what can I expect from this graphics card?

I'm contemplating cards with these descriptions.

256MB PNY Verto GeForce 7600GS DDR2 VGA DVI TV AGP G77600SABE25Y-SB

or

512MB PNY Verto GeForce 7600GS 7600 GS DDR2 DVI VGA HDTV/S-Video AGP VCG76512SAPB

They have to go in an AGP slot, so dont tell me about all the lovely things I cant use

Anyone have any comments about likely performance of these cards on a machine with
2 GB of DDR RAM and a 2 GHz Athlon processor/

I would be content with a reliable 15 fps on slightly enhanced low or medium graphics.

Is the second (with the additional video memory) worth spending $80 instead of $70?

I will also look at Best Buy, so it would be useful if you have any other comments about what would meet my quite moderate expectations...

Both cards are mid to upper end performance cards. They will handle SL well..........you should see 15 FPS with mid settings most of the time........maybe even with high settings. And yes the extra VRAM is worth the extra 10 bucks.

Thanks, Peggy! (wonderful name by the way)

You'll get medium-high with good framerates. Not sure if all of the effects will work on the 7000 series (they have a different shader set-up than the 8000 and later). If you look at Newegg, you can get an ATI 4650 or 4670 with AGP interface for the same price range. While I usually recommend Nvidia, the ATI 4000 series is a DX 10.1 card, with DDR3 memory (up to 1GB). Uncheck VBO, download the next-to-last ATI drivers, and you'll get better performance and full windlight effects. If you do go for the 7600, I would go $10 more for the higher memory.

The 7600 is slightly limited in features. It can only render two local lights in the current viewer instead of the six that newer graphics adapters can render.

It's not terribly slow as long as you keep the draw distance down.

Technically, the ATI cards Veritable Quandry refers to are much better, but they come with their own set of problems. ATI doesn't support the HD4000 chipset on AGP cards, leading to driver headaches for some people using those cards. ATI's OpenGL support is not great, so an inferior Nvidia card may still be faster.

If you do go the ATI route, I strongly recommend Boy Lane's Rainbow Viewer. It is by far the fastest viewer on ATI hardware I've used.

bud you can get a 9500 GT or 9800 GTX for those prices on newegg..


wait its an AGP.. the best thing you can get on an AGP card as far s nvida goes is the 7600 GS