23 replies to this topic

[DarkFall]

EVGA GeForce 7600 GS / 512MB GDDR2 / SLI / PCI Express / DVI / VGA / HDTV / Video Card

Asus Radeon X1600 Pro / 512MB GDDR2 / PCI Express / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Video Card

I need to know if either of these is a decent video card or should I try to stick with a

Diamond Radeon X1600 Pro / 512MB GDDR2 / PCI Express / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Crossfire Ready / Video Card or a

DiabloTek Radeon X1600 Pro / 512MB DDR / PCI Express / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Crossfire Ready / Video Card

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

[FMFDOC2]

EVGA GeForce 7600 GS / 512MB GDDR2 / SLI / PCI Express / DVI / VGA / HDTV / Video Card

Asus Radeon X1600 Pro / 512MB GDDR2 / PCI Express / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Video Card

I need to know if either of these is a decent video card or should I try to stick with a

Diamond Radeon X1600 Pro / 512MB GDDR2 / PCI Express / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Crossfire Ready / Video Card or a

DiabloTek Radeon X1600 Pro / 512MB DDR / PCI Express / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Crossfire Ready / Video Card

Any help would be greatly appreciated...

I only buy Nvidia cards. READ the bottom. Geforce 700 GS is the better card.

GeForce 7600 GS
On March 22, 2006, NVIDIA announced the immediate availability of the GeForce 7600 GS GPU targeted at the low-mid end. This new GPU will officially assume the place of the GeForce 6600GT which has been around for quite some time.

As of July 21, 2006, there is now an AGP version of the 7600GS as well. According to NVIDIA, this card is identical to the PCI-e version other than the interface. In addition the AGP version uses NVIDIA's AGP-PCIe bridge chip.

Some quick specifications:

PCIe native, but AGP 8x cards are also available
400 MHz Core frequency
128-bit memory interface
12.8 GB/s memory bandwidth
3.2 billion pixel/s fill rate
500 million vertice/s
SLI support
passively cooled (NVIDIA reference)
Preliminary testing showed that the GeForce 7600 GS outperforms a GeForce 6600 GT and Ati's counterpart, the ATI Radeon X1600 Pro.[3]

http://en.wikipedia....eForce_7_Series

[Why Two Kay]

I say go with one of the first two x1600's, best would be one with 256-bit 512MB as the memory type, if so it is offered. TigetDirect does not list enough TechSpecs on their website for me to tell.

Personally I have a card with 256-bit 256-mb GDDR3, which is imporved over the DDR2 on those cards, however I believe you will get better performance off of the x1600 512MB than a x850XT, but it can depend. I dislike the new naming scheme of ATI. The x1600 will work better in the long run, because it has other technologies in it.

Plus it's crossfire, if so you one day get another one.

[TheL3gend]

Don't get the x1600! Even though it boasts the 512MB it does not perform very well. Benchmarls show the 6600GT beating it on most occasions. On some other boards I frequent, people have had those and were soon posting a new thread asking why the graphics aren't that great. I would defeinitley go with the 7600.

http://www.firingsqu...rison/page9.asp

[Wasabi®]

Out of those four choices, I would definitely get the 7600GS. You could, however, spend fifty bucks extra and get the 7600GT. It performs incredibly for its price range, and it is the card I use right now (in fact, it just came in the mail a few hours ago.) The 7600GT is much faster than the 6600GT or 7600GS. I find ASUS and MSI videocards to be extremely stable. As for the RAM, I used to have a 256MB 6600, but my 128MB 6600GT which I later bought proved to be much faster. In my opinion, if I were to choose between a $140 512MB videocard and a $170 256MB videocard, I would go with the latter. Not only because it's faster, but because the cheaper one can't really take full advantage of all that RAM. Just my 2 cents. Here are some links to my recommendations in the <$200 range

ASUS EN7600GT
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814121004

X1800GTO
http://www.newegg.co...82E16814161004R

Sapphire X850XT
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814102688

The nice thing about the X850XT is that, although being one generation older, it has 16 pixel pipelines. These things really boost up power, which is why after almost two years in service the X850XT is still able to run the newest games decently. However, as I mentioned, it is an older-generation card, so if you're not looking to replace your videocard anytime soon I recommend an ATI X1XX series or NVIDIA Geforce 7 series.

