I'm ignorant, give me video card advice...

clariste

clariste

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I'm not up to speed on the who's who in video cards these days. I just know that a) I have one in my PC and b) it sux. It's a GeForce FX 5200 that came in my Dell. It seemed to do pretty good with Half Life 2, but I can't even begin to play Far Cry :cry: My question is, what's a good card (at a good price, of course) that will run the latest games? Or what is a good size, level, whatever? I'm thinking of F.E.A.R., Black & White 2, Myst V, maybe CoD2, and of course Far Cry. Any advice is appreciated.
 
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A good and decently priced card is the 6600 GT. I can play all those games well. But to really recommend a card you need to know what slot you have. PCI, AGP or PCI Express. There are 6600 GTs for both AGP and PCI Express. You can find them for about $120 I think,

Look in you case and see what it looks like, if the slot where your video card is looks like all the rest then you most likely have PCI, if its a darker color and farther back it is most likely AGP or PCI Express. You can also get a rough estimate of what it could be on when the computer was made. If it was made recently then tha chances are that it is AGp or PCI Express.
 
don't mean to thread hijack, but I have a video card question. Exactly how compatible are the All-In-Wonder ATI cards with a windows media center PC? If they aren't that compatible, what's a good card that will bring in good enough game graphics to run something like FEAR and have a TV tuner built in?
 
[quote name='Duo_Maxwell']don't mean to thread hijack, but I have a video card question. Exactly how compatible are the All-In-Wonder ATI cards with a windows media center PC? If they aren't that compatible, what's a good card that will bring in good enough game graphics to run something like FEAR and have a TV tuner built in?[/QUOTE]

For my needs, the only way to go was a separate tuner from the video card. The last time I was looking at the AIW series, the tuners were average at best. If you've got the extra cash and PCI slot, I'd recommend a Hauppauge WinTV-PVR. Unfortunately, they rarely go on sale and usually end up running in the $100+ range, but I'd have to say it's worth it if you're planning on doing recording.

[quote name='clariste']I have AGP, so I'll look into the 6600GT. Does brand matter?[/quote] Yes, to some extent. While it is pretty much the same card, there are brands that are known for their higher quality parts compared to others. Off the top of my head, Asus, Gigabyte, eVGA, and BFG are brands that are usually rated above the rest.
 
I'm one of those idiots who always has a brand new $500 video card and BFGTech has always been AWESOME for me. Very highly recommended.
 
If you are going Nvidia, BFG does have a lifetime warranty, though it may cost you a bit more.

And isnt the 6800GT the highest grade of AGP card available? (also the x800 from ATI but I dont want to recommend it)
 
I really dont want to turn this into an ati vs nvidia thread. I'm just looking at real world comparisons from places like hardocp.com , and also I've personally had a lot of bad luck with ati cards.

I think ATI's dominance during the 9700/9800 era was only because the GeForce FX line was so crappy.

We're currently back to the way things were for so long, with Nvidia on top, in my opinion. Better Linux support too, I hear.
 
They both look good and the one you linked to is still in stock. If you’re not after the top of the line (not that the 6600 is bad) or near the top, I would jump on it. No tax at New Egg.
I think the GT is cheaper because it's no longer supported and the GS is. I'm not sure on that at all though. Just something I heard from someone who sounded like they were in the know.
 
[quote name='Numsay']Just something I heard from someone who sounded like they were in the know.[/QUOTE]

lol.

This isn't urgent, I think I'll wait a bit a look out for deals on the 6800GS or even the 7800 series.
 
don't get a regular 6600. I saw little performance increase over my fx5200. Shipped it back to newegg and I am using a 20% off coupon to dell to get the bfg 6600gt.
 
Just checking back to let you know I got my 6800gs, installed it, and I'm pretty happy with it so far. Install was easy, and headache free. Just make sure you have 300 or so watt power supply with a open connector that looks like 4 pins in a row would fit into, you will need to plug it into the card.
 
[quote name='Numsay']Just checking back to let you know I got my 6800gs, installed it, and I'm pretty happy with it so far. Install was easy, and headache free. Just make sure you have 300 or so watt power supply with a open connector that looks like 4 pins in a row would fit into, you will need to plug it into the card.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the update. I'm looking into deals on that card.
 
I don't think you'll see much of a performance increase when comparing the 6600gt to the 6800gs. So, save a couple dollars and go with the 6600gt
 
[quote name='Numsay']Just checking back to let you know I got my 6800gs, installed it, and I'm pretty happy with it so far. Install was easy, and headache free. Just make sure you have 300 or so watt power supply with a open connector that looks like 4 pins in a row would fit into, you will need to plug it into the card.[/QUOTE]

Hey, I think I am going to get that as an agp card. I hope it helps! About $230. I thought about getting a 360 instead but I guess that card will be cheaper and allow me to play some cool games.
 
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