a question about video cards

[maranello]

I want to upgrade one of my computers for mapping and modding purposes. The video card on the computer right now is ATI 256MB x600xt PCI-e. The system is:

P4 3.0 Ghz Presscot w/HT
Intel Mainboard
2 GB DDR2
550 W PSU

I want to buy one of the following:

geforce 7800 gt 256mb pci express $344
geforce 6800 ultra 256mb pci express $308
geforce 6800 gt oc 256mb pci express $329
geforce 6800 gt 256mb pci express $228

The question is, #1,2,3 have very similar prices. And #4 is a lot cheaper. Is there a noticable difference between 1,2,3 AND 4? I checked their hardware stats, 6800 gt is about 30-40 mhz slower than the rest. If that makes a big difference, which one of those 3 should i buy? 7800 gt sounds the best choice, but gt overclocked has the best speed among all of them. But then there is a heating problem. I m not going to buy any cooling product for this video card. I am really confused. The reason why i am buying this video card is mainly for modelling in 3ds max and maya and using BF2 editor, of course the second reason is playing games. I would really appreciate it if you guys tell me which one is the best choice.

[maranello]

Re: a question about video cards

so nobody knows what i am talking about?

[DaSniper]

Re: a question about video cards

7800GT has about a 50% more increase in performance than the others its a whole new generation of graphics cards.

Although I would get a 7800GTX its even better.

[maranello]

Re: a question about video cards

7800GT has about a 50% more increase in performance than the others its a whole new generation of graphics cards.

Although I would get a 7800GTX its even better.

i would get gtx too but its $200 more expensive):)

Anyways, i bought eVga's Geforce 7800 GT OverClocked. It has 445mhz/1075mhz (the standard 7800 gt has 400/1000) and 20 pipelines and a lifetime warranty. AND,listen to this, they give a free copy of battlefield2 . we'll see how it turns out.

[CrimsonBlaze]

Re: a question about video cards

so nobody knows what i am talking about?

It's becuase you shouldve gone here

[maranello]

Re: a question about video cards

It's becuase you shouldve gone here

:hmm:

[CRuDE<LTG>]

Re: a question about video cards

Good buy with the 7800 GT. The top-o-line cards will drop signifiglantely in the six months again. My 6800 GT has dropped 250 dollars from when I bought it. I'm glad that I didn't spend the extra 100 dollars more at the time. I didn't think the performance increase from the BFG GT OC to the Ultra was enough at the time. We're talking AGP though.

That card looks killer though man! Now just get an X-fi with your rig and you'll see a decent increase in FPS and performance. Atleast I did. :P

[maranello]

Re: a question about video cards

Good buy with the 7800 GT. The top-o-line cards will drop signifiglantely in the six months again. My 6800 GT has dropped 250 dollars from when I bought it. I'm glad that I didn't spend the extra 100 dollars more at the time. I didn't think the performance increase from the BFG GT OC to the Ultra was enough at the time. We're talking AGP though.

That card looks killer though man! Now just get an X-fi with your rig and you'll see a decent increase in FPS and performance. Atleast I did. :P

well the thing is, i didn't buy the video card for fps or game performance. I bought it so that i could have decent 2048 x 1568 resolution when i m mapping or modelling. BF2 editor as well as MAYA or 3ds max are very GPU dependent. I had a x600xt before with (i think) 120 mhz/ 400 mhz, and the bf2 editor was getting very very slow and choppy.

My current CPU is 3.0 w/HT. if i want to upgrade it, i would have to buy 3.2, 3.4, or 3.8. and 3.2 is around $250 and it goes up. So i don't think i will upgrade the CPU. I can't get AMD either, and i actually don't want to get AMD. Because i need my CPU for rendering, compiling, programming (which is Pentium is good at) more than i need it for Direct3D gaming (AMD is good at).

My laptop has AMD athlon 64 bit 3700+ and yes i can play CSS in the same speed i play it in my desktop. But ask me about the compile times):). Just a simple C++ program, it takes 3-4 seconds for my laptop to compile, whereas it takes nanoseconds (less than a second) for my pentium to compile.Oh and believe me if you are writing a small sized application (around 10-15MB) those 3 seconds become minutes and hours and they are very important. AMD is just ridiculously slow in mathematical and computer applications and it is good for only gaming.