Nosboost 300's Graphics card reviews, for users like you!

[NosBoost300]

lol, don't mind the title, it gets its point across

today i'll be giving a review of all the graphics cards that i've been through...

ati xpress 200 onboard graphics
6800
6800gs
7300gt
x1900xt
x1950pro
7900gt
and 7900gt sli

lol, thats all of them i've been through in the past year...

in this little guide i guess you can call it, i'm going to say what they can play, and just how it can play it.. of course i'll also tell you the other system specs i had at the time.

6800

alright, first i'll start off with the 6800... yup just plain 6800... nothing else added to it.

This was run on an opteron 146 and 1gb of g.skill ddr500 ram

This was a 256mb pci-e card.. nothing special, just a plain jane card.. i can't remember all of the specs.. seeing as i think its discontinued.. but you still may be able to find it on ebay and maybe recertified or something on newegg

this card was able to handle cs with full quality, textures up and everything, but don't expect to be turning on the AA or AF, or any HDR effects, because it will bring the card to its knees... don't look forward to playing any games like fear or COD2 on any great settings, look forward to maybe medium

for you WOW players, i think this card is perfect though, fits the budget nicely and gets the job done.

6800gs

this was my very first graphics card i ever bought, and it was an amazing start. This card was able to handle any game at 1024x768 at full quality.

I was running an opteron 146 and 1 gb of ddr500 ram at the time of this card. I was playing F.EA.R on full quality with 2xAA 2xAF, only had a hick up every now and then.. not nothing to be concerned with though

and for cs players, crank it up to 1280x1024, HDR On, and AAx4 AFx4 and you'll be running a nice steady 60-70 fps.

WOW doesnt stand a chance with this graphics... 3dmark05 scores of close to 6000... sure not too much now, but you can grab one of these used for 120 bucks, i think its a nice grab for the price, and is SLi ready.

7300gt
what can i say about this card... this was the 128mb version of the card, with gddr2 ram.

this card was tested with an Athlon x2 3800+ and a Core 2 Duo e6600

This card.... i don't know if i can say anything good about this card.... its not for the gamers.. at all

cs is played at very close to high, medium textures, and nothing fancy, no AA or AF and absolutely no HDR... 3dmark05 was a lousy 1000 points.... its not going anywhere... (and that was with the core 2 duo at 3.0 ghz)

so for someone playing old games and doesnt mind playing games on medium... this is another okay budget card...

x1900xt

I had this card running with my 3800 x2 and 2gb of ddr500 ram, and this card was nothing short of magic!!! it was an amazing card, and it ran every game the i way i wanted to play it. F.E.A.R at 4xAA 8xAF soft shadows on, while playing at 1280x1024. Never had a stutter... i can't think of one bad thing to say about this card....

if your going to plan on oc'ing this card, i would recommend you get the x1900xt from ATI, otherwise, oc'ing will be very limited due to the worse ram that all the other vendors got shafted with

3dmarks with a 3800 x2 at 2.5 ghz pulled high 11,000.

any game out today, will be played full quality on this card (probably with the exception of oblivion.... but what can play that game????)

x1950pro

the recently invest into card.... its a very nice card, i would say on par with a 7900gt... close to it at least.

i've only used this card with my e6600 and 1 gb of ddr2 800 ram.

it flys through cs with 4xAA 8xAF and HDR on, i don't think i ever fall below 80fps on an office server with 40 people playing

i didnt get to have to many games run on this card, but based on cs and dark messiah this card holds great promise for future use. No more dongles for crossfire, a similar, floppy like, bridge cable is now used to connect the two cards.

3dmark05 i managed to pull off 10,800 with my e6600 at 3.2 ghz and the video card at stock... this card also idols at a low 46 degrees with its stock cooler, i was impressed seeing as the x1900xt i had idoled at 54 degrees.

with dark messiah this card has its problems... but if you check out the dark messiah forums.. this isnt the only card having problems, so i can't give an accurate review of this card with that game.. but when it worked right, it was of course amazing.. handles hdr like a champ, and for only 200 dollars, this card is a winner

of course, its got its draw backs.. i'm not sure if its jsut because its an early card, but its drivers are all whacked out. When my computer is booted up, the resolution is terrible and is sort of curved??? odd effects. This effect also happens when i open up the catalyst control center. I have to change the resolution to some other one, then back to 1280x1024 to get it back to normal

besides this little flaw, its a great card for the price

7900gt
This was in my system with both an opteron 146 and 3800 x2... with either processor, this card was amazing.

With the ability to voltmod, this video card just kept surprising me. Stock 3dmark05 with the opteron were at mid 9000 range. When i first put this in and tried out fear, this was also taking it on full quality... though it stuttered at first, when i added in my 2nd gb of ram if took care of that problem. Ram seems to be a very important factor of gaming now a days, well at least large quantities of ram.

With this card volt modded i managed to reach 703/2000 clocks... but because i was only on stock cooler, it failed on me half way through 3dmark... reach its threshold...

with 1 7900gt volt modded (i can't remember exact clock) with my x2 i managed to get about 11,800 in 3dmark05 (i'm not an 06 fan... takes too long... lol)

i would in every way suggest this card as one of the best bang for the buck cards out today

7900gt SLi

I was happier than you know when i had these babies in SLi.... i pulled off 13,500 in 3dmark05 with a stock opteron 146 and stock 7900gt clocks.

