Video card for new computer

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swen

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i am building a new computer and am just wondering what people recommend as far as video cards go. i dont want to spend more than 400, and i dont necessarily need the best video out there, but preferably somethign that supports direct x10.0. so far i have decided on intels p35 chipset. (gigabyte ga-p45c-ds3r motherboard). and intel core 2 quad core q6600 processor. going to start with 2, 1gig sticks of duel channel ddr2 6400. (note: i chose the mother board for its capability to support ddr2 and ddr3). i would like a video card that i will not have to upgrade for a few years, or atleast not expect to do so. also, how large of a power supply should i have with this setup? thanks for you posts!

Swen
 
I'd pick up a 8800GTS, a 640meg card will run you under $400 and should handle everything out there right now at the highest you can run it. I've you've got a monitor smaller than 22" and are looking to save money you can get the 320 version, it has nearly identical performance until you hit about 1600x1200, then things drop off.

If you get the 320 meg version you can run that on just about any PSU as long as it is of decent quality. I'm running a 320 on an Enermax Noisetaker II 485W with a few hard drives and a couple dvd burners with a C2D. I don't think the 640 is going to require much more. Now if you went with a GTX I'd say you'd need probably something quality and 550 or higher, but the GTXs are out of your price range.
 
thanks for the post SNGX. i checked out the nvidia website and noticed the large increase in performance between 8800 and lower models. and happened to come across an article at tomshardware.com which listed all models of the 8800 among the best buys. this is the perfect card for my system! 640 or 320 will depend on how much money i have left over after everything else. i have, however, noticed a large range of prices for each model and was wondering what brand u recommended and if the more expesnive cards worked better? for example at this link there are 8800 320's between $270 and $320
http://stores.tomshardware.com/search_attrib.php/page_id=5/mode=toms_house-m-link-box-1-right/popup2[]=3:596/popup3[]=169:371

and what is the difference between one that is listed as ultra or superclocked compaired to ones that are not?
thanks again for the post :),
Swen
 
u may definitely go for 8800GTS as suggested by SNGS if u want to spend the alloted money totally behind that card and a suitable PSU,but if gaming is your sole purpose to make a pc,i would like to suggest u to give 8600GT a chance along with a AMD athlon dual core instead of intel core 2 duo,a 500watt PSU is enough for this system and the total cost will be much lower than your overall estimated cost.From my personal experience i can assure u that without any overclocking,this system can run all current games smoothly with all settings maxed out.save money for upcoming 4 core AMD processors and future 9 series video cards.If u love playing games,if u love going along with other gamers u will continue to upgrade as long as gaming concerns u,no matter whether u dislike spending money on gaming...
 
ani123.. he's got an intel chipset... so he can't have an AMD cpu.


and anyway... from what it sounds like you want it to be future proof so stick with the intel quad core.

as for graphics... the 320mb 8800 gts is an excellent buy, although I would get the 640mb version. Bioshock's recommended settings are for a graphics card of 512 and above, and alot of games due out soon will be the same... so take note.


overclocked graphics cards come with a slight increase in speed already.. im not too sure about ultra cards...


if you were looking to save a bit more moolah this is a decent card:
http://stores.tomshardware.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=43405109


a 500w psu should be enough
 
my currect computer is a dell 4500c bought in 2003. i havent upgraded it ever, it costed about $1000 off dell website and i have never had any problems with it, but its pretty much non upgradable at this point which is my reason for building a new one. i dont see why the next comp i make shouldnt last me just as long, which is why i am not sparing many expense to make it high end! i dont know a ton about computers and such but i have done a lot of research on what the best hardware is, and whats best for the buck(i know a lot more now after reading all the forums and articles). i much prefer intel because i have had good experiences with them and the 8800 has more than double the texture fillrate and bandwith of 8600. since i plan on not upgrading this card for quite some time the extra $100 dollars for the 8800 320 seems like a good investment. i am putting a duad processor in this machine (quad q6600) ani123, is there any reason that i should go with a duel core instead? i know ddr3 has had some problems which is why i went with ddr2 at the moment, i have not heard anything bad about quad other than there are rarely programs that will use 4 cores to their ability. and the quad compaired to the dual of the same speed is only $50 more and offers a slight increase in performance.
 
lol thx SBGSUS just as i am posting i read up and u answered my qeustion. i hear that the good amd processors require a dual pluggin anyway which costs quite a bit more money
 
200 for that 512 is a pretty nice price is it worth it to spend the extra 150 to go with the 8800 640? i am trying to be future proof will that extra money on the vid card same me some money in the long run? i do like the perfomance increase of the 8800? i am not sure exactly how much extra money i will have i will have to wait and see, but if i had the money would u recommend the 8800 620, or would u personally choose to save the 150 and get the 512 8600?
 
I like my Radeon X1950 Pro 512MB, it was inexpensive and smokes anything I've thrown at it. No DX10 support though.
 
