 

[003]

Get an X800GT -- it is on par with the 6600GT in all tests (minus doom 3), and beats it at higher resolutions, and with AA and AF. Here is a benchmark of it vs the 6600GT:
http://www.hkepc.com/hwdb/x800gt-5.htm
The site is in japanese, but you can still see the benchmarks. Also, people here will tell you the X800GT still sucks because it dosn't support Shader Model 3.0, well guess what folks:
http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27084
Not to mention the fact that nvidia has a bad texture shimmering problem with anostropic filtering, and when you get rid of it by setting image quality to high quality, you get a major FPS drop (10-25 fps depending on what you're looking at). I am personally appalled at nvidia for cutting all these corners and lying about their specs. Now I wish I had gotten an X850XT instead of my 6800GT.

 

[beedubaya]

You are just an ATI fanboy. The GeForce 6 and 7 series only fails one aspect of Shader Model 3.0, and guess what, ATI fails it too (Actually it fails the vertex shader test, which is part of SM3.0)! Plus, a lot of games are comming out on the Doom 3 engine now and in the future, and they barely play on ATI cards lower than the X1800XL. I know I had to play Quake 4 on low settings just to get a playable framerate on my X800 Pro. On my 6800GT, i was able to play 1280x1024 2x AA High settings, no prob. They usually only get about 25% of Nvidia's frames in Doom 3 engine games. Don't listen to ATI fanboys. Get the 6600GT.

 

[003]

You are just an ATI fanboy. The GeForce 6 and 7 series only fails one aspect of Shader Model 3.0, and guess what, ATI fails it too (Actually it fails the vertex shader test, which is part of SM3.0)! Plus, a lot of games are comming out on the Doom 3 engine now and in the future, and they barely play on ATI cards lower than the X1800XL. I know I had to play Quake 4 on low settings just to get a playable framerate on my X800 Pro. On my 6800GT, i was able to play 1280x1024 2x AA High settings, no prob. They usually only get about 25% of Nvidia's frames in Doom 3 engine games. Don't listen to ATI fanboys. Get the 6600GT.

i actually liked nvidia before I learned about all this. The only games I know of that are use the Doom 3 engine are Doom 3 and Quake 4 ... both of which are not very good games. On the other hand, there are already tons of game companies that have bought licenses to the Unreal Engine 3, before it has even been released:
http://www.epicgames.com/
http://www.unrealtechnology.com/flash/technology/ue30.shtml

BTW, you call me an ATI fanboy, because I am disappointed with nvidia. I ended up getting a 6800GT, and I am disappointed with it, and you got an X800 pro, which you were disappointed by. So, if I wanted, I could call you an nvidia fanboy. But I won't because you are a mod :cyclopes:

 

[beedubaya]

Unreal Engine 3 is a totally SM3.0 based game (although it will have a DX8 mode for those without SM3), and won't even be worth installing on an ATI card below the X1800XL. I don't even think it will run on the X800 series (decently, that is).

P.S. Can I have your 6800GT? Ill even trade my X800 Pro for it...

 

[fangs2000]

Hey, thanks for the input, you have helped at lot.

I am convinced that a Geforce 6800GT is the best choice (probably go for the gigabyte, i've had good experience with them, none with leadtek)

He is a fan of FPS games such as Doom and Unreal, so your input on those games have been the iceing on the cake.

He'll probably make the order in a weeks time, so if anyone has any more input, feel free to do so.

Again, thanks.