Ok recommend a video card for my new computer

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kernal_panic

Limp Gawd
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Sep 10, 2000
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This past weekend I finally did it. I dumped my old faithfull shuttle xpc ss51g. that rig was a 2.0 northwood clocked to 2.4. had 1 gig of ram 200 gig 7200 rpm barracuda and a chaintech 6800 le card. i had that thing almost 4 years.

i bought one of those bundle deals from office depot. compaq sr1830nx

its a 3500+ athlon 64 1 gig of ram 200 gig hdd dual layer lightscribe dvd burner. i put 1/2 of my old ram and my old hdd in the new compaq for 1.5gigs and 400 gigs.

the compaq has a asus motherboard believe it or not. anyway its got a pci-e slot. my old pc was agp.

I'm playing quake 4, fear, and counter strike source.

so whats my best video card for my application for $150 or less?
 
Hmmm... For Source an ATI card would be best but for Quake an NV card would be best.

Choose your poison... Which game is more important to you?
 
the idea that ati is better is bull.

HDR in css is definatly in the range of Nvidia cards. the two cards in compition over CSS are X700 and 6600. i have a 6600GT and an X700PRO. to my astonishment, the X700 pro doesnt support SM3.0 yea.... wow.... 6600GT does. i have the 128mb edition, im pretty sure the core of my good old 6600GT can handle the processing, but i dont think the memory is enough to cache resolutions higher then 1200X1000.

ANYWHO, that was then, this is now. for $150 your looking at 7600GS VS X1600PRO.

the 7600GS is simply a 160Mhz lower clocked version of a 7600GT, so you can oc the bejeesus outta it, if you strap on a fan. and that heat sink is perfect size to mount a 12cm fan.

the X1600 PRO is, like its counterpart, simply a 90MHz lower clocked version of a X1600XT. it has a realitivly efficient fan. however with the release of products like X1800GTO, the X1600 series never made it big as a graphics card. it wasnt either here nor there.

both have 12 pipes. both excellent cards, however i recomend the 7600GS, because overclocking it will allow it to outperform an X1600PRO, and even an X1600XT.
 
Last I saw nvidia had better fps and similar iq in source games (hl2, sin, CS etc..)
 
$150 will not impress you with pci-e. 7600 is not much of an advance IMO.
 
If you are interested in being able to watch protected movies using HD DVD or Blu Ray on your PC you will need
a video card that is fully HDCP compliant. Currently there are two choices for a video card that is fully HDCP
compliant. Any 7950 GX2 card or this MSI 7600 GT.

It is $29.00 above your budget but it will be worth it if you are into Hi Def movies.
 
I personally own one of the passively cooled 7600GS cards and I've been very pleased with it's performance. I've overclocked the bejessus out of it and get close to the GT performance. But adding on a quality fan and whatnot takes it right into the pricing range of the 7600GT. Granted, I picked mine up for just a hair over $100.00 and it makes a spectacular HTPC card, pricing on the 7600GT is just right in the same zone as GS cards with integrated HSF's.

Now with the rebates for many of the 7600GT cards, I'd have to recommend one of those as they are in your price range.

While titles still cover SM 2.0 hardware pretty well, I think you'll want to stay clear of older generation GPU cores as we get closer to Vista release. Mainly for the SM 3.0 capabilities, I'd deffinetly recommend the 7600GT over the XT850XT recommended above. You'll still have a less expensive card and the 7600GT is certainly nothing to scoff at.

Granted the games you mentioned don't really care, but next versions and some other current titles that you may pickup now will yield extra visual detail with SM 3.0 hardware.
 
-=Antimatter=- said:
Spring an extra $30 and get an x1800GTO. Mine was $183 before shipping.
Click to expand...

Many reviews actually recommend the 7600GT over the X1800GTO, the 7600GT edges the GTO out on performance.
 
Ultimately what will win people to the X1800 GTO is its stellar performance with AA and AF on, and its slightly more advanced feature set (Avivo, HDR+AA namely) in comparison to what NVIDIA offers. While the Sapphire card does not have the unlockable pipes that some brands are reported to have, it offers great framerates regardless in most games. It beats the 7600 GT in most games, although the 7600 wins in Half Life 2, FEAR and Doom when there is no filtering. Once filtering is turned on however, the X1800 GTO trumps or matches the 7600 GT in almost any case.

The cooler is also significantly better than the one found on most 7600 GT's, and the bundle that Sapphire have included is decent as well. While the X1800 GTO comes with a small price premium over the 7600 GT, its performance coupled with a significantly nicer fan, should make up for the price differential for most people.
Click to expand...

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/sapphirex1800gto/8.html

It all makes for a mixed conclusion. It is not easy to choose between these two cards. The price is now about the same, if Sapphire card comes a little bit better equipped with CDs and cables. Based on card performance I can recommend the Albatron 7600 GT card if you want to play without FSAA and with Aniso off. On the other hand, if you want to play the game with your $/€200 card and FSAA and Aniso on, you should buy Sapphire's X1800 GTO as it is clearly a better choice.

Nvidia did a good job with the 7600 GT and made a nasty competitor, but ATI can match it at least with the FSAA and Aniso effects on. People usually should play with 4X FSAA on but, as you know top gamers turn it all off just to be able to get more frames. The 7600 GT is great chip and it took Nvidia to introduce a dissected Fudo R520 chip to match the performance.

Sapphire's card has Avivo, a good choice for video. Both cards can work in Crossfire/SLI mode. You just need two of the cards and it will run, no master card is needed.

So we can recommend either card but if you don’t play with FSAA on, go for Albatron Geforce 7600 GT, if you prefer the visual quality then the Sapphire Radeon X1800 GTO is the better choice. µ
Click to expand...

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=31541
 
thank you all for the replys. between you guys and anandtech's may video card buys guide have sold me on the 7600gt. will order up something payday.
 
yea Dell is shipping something called a 7900GS, its sposed to bridge the gap between 7600 and 7900. and its on the G71 core. so you could wait for one of those, but i dont know how it will perform.

Mr. Stryker said:
Best card for $150 is a Sapphire X850XT PCI-E. It'll be $140 after the $15 mail-in rebate.

(Open Box - $129.99 Sapphire X850XT)
Click to expand...

the X850 doesnt support SM3.0 fully, so thats no good.
 
well i bought a 7600 gs at best borrow. it sucked. it wasn't any better than my old 6800 le. last night I ordered a refurbed ati x850 crossfire. its the same thing as an x850xt but with crossfire. I won't be doing the cross fire thing with my compaq. the card was $139 but i had a 5% promo code i got it for $132 shipped. 1 year warrenty though ATI.
 
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