Simviation Forum - Which Graphics Card?

Apr 16^th, 2005 at 2:01pm

planetmike Offline
Colonel
Fly and Be Free!
UK

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Posts: 22

Hi, need some advice on buying a new graphics card...

First of all my system spec:
Gigabyte Triton 7KTA (?) motherboard
Athlon 2600+ XP processor
1GB RAM
Budget GeForce 5200 128mb graphics card (!)

Yes, I went cheap on the graphics card and now I regret it with continual lock-ups and system crashes from an overheating card!

Going to spend anything up to around £150 so I was thinking either GeForce 6600GT or Radeon 9800. I also notice there is now a Geforce 6800(?).

I have also found cheaper cards with more memory (256 instead of 128mb). Am I better of going for the memory or the chip? I think I know the answer (chip!) but need to be reassured!

Any suggestions?

Mike
???

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Reply #1 - Apr 16^th, 2005 at 3:59pm

Fozzer Offline
Colonel
An elderly FS 2004 addict!
Hereford. England. EGBS.

Posts: 24861

Hi Mike.... Grin

...!

Have a peek here...>>>

Paul.
(Hereford).

Dell Dimension 5000 BTX Tower. Win7 Home Edition, 32 Bit. Intel Pentium 4, dual 2.8 GHz. 2.5GB RAM, nVidia GF 9500GT 1GB. SATA 500GB + 80GB. Philips 17" LCD Monitor. Micronet ADSL Modem only. Saitek Cyborg Evo Force. FS 2004 + FSX. Briggs and Stratton Petrol Lawn Mower...Motor Bikes. Gas Cooker... and lots of musical instruments!.... ...!
Yamaha MO6,MM6,DX7,DX11,DX21,DX100,MK100,EMT10,PSR400,PSS780,Roland GW-8L v2,TR505,Casio MT-205,Korg CX3v2 dual manual,+ Leslie 760,M-Audio Prokeys88,KeyRig,Cubase,Keyfax4,Guitars,Orchestral,Baroque,Renaissance,Medieval Instruments.

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Reply #2 - Apr 16^th, 2005 at 4:18pm

Rob Chrisman Ex Member

Hi Mike!

That list doesn't include the X850 XT PE. That card conquers the list. 8)

(...espeically on non-AA! Cheesy

)

The FSAA of the X850 XT PE is better than the 6800 Ultra.

It is very pricey however, so if you are looking for a better price but still good performance, then a 6800 GT is very good.

Rob. Grin

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Reply #3 - Apr 16^th, 2005 at 4:50pm

planetmike Offline
Colonel
Fly and Be Free!
UK

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LOL

Interesting to see where my current card came! Think that confirms the problems once and for all!

Thanks for your help.

Mike

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Reply #4 - Apr 17^th, 2005 at 7:43pm

the_autopilot Offline
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Good mainsteam card is the 6600 gt. Performs very well.

The 6800 GT is much better, but also much more expensive.

The x850 xt is the cream of the crop and its price demands the same.

The 6600 gt is the mininmum required for decent performce at high quality and resolution settings.

Link to sig:&&Click here&&(Cannot post signature here due to current forum restrications on linked images).

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Reply #5 - Apr 18^th, 2005 at 6:24am

planetmike Offline
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UK

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That's made my mind up!
My local PC shop has just offered me a 6600gt at a reasonable price so I think that's what I'll go for.

Grin

Mike

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Reply #6 - Apr 18^th, 2005 at 7:15pm

Gunny04 Offline
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Who's Better than the
best when nobodys the
best?
Michigan

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I'll also be picking up a 6600 in the next week or so.... my built in MX440 is about as good as nothing! Cheers Gunny (the 6600 is a good budget choice)

AMD athlon 3800 Venice Socket 939 64 bit at 2.4Ghz, 6100K8MA-RS Foxconn Motherboard, 1gb (2X512) OCZ Platinum PC3200 Ram, EVGA 8800GTS 640MB OC, 500 Watt NZXT psu, and Windows Vista Ultimate Total hard drive space 530gb

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Reply #7 - Apr 18^th, 2005 at 11:20pm

the_autopilot Offline
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Make sure you get the 6600 GT. The regular 6600 isn't really good and not really worth its price (yes, its cheaper, but look at price for performence)

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Reply #8 - Apr 22^nd, 2005 at 10:19am

planetmike Offline
Colonel
Fly and Be Free!
UK

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Just installed the new 6600GT and all my problems are solved!
Much smoother performance and now I can turn up my scenery complexity and turn on my anti-aliasing!

Shocked