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Need new vid card advice
Sunspot Pixie
dread heliotrope
Join date: 15 Jun 2006
Posts: 493
08-16-2007 12:40
Hi. :)

My old vid card (geForce FX 5500) went poof on me yesterday, so I have to get a new one, as the temporary card that I have in here right now does not like SL at all (an old Radeon 7000 series), it locks up and the video is all screwy.

I have 150$ US to spend on a new card and am looking for advice, now that I have narrowed it down to two cards. Bear in mind that this new card will be going into an older system (P4 3.06HT) that has only an AGP slot (4x/8x), which is going to become my second computer when I get my next setup (hopefully this winter).

I am aware that there have been some issues with SL and ATI cards in the past, does anyone know if this is still the case? This is the main reason I am asking for advice here, because clearly, in my opinion, the ATI card listed below is superior to the nVidia one. Which means I would go for the ATI card IF what I hear seems to indicate that the water is safe these days, with regard to SL running on ATI hardware.

On to the card specs:

(This card is 150$)

Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950GT

AGP 8X Video Card 100209L, 256MB GDDR3, Vista & HDCP Ready, HDTV, w/ TV-Out & Dual DVI

Features & Specifications: Mfr Part Number: 100209L Chipset: Radeon X1950 GT Engine Clock: 500 MHz Video Memory: 256MB GDDR3 Memory Clock: 1.2 GHz Memory Interface: 256-bit Bus: AGP 8X RAMDAC: 400 MHz Pixel Shader Processor: 36 Max. Resolution: 2560 x 1600 Connectors: Dual DVI (Support Dual VGA); TV-out Thermal: Fansink Microsoft DirectX 9.0, Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL Support. Built for Microsoft Windows Vista.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(This card is 145$)

XFX Geforce 7600GT

AGP 8X Video Card PV-T73A-UDF3, 256MB DDR3, HDTV, w/ Dual Link DVI, TV-Out

Features: 128-bit Studio-Precision Computation. 90nm Process Technology. Adaptable Programmable Video Processor. Advanced Spatial Temporal De-interlacing. Built for Microsoft Windows Vista. Dual 400MHz RAMDACs. Dual Link DVI. High-Definition H.264, MPEG-2 and WMV Hardware Acceleration2. Integrated HDTV Encoder. Microsoft DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 Support. Next-generation Superscalar GPU Architecture. NVIDIA CineFX 4.0 Engine. NVIDIA Digital Vibrance Control (DVC) 3.0 Technology. NVIDIA Intellisample 4.0 Technology. NVIDIA PureVideo Technology. NVIDIA UltraShadow II Technology. nView Multi-Display Technology. OpenGL 2.0 Optimizations and Support. Video Color Correction.

Specifications: Chipset: GeForce 7600 GT. Pixels per Clock (peak): 12. Memory Bandwidth: 22.4 GB/Sec. RAMDACs: 400 MHz. Vertices Per Second: 700. Fill Rate: 6.7 Billion pixels/sec. Dual Link DVI - Supporting digital output up to 2560x1600: YES. Memory Clock: 1.4 GHz. Clock rate: 560 MHz. Memory: 256 MB. Bus Type: AGP 8X. Memory Type: DDR3. Memory Bus: 128 bit. Highlighted Features: HDTV ready, TV Out.

Thanks for your time! :)
_____________________
If we eat our soup in the rain, we'll never run out...
Gin Clayton
Writer
Join date: 12 May 2005
Posts: 76
08-16-2007 13:18
7600GT if you're only using SL. If you're using other stuff that requires DirectX use ATI if you want. Me personally I love Nvidia and XFX. And the 7600GT is still a powerful card for most things.
Sunspot Pixie
dread heliotrope
Join date: 15 Jun 2006
Posts: 493
08-16-2007 14:08
From: Gin Clayton
7600GT if you're only using SL. If you're using other stuff that requires DirectX use ATI if you want. Me personally I love Nvidia and XFX. And the 7600GT is still a powerful card for most things.

Thanks!

Actually I do play WoW a lot, and just did a search and read that it was optimized with directx in mind... I hate dilemmas.. :(

Now, if I do go for the nvidia, I'm wondering if I shouldn't go for the GDDR3 version of the 7600GT... it's only 16 dollars more... :)
_____________________
If we eat our soup in the rain, we'll never run out...
Teeny Leviathan
Never started World War 3
Join date: 20 May 2003
Posts: 2,716
08-16-2007 16:37
From: Sunspot Pixie
Now, if I do go for the nvidia, I'm wondering if I shouldn't go for the GDDR3 version of the 7600GT... it's only 16 dollars more... :)


