Graphics Card Assistance

Discussion in 'Gaming' started by Darkmage, Mar 2, 2008.

  1. Darkmage

    Darkmage Senior Member

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    I seem to remember posting a topic about this before, but I need some advice.

    Right now, I'm willing to spend anywhere from 100 - 200 dollars on a graphics card, so what should I get?

    I've heard good things about the 7600GT, so would that be a good upgrade from my 7300 LE?

    Or should I go with an 8600 GT?

    Any advice?

    Here's a page I'm looking at:
    Here
     
  2. much

    much Well-Known Member

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    Def go for the 8600GT There cheap and not to far from the best on the market :P
     
  3. Darkmage

    Darkmage Senior Member

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    Sweet, any other opinions?

    Also, how do I check if a card is compatbile with everything I have? Or are they universal?
     
  4. xlink

    xlink GR's Tech Enthusiast

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    the best card on the market is around 3times as fast...

    personally if I was looking to go for around $100-200ish with lower being better, I'd probably get this
    http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814150275

    good overclocking headroom and a reasonably good card. around 90% faster than an 8600GT.

    asuming you have a PCI-e slot on your motherboard it should work
     
  5. Darkmage

    Darkmage Senior Member

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    What does a PCIe slot look like?

    I've got 3 slots on my motherboard, one filled by my old, crappy 7300 LE, they're all white, and I can't tell the difference between regular PCI 16x and a PCIe to save my life. Can you provide me with some pictures possibly? Can't tell the difference in Google either.
     
  6. xlink

    xlink GR's Tech Enthusiast

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    [​IMG]

    FYI I'd chech the slot the graphics card is in... most boards only have one PCI-e 16x slot...


    and FYI atleast 95% of 7300s made are PCI-e
     
  7. Darkmage

    Darkmage Senior Member

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    Bleh, okay, current status:

    - I DO have a PCIe 16x slot
    - I'm wondering if a 375w power supply will be enough to support any of these cards
    - The 8800GS says it comes with a power cable (assumably for the fan). Where do I plug these in? My current card doesn't have cables.
    - I'm wondering if a 8800 is too much card for my power supply, and if so, are there any lower power cards that still deliver decent performance? I'm not looking to run Crysis or anything here. Just GMOD10 and Portal.
     
  8. xlink

    xlink GR's Tech Enthusiast

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    the power cable would have been a molex-to-pci-e converter.

    the 8800GS isn't that power hungry of a card in itself, I'm running a hungrier 8800GTS on a 400W unit.
    that said it's a higherend 40)W PSU and is actually underrated, and has a high distribution towards the 12V rail where as most cheaper power supplies do not.

    I don't know about gary's mod but portal isn't THAT demanding of a game and an 8600GT is fairly cheap and would probably run it acceptable well. do keep in mind that the 8800GS is basically double the card, but if you don't need it...
     
  9. Darkmage

    Darkmage Senior Member

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    How much would I be giving up by going with a 7600GT? Newegg gives great current reviews about it, with the only downside being sporadic reports of exploding parts...?

    Anyways, so you definitely think an 8800GS would run fine with a 375 watt power supply? I don't want to overload anything.
     
  10. xlink

    xlink GR's Tech Enthusiast

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    don't bother witha 7600GT when the 8600GT is so cheap. The two are almost the same price and the 8600 is a fair deal better in most things.
    most of the reason why there is so much good going around about the 7600GT is because bang/$ it wasa legendary performer. It came out at $150 and outperformed the 6800ultra it replaced, the 680ultra having cost over $500. Then there was resistance to the 8600s because they were released at $130-220 and they were somewhat slower than the $100 7900GS. The 8600GT basically begs to be overclocked and performance quoted assumes both the 7600GT and the 8600GT are moderately overclocked

    as far as how much you'd loose... just as a guesstimate... around 2/3rd the performance.
     
  11. gonezorz

    gonezorz Banned from GR

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    i seriously lol'd when i read this.
     
  12. Darkmage

    Darkmage Senior Member

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    Hmm, looks like the 8600GT might be my card of choice...
     
  13. Darkmage

    Darkmage Senior Member

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    So... Do I, by default, have some sort of power cord running out of my supply that I can connect this card to? Or does it draw power from its connections with PCIe?

    Sorry, I'm new at this and my current card appears to be a passive heatsink system, so I have no idea.
     
  14. xlink

    xlink GR's Tech Enthusiast

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    the 8600s don't draw enough power to need additional power to the card.
    if you're referring to the 8800GS, you would, but they included an adapter so you could use molex connectors. either way it should be fine.

    FYI all cards draw power from PCI-e, just some need exrta, hence additional connectors.
     
  15. Snowy

    Snowy Well-Known Member

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    Definitely don't go with a 7600GT, while it would be a decent step up from your 7300le, it's a "last gen" card. Also, I wouldn't consider Newegg the best source of reviews, check review sites like www.hardocp.com, www.tweaktown.com, and www.legitreviews.com. The one that posted the 8800GS was right on the money, that is actually probably the best value for your money. I'm assuming you're planning on doing some gaming? The 8800GS would be your best option for that. If you don't have a 6pin PCIe conector on your powersupply to plug into the 8800GS, you may want to consider a HD 3650. It'll preform a tad better than the 8600GT and have some more features. It's worth checking out.

    But if you can, I'd definitely go for the 8800GS.

    :)
     

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