Which display card to buy? - ATI vs nVidia

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smokalot

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Hi everyone,

I am building a new PC from scratch and need some advice on which graphics card to choose. I would like to keep to a certain range of money to spend on this card so I have a few options there.

Firstly do I go ATI or nVidia? I not a HUGE gamer but when I play I want to be able to run the latest games fairly well. Also I do not want to have to deal with any display issues with regards to other apps I might be running. (Which would be mostly web server stuff so it should be cool). Definitely want no O/S issues (probably Windows XP with a partition containing the latest Mandrake Linux).

Here are my choices:

From cheapest to most expensive (in my range)

Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon 9550 128MB 64Bit
Gigabyte® nVidia® GeForce 6200, 128MB 64Bit
Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon 9550 128MB 128Bit
Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon 9550 256MB 128Bit
Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB 128Bit
Gigabyte® nVidia® GeForce 6200, 128MB 128Bit

These are all AGP

Not even considering the PCI Express stuff (personally avoiding those). Obviously it would be ideal to pick the more expensive one but do I need it? So I guess it comes down to ATI vs. nVidia again. :confused:
 
Well, none of those cards are going to run the games "fairly well". The ( I think) minimum requirement to run games well is a Geforce 6600GT (+-R2000)
 
Dominic Rooney said:
Well, none of those cards are going to run the games "fairly well". The ( I think) minimum requirement to run games well is a Geforce 6600GT (+-R2000)
Click to expand...

Are you serious? Sorry I work in IT but am seriously out of touch with the gaming side of things :eek:
Thamks for the reply
 
get the Sapphire 9600XT 256Mb, i have it, even with battlefield 2 (not out yet) it still runs very well. It is geting old now so the price should be quite low but it is still ok for games.

I run doom 3, halflife 2 at full graphics and it runs smooth
 
rburley said:
get the Sapphire 9600XT 256Mb, i have it, even with battlefield 2 (not out yet) it still runs very well. It is geting old now so the price should be quite low but it is still ok for games.

I run doom 3, halflife 2 at full graphics and it runs smooth
Click to expand...

Is that Sapphire 9600XT 256Mb running on a 256 memory bus ?

If so, then it could explain why it's still operating so well.

I then refine my answer to say, if it's running a 128 bit bus, 6600GT is the minimum, if it's running a 256 bit bus, then the 9600XT is ample, and you should decide on the bitwidth first before choosing a card.

The wider the bus, the faster the card no matter what.
 
stoke said:
Is that Sapphire 9600XT 256Mb running on a 256 memory bus ?

If so, then it could explain why it's still operating so well.

I then refine my answer to say, if it's running a 128 bit bus, 6600GT is the minimum, if it's running a 256 bit bus, then the 9600XT is ample, and you should decide on the bitwidth first before choosing a card.

The wider the bus, the faster the card no matter what.
Click to expand...

im not sure, how do i check?
 
ASUS 6800LE's are o.k. took me almost a year of fighting to get them to replace my faulty ASUS 9950 but in the end they did! and I'm happy, so far ;) WOW runs fine and that's all I'm worried about at the moment!
 
I agree with everybody that said get a PCI-E motherboard and card. AGP is dead. Besides, there's a whole lot of other new technology on the new boards like S-ATA, DDR2 support and processor sockets that'll support dual-core CPU's to consider as well... so in my opinion buying a new board is worth it.
 
The best value for money is the 6600GT for about R2k, it keeps up pretty well with the top cards which cost 2-3 times more.

The next card up is the 6800GT IMO which is close to R4k (in SA anyway :( )
and def go pci-e :D
 
NVIDIA

R 395 Gigabyte® nVidia® GeForceFX 5200, 128MB 64Bit, D-SUB + DVI+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, nView Multi-Monitor
R 595 Gigabyte® nVidia® GeForce 6200, 128MB 64Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, nView Multi-Monitor,
R 795 Gigabyte® nVidia® GeForce 6200, 128MB 128Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, nView Multi-Monitor, TurboForce
R 995 Gigabyte® nVidia® GeForce 6600, 128MB 128Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, nView Multi-Monitor, TurboForce
R 1,295 Gigabyte® nVidia® GeForce 6600, 256MB 128Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, nView Multi-Monitor, TurboForce
R 1,595 Gigabyte® nVidia® GeForce 6600GT, 128MB 128Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, nView Multi-Monitor
R 1,795 Gigabyte® nVidia® GeForce 6600GT, 128MB 128Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ VIVO, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, nView Multi-Monitor, TurboForce
R 1,995 Gigabyte® nVidia® GeForce 6800, 128MB 256Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, nView Multi-Monitor
R 2,950 Gigabyte® nVidia® GeForce 6800GT, 256MB 256Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, nView Multi-Monitor
R 3,950 Gigabyte® nVidia® GeForce 6800 Ultra, 256MB 256Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, nView Multi-Monitor


ATI
R 295 Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon 9250 128MB 64Bit, D-SUB+ TV-OUT, DirectX 8.1 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, MultiView (1x Monitor & 1x TV)
R 495 Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon 9250 128MB 128Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ VIVO, DirectX 8.1 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, MultiView
R 395 Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon 9550 128MB 64Bit, D-SUB+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, MultiView (1x Monitor & 1x TV)
R 495 Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon 9550 128MB 64Bit, DVI (+ Converter)+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, MultiView (1x Monitor & 1x TV)
R 695 Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon 9550 128MB 128Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, MultiView
R 795 Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon 9550 256MB 128Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, MultiView
R 795 Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB 128Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, MultiView
R 995 Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon 9600 Pro 256MB 128Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, MultiView
R 2,950 Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon X800 Pro 256MB 256Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, MultiView
R 3,950 Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon X800 XT 256MB 256Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, MultiView
R 4,950 Gigabyte® ATI® Radeon X800 XT Platinum 256MB 256Bit, D-SUB+ DVI+ TV-OUT, DirectX 9 + OpenGL, Dual RAMDACs, MultiView

hope that helps
 
Firstly smokalot, where are you situated? I buy all my pc hardware from my mates bussines in Durban, I just built my self a new pc last week, I purchased a Chaintech PCI-E 6600Gt and it pumps! it plays games beautifully and i would highly reccomend it, I paid R1569.78 or i can get u a different brand for 1362.30 but also a 6600GT. I went Amd with my pc and i chose the ASUS a8n-SlI for 1313.28 it is new technology compatible and it has every feature u could imagine. Hope this helps, o ya, PCI-E makes a huge difference!
 
No PCI-E does not make a huge difference, current cards don't even push the limits of AGP 8x. The reason you should go PCI-E is that it is the new standard and thus more futureproof than AGP.

I agree on the 6600GT, if you really want to play games you'll be wasting your money on anything less.
 
i would recommend that you get the 128bit 9550, preferably the makes: asus, saphire, gecube. I can then show hot to safely OC that card to 9600PRO levels, and even 9600XT levels, if you feeling brave i can also show you how to flash a 9600PRO bios onto the card :). but remmember if you take my advise, get the 128bit version, one of the makes above, and get the 128MB version also the 256MB shows no performance increase and i harder to OC.
 
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