New Graphics Card Help

GarH

Can anyone recommend a new gfx card for me.
I have a lowly nvidia 6200 and it's not very good for high spec games like HL2, F.E.A.R., etc.
I've a budget of about 150-200 euros.
It doesn't matter if it's nvidia or ati, but it has to be AGP.
Any help would be much appreciated.

8T8

GarH wrote:

Can anyone recommend a new gfx card for me.
I have a lowly nvidia 6200 and it's not very good for high spec games like HL2, F.E.A.R., etc.
I've a budget of about 150-200 euros.
It doesn't matter if it's nvidia or ati, but it has to be AGP.
Any help would be much appreciated.

Unfortunately AGP really limits your options but the best just under €200 would be this €187 6600GT that has 256MB instead of the usual 128MB for those cards (which will help as having only 128MB doesnt help in current games). With delivery from Komplett it should just come to an even €200 or thereabouts.

With that card games like HL2 and FEAR will be playable with medium/high* details at about 1024x768 resolution or lower.

*Really depends on the game in question some are more demanding than others for example you should get away with high details no problem with HL2, FEAR on the other hand you will have to sacrifice some details but it will still be a hell of a lot better than playing it with a 6200. Be sure to use the latest driver from NVIDIA's website as well.

GarH

Thanks for your quick reply.
I know AGP is limited but for the moment it'll have to do.
I don't want to spend too much on my PC (until the SSIA matures, then its new everything)

I was looking at this
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=318040

What do people think?

TerrorFirmer

Not a bad card and its a reasonable price.

Why not go second hand? You'd get something very nice for 200 second hand...

Out of curiosity, is that a Pci 6200 or an actual agp model? I've not seen an agp model of the 6200, just pci-e and regular pci.

How does it perform in games? Can you provide examples of what resolution and what settings it would run a newish game at? Was thinking of using one for a project involving Battlefield2, which I believe it'd only run at low settings...

uberpixie

GarH wrote:

Thanks for your quick reply.
I know AGP is limited but for the moment it'll have to do.
I don't want to spend too much on my PC (until the SSIA matures, then its new everything)

I was looking at this
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=318040

What do people think?

the x1600 Pro is actually a few frames faster than a 6600 GT in D3D games

but is prolly a good bit slower in Open GL games.

If you are getting a card go for the 256mb version of the x1600 pro or the 128mb version og the 6600GT.

The extra ram makes feck all difference in performance and is not worth the extra money. Not on low end cards.

Best choices off komplett on your budget in AGP.

X700 256mb power colour (€103)
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=311605

Sapphire X1600 pro 256mb (€136)
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=317148

club 3d 6600GT 128mb (€140)
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=307919

point of view 6800 GS 256mb (€235)
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=317265


X700 would be fairly close to 6600GT in performance, it's a weak card and the bare min you should buy.

Next up you have the 6600GT/ x1600 pro, both offer similar performance in D3D but the 6600GT will be better for open GL games such as Quake 4/doom 3

Lastly you have the 6800GS which is the best performing of the lot and will give you the most milage.

The only other new card in AGP is the 7800 GS: however as this card performs not much better than a 6800GS it's not worth the extra 100 odd euro or so to get it.

After that try pickup a x800XL, X800XT , X850XT or a 6800GT up secondhand in AGP.

GarH

HavoK wrote:

Not a bad card and its a reasonable price.

Why not go second hand? You'd get something very nice for 200 second hand...

Out of curiosity, is that a Pci 6200 or an actual agp model? I've not seen an agp model of the 6200, just pci-e and regular pci.

How does it perform in games? Can you provide examples of what resolution and what settings it would run a newish game at? Was thinking of using one for a project involving Battlefield2, which I believe it'd only run at low settings...

It's an AGP model.
I got it in PC World a few months ago (needed something cheap and cheerful - should have kept my money for something better).. doh!

It will run games ok with no bells and whistles.
Battlefield 2 works fine on it as long as you don't want pretty graphics

GarH

uberpixie wrote:

Sapphire X1600 pro 256mb (€136)
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=317148

For a difference of about 20euros, does having an extra 256mb of video ram make much of a difference when playing games?

8T8

The X1600 Pro is not faster than the 6600GT it is in fact slower than the 6600GT & X1600XT (PCI-e only) which that even has trouble keeping pace with a 6600GT in some tests in fact FEAR is about one of the few games where it (the XT) is actually faster due to it being more shader heavy.

