Another Graphics Card Thread

[talmar]

Hey all,

quick question, my wife is letting me get a new computer. My graphics card options are...

1. ATI Radeon™ X300 SE 128MB PCI Express

or (for $150 more)

2. nVidia GeForce 6800 256MB PCI Express


Now, my gut is telling to go with the 256mb card but I seem to remember somebody mentioning some faults with the newer nVidia GeForce cards.

I don't do a lot of gaming...ToEE, NWN, and DnD Online when it comes out, looking forward to NWN2 down the road.

Any help/advice would be great.

Thanks

 

[KenM]

I recentaly upgraded to a BFG overclocked Gforce 6800 GT 256 MB. I really like it, no problems at all. You have to make sure you have a good power supply for it though. I play alot of first person shooters. (BF42, BFV, doom 3), as well as RPG's. (TOEE, NWN, WOW). I have tryed both ATI and Nvidia cards, Nvidia cards have less issues with games then ATI cards, IMO.
The ATI card should be good enough for what you want to play, but more video RAM is always good. DnD online and NWN2 are still ways off, and they don't even know what the gameplay specs will be.

 

[Thanee]

What card do you have now?

If it works well enough for what you do, just keep it and save the money for when you *really* need a new card. You will then get one, that is a lot better for the same money.

In a similar light, you could buy a really cheap card now and then upgrade when you need it.

There is no need for all that graphic card power, if you do not use it.

Bye
Thanee

 

[talmar]

What card do you have now?

If it works well enough for what you do, just keep it and save the money for when you *really* need a new card. You will then get one, that is a lot better for the same money.

In a similar light, you could buy a really cheap card now and then upgrade when you need it.

There is no need for all that graphic card power, if you do not use it.

Bye
Thanee

I have a 64MB nVidia Ancient. My current computer is about 4 years old now and experiencing hardware funkiness. As a previously dell certified technician I plan on going with dell. The two cards I listed were my two options for purchase (There were others but I don't need to go that high.). NWN and ToEE run, not very smoothly, but they run.

Thanks for help

 

[Rackhir]

Hey all,

quick question, my wife is letting me get a new computer. My graphics card options are...

1. ATI Radeon™ X300 SE 128MB PCI Express

or (for $150 more)

2. nVidia GeForce 6800 256MB PCI Express

The X300 falls into the barely adequate for any games category where as the 6800 is a first rate card. Not the absolute fastest, but at 2-3 times the performance of the x300 it should be fine for the next several years.

The X300 is about $70 retail
The 6800 is about $350 retail

For $150 more I'd go for the 6800. You'll be a lot happier with it.

 

[Psionicist]

Build it and they will come. Who knows, if you get a good, powerful video card you will perhaps start playing Doom III or other demanding games.

I'd get the Geforce 6800 myself, just so I _can_ play new games (not that I do. GTA:San Andreas looks neat though).

 

[Wystan]

Get the better card, less upgrade money in the long run for a newer card in 1-2 years.

 

[talmar]

Well, I went with the 256MB PCI Express nVidia GeForce 6800.

Thanks all for pushing me into I guess what should have been the obvious choice.

 

[drothgery]

Yup. For some reason Dell doesn't offer midrange cards in its prebuilt systems right now (if you were building a Pentium 4 system from scratch, you'd probably use a GeForce 6600, GeForce 6600GT, or Radeon X700 card -- all of which are much cheaper than the GeForce 6800/RadeonX8x0 cards, and much faster than the low-end cards), but does offer a pretty good deal on a 6800 standard. Sometimes (though not right now, with $150 upgrades to a high-end card), it makes sense to get the cheap card and upgrade it to an aftermarket midrange card right away.

 

[Thanee]

I have a 64MB nVidia Ancient.

Okay, that's really not sufficient.

Bye
Thanee