[PerfectSilence]

Well Rob, I don't know a heck of alot about all those fancy specifications and numbers, but I'll tell you what I do know. I have two NVidia 7900 GT's in an SLI linked setup. Now, I am able to run BF2 on 1600X1200 Resolution with all settings on high without ever recieving lag. I recieve lag under only two situations...1) the first 10 seconds after I load up the game, which I believe is due to the game aquiring the settings and info or 2) when I am downloading via BitTorrent of another app which uses alot of bandwidth, which is no fault of the Graphic Cards. Obviously, those cards of mine are doing something right if I am to recieve such results from them. I like ATI as well, as they manufactured the Graphics card on my Laptop which is an ATI Mobility Radeon 9000, which from what it was made to do has worked quite well and I am very satisfied. I think you'll recieve fair results with both, and I mean fair in the sense that each card will give you exactly what it was meant to do. My gut opinion would be to go with the NVidia as they have a reputation of catering towards gamers, but you know what they say about following your gut opinion, lol.

[Honch777]

Agreed with Legend there. I'll quote myself from another video card thread:

Yeah, I thought about upgrading from my ATI X850XT 256 GDDR3 to the ATI X1600 with 512MB... but the salesman at the PC store told me "Definately No, the 850XT will walk all over the 1600." He said more about the pipelines n' some other stuff which shot that idea down quick and also, that the highest model of the last generation is usually better than the mid-grade of the new generation.

Maybe return it and go for an X850XT? I run everything maxxed out and get a nice FPS without even messing with the ATI overclocking. Plus, they're like $150-$200 now too.

[Why Two Kay]

Agreed with Legend there. I'll quote myself from another video card thread:

Yeah, I thought about upgrading from my ATI X850XT 256 GDDR3 to the ATI X1600 with 512MB... but the salesman at the PC store told me "Definately No, the 850XT will walk all over the 1600." He said more about the pipelines n' some other stuff which shot that idea down quick and also, that the highest model of the last generation is usually better than the mid-grade of the new generation.

Maybe return it and go for an X850XT? I run everything maxxed out and get a nice FPS without even messing with the ATI overclocking. Plus, they're like $150-$200 now too.

BTW that x850XT is on NewEgg.com for around $120 now. I have one and I can run the game on all high, but my ram is holding me back.

[DarkFall]

The reason all four cards are SLI or Crossfire, is I do plan on adding the second card as soon as I can. I was planning on buying an ABIT or ASUS motherboard and since I have had some conflicts in the past, I was gonna try and stick with an ASUS video card as well, if possible. I was just checking and the EVGA GeForce 7300 GT / 512MB GDDR2 / SLI / PCI Express / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Video Card has a rebate that puts it at $99.00, so that could be a possibility that I had over looked. I know the GTs used to be better than the GSs, but I am not sure any more.

As it stands, I have priced an Asus ATI Radeon Crossfire Motherboard A8R-MVP on BUY.COM for $100.99(no shipping) and if I went with the Asus Radeon X1600 Pro / 512MB GDDR2 / PCI Express / DVI / VGA / TV Out / Video Card, for $114.99(plus shipping), I'd have around $225.00 in the motherboard and video card. Not to mention that them being from the same manufacturer would be a big plus.

ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard from Tiger Direct is $119.99 and if I went with it and the 7300 GT, I'd still have about the same money tied up.

What I am running now is a ATI 9600 128 Meg card and anything I get will be a vast improvement over that. I had a MSI GeForce 64 meg card before that and was happy with its performance, but the ATI card still works great too...

Agreed with Legend there. I'll quote myself from another video card thread:

Yeah, I thought about upgrading from my ATI X850XT 256 GDDR3 to the ATI X1600 with 512MB... but the salesman at the PC store told me "Definately No, the 850XT will walk all over the 1600." He said more about the pipelines n' some other stuff which shot that idea down quick and also, that the highest model of the last generation is usually better than the mid-grade of the new generation.

Maybe return it and go for an X850XT? I run everything maxxed out and get a nice FPS without even messing with the ATI overclocking. Plus, they're like $150-$200 now too.

