Graphics Card Which one?

D

Darkmp40

Limp Gawd
Joined
Dec 21, 2006
Messages
138
OK, well here is the thing.

I am building a new computer, it has only one PCI-E 16x Slot and It Has a built in video on board ATI Radeon xpress 200. I'm not sure which card to get ati or nvidia? does it matter cause of my northbridge? also northbridge is ati. I'm on a strict $500 budget for my overall build. motherboard not included got for x-mas. I'm going with a dual core amd processor so that is 150, 500-150 = 350 - 80 for 1gb ram 350 - 80 = 270 - 70 for case = 200 - 50 for powersupply = 150 thats what i have to work with for a video card.

please post suggestions. also Does it matter if i have a nvidia graphics card with a mobo that has a ati north and south bridge?


edit- also with the timing of ram like 2-5-5-7-6 WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS MEAN?!??! i've been building computers forever but i don't know the timing of ram and ram stuff i know about graphics cards and processors but the ram i just learned about the timing when reading on these forums, because my dad always bought the parts for me.. and i just built them.. thanks to whoever explains it to me..
 
You don't have to worry about what model motherboard or n/sbridge you've got on it. Any video card (provided it's PCI-E) will work.

If I had a max of $150, I'd buy one of the 7900GS cards from XFX or eVGA with the MIR. One ends up at $155 and the other at $144.
 
that doesn't sound that bad.. i'll look at what i have for extra funds, have to talk to my dad he's paying for it
 
Darkmp40 said:
that doesn't sound that bad.. i'll look at what i have for extra funds, have to talk to my dad he's paying for it
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Just to be more specific, here are the links for the eVGA 7900GS and the XFX 7900GS cards I was talking about. They perform quite well all around, and also have a lot of overclocking potential.

EDIT: Review from [H]ardOCP for the 7900GS.
EDIT 2: Also consider the X1900GT which is also a part of the review I listed above.
 
Hmm, the XFX one looks promising, i've been using them before my ati's, also i like playing call of duty 1 and 2 and wolfenstein enemy - territory and which everone runs them the best i'm going with
 
eVGA get's my vote... Really the best RMA service I've ever experienced.

XFX, however, has a support member on this forum, who's really helpful.

Ie, if you have any problems with your XFX card just put "XFX" in the thread title, and he (she?)'ll read it.
 
Arcygenical said:
eVGA get's my vote... Really the best RMA service I've ever experienced.

XFX, however, has a support member on this forum, who's really helpful.

Ie, if you have any problems with your XFX card just put "XFX" in the thread title, and he (she?)'ll read it.
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Yeah, I've always sided with eVGA because of their overclocking and HSF warranty coverage, but there is no denying that XFX has some excellent customer support as well. "Double" lifetime warranty too (which means that if you sell the card on the warranty can be transferred to the new owner...big plus).
 
Darkmp40 said:
can someone answer my answer about the memory timing
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To be quick about it, the lower the memory timings, the quicker the RAM is at retrieving data. For AMD CPUs, because the memory controller is on the processor and not in the northbridge, timings and bandwidth aren't as huge a deal as they were (or are, if you're looking at Intel processors).

So if you're looking to buy DDR RAM, you'll want to find something with a CAS latency (the first number of the set of timings) of 2 or 2.5, and for DDR2 try and find something at 4, but 5 will do as well. You really won't notice the difference in the real world unless you're running benchmarks...heck, even then it'd be minimal.

If you'd like a more in-depth review of what each setting in the full timings are, check out the wiki entries.
 
I'm not really a f@nboy... ATi performs better and has better image quality than Nvidia (The 8800's are exempt from this)
 
genocide said:
I'm not really a !!!!!!... ATi performs better and has better image quality than Nvidia (The 8800's are exempt from this)
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Lets not make this an ATi vs Nvidia thread. I will agree that the X1k series has better IQ than the 7 and 6 series, but only in terms of AF. As for performance, you cannot make a generalization like that. At each price point you must compare cards, and at each price point there are different winners.
 
That's true and all but have you looked at benchmarks? I'm basing what I say off of benchmarks... Therefore, I'm just trying to help him out. :(
 
genocide said:
That's true and all but have you looked at benchmarks? I'm basing what I say off of benchmarks... Therefore, I'm just trying to help him out. :(
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yup, in fact check out the review I posted above. I think at around his point of $150 the only two cards he should consider are the 7900GS and X1900GT.

and hey, I'm trying to help out too! :D
 
genocide said:
The x1900GT was doing very well (Better than the Nvidia's) :D
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The 7900GS is meant to compete with the X1800GTO which it beat with no problem. The X1900GT is technically a step above, but it still won two of the tests while the X1900GT won the other two.

HardOCP said:
If you want to think about it in terms of “wins” it works out that the XFX GeForce 7900 GS 480M “wins” in every game compared to the ATI Radeon X1800 GTO.

Compared to the ATI Radeon X1900 GT the XFX GeForce 7900 GS 480M “wins” in two games, and comes closer than we would have suspected in two games.

For a video card that is “supposed” to compete with the ATI Radeon X1800 GTO it actually does very well compared to the next level up.
Click to expand...

Anyway, either is a viable option.
 
genocide said:
I'm kinda waiting for the R600's... You know they're gonna pwn.
Click to expand...

I'm excited to see what ATi has done as well, mainly because Nvidia has already had it's DX10 model out for a while. R600 will be great, no doubt about it, but lets hope that supply and noise issues aren't going to be a problem like the last few gens.
 
I don't really care about Noise Issues because you can always replace the fans... The nm amount is supposed to be smaller so therefore it will consume less power... Oh and some idiot is trying to tell me the x1950 PRO performs better than the x1950XT... I wanna punch him in the face! :D
 
back on topic... i'm looking for the best card that will perform Wolfenstein Enemy Territory and Call of duty 2 the best .. and my budget is 150 dollars..
 
W:ET is really a moot point because almost anything released in the past few years can max that out. Call of Duty 2 will run maxed out very well on both of those cards. Your choices are basically the 7900GS or the X1900GT.
 
quadnad said:
W:ET is really a moot point because almost anything released in the past few years can max that out. Call of Duty 2 will run maxed out very well on both of those cards. Your choices are basically the 7900GS or the X1900GT.
Click to expand...

well i'm gunna go with a HIS Hightech x1950xt ice q turbo
 
thanks, this weekend i'm ordering a Athlon 3200+ and a His Radeon 7000 64mb pci for my back up comp build for now :) but within the next month i i will up grade my processor-ram-video card so i'll have a good rig and be able to run 4 monitors :p
 
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