New Video Card

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jotajota

Weaksauce
Joined
Nov 28, 2004
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I currently have a 6600 GT in my computer (3.2 gig HT processor, 2 gigs DDR 3200 ram). I was wondering if it is worth it to upgrade to a 7600 GT or a 7900 GT. Would I see significant performance improvements? I play Guild Wars, BF2, CS:S, AoE3. Also, has anyone heard anything about the supposedly silent Gigabyte 7600GT? I would really like to get my computer quieter. Finally, what is the best brand to buy for such a card? Is there really that much of a difference (I don't plan on overclocking at all). Thanks!
 
i would recommend the 7600gt as a worthy upgrade, but a 7900gt is kinda overkill with that cpu
 
I play at 1280 by 1024, so sounds like a 7600 GT would be good! Just want some more info about the silent tech though.
 
I don't think a 7900GT would be overkill with your setup...and would be quite an upgrade from the 6600GT. I suggest EVGA cards because of the lifetime warranty and good customer support. They have new "reload" models for their 7900's with infineon ram that takes care of the problems the 7 series cards were having. Also..since you don't plan on overclocking, EVGA oc's their cards a little more than most other vendors and it's still covered by warranty.
 
at that rez a 7600gt would be fine get one of the OC models if you want a little boost
 
Wait, the problem was with only the 7900 series right? Not the 7600 GT's? I also read someplace that the 7900 GT reloaded is quite loud, which is why the 7600 GT silent version from Gigabyte is so tempting.
 
7600. Also have you tried overclocking your PC , they are good chips to overclock and you may able to get the 7900 instead.

Get the bottleneck sorted and get another years worth of performance out of it.
 
jotajota said:
Wait, the problem was with only the 7900 series right? Not the 7600 GT's? I also read someplace that the 7900 GT reloaded is quite loud, which is why the 7600 GT silent version from Gigabyte is so tempting.
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Not loud at all if you get the "KO" version from EVGA. A 7600GT is a great card for the money but a 7900GT would have a longer life before you feel the need to upgrade.
 
I have a Zalman cooler on VF700 cooler on my vid card currently. That is very quiet. Is the stock 7900GT KO as quiet as that? Or can I transfer my VF700 to the 7900GT KO? If it is just as quiet I would definitely buy the 7900 instead of the 7600.
 
The 7600GT KO is not incredibly quiet, but it is tolerable. Mine works great :D

Look on Zalman's site and check the compatibility, I know it probably will not fit the 7600GT though. The 7600GT is compatible with very few aftermarket coolers.
 
Id do a 7900GT or wait and see if all the ATI prices deop on all their GDDR3 equipment, since they announced GDDR4 today.....err Friday.....err whenever
 
Ok, well my graphics card cooler is compatable with the 7900 GT, so if it is too loud I could always use my VF700. This leaves me with the following choice: get the silent 7600 GT or the 7900 GT KO. The price difference is about 100 dollars. I am also planning on getting this heatsink for my CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185001

I want to run it fanless for silent operation (right now my CPU cooler really revs up when I'm playing games). I don't feel like overclocking so I don't really have to worry about overheating. Before I place the order, what are your thoughts? Is the extra performance given by a 7900 GT KO worth the extra 100 dollars?
 
jotajota said:
Ok, well my graphics card cooler is compatable with the 7900 GT, so if it is too loud I could always use my VF700. This leaves me with the following choice: get the silent 7600 GT or the 7900 GT KO. The price difference is about 100 dollars. I am also planning on getting this heatsink for my CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185001

I want to run it fanless for silent operation (right now my CPU cooler really revs up when I'm playing games). I don't feel like overclocking so I don't really have to worry about overheating. Before I place the order, what are your thoughts? Is the extra performance given by a 7900 GT KO worth the extra 100 dollars?
Click to expand...
In my opinion...yes it is worth it. I know you don't like overclocking but some of the GT KO's are easily overclockable to near GTX speeds stable. I have a 7900GT KO Superclock and I have it running at 600/800 but it will go higher...I'm just waiting for cooler weather.
 
Do you have PCI-E on your mobo?

If it means anything, I'm upgrading from a 9600XT to a X1600PRO. They are on sale for 179.99 at Best Buy...
 
Please dont tell me you are going to pay $180 for an x1600pro! You can get them new for $100 (512 version too!) off ATI.com. (w/ trade of old card) OR you could get it even cheaper from newegg.com. ANNND the 7600gt would beat the x1600pro, for only a little more.

OP, i would go with a 7900gt, there is no way that your cpu is going to bottleneck it. you would see a pretty big performance jump from a 6600gt as well.

MH
 
jotajota said:
Ok, well my graphics card cooler is compatable with the 7900 GT, so if it is too loud I could always use my VF700. This leaves me with the following choice: get the silent 7600 GT or the 7900 GT KO. The price difference is about 100 dollars. I am also planning on getting this heatsink for my CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835185001

I want to run it fanless for silent operation (right now my CPU cooler really revs up when I'm playing games). I don't feel like overclocking so I don't really have to worry about overheating. Before I place the order, what are your thoughts? Is the extra performance given by a 7900 GT KO worth the extra 100 dollars?
Click to expand...
If you got the $$ get the 7900GT that will be a huge step up from your 6600gt, huge. You would get by OK with a 7600gt at 1280 though. Certainly the 7600gt is the better value given your cpu. At 1280 you're right on the fenceline of being cpu bound. In certain games it will show more than others.
 
synaps3 said:
The 7600GT KO is not incredibly quiet, but it is tolerable. Mine works great :D

Look on Zalman's site and check the compatibility, I know it probably will not fit the 7600GT though. The 7600GT is compatible with very few aftermarket coolers.
Click to expand...


lol, tsk tsk, complaining about a little fan spinning in your case? Come on. It's not that loud, hell, i don't even hear it over my CPU fan or something. It's a good card. Supposed to be about double the speed of a 6600GT. worth lookin at. If you've got the budget, 7900GT would be good, or I'd highly recommend an X1800GTO//XT if you don't mind if it's red. Cheaper but in the same league.
 
StealthyFish said:
lol, tsk tsk, complaining about a little fan spinning in your case? Come on. It's not that loud, hell, i don't even hear it over my CPU fan or something. It's a good card. Supposed to be about double the speed of a 6600GT. worth lookin at. If you've got the budget, 7900GT would be good, or I'd highly recommend an X1800GTO//XT if you don't mind if it's red. Cheaper but in the same league.
Click to expand...

Wrong. http://objection.4camp.net/go.php?n=341562
 
Haha, and theres that flash toon again. They can be loud sometimes, my x1800xt is like a hair dryer, but my case is pretty nice, so i dont hear it too much.

MH
 
The X1800XT is usually compared with the 7900GT....... Yea, it's loud I guess, but I'm no complainer when it comes to sound. If you gave me 2 120mm tornado fans and told me to mount it to my case, I would to drop my temps from 90F to 60F, lol.

If you don't mind sound and you want performance, an X1800XT would do fine or the X1800GTO. I don't know why I was called wrong about what I said, since the X1800GTO from HIS (non Ice3 turbo or w/e) has a 6 phase power PC board which allows for higher supported voltages than reference boards, can get you far. I own a 7600GT KO and I'm fine with it, but seriously, the overclocks are horrible and unsatisfying being that my friend's 6800GS is able to beat it my card when both cards are overclocked fully by approximately 500 points on 3dmark, AND with a bios tweak, the 6800GS can be volt modded (no hard mods) and be able to score about 8000 on 3dmark05, approximately on par with a 7800GT.
 
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