Looking to upgrade my Video card

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brenden D. Chase
  • Start date Start date
B

Brenden D. Chase

I've always been the type to get the low end of the popular card. This time
around I'm looking to get a high end card. Don't laugh, but currently I
have an NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440. I've just recently upgraded the rest of my
computer, P4 3.2ghz 1GB of RAM.. blah blah blah... my question is, should I
wait around for X800xt's to finally come into stock? or should I plunk down
the cash for an x800pro?? on the other hand... can anyone point me in the
direction of a good head to head on x800xt and pros, and NVIDIA's cards
too... speaking of which was its NVIDIA's top of the line card??

Any help is appreciated

--brenden
 
What's your plan with the new vid card ? Going to do some 3D gaming ? Or
just desktop work / internet ?
 
Brenden D. Chase said:
my question is, should I wait around for X800xt's to finally come
into stock? or should I plunk down the cash for an x800pro??
Click to expand...

Are you playing any games that need that much horsepower at the moment or
can you wait?
 
In my opinion it is pointless to wait for the best video card to come down
in price because by that time there will be another video card that sounds
cool that you might want to come down in price. Just upgrade if you feel
your current video card is sucking at what you want to do with it and pay
the most you can afford, if you can afford a $500 one then great but my
personal way of doing things is to kind of get the 2nd best one, the 2nd
best is usually about 5% slower but yet 50% cheaper than the fastest one.

Unless you don't or won't do any 3D gaming in the future, stay away from the
MX's or equivalent! Unless thats all you can afford, they are mostly a
sales gimmick with no performance....They are like getting an old rusty
truck with a lamborghini engine but yet the tranny is almost shot and is
irraplaceable, so you can't use the power anyway.
 
Mac Cool said:
Are you playing any games that need that much horsepower at the moment or
can you wait?
Click to expand...



Actually, I have decided to wait a bit, because I'm just looking forward to
playing halflife2 and halo 2... so I've got some time to wait...


I've research a bit today... and I'm really leaning toward a BFG Geforce GT
right now... looks like a great card.
any disagreements?


My real question is... why is it that all these cards are always sold out??
and or overpriced?? I mean, are there really that many people out there
buying these things??

--Brenden
 
Go for the BFG Geforce GT. I just ended up with that card and it really was
a huge improvement over my ATi 9800 Pro. Really any 6800GT will be a great
purchase. They are in limited supply right now for sure and some online
sites have jacked up the retail price because of it. I found mine at Best
Buy local store and paid retail $399.00 US funds. Don't jump the gun and get
a GT that's been jacked up in price. They will get to the stores soon.
 
Mark said:
Go for the BFG Geforce GT. I just ended up with that card and it really was
a huge improvement over my ATi 9800 Pro. Really any 6800GT will be a great
purchase. They are in limited supply right now for sure and some online
sites have jacked up the retail price because of it. I found mine at Best
Buy local store and paid retail $399.00 US funds. Don't jump the gun and get
a GT that's been jacked up in price. They will get to the stores soon.
Click to expand...

Yeah... I was thinking about that too... since Best Buy carries them. A
friend of mine could get me a discount too.

I've been reading reviews... I'm definitely leaning toward that card.


--Brenden
 
I haven't read about any cooling issues, but I'd be interested in any links
you might have. Sorry, but I don't know what "[H]" is. I need to use the
slot next to the AGP slot, so this is of particular interest to me (i.e. I
can't use the double slot versions of these cards with the bigger fans.)

That said, are the BFGs currently shipping two versions of the 6800GT? I've
seen pictures of both a single and a double fan version of this card. Which
one is in the stores?

Thanks,

Larry

Mac Cool said:
I've been reading reviews... I'm definitely leaning toward that card.
Click to expand...

I read something on [H] about the BFG having cooling issues. Read anything
about that?
Click to expand...
 
I haven't read about any cooling issues, but I'd be interested in any links
you might have. Sorry, but I don't know what "[H]" is. I need to use the
slot next to the AGP slot, so this is of particular interest to me (i.e. I
can't use the double slot versions of these cards with the bigger fans.)

