Best card for $100 - $150?

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m3avrck

n00b
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Oct 2, 2003
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Hey guys, building a new machine and looking for recommendations for a PCIe graphics card.

Right now I think my best bet is an ATI X800GT and found a great one from Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814131420

So what do you guys think? I can also wait a week or two if something else is coming out very soon (as I know Nvidia and ATI have lots of stuff in the works). Thanks!
 
Well seems the ATI X800 is probably gonna be the best performance though, right, compared to the 6600 and 6800 (probably not the 6800GT)?

What about that MSI card verse the one I found (first post)? Noticed the one I found was GT and had twice the amount of memory? Make that much of a difference?
 
Get the X800 with 12 pipes for $135 after mir. Hard to beat the price for performance on that. This from me, an nVidia user.
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DejaWiz said:
Get the X800 with 12 pipes for $135 after mir. Hard to beat the price for performance on that. This from me, an nVidia user.
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But is that better than the X800GT with the 256mb ram (even though from a manufacture I personally haven't heard of?) $135 verse $159 isn't too bad if that $24 will be worth it... dual DVI too but not sure if I'll ever make use of that with that video card (likely get another video card by the time I'm ready for that anywho).
 
What kind of games and programs do you run?

Powercolor has been around for a while. They are one of the cheaper off-brands, but I can't say anything about the quality of components since I have never bought a Powercolor card before.
 
You do realise that a 6600GT is pointless. Try and get a 6800NU and you have a chance of unlocking the other 4 pipelines greatly increasing performance.
 
Endurancevm said:
You do realise that a 6600GT is pointless. Try and get a 6800NU and you have a chance of unlocking the other 4 pipelines greatly increasing performance.
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No. He's looking for a PCI-E card. PCI-E 6800NUs do not unlock. The 6600gt is better in most things compared to the 6800NU.
 
Deffinately go with the x800 128MB for $135 after mir, it will spank the x800gt and 6600gt.
 
go with the x800 for sure i have one myself an its sweet. i have the 128mb HIS one from egg but its realy 256mb :D
 
I'm doing a major upgrade to my system starting Sept 30th and ending October 30th. I get paid every 2 weeks and I will be getting the stuff from Newegg piece by piece.

I'm gonna go with an ASUS PCI-Express mobo and was torn as to what card I should get.

I am looking at the regular X800 and the 6600GT. I have an AGP 6600GT and I like the performance since I can run Half-Life 2 at full settings with 4xAA and 8xAF with no lag whatsoever. My CPU right now is an Athlon XP 2800+. I have a Gig of Ram and am using an ASUS A7N8X mobo. What I'm upgrading to is the ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard and pairing it with an AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 CPU.

Would 12 pipes make a big difference over the 8 that the 6600GT has? The tests have varied widely site by site. So, I'm lost.
 
axess68 said:
I'm doing a major upgrade to my system starting Sept 30th and ending October 30th. I get paid every 2 weeks and I will be getting the stuff from Newegg piece by piece.

I'm gonna go with an ASUS PCI-Express mobo and was torn as to what card I should get.

I am looking at the regular X800 and the 6600GT. I have an AGP 6600GT and I like the performance since I can run Half-Life 2 at full settings with 4xAA and 8xAF with no lag whatsoever. My CPU right now is an Athlon XP 2800+. I have a Gig of Ram and am using an ASUS A7N8X mobo. What I'm upgrading to is the ASUS A8N-E Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 Ultra ATX AMD Motherboard and pairing it with an AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice 1GHz FSB Socket 939 CPU.

Would 12 pipes make a big difference over the 8 that the 6600GT has? The tests have varied widely site by site. So, I'm lost.
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Axess68: I have some recommendations for all the hardware you listed for your upgrade. But to stay on topic and just focus on the video card, I would say they are probably both reasonable choices. In DirectX games, the X800 will likely be faster (especially at higher resolutions because of the extra pipes). In OpenGL, the 6600GT might have the edge, but again, the fewer pipes might have a negative bearing at high resolutions.

If you're interested in getting feedback about components before you buy/build, I recommend you start a new thread in the general hardware section and list everything you intent to buy, what your budget is, and things you have questions about. ;) I'm not trying to diss your previous post, but I don't want M3avrck's thread to be hijacked, either.
 
Ack.. Sorry about that. I didn't realize I was bordering on a thread hijack. Sorry M3verick. I will make a new thread. I was tired this morning from scouring the web all night!

New thread in progress! :D
 
sabrewolf732 said:
go with that. There is no reason to get the 6600gt
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except maybe because even after the MIR the X800 is still out of the OP's pricerange while the 6600GT fits in his pricerange? :p
 
tranCendenZ said:
except maybe because even after the MIR the X800 is still out of the OP's pricerange while the 6600GT fits in his pricerange? :p
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the original card he posted is the same price :rolleyes: And a 128 x800 is 135 after mir, and it will still beat out a 6600gt....., what reason now? :rolleyes:
 
ok so the MSI X800 with 128mb v. the HIS X800 with 256mb

obviously more ram is better, but what about manufacturer to manufacture? $24 difference, is it worth it? can't seem to figure out which is better besides the obvious. thanks!
 
DejaWiz said:
Not worth the performance hit with the small amount of price difference....

My opinion, anyway.
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OP: Go with the HIS 256meg.
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Yeah that is what I'm thinking although I have found a lot of solid 6600GT cards now... hmmm. Vanillia ATI card or Gigabyte 6600GT for $10 cheaper...
 
m3avrck said:
Thanks for all the help guys, decided to go with the 6600GT in the end. This card got great reviews: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125156 ... one of the best 6600GT cards out there. Also, nVidia has way better Linux support and that was a thought that never crossed my mind (card will eventually be powering a linux machine). Thanks!
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Good choice. I had a 6600GT and it was fairly quick. But then I went 6600GT SLI and now it's pure bliss! Well, it's not 2x6800 series or 2x 7800s performance, but it's fast enough for me.
 
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