Not sure what graphics card to get.

[dirtbikeryzz]

Im ordering a new comp soon, and the GTX 260 fits into my budget pretty good.

Any suggestions? Will i be able to Run anything I want maxed?
Also 4GB RAM, and Quad core 2.66ghz are the other specs.
Only Nvidia card suggestions please.

 

[Grantofhell]

I will suggest the GTX 260 Core 216, as it's only about 10 dollars more but the performance increase gets it to compare with a GTX 280 stock clock.

4Gb of PC2-6400 and a Q6700 will go just nicely with a Core 216

 

[dirtbikeryzz]

Well the problem is im ordering from Alienware and my choices are GTX 250, 1.8GB GTX 260,1GB GTX 280, then the GTX 295, i can also double any of them.

 

[wol-va-rine]

Well the problem is im ordering from Alienware and my choices are GTX 250, 1.8GB GTX 260,1GB GTX 280, then the GTX 295, i can also double any of them.

1.8GB...? which card is that...?

 

[Grantofhell]

No card actually has 2Gb (or 1.8Gb) of VM, It's 1,792 (and increment of 896) So, to look good, it gets rounded.

DirtBiker, you aren't straying much further from the Dell you previously had by choosing AlienWare. The system will be limited in many ways, one of them being illustrated here by not being able to choose a GTX 260 Core 216. For the reference, AlienWare is owned by Dell. I'm sure they have a pile of regular 260's they couldn't even give away, so they aren't allowing you to choose a better card for the money.

I'd really suggest selecting and buying parts from a site like NewEgg.com or TigerDirect.com. We'd all be very happy to help you design a system.

 

[wol-va-rine]

No card actually has 2Gb (or 1.8Gb) of VM, It's 1,792 (and increment of 896) So, to look good, it gets rounded.

um, no, 1GB is 1024MBs, that is what gets rounded down to 1GB on video cards, likewise 2048MBs gets rounded down to 2GBs, a good example is memory modules, the 4870x2 has 2048MBs of RAM (2GBs) so yeah, there is a card with 2GBs of RAM, 896MBs only refers to the GTX 260 and no other card carries that specific amount of memory, nvidia likes to do that, why I don't know, kinda like the 9600GSO 384/768MB and 8800GTS 320/640MB cards...

the 1024 for 1GB is not just a random number either, it's mathematically sound when breaking down memory storage to it's smallest common denominator, 8, you have bits which are the smallest measure and parts of that common denominator, but we don't measure memory in bits, the standard is bytes, that's why all computer memory and storage amounts are divisible by 8, they have to be if you are designating them kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes and terabytes...

 

[Grantofhell]

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=017-P3-1165-AR

^ 1792.

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=02G-P3-1187-AR&family=Geforce 200 Series Family

The second card actually has an increment of 1024 - 2048.

I'm going to try to stay on topic though .

 

[TitanMATRIX]

Well the problem is im ordering from Alienware and my choices are GTX 250, 1.8GB GTX 260,1GB GTX 280, then the GTX 295, i can also double any of them.

You know I used to drool over alienware stuff but then later figured out that I was just paying for the name brand and a cool looking case which I can find an equivilent and a faster computer for a cheaper price. I wouldn't worry too much about "alienware."

 

[dirtbikeryzz]

You know I used to drool over alienware stuff but then later figured out that I was just paying for the name brand and a cool looking case which I can find an equivilent and a faster computer for a cheaper price. I wouldn't worry too much about "alienware."

Building my own PC is out of the question, pretty sure i said that already.

And someone said im not getting much with this new comp.
Going from Duo core 2.66ghz
8800gtx
3GB RAM
Vista 32 bit

To
Vista 64 bit/Windows 7 when its out
4GB RAM
Quad core 2.66ghz
GTX 260 maybe?
Is alot better then my old system.

Is there a site with more options and cheaper price?

 

[wol-va-rine]

but I think he's trying to buy a prebuilt and has chosen to go with an Alienware system, though Alienware sounds cooler than HP, an HP gaming system would probably be more cost effective, meaning he could get a better system from HP than Alienware for the same price, it's his choice though...