New graphics card - which one?

Greetings

My pc (desktop) is now P4 (Intel) 2.8Ghz/1GB Ram/400GB hd/Vista 32bit and XP Pro 32bit/Intel 915G grapchis card

I am going to buy new graphics card end of this week (friday). And question will be which one? I cant deside right now what i am going to buy, i have few options for it most ones are 7600 GS series.

ASUS X1650 PRO PCI-E 256M DDR2 DVI+HDTV
ASUS X1650 SILENT PCIE 512M DDR2 DVI-I
ASUSTEK X1600 PRO PCI-E 512M DDR2 DVI/TV
CLUB 3D GF 7600GS PCI-E 512 MB HEATPIPE
CLUB 3D GF 7600GT PCI-E 256M 2X DVI+HDTV
MSI GF 7600GS PCI-E 256MB DDR2 HDMI HDCP
MSI GF 7600GS PCI-E 512MB 2X DVI PASSIVE
GAINWARD 7600GS PCI-E 512MB 2X DVI-I GS
ASUSTEK GF 7600GT PCI-E 256M 2X DVI+HDTV

My budget is max 170€ so it must no more than that, and card must be PCI-E. Is those any good for SL? oh yes they must include drivers on Vista (32 bit version)

When it comes to Vista & SL ~ any nvidia over 7600 , 256mb+

Drivers > www.nvidia.com

Ati's opengl on Vista is horrible so youll run into issues trying to run Ati and Vista for now anyway.

I'd personally go for a nVidia 7 series, but the GT as opposed to a GS, and the highest ram you can afford on the card.

I use a 7950GT it allows me to turn everything up and still get between 50-100+ fps on most days.

I just bought a e-gforcefx 7600 GS 256mb card on friday. It actually has better specs then the 512 version, and I have to say after running the card all weekend, I love this card, and highly recommend it for someone on a budget but still wants performance I have been running everything on high detail with distance set at 128, and it runs perfectly Well except for the Lag in some sims which can't be helped I suppose .. lol

The 7600GT are 20-30% faster than the 7600GS, and comparably more expensive. I have a 7600GT, because it looked like the best deal when I went shopping, and the faster speed means a little better frames per second. But if money is tight going for the 7600GS to save a few bucks can be a good deal. Both should work beautifully on SL.

512MB will hold more textures than 256MB, so if you load the textures for a sim, then visit some other sims, then come back to the first sim, the chances are better that the texture will still be in memory, so you won't have to re-load it. This will save a little time.

As to which brand to buy, I usually shop for the best price. But you can also check the cards for features - the different card makers try to make their products slightly different. For example, some 7600GS have fans (noisier but run cooler), some don't (quiet but run hot).

Okay, thanks for tips all - maybe i choose 7600GT (ASUSTEK GF 7600GT PCI-E 256M 2X DVI+HDTV) then, 166€ over here if they do have it on the store, have to call them after May Day and ask.

If not some other then. Its even better what i do now

From that list, only these pique my interest:

1. CLUB 3D GF 7600GS PCI-E 512 MB HEATPIPE
   
2. MSI GF 7600GS PCI-E 512MB 2X DVI PASSIVE
   
3. GAINWARD 7600GS PCI-E 512MB 2X DVI-I GS
   

Why? Because they have NVidia GPUs and 512MB of texture memory. Go to Google, type in the make and model numbers followed by the keyword 'review', and make a list of the pros and cons of each as reported by other users.

If the MSI unit ends up looking best, do a bit more research on its passive cooling to ensure it hasn't caused overheating problems for users.

Passive cooling is a great thing to have if you like peace and quiet when running 3D applications like Second Life. My XFX GeForce 7950GT is the best graphics card I've had as much for that reason as any other. =)

Hmm, MSI looks good too - little cheaper and no HDTV-out, but i think i dont gonna need it while here in Finland. Now my SL rises up to 46c CPU temp from 41c when idling. So overheating isnt problem yet. Anyway, ill ask tips from the store and my friends too before friday.