dead for now: possible 7600GS (7300GT?) 128MB $37.25 shipped

[slashbinslashbash]

NOTE: The first few people have gotten theirs and they seem not to be the cards pictured on the Geeks.com site. If you order one, you should assume that it has a fan on a smaller heatsink. Also, the first person to get theirs (mellondust) has had trouble with the card not working. Probably best not to order until we get this sorted out with the Geeks.

I was looking at geeks.com to find a cheap PCI-e video card to stick in a Linux box I'm building. This one stuck out as being a pretty good deal amongst all the 6200's, X550's and 7300GT's.

http://www.geeks.com/details.a...00GS-128HDTV-P&cat=VCD

Shipping is $8.00 to Texas.

Seems pretty good for such a cheap card, and the silent aspect is nice. This should outperform a 6600GT, which can't be said for most cards in this price range. This card would certainly be awesome for older games, and it does h.264 acceleration for HTPC applications. The only problem is that the heatsink is pretty big, definitely more than 1 slot, but I guess you can't win 'em all. At least it looks hefty enough to do a good job of cooling the card.

Anyway, I'm not sure how hot this is, but it seems like the best deal that I can find right now on a low-end PCI-e graphics card.

edited to change link and price from Evertek to Geeks

edited again to change price to reflect 10% off using coupon code "mc exclusives", thanks to BIGFOOTPI

UPDATE: I have got mine, as have several others. It definitely has a fan, although it is very quiet. Mine worked with no problems out of the box, and it has Hynix 1.4GHz DDR3 memory, which is nice. The problem is that some tools (Riva Tuner, Everest) show 4 vertex shaders and 8 pixel shaders (indicating a 7300GT) while others (ATITool, GPU Caps) show 5 vertex and 12 pixel (indicating a 7600GS). I don't know which to believe. I am still unhappy that it is simply not as pictured/described on the Geeks.com site. To see what the card generally looks like (especially the heatsink) see this card:

http://www.geeks.com/details.a...600-512MTV-P&cpc=RECOM

The heatsink is exactly the same, although some of the other details of the card are different.

FINAL UPDATE: After a bit more testing, I decided to return mine. Regardless of the pipes/etc., the card is simply not what was listed on the site, and I have a problem with that.

So I called the Geeks at 760-726-7700 (took 11 minutes total for the call), and they are e-mailing me a prepaid FedEx label. I just have to drop off the box at a FedEx location, and I will get a full refund. I can't say that I'm happy with the situation, but at least they are taking care of it.

dead update Seems to be dead. mellondust says that Geeks is taking them down temporarily due to the issue of having different ones with 3 (!) different heatsinks. They are going to go through them all and figure out which is which.

 

[TestGuyCT]

Domain names are registered to the same street address:

Administrative Contact , Technical Contact :
ComputerGeeks.com
domainadmin@computergeeks.com
1890 Ord Way
Oceanside, CA 92056
US
Phone: 760.726.7700


Administrative Contact :
Evertek Computer Corp.
glenn@EVERTEK.COM
1890 Ord Way
Oceanside, CA 92056
US
Phone: (760) 639-4500
Fax: 999 999 9999

 

[cubeless]

looks like a good deal for a quiet card for a full size case htpc...

 

[mellondust]

Evertek is for resellers only.


You will have to buy it from Geeks for $2.50 more.

Might have to bite for a good hold over card.

 

[BIGFOOTPI]

actually- since the card is not a "special" you can use " mc exclusives " coupon code for 10% off = $29.25! +shipping -now THATS a good deal ...assuming you need a low end pci-e card that isn't totally lowend (like a 7100/7300)
ps- no, it WON'T outperform a 6600GT because this has gddr2 whereas 6600GT cards have much faster GDDR3.
EDIT- the card that is shipping turns out to have FASTER DDR3 RAM, so I retract previous statement based on this new information

 

[mellondust]

Originally posted by: BIGFOOTPI
actually- since the card is not a "special" you can use " mc exclusives " coupon code for 10% off = $29.25! +shipping -now THATS a good deal ...assuming you need a low end pci-e card that isn't totally lowend (like a 7100/7300)
ps- no, it WON'T outperform a 6600GT because this has gddr2 whereas 6600GT cards have much faster GDDR3.

Thanks!

Used it and in for one. $37.25 shipped.

I just need this card to last till summer and I can get a better one for my 8400 build. As long as it performs as well as my 7300gt I should be happy. I use it for cadd so I think it will be just fine with a little mild gaming.