Spend the extra 16 bucks. It will be worth it.
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Gin Clayton
Writer
Join date: 12 May 2005
Posts: 76
08-16-2007 17:37
The Nvidia you picked out should work perfectly fine with WoW.
Osgeld Barmy
Registered User
Join date: 22 Mar 2005
Posts: 3,336
08-16-2007 19:29
yea the 7600GT with the gddr3 ram is gonna be a rock solid, whip cracking card, without the possibility of ATI issues

im a nvidia fan but in ati's defense, they have gotten alot better since amd took over, and! omg get ready! ive never had an issue with my random ATI card encounters and SL (most recent one being a 9700 pro)
Kathmandu Gilman
Fearful Symmetry Baby!
Join date: 21 May 2004
Posts: 1,418
08-19-2007 22:08
The 7600 is a good card for SL. The 6600GT is a darn good card too and it's not too different from the 7600 performance wise and can be overclocked usually to even better performance and I've seen them at Tiger Direct for $20 (with rebates) at times but the best deal currently is here for $50 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1121824&CatId=880

Which is still a hell of a bargain that is only slightly less capable that a $145 card. Most tech sites recommend not bothering to upgrade from the 6600GT to the 7600GT as benchmarks show no appreciable difference. Also, the 7600 GTXXX with the GDDR3 can be had for $99 (with rebates) from here http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2427578&CatId=1560
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Osgeld Barmy
Registered User
Join date: 22 Mar 2005
Posts: 3,336
08-19-2007 22:28
i have a 6600GT overclocked abit, the GF has a 7600GS, they perform nearly identical

the 6600GT has a faster clock speed and usually outruns hers by a tad, but the 7600 has more pipelines in it tho, so if were playing pixelshader fest 2008 (which we dont) there would be an advantage to her

currently 6600GT is at 550mhz core and 1ghz ramdac, vs
450mhz core and a 800mhz ramdac but more data pipes
Vincente Starostin
Registered User
Join date: 20 Aug 2007
Posts: 2
08-20-2007 00:33
From: Sunspot Pixie
Hi. :)

My old vid card (geForce FX 5500) went poof on me yesterday, so I have to get a new one, as the temporary card that I have in here right now does not like SL at all (an old Radeon 7000 series), it locks up and the video is all screwy.

I have 150$ US to spend on a new card and am looking for advice, now that I have narrowed it down to two cards. Bear in mind that this new card will be going into an older system (P4 3.06HT) that has only an AGP slot (4x/8x), which is going to become my second computer when I get my next setup (hopefully this winter).

I am aware that there have been some issues with SL and ATI cards in the past, does anyone know if this is still the case? This is the main reason I am asking for advice here, because clearly, in my opinion, the ATI card listed below is superior to the nVidia one. Which means I would go for the ATI card IF what I hear seems to indicate that the water is safe these days, with regard to SL running on ATI hardware.

On to the card specs:

(This card is 150$)

Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950GT

AGP 8X Video Card 100209L, 256MB GDDR3, Vista & HDCP Ready, HDTV, w/ TV-Out & Dual DVI

Features & Specifications: Mfr Part Number: 100209L Chipset: Radeon X1950 GT Engine Clock: 500 MHz Video Memory: 256MB GDDR3 Memory Clock: 1.2 GHz Memory Interface: 256-bit Bus: AGP 8X RAMDAC: 400 MHz Pixel Shader Processor: 36 Max. Resolution: 2560 x 1600 Connectors: Dual DVI (Support Dual VGA); TV-out Thermal: Fansink Microsoft DirectX 9.0, Shader Model 3.0 and OpenGL Support. Built for Microsoft Windows Vista.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(This card is 145$)

XFX Geforce 7600GT

AGP 8X Video Card PV-T73A-UDF3, 256MB DDR3, HDTV, w/ Dual Link DVI, TV-Out

Features: 128-bit Studio-Precision Computation. 90nm Process Technology. Adaptable Programmable Video Processor. Advanced Spatial Temporal De-interlacing. Built for Microsoft Windows Vista. Dual 400MHz RAMDACs. Dual Link DVI. High-Definition H.264, MPEG-2 and WMV Hardware Acceleration2. Integrated HDTV Encoder. Microsoft DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 Support. Next-generation Superscalar GPU Architecture. NVIDIA CineFX 4.0 Engine. NVIDIA Digital Vibrance Control (DVC) 3.0 Technology. NVIDIA Intellisample 4.0 Technology. NVIDIA PureVideo Technology. NVIDIA UltraShadow II Technology. nView Multi-Display Technology. OpenGL 2.0 Optimizations and Support. Video Color Correction.

Specifications: Chipset: GeForce 7600 GT. Pixels per Clock (peak): 12. Memory Bandwidth: 22.4 GB/Sec. RAMDACs: 400 MHz. Vertices Per Second: 700. Fill Rate: 6.7 Billion pixels/sec. Dual Link DVI - Supporting digital output up to 2560x1600: YES. Memory Clock: 1.4 GHz. Clock rate: 560 MHz. Memory: 256 MB. Bus Type: AGP 8X. Memory Type: DDR3. Memory Bus: 128 bit. Highlighted Features: HDTV ready, TV Out.

Thanks for your time! :)