Which to buy?

[hmcazeau]

I must apologize if this is just another GeForce vs. Radeon thread, but I have little time to browse for an answer. I am planning on purchasing a Intel C2D 6600 shortly and am wondering which vid card I should go with. Since I am on a budget, I am looking for either the GeForce 7600 or the Radeon 1650. I am looking to spend >$150. I am the occasional gamer who does not know how much he will game in the future (currently own a AMD K7-650 mghz. She's an old dinosaur, but she has done most of what I've wanted except gaming).

Also, what do the suffixes for the GeForce and Radeons mean? Example, GT, Pro, X, XT and the like?

Any help would be appreciated, and again, I apologize if this is a repeat thread.

 

[forrehmmnd]

i personally have a negative stance toward nvidia, just because the only card i ever bought from them died in 3 weeks, no oc or anything. i love ati and there products are decent

 

[RussianHAXOR]

i personally have a negative stance toward nvidia, just because the only card i ever bought from them died in 3 weeks, no oc or anything. i love ati and there products are decent

^ exact opposite of him.

 

[jordan12]

I much prefer Nvidia. I will admit the vista drivers crap pissed me off. But they will get it right sometime.

So I say stick with them.

 

[Night Black]

My two cents:

-NVIDIA for XP
-ATI for Vista (NVIDIA Drivers are sad...)

 

[Fanofou]

Go with the EVGA or XFX 7600gt, much better than the ati1650 with better warranties from those 2 companies.

 

[RussianHAXOR]

I never understood why Ati has such bad warranties.

 

[wiploc]

I'm fairly brand-agnostic, however NVIDIA always seems to have the better cards when I go to build my systems. Kind of like how the last few machines I've built were AMD, but now I'm building an Intel since it's the better platform right now.

My vote is for the NVIDIA.