Agp card died, new build have PCI-E now, need help with card choice

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Zenzrevenge

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Sep 11, 2006
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Ok so in the past I had great help here with trying to find an AGP board.

Long story short, that box went to hell and I am pretty much start new.

My new build will have PCI - E. Looking for a card between 100-150. No preference between nvidia or ATI.

Also what is the difference between Pci-e x 16 and pci-e x 1?

Thanks
 
Zenzrevenge said:
Also what is the difference between Pci-e x 16 and pci-e x 1?

Thanks
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x1 has about 1/16th the bandwidth available of an x16 slot. Also, most of the time x1 slots are shorter, though one could have an x16 slot (physically) with x1 singalling (electrically)
 
XFX 7600GT XXX edition hands down! Stock clocks are 590/1.6GHz. Newegg has them for 146.00 last time I checked
 
newls1 said:
XFX 7600GT XXX edition hands down! Stock clocks are 590/1.6GHz. Newegg has them for 146.00 last time I checked
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I second that. A 7600GT matches the X850Xt's in most benchmarks, plus, you get newer tech with the 7600GT thatn the X800/X850 series GPUs don't support.
 
Thanks!

I had an agp 7600gs and regretted not getting the 7600gt. So now being pci-e the gt is in my price range.

Will an antec 350w PSU be sufficient?
 
Zenzrevenge said:
Thanks!

I had an agp 7600gs and regretted not getting the 7600gt. So now being pci-e the gt is in my price range.

Will an antec 350w PSU be sufficient?
Click to expand...


get a new PSU
 
Technically, the 350w psu will work. It never hurts to upgrade it, though.
 
Wattage ratings on Power supplies are really inacurate ways to judge their output. I've seen 350Watt power supplies offer more Amperage on their 12v rails than some 500Watt power supplies.

Many factors affect which power suppy works best for you.

Are you running SLI or Crossfire? Will you ever?
How many system fans will you be powering?
How many hard drives?
Does your video card "require" seperate power?
Does your motherboard "require" more power connections than the standard 20/24 pin and 4 pin connectors?

Do some research and get the best Power Supply within your budget.

P.S. I've had 3 (three) Antec SL-350 (350 Watt power supplies that come with many Antec cases) fail/starting to fail in the past 2 weeks!
 
StealthyFish said:
I second that. A 7600GT matches the X850Xt's in most benchmarks, plus, you get newer tech with the 7600GT thatn the X800/X850 series GPUs don't support.
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In benchmarks. Without High Quality mode turned on in the drivers.

In most games the x850xt will beat the 7600GT when the image quality settings are the same. 'Most benchmarks' use nvidia driver default quality settings, which are crap compared to ATI's IQ.
 
or if you want to go a little lower in $$$ you could get a x800xl, still has 16 pipelines just a slightly slower core, it can all the current games fine and you can get one for around 99$ or maybe even less.
 
nigerian_businessman said:
In benchmarks. Without High Quality mode turned on in the drivers.

In most games the x850xt will beat the 7600GT when the image quality settings are the same. 'Most benchmarks' use nvidia driver default quality settings, which are crap compared to ATI's IQ.
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it'll be your choice as to if you want tech or speed. Sm3 is going to be outdated, but atleast you'll be able to support some nicer graphical effects that you may not see if you buy an X800 series, although raw speed of the X800 series cards are nice. I was in the same dilemma, and I ended up going 7600GT since it was priced in the middle and performed decently, while having newer tech. By the way, I see no graphical difference between my X800 and my 7600GT. Even comparing my 7600GT to my MX400, I still see no huge difference that would compell me to buy an ATI card over an Nvidia. And the AA at long range is barely noticable. Only reason I see to buy a X1000 series card is that they can render AA, AF, and HDR at the same time, while Nvidia 7 series can only do 2 of those 3 at one time...
 
StealthyFish said:
it'll be your choice as to if you want tech or speed. Sm3 is going to be outdated, but atleast you'll be able to support some nicer graphical effects that you may not see if you buy an X800 series, although raw speed of the X800 series cards are nice. I was in the same dilemma, and I ended up going 7600GT since it was priced in the middle and performed decently, while having newer tech. By the way, I see no graphical difference between my X800 and my 7600GT. Even comparing my 7600GT to my MX400, I still see no huge difference that would compell me to buy an ATI card over an Nvidia. And the AA at long range is barely noticable. Only reason I see to buy a X1000 series card is that they can render AA, AF, and HDR at the same time, while Nvidia 7 series can only do 2 of those 3 at one time...
Click to expand...

The question I pose is, can you run those nicer graphical effects at a decent resolution with a sustainable framerate? I mean, SM3 is nice, but unless you can run 1280x1024 or 1600x1200 with some AA and AF AND those SM3 effects, whats the point?
 
I ended up getting the BFG model. I didn't think the extra speed was worth it for the XFX. I mean either way the card is going to be a huge improvement for me.
 
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