 

[onza]

hot deal imo

Grand Total: $37.25

yessssssssss

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Originally posted by: BIGFOOTPI
actually- since the card is not a "special" you can use " mc exclusives " coupon code for 10% off = $29.25! +shipping -now THATS a good deal ...assuming you need a low end pci-e card that isn't totally lowend (like a 7100/7300)
ps- no, it WON'T outperform a 6600GT because this has gddr2 whereas 6600GT cards have much faster GDDR3.

Thanks for the coupon code.

As for performance.... going to AT's Silent GPU roundup a couple of years ago:

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2825&p=15

they have an ASUS ASUS EN6600 GT Silencer (with 256MB of GDDR3@1.0GHz, according to various sites) up against a number of 7600GS's, taking for example the ASUS GeForce 7600 GS Silent, with 256MB of DDR2@800MHz. Looking through the benchmarks, the 7600GS does indeed beat out the 6600GT enough to say that it's faster overall IMO, as the 6600GT only comes out on top in a few benchmarks, and less than 2FPS at that, while the 7600GS wins a fair number of them by a decent margin. Note that there is also a 512MB version of the 7600GS in the roundup with slower memory (540MHz) which does diminish its performance substantially. Unfortunately, I don't know the memory speed of the Forsa card in this deal, but I would assume that it's 800MHz (400 DDR) since that seems to be the standard for 7600GS's.

 

[onza]

As long as this can play warcraft 3, at 37.xx shipped, i'm not going to complain, and QUIET.

 

[dragonlord2112]

Just remember to use paypal to checkout.. I wouldn't trust that site with my CC after they got hacked and didn't bother telling until some time later..
Link to article

Another link

 

[mellondust]

Originally posted by: slashbinslashbash

Originally posted by: BIGFOOTPI
actually- since the card is not a "special" you can use " mc exclusives " coupon code for 10% off = $29.25! +shipping -now THATS a good deal ...assuming you need a low end pci-e card that isn't totally lowend (like a 7100/7300)
ps- no, it WON'T outperform a 6600GT because this has gddr2 whereas 6600GT cards have much faster GDDR3.

Thanks for the coupon code.

As for performance.... going to AT's Silent GPU roundup a couple of years ago:

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2825&p=15

they have an ASUS ASUS EN6600 GT Silencer (with 256MB of GDDR3@1.0GHz, according to various sites) up against a number of 7600GS's, taking for example the ASUS GeForce 7600 GS Silent, with 256MB of DDR2@800MHz. Looking through the benchmarks, the 7600GS does indeed beat out the 6600GT enough to say that it's faster overall IMO, as the 6600GT only comes out on top in a few benchmarks, and less than 2FPS at that, while the 7600GS wins a fair number of them by a decent margin. Note that there is also a 512MB version of the 7600GS in the roundup with slower memory (540MHz) which does diminish its performance substantially. Unfortunately, I don't know the memory speed of the Forsa card in this deal, but I would assume that it's 800MHz (400 DDR) since that seems to be the standard for 7600GS's.

I wonder how the fact that it only has 128mb ram affects its perfomance when comparing to other low end cards with 256mb of ram?

 

[gibster]

Holy huge mean heatsink Batman! That thing looks like it's ready to punch someone in the nuts! Looks like a deal nonetheless ;-)

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Originally posted by: mellondust
I wonder how the fact that it only has 128mb ram affects its perfomance when comparing to other low end cards with 256mb of ram?

It depends on the game in question and the settings used. If you're playing a newish game at high resolutions with big textures then it's likely to go over the 128MB onboard limit and swap out some of the textures to system RAM, which will result in a fairly big slowdown (although it's the same principle that they used for the "HyperMemory" and "TurboCache" cards of yesteryear which only had 16MB or 32MB onboard and used system memory extensively). Also things like AA and AF are notorious users of VRAM, so it's best to keep that kind of thing turned off. Really it's just a matter of experimenting with the settings of each game to get the best mixture of performance and quality.

 

[nolovenohope]

Thanks OP. In for 1!

 

[lokni]

Definitely a good deal. This will be a good upgrade from my craptastic 7200LE I am running right now. The retailer is good. They are not too far up the road from me and I have never had a problem with them before.

