Upgrade from 6600 128mb to what?

[ejgladwin]

Hello,

I'm getting a new PC which comes with a PCI-Express 128MB GeForce 6600. The processor is an Athlon 64 3200+ and it has 1024MB DDR400 RAM.

The system comes with a 19inch TFT monitor, so I would like to play games at the default resolution of 1280 * 1024 to get the best image quality. However, I realise that a 6600 might be a tad underpowered for that task

So I'm going to upgrade the graphics card, but I'm not sure what to upgrade it to. At the moment I'm probably going to go for a Radeon X850 XT PE 256MB, which I can get for £260. I was wondering though, would it be worth paying the extra to get a GeForce 7800GTX, or even a 7800 GT?

Would I see that much difference between the X850 XT PE and one of the 7800's, or is my relatively slow processor going to limit what any of those cards can do anyway?

Many thanks in advance for any advice,

Cheers,

Edward ( http://photos.edgladwin.com/ )

[sawyen]

If you have the money 7800GT would be a good buy... cost around the same as a XTPE.. but its tons better.

Your CPU isnt that slow, but if u insist, a 3000+ can be clocked upwards no prob to eliminate the possibility of a bottleneck.. I could work at 9 x 295 (2.68Ghz) no prob on me board.

7800GTX would a little overkill.. but its nice to have if u really willing to drop 400 quid for it..

[kempez]

I would say get the 7800GT - its better vfm than the x850xt and performs better. They're the best buy atm mate

[sawyen]

ohh... and 1280x1024 would be a walk in the park for either cards.. but 7 series will allow u to have uber picture quality enhancement stuff like TRAA.. damn.. double posting again

[krazy_olie]

There's a few 7800GT at scan,the MSI one is a few bob under £300.

[ejgladwin]

Thanks for the replies! Seems like the 7800GT is probably the best price / performance compromise. They have a Leadtek 7800GT at overclockers for £287, which is only about £20 more than the cheapest X850 XT PE I found. They also have an XFX 7800GT extreme editon for £305, which I might stretch too

So I'll probably end up going for some sort of 7800GT, unless someone starts discounting the 7800 GTX within the next week!

Thanks again for the replies,

Edward ( http://photos.edgladwin.com/ )

[Octavean]

I just came across a deal over here:

http://www.evga.com/articles/public.asp?AID=258

Buy a 7800GT or 7800GTX and get a FREE nForce 4 SLI Mainboard. I don’t know if you can take advantage of it where you are but if you can you can always sell the motherboard to offset the price of the card,….or just build another system based on it.

I’d jump on it myself but I am already happy with what I have.

[sawyen]

gosh.. they must really be doing badly on their mobo sales..

If they're giving off Abit Fatality, I might just get it...

[DR]

7800GT or X800GT

[k0nigen]

X800XL - Less than £200

[Octavean]

gosh.. they must really be doing badly on their mobo sales..

If they're giving off Abit Fatality, I might just get it...

I have just heard that the motherboard in question is a rebadged JetWay 939GT4-SLI. I don’t know what the reviews are like on it but the nForce4-SLI chipset is still a force to be reckoned with even if it cannot do much more then stock,….with respect to overclocking and tweaking,…

[ejgladwin]

Hmm, a little spanner has been thrown in the works: I can get a 6800 Ultra for £209... that would still be a big step up from my standard 6600 and at the price it's very tempting... how much "real world" difference would I see between a 6800 Ultra and a 7800 GT? For example, if I'm playing games like Unreal 2004, Half Life 2, Far Cry, etc., at 1280 x 1024, with a bit of AA and AF turned on, would I notice a huge difference? Need to get to sleep!!!!!!

[krazy_olie]

At those games and settings the performance should be good on the 6800 Ultra, that's a good price at least £25 than anything I've seen. I would expect prices to drop, meaning an SLI update in the future could be good as the performance is somewhere between a GT and GTX (I think) in SLI mode.

[sawyen]

any games running at 1280x1024 shoudnt even need a 7800, except F.E.A.R and Chaos Theory (HDR)... my 6800GT @ +Ultra Clock runs everything at 1280x1024 with everything turned on, AA, AF and all those rubbish runs fine above +60fps.. wont see much differnence TBH..

[ejgladwin]

I think I might just go for the 6800 Ultra then. I don't like spending money when I don't have to, and £209 for the 6800 Ultra sounds better than £350 for a 7800 GTX I can always spend the money I save on actual games then! No good having a top Graphics card with nothing to play on it!

[ejgladwin]

Well I made up my mind. I decided that I couldn't bring myself to spend £350 for a full blown 7800GTX, but I didn't want to get a 6800 Ultra and end up wishing I'd gone for something a bit more powerful in a few months time. So I went for the card in the middle, the 7800GT. I ordered one from Dabs for £274.99 including postage.

After reading the Hexus 7800GT review, I saw from the test results that at the resolutions I'm going to be playing games, there's no way I'm going to be able to see the difference between a 7800GT and a 7800GTX, so I would have been spending extra money for no reason, if I'd gone for the 7800GTX.

For example, Half Life 2 at 1280x1024 4AA 16AF, 130fps on the GTX versus 112fps on the GT. There's no way my eyes are going to see the difference at those speeds!! And if I do need more power in the future, there's always the option of buying another GT and going down the SLI route.

Thanks very much for all the replies, it was a big help! Cheers!