serious question about gfx card!!

[madmonk888]

hey .. im buying a new graphics card in a few days, and i need some input on a serious issue regarding the way it works

im looking to buy a PNY Geforce 6800 GT 256 MB
cpu is 2800 + Athlon XP a1 gig generic ram and an Asus Mobo(supports 8X agp and agp 3.0 whatever that is ) and a Ti 4400
since i was looking on some info on it, i found some forums in 2003 with people complaining that the 6800 Gt runs barely better if not a little slower than their Ti 4400 card, this due to the new direct x 9.0 graphics card actually leaving the CPU to do some more work that was previously done by the TI series. later on i found some early 2004 forums mentioning how the new Nvidia drivers have dealt with problems like this. Since im confused about the card and its performance, im asking you guys if you know anything about this, and if the 6800 GT is worth it with my 2800+ AMD AthlonXP CPU or if its not worth it on a semi-outdated processor like this.

 

[ShoobieRat]

First off, if you're going to fork out the dough for a 6800GT, you had better know what the hell AGP 3.0 means.

Second, PNY sucks as a graphics card distributer. They never put anything with their cards, and their service is just okay...not great. You buy retail from PNY and it's literally like you're getting OEM.

Thirdly, , keep in mind you're putting a market-leading graphics card into a machine with generic RAM, and a just-decent processor. Just keep that in mind.

Lastly, the old titanium (Ti) cards can't compare to the 6 generation cards. Unless someone's using a workstation Ti, I doubt they're getting better results (image wise) on their Ti over a 6800.

If you're a serious gamer, I would suggest updating your proc, mobo, and RAM, too. If you're not, I would suggest getting a graphics card from the level under the 6 series, which will be cheaper and do all you want.

 

[Nubius]

found some forums in 2003 with people complaining that the 6800 Gt runs barely better if not a little slower than their Ti 4400 card

This is simply not true....possibly back in 2003 when the card was new, but definitely not now...my FX 5700 beats out the Ti 4400...

Like shoobie said though you should look into upgrading the CPU and RAM. If you get a board and CPU like mine (check specs) you can overclock it to a 400FSB and generally up to 3200+ XP speeds and further, mines at 2.7GHz currently. the best brand card to get is eVGA...they put the same heatsink on all the cards, that means you get a heatsink meant for the Ultra put on the lesser cards....it's like having a free aftermarket heatsink...Those are the easiest to overclock and you can get it up to and past Ultra speeds with good cooling.

AGP 3.0 is the current slow technology...it's referring to the actual AGP Slot and it's compatibilities and bandwidth.

 

[Apokalipse]

I think your CPU is descent, although you lack in RAM and video card right now
I suggest you get the 6800 GT and a gig of some descent PC3200 RAM if you can to replace the generic crap
even if you don't get the generic RAM replaced, the 6800 will still boost your performance by far

 

[ShoobieRat]

XP chips are so cheap now, if you're going to upgrade it, just go to the 3200+ chip rather than doing an overclock. Extra stability and lifespan for $15 extra bucks. It's simply not worth the hassel to overclock when you can just go for the chip you want.

 

[madmonk888]

thnx for the input guys, and yes, i will upgrade my CPU /mobo soon , but i dont have the cash right now, and i thought it was more important to have a good gfx card instead of a cpu/mobo right now .. BUT wow .. i didnt know ram brand made THAT much of a difference...

 

[DoomUK]

Lastly, the old titanium (Ti) cards can't compare to the 6 generation cards. Unless someone's using a workstation Ti, I doubt they're getting better results (image wise) on their Ti over a 6800.

A little off topic, but I'll get to the point: my friend has a Ti4200. Going by the forceware drivers, they say it's actually a Quadro 4 900 XGL, which, correct me if I'm wrong, were indeed the workstation equivelants to the GeForce Ti 4k series. I.E damn nice cards (in their day)...
Anyway, he's using an XP 2000+ and 1gb of RAM and he puts out about 1500 in 3DMark03.