That said, are the BFGs currently shipping two versions of the 6800GT? I've
seen pictures of both a single and a double fan version of this card. Which
one is in the stores?

Thanks,

Larry
Click to expand...



[H]= http://hardocp.com/




Mac Cool said:
Brenden D. Chase said:
"Mark" <[email protected]> wrote in message
Click to expand...
Go for the BFG Geforce GT. I just ended up with that card
Click to expand...
I've been reading reviews... I'm definitely leaning toward that card.
Click to expand...

I read something on [H] about the BFG having cooling issues. Read anything
about that?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Mac Cool said:
I've been reading reviews... I'm definitely leaning toward that card.
Click to expand...

I read something on [H] about the BFG having cooling issues. Read anything
about that?
Click to expand...

Where exactly was that, because the only think I read was that they didn't
suggest putting any cards in the slot below the video card.

--Brenden
 
Brenden D. Chase said:
I read something on [H] about the BFG having cooling issues. Read
anything about that?
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Where exactly was that, because the only think I read was that they
didn't suggest putting any cards in the slot below the video card.
Click to expand...

Somewhere in the middle of a thread about something else there were
several comments about BFG changing the cooling and the card running
hotter. I don't know for myself.
 
Where exactly was that, because the only think I read was that they didn't
suggest putting any cards in the slot below the video card.
Click to expand...

What's the point of a single slot card if it's not to allow the use of the
next slot? I could see putting only a smaller card in the next slot (like a
NIC) to allow for better cooling, but to leave it empty seems to defeat the
purpose of using a single slot design.

Larry
 
Larry L. said:
What's the point of a single slot card if it's not to allow the use
of the next slot? I could see putting only a smaller card in the
next slot (like a NIC) to allow for better cooling, but to leave it
empty seems to defeat the purpose of using a single slot design.
Click to expand...

It has been recommend for years that the PCI slot next to the AGP slot be
left empty for reasons other than heat, I think they also share an IRQ.
 
What's the point of a single slot card if it's not to allow the use
It has been recommend for years that the PCI slot next to the AGP slot be
left empty for reasons other than heat, I think they also share an IRQ.
Click to expand...

Many motherboards do share an interrupt between the AGP slot and the PCI
slot next to it, but many do not. Too many people assume that these two
slots share an interrupt without actually checking the specs. Asus
motherboards are one popular brand that often do NOT share the 1st PCI slot
with anything. That aside, hardware compliance specifications REQUIRE the
ability to share interrupts, and Windows XP is designed to handle IRQ
sharing.

Keeping cards in unshared slots tends to be a holdover from the days when
this was necessary -- some hardware and software was not fully compliant
with the ability to share IRQ's, so the "rule of thumb" was therefore to
manually try to prevent IRQ sharing. Most of the people still suggesting
that you do not let cards share interrupts, however, do not actually try
it -- they simply continue to assume that it's best and don't question
whether it's actually necessary. There may still be cases where this is an
issue, but these days more and more people just let cards share IRQ's
without issues.

The 1st PCI slot on my motherboard does not share an IRQ with anything, and
the slots that DO share IRQ's work fine even when they are sharing.
Hardware is designed to work this way, as is Windows XP.

Larry
 
Larry L. said:
What's the point of a single slot card if it's not to allow the use of the
next slot? I could see putting only a smaller card in the next slot (like a
NIC) to allow for better cooling, but to leave it empty seems to defeat the
purpose of using a single slot design.

Larry
Click to expand...

It was only suggested by what I read.. based on the cooling of the card.
Mostly noted for people who overclock. I agree it defeats the purpose...
it also read that it would be a very close fit for a card in the next slot.
I personally would like to see BFG put together a card with a two slot
cooling solution that exhausts to the back of the machine(backplane exhaust)
the way I see it.. if you are going to take up the two slots.. might as well
release the hot air outward.

--Brenden
 
Back
Top