Play any game.. with any setting you want... quake 4 ultra quality with 2xAA was a breeze, and wouldnt ever give me problems

if your looking for reliable sli, without spending too much cash, this would be your sure winner, without a doube, i would go back to dual 7900gt's in a heart beat.

Not much more to say about this combination, just that its amazing... and if you can... GET IT!!

ATI Express 200 Onboard Graphics (256 MB)

This is where it all started.. in my compaq with the 3500+ and 1gb of ram..... this was actually really good onboard if you ask me... i was pulling of hl2 and cs on high (of course no pretty affects) it was stutter every once in a while.. but at the time, i didnt care, because everything still looked amazing.

if your not an avid gamer, and just want to play some games, this is a great set to start you off until you could buy a graphics card

anything played at this system was only used on 1024x768.. seeing as i only had a 15 inch monitor at the time....

My Conclusion

Hrmm.. whats my conclusion to all this... well i'd have to say that its that i've wasted way too much money in this computer business.... lol...

jk, well not really, but if i had to stay with any one card... this would be a very hard choice...

but if your at a 240 dollar maximum, the 7900 gt is the best bang for the buck, the price has dropped so much, for such a good card..

but my personal favorite out of all of them would have to be the x1900xt, i managed to get it at 309 brand new when newegg had a sale on the sapphire ones... if money isnt your problem this is a great card...

so if you have vid card questions... ask me!!! hahaha

DARK MESSIAH PLAYERS

256 mb is not enough to run this game!!! (as of now, until we have patches that fix it all)

the games uses a little over 600mb's of texture to run full quality (which is stupid!)

so if you want this game full quality, you WILL need a 512 mb card

 

[NosBoost300]

I'll be back to update this review again soon....

soon in the system will be another x1950pro for crossfire goodness, an x1900xtx, x1900 crossfire edition, or an x1950xtx... so stay tuned for updates!

 

[KBlair]

Good reviews, but please, for the love of God use capitals and a spell checker.

 

[NosBoost300]

lol, i did this all in 15 minutes before getting ready for work.. i was just trying to get it done.... lol

 

[maroon1]

6800

alright, first i'll start off with the 6800... yup just plain 6800... nothing else added to it.

This was run on an opteron 146 and 1gb of g.skill ddr500 ram

This was a 256mb pci-e card.. nothing special, just a plain jane card.. i can't remember all of the specs.. seeing as i think its discontinued.. but you still may be able to find it on ebay and maybe recertified or something on newegg

this card was able to handle cs with full quality, textures up and everything, but don't expect to be turning on the AA or AF, or any HDR effects, because it will bring the card to its knees... don't look forward to playing any games like fear or COD2 on any great settings, look forward to maybe medium

7300gt


cs is played at very close to high, medium textures, and nothing fancy, no AA or AF and absolutely no HDR... 3dmark05 was a lousy 1000 points.... its not going anywhere... (and that was with the core 2 duo at 3.0 ghz)

so for someone playing old games and doesnt mind playing games on medium... this is another okay budget card...

I have to disagree with you that

As I know the geforce 6600 is not as good as 6800 and 7300GT, but I play HL2 episode 1 on 1024x768 on highest setting, 2xAA, 4xAF and HDR is on

So, the 6800 and 7300GT should run CS better than 6600

 

[NosBoost300]

well.. when i put in that 7300.. and try to play at dust... i can't use any kind of filter without lagging... and this 7300 is only 128 mb compaired to you 256 mb.. as for the 6800... that card was just bad...

also, these were played at 1280x1024

your card is just 6600? no gt.. or le or anything?

looks like i'm going to have to make some changes.. adding in resolutions.. lol

anyway, i'm off to work now, so i'll be back to update in about 9 hours.. lol

 

[maroon1]

Hl2 has Auto-detection. When you first install HL2 it will choose for you the best setting for you.

your card is just 6600? no gt.. or le or anything?

My 6600 is plain, it is not GT and not LE

The plain version is better than LE, but th GT is better than mine

Also, I have OC mine from 300/500 to 345/575, I can even OC it more than that.

 

[Whirlwind]

Just received my Asus 512MB X1900 Cross Fire Master card from Newegg yesterday.....waiting for my Zalmon cpu heatsink, then I will start my build.

Thanks for the review.

The Asus X1900 Crossfire master card was $309 on newegg, and is the exact same card as the X1900XT, it is just the master card.

 

[hmammen]

my 6800 128 mb gainward can play fear at medium to high settings, looks great. and on CSS i get about 80 fps with AA......so i dono, i think its gainwards OC.

 

[NosBoost300]

Hl2 has Auto-detection. When you first install HL2 it will choose for you the best setting for you.

yes.. and it says my x1950 pro shouldnt have AA HDR or AF.. and medium textures.. thats obviously wrong... i run the game 4xAA 8xAF and never drop below 80 fps.. they were dead wrong!