BTW that x850XT is on NewEgg.com for around $120 now. I have one and I can run the game on all high, but my ram is holding me back.

If it's the one Wasabi has in his post, it has a rebate of $20.00, knocking it down to $102.99. Of course, I wouldn't be able to add a second card later, so I wouldn't need a MB with dual video card capability. I don't know why, but for some reason I like the idea of having a gig of video ram...

When you say your ram is holding you back, do you mean the speed of your MB ram or the amount of your MB ram?

[Why Two Kay]

I have 1gb of main system ram, not enough to load the textures and lighting on "high".

[AnonymousFlash]

7300GT is a budget card. It is just flat out not a good card even when SLI. It might be able to pull off medium settings in BF2...maybe...

I would go for the x850xt like Ryan said, or the 7600gs. However, on newegg, there is a 7600GT that smokes a gs... with a rebate to 115...

Edit:Also 7300gt only has 8 pipes...

Edited by AnonymousFlash, 12 September 2006 - 08:12 PM.

[Snake]

DO NO GET THE X1600 PRO. IT IS GARBAGE. I now have X800 pro and it runs like a champ!

[pest control]

heres the performance chart

choose two cards, and compare them in any benchmark that is available in there


if your upgrading, Intel's Kentsfield core is coming out, and its gona pwn


EDIT:
if your thinking to go with two cards, than the chipset in mobo will make diference.
you have SLI which is the nvidia based set, nforce chipset.
and "crossfire" which is based on ATI cards and intel chipsets. only new motherbords with intel chipset 945 and up are good, the older ones are not.
in general, nforce chipset is much better for gaming than the intel ones. the choice of motherboard is most important one, as it will dictate what your going to put on it. I have nforce4 and it rules. (Assus A8N-sli)

for the dual grafic cards, you are paying double, check in that chart the difference in performance of two cards vs one, its even less than 10% gain in performance though your payin double. I think you might end up better if you just buy a higher end card than two lower ones, that will make a real difference on the BF2

[Phrozenbot]

7600 GS is a solid choice.

[DarkFall]

Probably ordering this one...

BFG Tech BFGR76256GTOCE Geforce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

[FMFDOC2]

DO NO GET THE X1600 PRO. IT IS GARBAGE. I now have X800 pro and it runs like a champ!

Speaks from experience. LOL

[Furious_DC]

Correct me if im wrong but to get sli to run properly the two card must be from the same lot. I don't know if you buy one card today and later on buy a second card it may not run properly.
nvm I just looked it up and i'm wrong

Edited by Furious_DC, 13 September 2006 - 03:09 PM.

[DarkFall]

Correct me if im wrong but to get sli to run properly the two card must be from the same lot. I don't know if you buy one card today and later on buy a second card it may not run properly.
nvm I just looked it up and i'm wrong

Yeah, I had already checked into that... Decided to go ahead and order this one later today: BFG Tech BFGR76256GTOCE Geforce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

[Why Two Kay]

Correct me if im wrong but to get sli to run properly the two card must be from the same lot. I don't know if you buy one card today and later on buy a second card it may not run properly.
nvm I just looked it up and i'm wrong

Yeah, I had already checked into that... Decided to go ahead and order this one later today: BFG Tech BFGR76256GTOCE Geforce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

Good choice. I always prefer SLI over Crossfire. SLI seems more complete and games (esp BF2) take advantage with SLI > Crossfire most times.

[DarkFall]

Correct me if im wrong but to get sli to run properly the two card must be from the same lot. I don't know if you buy one card today and later on buy a second card it may not run properly.
nvm I just looked it up and i'm wrong

Yeah, I had already checked into that... Decided to go ahead and order this one later today: BFG Tech BFGR76256GTOCE Geforce 7600GT 256MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail

Good choice. I always prefer SLI over Crossfire. SLI seems more complete and games (esp BF2) take advantage with SLI > Crossfire most times.

Glad I asked first. I'd have probably been unhappy with my original choices. Now all I have to do is decide on a DDR 4 gig SLI motherboard or a DDR2 8 or 16 gig SLI motherboard... With DDR2 prices becoming lower, I'll probably go that route. Still trying to get the most bang for my bucks and it's very obvious my system won't be running the new games, so updating is essential.