Building a New System. Need Vid Card advice

[Piano Man]

Hey vid forums,

Its been about 5 yrs, and I need to replace my system. Any upgrade I perform at this point is futile, so its time for a complete overhaul.

With the news of the new Intel price cuts, I'm gonna go ahead and do the build soon. I'll be using an Intel 6750 conroe for the CPU.

Here are my needs and price points.


Currently, I'm a WoW addict, and it is pretty much what I play. However, with that being said, I will be playing the new starcraft when it comes out, and if my system is good enough, I can see myself going back to some FPS games as well.

My monitor currently is a 22" Chimei running at 1680x1050, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.

As for the price range. I'm never the one to get the latest and greatest because of diminishing returns in regard to price/performance. I try to get the best bang for buck card that's 1-2 steps behind the best of the best. I don't want SLI due to power/heat/space issues as well as price. However, I don't want to get something that won't run today's games well. So please suggest me something that fits that criteria if possible. I suppose I could go up to 250-300 for the vid card, if that is where the bang for buck spot is.

I don't really care if its ATI or Nvidia. If they are close though, heat/noise should be the deciding factor.

Thanks!!

 

[Piano Man]

Oh yea, one other thing. Is DX10 a must yet? I keep hearing compatibility issues with Vista, so I think I'll hang with XP Pro until the kinks get worked out. Good or bad idea?

 

[cubalis]

I would say either the 8800GTS 640 MB (EVGA, XFX, etc) or if you can wait see what should be coming out soon....

 

[Piano Man]

Originally posted by: cubalis
I would say either the 8800GTS 640 MB (EVGA, XFX, etc) or if you can wait see what should be coming out soon....

What's coming out soon? I've been out of the loop for awhile.

 

[*kjm]

From Bliz FAQ.
"Will StarCraft II take advantage of DirectX 10? What other graphical goodies are included?
The game will be compatible with DirectX 10, and we're still considering whether there will be exclusive DirectX 10 graphic effects, but the graphics engine will also be very scalable to ensure that a wide range of different systems will be capable of running StarCraft II. The new engine is also capable of rendering very large units, as well as large numbers.

I say for WOW and StarCraft II save your money on this gen and upgrade when you have to. I play LOTR online and just upgraded and got a X1950 Pro because thats all I needed. When DX10 games come out who knows what we well need!

 

[Piano Man]

Sounds like a good plan.

I think I'll get the SAPPHIRE 100186L Radeon X1950XT found here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102067


Seems like everyone loves this card, except that its crazy loud. Any suggestions on a VGA Cooler? If possible I'd like it to exhaust the air out of the case as well. Thanks!!!

 

[f4phantom2500]

if you're gonna upgrade to a new vid card later this year and you just want to play wow now, why not save an extra $50 and get like a 7900gs or something like that? i think nvidia cards do better than their ati counterparts in wow anyway, so in that sense it would be money better spent.

 

[MarcVenice]

The 1950xt is a very good choice imo. It will also let him play some FPS at those resolutions, without having to turn everything way down. It will also play WoW without a problem and should be good enough for when SC II comes out, which is gonna take about a 6-12 months, by then he could get something new anyways. And who sais it's crazy loud ?

 

[nyker96]

or a 8800GTS 320 which is probably best bang/buck DX10 part you can get right now.

 

[Piano Man]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
The 1950xt is a very good choice imo. It will also let him play some FPS at those resolutions, without having to turn everything way down. It will also play WoW without a problem and should be good enough for when SC II comes out, which is gonna take about a 6-12 months, by then he could get something new anyways. And who sais it's crazy loud ?

I'm just reading the user reviews on Newegg. A lot seem to talk about the 1950xt being loud and hot, so I want to look for an after market cooling solution. Any suggestions?

 

[you2]

is the 256MB on the 1950xt enough memory ?