Wanna buy GPU for PC

[imported_gk]

Firstly, I don't know much about Video cards except that they help increase gaming experience.

- I am going to purchase a Video Card for my new PC (P4 D820, Intel D946 GZIS, 512 MB 533 MHz, 160 GB SATA). I am not a hardcore gamer and would be happy with a decent performance card. I have read some reviews and learnt that ATI X800 GTO and NVIDIA 7600 GT would be good bargains.

- What I don't know is whether these cards are ok for decent game play. I would be playing games like Age of Empires III, NFS MW, etc. etc.

- My budget is 4-6K INR ($90-130). Any other suggestions for me.

- I have heard that NVIDIA cards may give problems with Intel D946 motherboard. Is it the case?

- Does anyone know the prices of these cards in India?

Thanks in Advance

 

[JPB]

I say the 7600GT ftw. Its a great card.

 

[memories2002]

Dude, the x800GTO isnt available in apna desh. And the 7600GT costs ~9k depending on the brand, BIG and Palit and Zebronics being the cheapest ones.
Why not get a budget card from the US, thats what im planning to do

 

[memories2002]

Oh and for 6k, the best you can do is a 7600GS here in India.

 

[Vinnybcfc]

Im not sure how much choice you have but the X800GTOs that could unlock pipelines were good but in the UK they are end of line

But a 7600GT equals them just about anyway so I would go with that

X800GTO < Unlocked X800GTO = X850XT/X800XT = 7600GT

 

[akshayt]

X850XT may be faster than 7600GT in some/many games but lacks SM3.0/HDR and can't run games like DA, also, what is the chance of your unlocking all pipes.

 

[josh6079]

Originally posted by: akshayt
X850XT may be faster than 7600GT in some/many games but lacks SM3.0/HDR and can't run games like DA, also, what is the chance of your unlocking all pipes.

What makes you think that HDR is a SM3.0-only feature?

 

[Ibiza]

7600GT

 

[evolucion8]

Originally posted by: josh6079

Originally posted by: akshayt
X850XT may be faster than 7600GT in some/many games but lacks SM3.0/HDR and can't run games like DA, also, what is the chance of your unlocking all pipes.

What makes you think that HDR is a SM3.0-only feature?

That's true, HDR is a DX9 feature, the only thing you require to do HDR is Floating Point Texture, already supported on Radeon 95XX and above (Not supported by the FX Crappy Series). Now If you speak about Open EX HDR, it is a whole different story, it was supported by SM 3.0 series cards because the Open EX HDR was released at the same time of their release. If it was released before, probably it would be seen on SM 2.0 cards. And by the way, there's no effect in SM 3.0 that cannot be done under X800 series SM 2.0b. After all, SM 2.0b is just a SM 3.0 without dynamic branching, that's it, and Dynamic Branching using Floating Point Data incurrs often in a performance penalty, the only way to get performance gains is using it in linear shaders I guess.