bennythebear Member Posts: 1225 From: kentucky,usa Registered: 12-13-2003 |
i'm fixing to finish a an amd x2 based system i've been building for while. i was wondring should i go with 2 256mb 7200 gs cards, or 1 256 7300gt card? i'm on a tight budget, so if you know of anything better i could get for the $30-$70 price range feel free to let me know that too, as long as it's nvidia based  ------------------ proverbs 25:7 www.gfa.org - Gospel for Asia www.persecution.com - Voice of the Martyrs |
Mack Administrator Posts: 2779 From: Registered: 01-20-2001 |
7600GS with fan: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130075 Or the fanless model: |
GUMP Member Posts: 1335 From: Melbourne, FL USA Registered: 11-09-2002 |
Actually, I believe this would be slightly better: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127285R Higher GPU core clock and memory clock. Same 128-bit(64x2) memory bus I believe. The only thing I'm uncertain on is how many pipelines the MSI 8500 GT and EVGA 7600 GS have. I "think" the 8500 GT is 16; not sure on the 7600 GS but I doubt it's more than 16 so the 8500 GT looks to be the better deal. Oh, and it looks like you're considering SLI. Last time I checked some games have issues with SLI so that's one thing to keep in mind. [This message has been edited by gump (edited August 11, 2007).] |
ArchAngel Member Posts: 3450 From: SV, CA, USA Registered: 01-29-2002 |
EVGA GeForce 8800 GTS. hands down. a 320 mb you can get under 300, and for an 256mb 8600gts, around 160. (8600GT's I've seen go down to around a 100). the 8500, imo, is simply not powerful enough (slower than the 7 series) and while the 8600 has alot of bang for the buck, the 8800 caries the power we so desperately need. directX10 is in. don't by a card that won't utilize it. ------------------ |
|
GUMP Member Posts: 1335 From: Melbourne, FL USA Registered: 11-09-2002 |
ok, almost all of the sales sites were inaccurate. The 8500 GT uses the G86 core which only has 16 stream processors (G80 has 96/128 SPs for comparison). Due to the different design of the G8x series the 16 pipelines of the 7600 GS is NOT comparable to the 16 SPs. Makes for slick marketing. As such, even though the core clock of the 8500 GT is higher it essentially does half the work per clock. So the 7600 GS is definitely the better deal for $75. Sorry, I had a feeling that newegg's site wasn't being too clear but I didn't have time to look up the differences earlier. BTW, if you want raw specs on GPUs: http://www.beyond3d.com/resources/ |
|
Mack Administrator Posts: 2779 From: Registered: 01-20-2001 |
I would recommend the fanless model over the fanned model. The 7600GS uses the same fan as the 7300GT/GS which is terrible for crapping out 3 months after extensive use. I've built over 50 units with the 7300GT/GS and now all the clients are upgrading to the 7600GS just for the passive cooling option. Also, you can't SLI two 7200GS (the boxes have a sticker that says they can't be SLIed). SLIing two small card is hardly worth it (unless you're looking at in inexpensive option for a 3-4 monitor setup), put the money into a single larger card which you'll more benefit from.
quote: You'll need Vista in order to use DX10. Games aren't fully bore on DX10 yet, I'd wait until mid next year before jumping into DX10 or waiting for DX10.1 cards to come out. The only reason why I went from my 7950GT to a 8800GTS (640MB) was because I got it for under $200 Canadian and I needed a good card to use while waiting for my 7950GT to come back from RMA. Speaking of which, I'd do EVGA for the card maker. Working with them directly with RMA for clients and for myself has been really good. [This message has been edited by Mack (edited August 12, 2007).] |
|
bennythebear Member Posts: 1225 From: kentucky,usa Registered: 12-13-2003 |
Thanks everybody (especially mack). I'll probably go with the best 7000 series EVGA card I can get. I know the 8000 series would be pointless, at least for me, because I'll never touch Vista for about another year or so, it needs more time to get more software and hardware compatibility. No "Vista rocks!!!" comments please. I wasn't for sure if I should get two cheap ones, or one good one, but now I know. Especially since the board I have (ASUS M2N4-SLI) runs 1 card at x16, but in SLI it only runs each card at x8. Again, thanks for the help guys. ------------------ proverbs 25:7 www.gfa.org - Gospel for Asia www.persecution.com - Voice of the Martyrs |
Ereon Member Posts: 1018 From: Ohio, United States Registered: 04-12-2005 |
Vista rocks!!! Oh....wait......doh  ------------------ |
Lazarus Member Posts: 1668 From: USA Registered: 06-06-2006 |
quote: Well... I couldn't agree more. |
jestermax Member Posts: 1064 From: Ontario, Canada Registered: 06-21-2006 |
the 8800 is very nice (i have an upper classed one) however nvidia's software has been the cause of many problems and crashes. Very upsetting actually. ------------------ |
|
bennythebear Member Posts: 1225 From: kentucky,usa Registered: 12-13-2003 |
i have one more question. can i use the 2 sli slots to run two different cards...like a 8600gts and a lower end video card to set up dual displays? just curious. or would i have to by a normal pci card to do that? ------------------ proverbs 25:7 www.gfa.org - Gospel for Asia www.persecution.com - Voice of the Martyrs |
|
Mack Administrator Posts: 2779 From: Registered: 01-20-2001 |
quote: If you have an SLI motherboard then you can put two different cards into the PCI-E x16 slots. Just don't use the SLI connector and don't configure them as SLI via the sofware, then they'll operate as two seperate cards and you should be able to run 4 displays. You can add up to 4 (in WinXP) completely different cards into the system mixing between PCI-Express and PCI if you wanted to run 8 displays. ------------------ |
|
bennythebear Member Posts: 1225 From: kentucky,usa Registered: 12-13-2003 |
so one card can run 2 seperate displays, or just mirror image displays? my dad wants to turn this into media center machine, but his budget(the one that had to be set for him by my mom ) is only $200 for the video cards, possibly even the tuner card(already have one in mind). so if i can get true display from one card then it's definately going to be the evga 7600gs with 512mb ram, and a tuner card, both being right around $200. he'll be using xp, i'd get vista but then i'd have to buy more ram for him to get the same amount of performance, and i'd have to do even more research to make sure everything was compatible with vista. ------------------ proverbs 25:7 www.gfa.org - Gospel for Asia www.persecution.com - Voice of the Martyrs |
CPUFreak91 Member Posts: 2337 From: Registered: 02-01-2005 |
quote: Back when I was using a cheap and crappy Radeon 9200SE I could hook up two monitors to the 1 card and then extend (not mirror) my desktop on to those two displays. ------------------ "Oh, bother," said the Borg. "We've assimilated Pooh." Open source, open mind. |
|
Mack Administrator Posts: 2779 From: Registered: 01-20-2001 |
quote: A few low end, most mid range and all high end cards can run two displays off of them. They'll run either clone (mirror) or extended desktop (seperate), whichever you decide in the properties. |
|
bennythebear Member Posts: 1225 From: kentucky,usa Registered: 12-13-2003 |
thanks! i don't know jack about video cards apparently. that's awesome. my dad's budget got bumped up since his birthday is coming up this month, so he's going to get one beasty video card, and xp media center 05. ------------------ proverbs 25:7 www.gfa.org - Gospel for Asia www.persecution.com - Voice of the Martyrs |
My 8800 works like a dream. (Only $280 for the 320MB too)
