Help Choosing Graphics Card


deadlychicken22

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I'm looking for a good pci-e graphics card at a reasonable price ($100)

After searching around, I've narrowed it down to the following cards:
Geforce 7600GS
Geforce 6800
Geforce 6800 XT
Geforce 6600GT

After looking around at benchmarks, it looks like both the 7600gs and the 6800 are better than the 6600gt. However, I couldn't find a direct comparison between the 7600gs and the 6800 (or 6800 xt).

Which graphics card should i get?
 
sam fisher posted on Apr 22 2006 at 03:34 PM said:
I usually assume with the geforce card it does. Generally. ALthough I suppose those numbers are very close together.
The first number is the series that the card is from. Their current series is 7. However, it is possible that a high-end 6-series (such as the 6800) is more powerful than a mid-range 7 series (7600gs).
 
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all the clocks are different (7600's are higher) 7600 supports OpenGL 2.0 6800 supports OpenGL 1.5 7600 Memory Interface is 128-bit 6800 Memory Interface is 256-bit 7600 uses GDDR2 6800 uses DDR
 
DemonStar55 posted on Apr 22 2006 at 04:58 PM said:
all the clocks are different (7600's are higher) 7600 supports OpenGL 2.0 6800 supports OpenGL 1.5 7600 Memory Interface is 128-bit 6800 Memory Interface is 256-bit 7600 uses GDDR2 6800 uses DDR
Yes, but the 6800 XT uses GDDR3 (1000mhz vs. GDDR2 850mhz vs. DDR 600mhz memory)

So, which would you recommend?
 
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Do any of you actually know how imporant each speed/number is?
Is 256-bit memory interface (vs. 128-bit) more important than a higher core clock or number of pixel pipelines?
What benefits do a 256-bit memory interface have? What benefits do more pixel pipelines have? What benefits does faster RAM have? What benefits do faster cores have?
 
Do any of you actually know how imporant each speed/number is?
Yeah, I do.
Is 256-bit memory interface (vs. 128-bit) more important than a higher core clock or number of pixel pipelines?
Probably not more important.
What benefits do a 256-bit memory interface have?
Same difference between 32-bit processors and 64-bit processors.
What benefits do more pixel pipelines have?
More pixels can be pushed around at the same speed as the card allows.
What benefits does faster RAM have?
Same benefit as it does for faster 'normal' RAM, it moves the data more quickly.
What benefits do faster cores have?
Same thing as a faster processor does, performs instructions more quickly.
 
Well, I knew most of that already, what I was wondering about is how important each factor is (i guess that wasn't clear, sorry). Even if I understand basically what each factor affects, I don't know which factors are more important than others.
 
deadlychicken22 posted on Apr 22 2006 at 10:08 PM said:
Well, I knew most of that already, what I was wondering about is how important each factor is (i guess that wasn't clear, sorry). Even if I understand basically what each factor affects, I don't know which factors are more important than others.
Pixel pipeline amounts and wordsize of the card (128-bit, 256-bit, etc.) are probably the most important. Clockspeeds can always be overclocked.

My friend says go with the 7600, but his main reason was because it's a newer and more supported technology.
 
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Would a 7600GS be better than my existing Radion 9800pro?

Just thinking, cos my card is looking a little long in the tooth. Still great, but starting to struggle on a few things...
 
Would a 7600GS be better than my existing Radion 9800pro?
I'm not sure. . . I don't know a lot about ATIs product line. However, when I compared an ATI product and nVidia product that had scored similarily, the nVidia one was cheaper. I've also read that nvidia's drivers are better (I haven't used ATI's so I can't confirm this).
 
deadlychicken22 posted on Apr 23 2006 at 01:26 PM said:
Would a 7600GS be better than my existing Radion 9800pro?
I'm not sure. . . I don't know a lot about ATIs product line. However, when I compared an ATI product and nVidia product that had scored similarily, the nVidia one was cheaper. I've also read that nvidia's drivers are better (I haven't used ATI's so I can't confirm this).
and nvidia works better with linux.
 
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Axeman posted on Apr 23 2006 at 04:16 AM said:
Would a 7600GS be better than my existing Radion 9800pro?

Just thinking, cos my card is looking a little long in the tooth. Still great, but starting to struggle on a few things...
If your card is starting to struggle, the 7600gs will be a good upgrade. The gs is a very current (budget) model.
 
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