I would personally save the money... although if you wanted to get the most out of DX10 and its within your budget then the 8800 is the one to go for..


but it's entirely your own choice... although im not sure if the performance jump is worth the 150.

I'm sorry I don't know that much about the nvidia 8 series so I can't really judge, I would hunt around for some reviews and compare the two, see if the 8800 is worth forking out on.
 
this is a good card I had one with the last MB went out and replaced with a 640mb when I was testing bought a new MB and am waiting on it now.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130082

good video card will work with any monitor but better on one 20in. or less if gameing.

when I got a new MB I put that video card in it and it booted fine put the new video card in the old MB first and got the same response as the first which was nothing.
 
ok thx for all the suggestions and help with this issue, i am currenly debating between the 8600 512, and the 8800 320/640. the dicision will be made within the next week or 2 depending on money and what i find for performance reviews, ill let u know what i chose, and how it works. i have been waiting to upgrade to play NWN2, and PvP in WoW, sicne my current lag gets me killed over and over. it will most likely be night and day between my current and the one i am building but i will let u know if i have any issues/and let u know how it works :)
 
Suggestions:
1.Buying now-get the 8800GTS 640

If you can wait 2 months:
Nvidia is comming out with something new Nov 12th
speculation:google it
8700GTS and GT (and or 8800 replacement or not)
256bit interface
512mb ram

8800 replacement 1st quarter 2008 most likely

I have a 8600GT and would have got a GTS but not now since the 8600's only have 128bit interface and I'm waiting for the new offering. Also a $200.00 8600GTS now will probably be $150.00 in a couple of months?
 
techspots homepage now has an article comparing the geforce 8600 and the newer radeon of the same caliber (both midranged) and straight up said it wasnt worth buying and you were better off going with the older series because the performance was not worth the directx10 capabilities. not sure if it was gt or gts, but either way that rules the 8600 straight out of the picture, (i want geforce because i read they are almost always better). now i guess its just how long i want to wait. i dont see myself ever having a problem with the 8800 640, yet i am not sure that i will need anything better than the 320 due to the fact i probly wont ever have the monitor to run anything at a high resolution. lol i should have ordered one or the other already, but i seem to have my head stuck in my **** waiting on a few checks/money situation which really isnt making or breaking my decision by any means. once again i apprecaite all the input and feedback everyone has left. i am going to see what i can find on the newer stuff, and if its not either significantly better for the same price, or about equal for a much cheaper price i am going to buy one now. if u have any links to articles that might be of interest feel free to post links, thx again
SWEN
 
so i happened to get very busy lately and havent actually purchased a card yet, when end of october came around i decided to hold on untill the new cards came out. i have been looking at the new 8800gt's performance, etc compaired to the gts 640. they are pretty close to the same. the one thign i have noticed from reviews, etc is that the GT seems to overheat often or run hot. since i am not an expert by any means this is concerning. the gts 640 is only $30-40 more than the gt. is it worth the money to get the GTS to avoid this potential problem or should i still go witht the slightly cheaper GT 512?

another thing. is the GT going to take more power than the GTS? i bought the noisetake II 485W power supply thats brand new and already out of the box. if the GT is going to take more power than the GTS will i have enough power to support it?

-gigabyte p35c-ds3r motherboard
-2 dimms 1024 DDR2 ram
-pentium Q6600 2.44 processor
 
The Enermax will provide plenty of power for either card. As for the heat issue, if you have a case with at least two 120mm fans, it won't be much of a problem. More would be better though. You can never overcool a PC. ;)
 
yea i just looked at the benchmarks for the GT, tey are quite a bit better than the GTS so it made my decision easy, but my case only has 1 120mm fan in it! is it easy to install fans in a computer? i bought a new case for this PC its a coolermaster centurion 5. it only has 1 120mm fan in the rear. but it has a mesh front which allows airflow. there will also be the fan from the processor, PSU, and the built in fan on the video card blowing air around in there also. i hope this is enough, it doenst look like it would be easy to get another fan in there...? i think i am goign to find the inno3d if i can since i planned on buying the more expensive card anyway, i figure i might as well.

while i was searching for the 8800GT on newegg.com i noticed that its in a new catagory for video cards, its under the PCIe 2.0 and not under the PCIe 16x, does this mean it does not work with the 16x? (first time ive seen the 2.0 compatability for a video card) i have a gigabyte ga-p35c-ds3r motherboard with an intel p35 chipset. if not is there a converter or something?
 
PCI-E 2.0 is a new technology. PCI-E 2.0 cards are backwards compatible with standard PCI-E x16 slots, so don't worry, it'll work fine.
 
Just a quick side note, alot of people who build computers without alot of knowledge forget the importance of buying according to the frontside bus (FSB) of the CPU/MoBo, for example, I bought a Core 2 Duo E6750 with a 1333 mhz FSB which means to get the best performance out of it I had to buy a motherbaord that support at least that same speed. Which turned out to be much the same motherboard your going for.
cheers
Hynesy
 
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