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  • Which card?

    I'm just building a new pc but have no idea what card to get. I've always stuck with ati in the past, because of the bad things i heard abouth the Fx series, now im not so sure. I've been looking at a gigabyte radeon x800 (GV-RX80256D) as it looks reasonably priced and pre-overclocked (988 mhz on the memory I think though a lot of shops seem to disagree). What card should I go for?
    system specs would be:

    DFI Lanparty (not to sure about this either)
    Amd Athlon 64 3200+ Venice core
    OCZ Gold pc3200 (2-2-2-5)
    Xaser V Damier

    Thanks!


  • #2
    Re: Which card?

    What kind of budget are you looking at? The system you are building is strong enough to handle pretty much anything you want to install. If you have plans on going with SLI, then right now the nVidia platform is the way to go. ATI will be bringing out their own version of this feature very soon, but it hasn't hit the markets yet so you're limited if you want to play right now. If you're going with a single board then you have anything in the x800-x850 series as well as the nVidia 6800 series to look at. Both manufacturers have their pros and cons, but bottom line is that both are awesome video boards and able to handle just about anything you can throw at them.

    So it really depends on budget and your desire for SLI functionality right now.
    Old age and treachery will overcome youth and skill
    My Toys

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    • #3
      Re: Which card?

      I have a budget of around £170 GBP. Not really looking for Sli as i don't have the cash for two cards.
      Thanks for the info Darthtanion!!

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      • #4
        Re: Which card?

        I'd go for a 6800GT or Ultra if they aren't too much more expensive over there. The overall performance between ATI and nVidia at that price level is generally about the same on similarly priced cards (in North America, that is), but Pixel Shader 3.0 is on the nVidia cards, and that means a lot in games that use it (e.g. the latest Splinter Cell which gives you the choice of 1.1 or 3.0, which are very different).

        The DFI nForce 4 board is certainly what you should get for a motherboard. You could spend more for the SLI version to have the option in the future, but I wouldn't bother, unless you can use the additional features of the SLI (e.g. more SATA/RAID, including RAID 5).

        I'd get OCZ VX PC4000, OCZ Value VX, or Mushkin Redline for the RAM. If not, Crucial Ballistix or OCZ Platinum Ehanced Latency rev. 2 PC3200 (along with several others from different companies that I forget the names of right now; they're all virtually identical). If the OCZ Gold is a lot cheaper and what I've recommended goes over budget, then go with the Gold. I'm sure you won't be unhappy with it.

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        • #5
          Re: Which card?

          It depends on the budget, but the 6600GT cards are great value for money. One friend recently had a x600 die on him. Luckily it was still under warranty. He's replaced it with a 6600GT. He said his 3dMark03 scores jumped from 3500 to over 8000.

          nVidia really dropped the ball on the FX series. But the they've picked up with the 6000 series cards and finally have a worthwhile successor to the venerable Ti4200.

          I've noticed among the friends I LAN with have almost all gone to nVidia cards. Why? They work. Everyone who has had a Radeon series card has had problems. One person returned 3 9600pro cards and reverted to a GF2 that works flawlessly. Others with the top end 9800 series cards have had good results, but the sample group is very small. However, the odds are the faulty cards were from third-tier manufacturers with marginal quality control.

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          • #6
            Re: Which card?

            Thanks Wraith, I've now decided to go for nvidia BUT (sorry) I have yet more questions!!! Would I be better to get a pair of 6600 GT's in Sli ( one to begin with then get the second later when I had the cash) or get a 6800 (can only afford the basic one I think). Also which manufacturer is better on these cards (Gigabyte, XFX etc.) thanks loads!!!!!

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            • #7
              Re: Which card?

              Save more cash and go for a 6800gt or ultra prob with SLI is you really need to buy the cards at the same time as manufactures keep updating the cards so they may not be compatable with each other. In my opionon save a little more cash.

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              • #8
                Re: Which card?

                Smoke, Classlessmetal more-or-less said it. Either get two 6600GT cards, same brand, same model, at the same time, or get one really good card instead. The one good card is probably the more cost-effective option. SLI is supposed to give "upto 50+% improvement", but remember that 0% is still upto 50%. Not all games support SLI, and some have lower framerates with SLI compared to a single-card.

                As for manufacturers, ASUS (despite their confusing model codes), Gigabyte, Leadtek, Albatron, etc. I've noticed that Gigabyte may not be the first to appear with a product when something new appears, but when they do make something it tends to be a well designed and made product that is worth the premium.

                Even the basic 6800 card is a good performing card. Avoid the value editions, of course. But the price difference between the basic 6800 and the GT is now a lot narrower. 8 months a go, the difference was about $200-250. Now it is about $50-100 (Australian dollars). Even if you can't afford the 6800GT and get a regular 6800, you won't be disappointed.

                Given the choice between two 660GTs and one 6800GT, I'd go for the 2nd choice. At any game resolution of upto 1280x1024, the framerates are going to be more than good enough, even with the latest games. Performance at higher resolutions is academic because A) the refresh rates on CRTs drops to levels guaranteed to induce migraines, and B) the native screen resolution of most 17" LCDs is 1280x1024 (anything higher is pointless, anything lower has to be extrapolated from the native screen res.).

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                • #9
                  Re: Which card?

                  OK now i have another choice (sorry). Either radeon X800 (gigabyte so ithink that's 988Mhz memory rather than 700Mhz) or a 6600GT (probably XFX as they seem the most popular) or even a vanilla 6800
                  Last edited by Smoke; 05-20-2005, 01:01 PM.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Which card?

                    Originally posted by Smoke
                    OK now i have another choice (sorry). Either radeon X800 (gigabyte so ithink that's 988Mhz memory rather than 700Mhz) or a 6600GT (probably XFX as they seem the most popular) or even a vanilla 6800
                    Go with the Gigabyte X800.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Which card?

                      Arguably. The 6800 is still a good competitor for the X800. It depends on the game. The X800 will see minor leads in several games (especially in HL2) but the 6800 has a huge lead in Doom 3. PS 3.0 would make me want the 6800, but the X800 should make you think twice because of its performance. It really depends on the person IMO.

                      The 6600GT is no competitor in this price range though. Don't consider it if you can get an X800 or 6800.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Which card?

                        Originally posted by Yawgm0th
                        Arguably. The 6800 is still a good competitor for the X800. It depends on the game. The X800 will see minor leads in several games (especially in HL2) but the 6800 has a huge lead in Doom 3. PS 3.0 would make me want the 6800, but the X800 should make you think twice because of its performance. It really depends on the person IMO.

                        The 6600GT is no competitor in this price range though. Don't consider it if you can get an X800 or 6800.
                        This particular X800 has a much higher memory speed (988mhz vs 700mhz)

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                        • #13
                          Re: Which card?

                          Does Gigabyte factory overclock its X800s, then? That's a pretty impressive OC, if so...

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                          • #14
                            Re: Which card?

                            Originally posted by Yawgm0th
                            Does Gigabyte factory overclock its X800s, then? That's a pretty impressive OC, if so...
                            All X800 cards use 2ns memory anyway (specified for 1000mhz DDR). Get higher yields that way = lower prices, as most 2ns chips will do 700 easily. The higher memory speed makes an all round difference of about 10-15%, and 20-25% at 1600x1200 or with AA\AF.

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