 

[tbogstad]

the 256mb version would outperform the 6600GT, but this is some slower version with less ram.

the 256mb 8500gt has been this price several times before and should be faster. after rebate though, this is shipped.

i have 2 foxconnn 8500gt i got for $40.00 after $30.00 rebate.



here is a 8500 gt for $35.00 after rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814143104

the 128mb 76000gs is Ok if you dont want to do a rebate.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

Originally posted by: tbogstad
the 256mb 8500gt has been this price several times before and should be faster.

Actually, from what I've been able to find, the 7600GS beats the 8500GT. The 8600GT typically beats the 7600GT by around 20%. The 7600GS is just a 7600GT at 400MHz, but the 8500GT is *half* of an 8600GT (number of stream processors) at 450MHz and still uses the same memory (800MHz GDDR2) as the 7600GS. Tom's Hardware VGA Charts confirms this: overall the 7600GS 256MB @400/800 is faster than the 8500GT 512MB @450/800, although the 8500GT might beat the 7600GS in some benchmarks that are highly dependent upon memory size.

 

[tbogstad]

Originally posted by: slashbinslashbash

Originally posted by: tbogstad
the 256mb 8500gt has been this price several times before and should be faster.

Actually, from what I've been able to find, the 7600GS beats the 8500GT. The 8600GT typically beats the 7600GT by around 20%. The 7600GS is just a 7600GT at 400MHz, but the 8500GT is *half* of an 8600GT (number of stream processors) at 450MHz and still uses the same memory (800MHz GDDR2) as the 7600GS. Tom's Hardware VGA Charts confirms this: overall the 7600GS 256MB @400/800 is faster than the 8500GT 512MB @450/800, although the 8500GT might beat the 7600GS in some benchmarks that are highly dependent upon memory size.

even if true, thats a 256mb 7600gs, not this nuetered 128mb version, the $35.00 8500gt is still a better deal if you dont mind rebates.

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: mellondust

Originally posted by: BIGFOOTPI
actually- since the card is not a "special" you can use " mc exclusives " coupon code for 10% off = $29.25! +shipping -now THATS a good deal ...assuming you need a low end pci-e card that isn't totally lowend (like a 7100/7300)
ps- no, it WON'T outperform a 6600GT because this has gddr2 whereas 6600GT cards have much faster GDDR3.

Thanks!

Used it and in for one. $37.25 shipped.

I just need this card to last till summer and I can get a better one for my 8400 build. As long as it performs as well as my 7300gt I should be happy. I use it for cadd so I think it will be just fine with a little mild gaming.

it generally performs about the same as a 7300gt or 6600gt.

it has 800mhz ddr2 , instead of 1000mhz ddr3 on the 6600gt. but it has 12 pipes, unlike the other 2 cards which only have 8.

 

[BIGFOOTPI]

Originally posted by: hans007
it generally performs about the same as a 7300gt or 6600gt.

it has 800mhz ddr2 , instead of 1000mhz ddr3 on the 6600gt. but it has 12 pipes, unlike the other 2 cards which only have 8.

AH- yeah- that explains it!

 

[AAman]

thanks, I'm using a 7100 that I can drop in a system I just built and use this in my main rig, it cost a little more for me due to the tax, but since it's only 30 miles away, it should be here in a few days I hope

 

[I4AT]

Not a bad deal for a passively cooled card, assuming it's a full fledged 7600gs. It's common for cards like these to have lowered clocks, or in some cases even cut pipes. I couldn't find any information on these at all, so the first of you to receive them should check the pipes and post the clockspeeds.

 

[Googer]

Originally posted by: TestGuyCT
Domain names are registered to the same street address:

Administrative Contact , Technical Contact :
ComputerGeeks.com
domainadmin@computergeeks.com
1890 Ord Way
Oceanside, CA 92056
US
Phone: 760.726.7700


Administrative Contact :
Evertek Computer Corp.
glenn@EVERTEK.COM
1890 Ord Way
Oceanside, CA 92056
US
Phone: (760) 639-4500
Fax: 999 999 9999

FYI: Just a few weeks ago, GEEKS.com was the target hackers who were able to download lists of thousands of prior customers personal financial information.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/security/?p=788
http://news.digitaltrends.com/.../15359/geekscom_hacked
http://news.google.com/news?ta...s.com&btnG=Search+News

 

[onza]

So use Paypal then.

/shrugs

 

[jjmIII]

Originally posted by: tbogstad

here is a 8500 gt for $35.00 after rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814143104

I've been eye-balling that card, but am afraid of the HSF setup. The fan gets plenty of bad reviews, and aftermarket fans can cost as much as the card!