I'll say it again the 256MB version of the 6600GT is your best bet nothing under €200 on the ATI side is as good and the extra ram over the normal "128MB" version of the 6600GT will offer a smoother game play experience for loading levels and swapping textures in and out of the graphics cards local RAM. 256MB is practically the defacto standard for graphics memory now and you'll notice that a lot of the high end and even some mid range cards now have 512MB.

uberpixie

8T8 wrote:

The X1600 Pro is not faster than the 6600GT it is in fact slower than the 6600GT & X1600XT (PCI-e only) which that even has trouble keeping pace with a 6600GT in some tests in fact FEAR is about one of the few games where it (the XT) is actually faster due to it being more shader heavy.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/oblivion_mainstream_performance/page7.asp

Had a look at some benchies, in certain situations it seems to lead the 6600 GT by 2-3 frames and in other situations trails it by a few frames.

The GT would still be ther better choice overall in gaming due to it's MUCH better performance in open GL.

On the ram front: the extra ram only really makes a difference for most games at higher res with anastropic and A/A and textures set to high: settings that cards in the OP's budget don't have the power to run at smoothly.

Usually budget cards with extra Ram have slower ram over the regular one's with less ram: meaning the extra ram cards run a frame or two slower than the card with less ram!

If he is going to go for a 6600GT and spend close to 190 euro on the 256mb version: he is much better off adding another 40 quid or so and get a 6800GS which is 256mb and gives much better performance :-)

Or just get the cheaper regular 128mb version. Extra ram on cards in this price range add next to no performance and in most cases degrades performance due to cheaper ram used.

GarH

Thanks for all the info guys.

It looks like a 6600GT is on the cards for me then.:D

8T8

Benchmarks are a tricky thing to gauge especially Oblivion & when you focus on one game, take a look at these and see how the X1600 Pro fairs in other games (& those are the PCI-E versions under optimal conditions).

I agree with you uberpixie about getting the 6800GS for the extra €40 but if €200 is the absolute limit GarH can afford I standby going for the 256MB 6600GT version is the better bet than a X1600 Pro - unless of course you overclock the hell out of it but that is by no means guaranteed.

uberpixie

8T8 wrote:

Benchmarks are a tricky thing to gauge especially Oblivion & when you focus on one game, take a look at these and see how the X1600 Pro fairs in other games (& those are the PCI-E versions under optimal conditions).

I agree with you uberpixie about getting the 6800GS for the extra €40 but if €200 is the absolute limit GarH can afford I standby going for the 256MB 6600GT version is the better bet than a X1600 Pro - unless of course you overclock the hell out of it but that is by no means guaranteed.

I would agree with you that the 6600GT is a better buy than the x1600pro.

But on the 128mb vs 256mb.....

Any budget card I have ever seen that doubles the memory never performs much better than the origional version.

Getting a 256mb version over a cheap 128mb is a waste of money in my mind.

He just is not going to get any major performance increase in games for the extra 50 quid more than a club 3d 6600GT for 140 vs 190 euro on a 256mb 6600GT.

Personally I would get a Club 3d 6600GT 128mb for 140 quid and spend the other 60 on getting 512mb of ram.

A new gfx card + another 512mb of ram will give much better performance in games and Windows than just getting a 6600GT 256mb.

That in my mind you would the best bang for the buck possible on 200 quid :-)

GarH

I also saw this

http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=ECE1206637

would it be better again?

And one more quick question:
Whats the difference between DDR2 and DDR3?
I see cards with lots of DDR2 and then similiar cards with less DDR3.
Does this mean DDR3 is faster?

Sorry for all the queries, it's just sooooo damn hard choosing.

uberpixie

GarH wrote:

I also saw this

http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=ECE1206637

would it be better again?

And one more quick question:
Whats the difference between DDR2 and DDR3?
I see cards with lots of DDR2 and then similiar cards with less DDR3.
Does this mean DDR3 is faster?

Sorry for all the queries, it's just sooooo damn hard choosing.

In all honesty it's better to do the research first and consider all your options before rushing out and buying.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/content/286/

One review for a 6800XT I could find, There is a link to benches that have the 6800XT in it in 8T8's previous post.

What is your exact spec, how much ram do you have?

GarH

Thanks for that uberpixie.
Looking at an actual framerate table and benchmarking results table really helps.
The few extra quid would make all the difference for me.

The machine I have is a P4 2.6 with 1gb of ram, running XP pro.
I dont know the mobo manufacturer (the pc I have is a Medion bought from Aldi)

jockstrap001

7800GS AGP is good 300 yo yo from komplett
Runs oblivion like silk

conzy

7600gt is cheaper than a 6800gs and it performs better........

And if you can get the Gainward model with the 1.2ns ram, it overclocks nicely

GarH

conzymaher wrote:

7600gt is cheaper than a 6800gs and it performs better........

And if you can get the Gainward model with the 1.2ns ram, it overclocks nicely

But is it available AGP....
and, more importantly, where?

conzy

6800gs is probably the only option in teh price range so.......