Need a descent video card

[dirtyp]

this isnt a recording question but you guys are usualy helpful.
Im looking at getting a new video card for christmas,
Any recomendations for around $100??

I know thats not alot but theres alot of choices now that prices are dropping.
I seen some ati 1300s and geforce 7600s, but there all from different companys sapphire, powercolor, his, is there much diiference between them?

Finaly how much of a difference is 256 mb to 512 mb?
What should I look for memory speed? memory type? size?

 

[Mindset]

You should be able to grab either or. I'm a nVidia user myself, however for those lower end cards, the ATI might be a better choice for you. On the nVidia side, the 7600GS/GT's both have 12 pipelines, and are usually clocked the same as every other newer card, around 400-500mhz clock & 1200-1500mhz on GDDR3. You won't notice a big difference in 256 vs 512 unless your doing graphical/3D work. For around $100 dollars, you should be looking at the 7600GS 256mb & around those clock & memory speeds in nVidia. For ATI, 1300.....

Now for brands. I wouldn't go with BFG, MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, Jaton, Diamond, Albatron, or Power Color imo... I would probably only go for PNY, XFX, Chaintech, and EVGA. That's cause I'm very picky with my video cards. Also, cards from MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte are all very expensive compared to all the other cards. Like XFX has their 7900GT's going at $200, MSI has one going for $270. And IMO XFX is a better company than MSI for video cards.

HOWEVER. You also need to be looking at if your system has the newer PCIE slot, or it's still running AGP.

 

[dirtyp]

I found this after rebates it would be $49,
The benchmarks are only 13 fps@ 1024x768 max details with oblivion,
the gt is $99ar and 18fps.
If I had another slot I could run them in sli for 100 bucks not bad.
What you guys think of this?
Im having trouble picking out a card even with the benchmarks, And im worried about spending 120 on a card that will be outdated or useless when dx10 becomes the standard.
Anyone have expierence with buy.com rebates?

http://www.buy.com/prod/PV_T73P_UDJ3/q/loc/61934/203000306.html

 

[Supercreep]

Descent came out in like 1995. I think any current integrated graphics could handle it through a DOS emulator. Or you could dig out your old 386.



Seriously, you are going to want to wait for a couple of refreshes after DX10 games launch. The current monster, G80, and the soon to be released R600 are insane on DX9 games - but we haven't seen their performance in DX10.

While a G80 can average 48 fps in Oblivion maxed out and at 1200x1600, I have a feeling that even in SLI Alan Wake and Crysis are going to bring it to it's knees.

BFG is the best Nvidia partner, and has lifetime warranties on their cards. Sapphire is a high quality ATI partner. Nvidia has the current price/performance king, but ATI has slightly better image quality. Remember, all we have to look at right now are DX9 results.

Wait for a little while and see how the current batch of cards do. Then wait for the inevitable refresh and price drop.

In the meantime, beef up your power supply and start researching mobos.

 

[Mindset]

You're going to be waiting a somewhat long time for the prices of DX10. The current DX10's range from 500-600 dollars. That card is a pretty nice priced card actually. I'm surprised at how low it is... Oblivion is a high taxing game on video cards. Even on higher end video cards you might see 30fps on something like a 7900GT.

For the high end cards, ATI currently is the better card than nVidia. nVidia cards start maxing out at like 120fsb because of the CPU limitations etc... but ATI's design has a higher CPU overhead or whatever it's called that allows their cards to run a lil faster.

 

[Supercreep]

You're going to be waiting a somewhat long time for the prices of DX10. The current DX10's range from 500-600 dollars. That card is a pretty nice priced card actually. I'm surprised at how low it is... Oblivion is a high taxing game on video cards. Even on higher end video cards you might see 30fps on something like a 7900GT.

For the high end cards, ATI currently is the better card than nVidia. nVidia cards start maxing out at like 120fsb because of the CPU limitations etc... but ATI's design has a higher CPU overhead or whatever it's called that allows their cards to run a lil faster.

I've got a pair of 512mb 7800 GTX in SLI and playing Oblivion, occasionaly get framerates in the mid teens at 1280X1024