New Graphics Card.

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Time for an upgrade of graphics cards.. Just a few questions!

I was thinking of getting a geforce 6600GT, along with another 512MB ram (making a total of 1gig).

Then came the thought of waiting an extra month, then i can afford a 6800GT, and possibly later on, getting the 512MB ram.

I dont like spending much money, due to the fact ive just blown over 300 on a nice marshall amp :laugh: but i want to play BF2 on high, with maybe the possiblitly of having some AA tuned on.

At the moment, i have a geforce FX5700, everything on low, and im getting kinda sick of not having shadows / nice textures!

My question, what settings could i play on using the 6600GT, and what settings with the 6800GT?

I know what your thinking, what system do i have now?

I have:

P4 3.01GHZ
512MB ram
GeForece FX5700LE

Thanks in advanced.

[5bjoshua]

Re: New Graphics Card.

Well personally i would wait and get a 256mb 6800gt, then get the extra 512mb of RAM and put it in dual channel if you motherboard is compatible?! You will have to get a gig of RAM to play this game on medium to high anyway.

[default]

Re: New Graphics Card.

Ok thanks. What would 2 gigs of ram and a 6600GT 128MB compare with 1 gig of ram and a 6800GT 256MB?

Sorry if these are dumb quiestions, but i want to have a decent upgrade.

[lil_jimmy_norton]

Re: New Graphics Card.

With my 6600gt and specs in sig I play on all high except lighting and textures on medium, with 4xAF.

[Noni]

Re: New Graphics Card.

defualt,

I would reccomend a 6800GT and 1GB ram, then later down the line buy another 1GB.

Its cheaper than buying a new graphic card.

[Viathon]

Re: New Graphics Card.

If you are going to get a 6600 or a 6800, I would recommend that you make sure it has the 256bit memory controller. Some manufacturers will user 64bit and 128bit video card memory interfaces to save money. But definately stick with a 6600GT over a 6800 Vanilla, the extra clock makes a bigger diffrence over the extra vertex pipelines. But hey, if you can wait long enough, you might be able to get your hands on the new G72 GPU coming out later this year for about the same price as what a 6800GT is right now.

[lil_jimmy_norton]

Re: New Graphics Card.

If you are going to get a 6600 or a 6800, I would recommend that you make sure it has the 256bit memory controller. Some manufacturers will user 64bit and 128bit video card memory interfaces to save money. But definately stick with a 6600GT over a 6800 Vanilla, the extra clock makes a bigger diffrence over the extra vertex pipelines. But hey, if you can wait long enough, you might be able to get your hands on the new G72 GPU coming out later this year for about the same price as what a 6800GT is right now.

Actually a (locked) 6800vanilla scores higher in 3dMark than the 6600GT.

[Snake101]

Re: New Graphics Card.

Jimmy is right...6800 outperforms the 6600GT for sure.
I have a 6800 vanilla and I know the extra pipes make it better :)

[the_shylock]

Re: New Graphics Card.

I bought the BFG Tech geoforce 7800 GTX OC for $535 from newegg.com

it is by far the best card I have ever owned and worth every single penny

i believe it got rated the best card on the market by PC Gamer in this past moth's issue

[Viathon]

Re: New Graphics Card.

Actually a (locked) 6800vanilla scores higher in 3dMark than the 6600GT.

3DMark is always a good reference to give you a good idea on performance but it always boils down to FPS. I started looking back on some old benchmarks and if you do the same you will find that the 6600GT even with 128bit memory will outperform a vanilla 6800 in Doom 3 but not in Far Cry. The reason is because some games utilize the extra pipelines more efficiently than others, and other use more raw power. Here is a link to one of the benchmarks. I personally would have liked to find a benchmark comparing a 6600GT 128Mb with a 256bit controller, vs 6800 Vanilla.

This one is not entirely fair because it is a 6600GT 128Mb (128bit) vs 6800 256Mb (256bit)

http://www.tcmagazine.info/articles.php?action=show&id=121&perpage=1&pagenum=5

This one shows how the 6800 does better with some games with AA & AF
http://www.amdzone.com/modules.php?o...page&artid=112

Jimmy is right...6800 outperforms the 6600GT for sure.
I have a 6800 vanilla and I know the extra pipes make it better :)

It all depends my friend.

[Viathon]

Re: New Graphics Card.

I bought the BFG Tech geoforce 7800 GTX OC for $535 from newegg.com

it is by far the best card I have ever owned and worth every single penny

i believe it got rated the best card on the market by PC Gamer in this past moth's issue

Personally, I think you paid too much. Currently the only company manufacturing all the 7800GT & GTX cards is nVidia and they send the refrence cards out to the manufacturers to do what they want with them. The only diffrence between a GTX & GTX OC is that the OC comes pre overclocked. You could have saved yourself nearly $100 and overclocked it yourself.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=321956&affiliate=pricegrabber

[Snake101]

Re: New Graphics Card.

I am almost sure that in all games the 6800 will outperform the 6600GT, especially in BF2. It costs more, has more pipelines, and is a higher number in the series :laugh:

[Viathon]

6600GT vs 6800 Vanilla

:laugh: The 6600GT is limited in many aspects. For example if you want to have 256Mb of ram on the card then you will have to have the 128bit memory controller because the GPU itself was never designed to handle that much ram under 256bit. The 6800 was designed to handle upto 256Mb in 256bit, but the 512Mb versions run at 128bit. All I am saying is that if you get a 6600GT 128Mb, make sure it has the 256bit memory controller because then it is a very strong compeditor to the 6800 vanilla. Yes, the 6800 will win in some titles but the 6600GT will win in just as many other titles. Do the research and you will see for yourself. Hell, there are even manufacturers selling 6600GT cards with 64bit memory interfaces just to save a buck, and bench like crap! There are way too many people buying products for good money and getting crap. Yes it is easier to find a 6800 with a 256bit interface but for the price I why not get the highest end mid-range card. If you are keeping it cheap then go 6600GT. If you can go for a little extra cash, get the 6800GT. The Vanilla 6800 & the 6600GT (expecially the OC) are too close in many ways performance wise, to make it worth while. One exception to the performance simularities is the ability to unlock the extra pipelines in the 6800, but that is known to cause texture degradarity and artifacts in many games. Snake101, if you want to buy a card because you think it is better because it is more expensive, then go for it. I prefer research and facts.

[-=SiN=-Broown]

Re: New Graphics Card.

Ok thanks. What would 2 gigs of ram and a 6600GT 128MB compare with 1 gig of ram and a 6800GT 256MB?

Sorry if these are dumb quiestions, but i want to have a decent upgrade.

You are talking about two different aspects of the game....
RAM is load
Card is for pretty stuff

[default]

Re: New Graphics Card.

You are talking about two different aspects of the game....
RAM is load
Card is for pretty stuff

Thanks for that. Cheers for the other replies too.

I know some one who has an xfs 6600GT ( i think its xfs) and from a review, it out does standard 6600GT's

I would like to upgrade asap, im not a extreme gamer, infact, all i play is BF2! Sometimes other games if there is a LAN. I don't want to spend a crap load on a card, but want something that will give some nice graphics, and allow some AA on with BF2. I will watch out of the bit differences too.

Any one with a 6600GT, around a 3 ghz processor, and a gig of ram able to post a screenshot up of what it looks like? Same with a 6800GT if anyone can. Thanks.