6600gt..

[Half Evil]

But before you buy, look at the X1600XT's. Just to be sure you know what you want, and have looked at the whole market.

 

[joxley1990]

I took deep consideration into ATI, however, I know nothing about ATI, what-so-ever!

 

[Half Evil]

In comparason, ATI runs like an Intel, while nvidea works like AMD with the shorter pipelines so slower clocks are needed.

 

[Computer Head]

In comparason, ATI runs like an Intel, while nvidea works like AMD with the shorter pipelines so slower clocks are needed.

True, which is why I always perfer nVidia over ATI, unless ATI has some great deal on a good piece of equipment, then I will switch-hit. But I usually go with nVidia.

 

[joxley1990]

OOO yeah, I have an Intel processor - so..it'll look better..?

Which are some good models of ATI then, which wont bottleneck my system..

Intel P4, S478, 2.5Ghz
2GB DDR400 RAM (PC3200)

 

[GreySteelFox]

Take it from me man I got a 6600GT last Christmas and kind of wish I waited to get the 6800GS. I heard you could OC and unlock the GS to be a GT. Anyways 256 ram doesnt really matter on that chipset, you could put 1 gig on the card and you wouldnt really see a difference, its all about the GPU.

 

[Half Evil]

Look at the X1600's or even there is a X1300 that has 512mb onboard ram. Only 4 pixple pipelines, and take it from me, thats not enough!

Also check into the X800's

Check these... Pci Ex, right?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...lue=2953:18922&Submit=Property&SubCategory=48

And, seriously, these are my top pics.

TOP PICK!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102505

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161166


Man, those are some wicket rebates too. I would definetly check out those

 

[Sytheious]

You may want to consider the 7300GT, 7600GS, X1300, X1600, and that's it. Anythign using Shadel Model 2 just doesn't cut it anymore. Although with those deals it's hard not to...

 

[MikeReiner]

yeah. But as I said, for me an acceptable frame rate is the rate where there is no lag at all, so in fps games that's like 60, in games like oblivion it's quite much less.

Good point.

"A 7600GT is about as powerful as a 6800GT in terms of performance.. but in terms of features..."

But the extra features in the 7000 series when running at a much lower pipeline/bus rate means that the extra features don't really get much headroom to do what they are meant for.

So the performance being as good as the 6800GS prooves that the technology in the 7000 series lower end chips aren't being put to good use, and are so just as good as a 2 year old 6000 series chip.

I kinda see what you mean.. from benchmarks, the 7600GT is just a little faster than the 6800GS.. but overall the 7600GT is still better, it does support shader model 3, afterall. (Not to mention it seems to actually be able to run HDR and AA at the same time.. my friend's 6800Ultra can't do that...)

The deciding factor between getting a 6800GS or 7600GT should be the price.

 

[Kage]

Shader Model 3 is also supported by the 6800GS also.

I do agree that there might be a slight difference, since it can support 4 calculations per shader compared to 2 with the 6800GS, but at higher resoloutions, the frame rates would more than likely level out.