trancejeremy
Adventurer
Yeah, but the trouble with getting a really high end one, is you have to make sure you have a large enough power supply. And case fans.
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[PCat video card debacle!] Help improving graphics for new PC - updated.
- Thread starter Piratecat
- Start date
Rodrigo Istalindir
Explorer
That seems to be the sweet spot in the "casual gamer" category right now.
GlassJaw
Hero
I bought a 7900GT for my home-built PC and it smokes. If it's a gaming machine, don't skimp on the card. I run most games at the highest settings and don't have any problems. I could overclock the heck out of my CPU but I haven't felt the need to yet.
AMD Opteron 165 Dual-Core
DFI LANPARTY nF4
G.Skill 2GB DDR500
eVGA GeForce 7900GT
Seagate 7200.0 250 GB SATA
AMD Opteron 165 Dual-Core
DFI LANPARTY nF4
G.Skill 2GB DDR500
eVGA GeForce 7900GT
Seagate 7200.0 250 GB SATA
Simplicity
Explorer
Typically, my advice is to buy the best video card you can reasonably afford, but now is a weird time for buying those cards. The reason is that later this year, DirectX 10 will come out. DirectX 10 imposes requirements on graphics boards designers, and the current generations of cards may need some sprucing up to deal with these and the new features introduced by DirectX 10 (and Windows Vista in general).
Since you just bought a computer, you clearly want to see some graphics improvement for your money. I recommend either going with a relatively cheap card (I consider the 7600GT a somewhat cheap card. The 7300 is a non-gamer "budget" card) for now and upgrading after the fallout from DirectX 10 clears.
You might also try replacing the card in your new machine with your OLD card. You'll probably see some improvement by doing that, which could tide you over. But I don't think it'll be enough to justify the purchase of your new machine.
Since you just bought a computer, you clearly want to see some graphics improvement for your money. I recommend either going with a relatively cheap card (I consider the 7600GT a somewhat cheap card. The 7300 is a non-gamer "budget" card) for now and upgrading after the fallout from DirectX 10 clears.
You might also try replacing the card in your new machine with your OLD card. You'll probably see some improvement by doing that, which could tide you over. But I don't think it'll be enough to justify the purchase of your new machine.
As you have discovered, your card is evil. I'm building an entire new system next month and have been researching parts for three months now. I'm a NVIDIA fan so take it with a grain of salt.
The 7600 GT is THE sweet spot in the best bang for the buck catagory. I'm going to assume your interface is PCIE and your old system was AGP? If I'm wrong and both your computers have the same graphics interface, put your 6800 in your new rig and save your gold for a more expensive card.
The 7900GT is a great performer. Stay away from the overclocked cards as there is a tenency for some of them to artifact. The stock speeds on them are plenty fast.
Do you need SLI (two cards) or does it just sound cool? I play BF2 with some buddies and one has a 7800GTX, Athlon64 3200 processor. The other has a sli setup (2)7900GT's, Athlon64 4000 processor. Aside from those specs their systems are identical. Same mobo, same ram, etc. The first guy pulls 90-99 fps with all settings on default high in heavy combat. The second guy pulls 99 fps with all settings on default high. The game locks the frames at 99.
Are the extra 9 frames per second worth the additional $300 he spent on a second video card to run SLI? Nobody I know can see the difference between 90 and 99 frames per second.
It is to him and he's happy. Did he future proof his rig for more demanding games down the road? Maybe, maybe not. DX10 could shake that theory up a bit.
Decide for yourself.
*Edit- Check your powersupply specs, note the amps on the 12v rails. Idealy you want it to say 18amps or greater. I'm also going to hope you have a power supply that is rated at 350w or greater. I'm too lazy to look up that cards power requirements but if it matches both those, you are good to go on the 7600GT.
If you need to get another power supply to get another vid card use the above "stats" as a guide line and look for a 400w or greater one. You'll want to spend near $100 on one or risk it having some personality...
Later
The 7600 GT is THE sweet spot in the best bang for the buck catagory. I'm going to assume your interface is PCIE and your old system was AGP? If I'm wrong and both your computers have the same graphics interface, put your 6800 in your new rig and save your gold for a more expensive card.
The 7900GT is a great performer. Stay away from the overclocked cards as there is a tenency for some of them to artifact. The stock speeds on them are plenty fast.
Do you need SLI (two cards) or does it just sound cool? I play BF2 with some buddies and one has a 7800GTX, Athlon64 3200 processor. The other has a sli setup (2)7900GT's, Athlon64 4000 processor. Aside from those specs their systems are identical. Same mobo, same ram, etc. The first guy pulls 90-99 fps with all settings on default high in heavy combat. The second guy pulls 99 fps with all settings on default high. The game locks the frames at 99.
Are the extra 9 frames per second worth the additional $300 he spent on a second video card to run SLI? Nobody I know can see the difference between 90 and 99 frames per second.
It is to him and he's happy. Did he future proof his rig for more demanding games down the road? Maybe, maybe not. DX10 could shake that theory up a bit.
Decide for yourself.
*Edit- Check your powersupply specs, note the amps on the 12v rails. Idealy you want it to say 18amps or greater. I'm also going to hope you have a power supply that is rated at 350w or greater. I'm too lazy to look up that cards power requirements but if it matches both those, you are good to go on the 7600GT.
If you need to get another power supply to get another vid card use the above "stats" as a guide line and look for a 400w or greater one. You'll want to spend near $100 on one or risk it having some personality...
Later
Last edited:
Vocenoctum
First Post
GlassJaw said:
What power supply did you use? I had a hell of a time finding one that was affordable and had the specs the 7900gt wanted.
My build wasn't top of the line, but I had a price limit.
According to The Register and Inquirer Nvidia is going to be releasing a 7950 GT (SLI dual GPU on a single board) for $300 and a 7900GS $200 around mid september.
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33752
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=33752
