Which of these 3

[evenmore1]

They are all pretty good, but if you want to support your country, get a 7600GT (ATi's Canadian)

Seriously though, the 7600GT is great if you want a quiet powerful gfx card, but if you want pure performance go for the ATi. Personally I would get the least expensive one, but that's just me

 

[Bull Dog]

Originally posted by: DeathReborn
7600GT will outperform a 6800GS but probably be slightly behind a X850XT.

X850XT doesn't have SM3.0 support BUT it can do HDR+AA in games outside of HL2.

If SM3.0 doesn't matter to you get the X850XT. If it does, get the 7600GT.

No it can't. In fact HL2:LC and the other Source games with HDR are the ONLY games the X850XT can do HDR in.

 

[SniperWulf]

Originally posted by: mwmorph

Originally posted by: SniperWulf

Originally posted by: munky

Originally posted by: hans030390
i'd take the 7600gt, or the 6800gs, preferably the first. dont get the x850 because it lacks Sm3 support, which you'll probably want with next gen games.

LOL. No offense, but weren't you also saying that about picking a 6600gt over a faster sm2 card? And how much good did sm3 bring the 6600gt? Or even a 6800gt? My view on sm3 has always been that if a card is not fast enough to run modern games at max settings, then it wont benefit from sm3 except if you like watching slideshows. If anyone plans on playing games with sm3 eye candy, then a 7800gt is the minimum card to get.

With that said, both the x850xt and the 7600gt are faster than the 6800gs, so that only leaves 2 choices. The performance of the 2 cards would be similar, but the 7600gt does have some newer features, like purevideo. Also, as the rest of the 7-series, you may get annoyed by the texture shimmering, and would have to set the driver to high quality settings, which would drop the performance somewhat. On the other hand, it also uses less power. So depending on your priorities, both cards are good for the money.

QFT!


How about the X1600XT or X800XL?

x1600s were a joke. 4 texture rops. x800xl is okay but nothing special. low ocability and really not all that fast.

thats true, forgot about that

 

[Raduque]

So the 7600GT is the best choice due to SM3.0(over the x850xt) and due to it's speed advantage(over the 6800GS)? I doubt I'll be able to notice or be bothered by texture shimmering, as I read in that thread that it seems to mostly be a problem with large, high-res LCDs. I have a (relatively) low-res CRT that does 1600x1200 max.

Any chance the 7800GT will be below $200 by June?

 

[Powermoloch]

x850xt hands down.

 

[beserker15]

i'd say x850xt because it's cheaper. i mean there is that lack of hdr...but since even far cry w/ hdr can bring the mid range cards to their knees...i'm thinking that the more advance engines with hdr will have these cards stuck at 1024 res anyways.

 

[mwmorph]

Originally posted by: Raduque
So the 7600GT is the best choice due to SM3.0(over the x850xt) and due to it's speed advantage(over the 6800GS)? I doubt I'll be able to notice or be bothered by texture shimmering, as I read in that thread that it seems to mostly be a problem with large, high-res LCDs. I have a (relatively) low-res CRT that does 1600x1200 max.

Any chance the 7800GT will be below $200 by June?

maybe but i;ve noticed prices are sorta stagnating. 1600x1200 is high res. texture shimmering will probably be there, but there are ways to get rid of it for a performance loss(lock texture LOD to 0 and set all settings no high quality for mip map and texture filtering in the drivers). This will fix most of the shimmering but some shimmering still will be present. I've exprienced what texture shimmering looks like on a ati card. In battlefieldf1942(desert combat mod), i set texture and mip map to performance and drove a tank through al alamein. The crawling sand texture mmade me go insaine, it is not a fun issue.

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: Raduque
So the 7600GT is the best choice due to SM3.0(over the x850xt) and due to it's speed advantage(over the 6800GS)? I doubt I'll be able to notice or be bothered by texture shimmering, as I read in that thread that it seems to mostly be a problem with large, high-res LCDs. I have a (relatively) low-res CRT that does 1600x1200 max.

Any chance the 7800GT will be below $200 by June?

I play on a 17-in CRT, and I even notice some texture shimmering on my x1900 in some games. So, a CRT will not solve the shimmering problem. But some people notice it more than others, so it may or may not be an issue for you.

 

[mcvigo]

get the 7600. it has better performance plus you can go sli in the future

 

[Raduque]

I'm not planning on SLI. The mobo I'm going to use will AM2 is affordable and provides a real performance boost only has a single x16 slot. Anyway, I've decided to wait till after I move to finish this upgrade. Maybe prices will drop a little in the next 3 months or so. Thanks all!

 

[fierydemise]

Raduque, as munky stated SM3 won't do you alot of good, X850 will be faster and it is cheaper so I'd get the X850

 

[Nextman916]

7600gt hands down, and you can upgrade to 2xsli whenever. Sli is one of the greatest advantages to buying Nvidia. Also the 7600gt is an amazing card for the money, it doesnt even show that its crippled with 128-bit interface.

 

[aznrice54]

I agree with munky - see his post. Don't worry about anybody going on about the 7600 GT's 128-bit memory interface. What you are probably more worried about is real-world performance, and when it comes down to that, the 7600 GT defeats the 256-bit 6800 GS by a large margin.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: mwmorph

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
What games are you going to play?

As of now, almost all games coming out are either S.M 3.0 or OpenGL titles based on the doom3 engine.
This means that A) the X850XT would be 'able' to play some of the S.M 3.0 games using S.M 1.1 or 2.0 path which would result in worse IQ. B) the NV cards will perform much better on OpenGL titles espeically as quake wars/prey are both OpenGL AND based on the doom3 engine.
C) It might not even be playable on S.M 3.0 games which lack fall back shaders.

The 7600GT outperforms the 6800GS most of the time even with its 128bit memory interface. (Although its clocked at 700(1400)mhz GDDR3 which gives the 7600GT plenty of bandwidth). The X850XT would outperform the 7600GT and the 6800GS.

However, we have to note is that do you want to use HDR? How about trasnsparcey AA? Or pure video?

I would go for a 7600GT as of now. The transistion to S.M 3.0 is in full effect. Onething to note is how the 7600GT consumes same amount of power of a 6600GT while performing twice as fast.

? The Doom 3 engine has been pretty unpopular as far as engines go.

There's
Doom 3
Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil expansion
Quake 4(made by raven who has a longstanding relationship with ID, and is actually considered a secondary part of id. They have used id ttechnology since their 2nd game.)
Prey

Coming out are
Enemy Territory Quake Wars(id game)
A sequel to Return to Castle Wolfenstein(another id game)
and a new game by id as yet unnamed.

so essentially the only 3rd party guys ot use the doo 3 engine are human head studios/3d realms.

On the other hande, the Half Life Source engine has found more popularity
of course there are the half life games
Counter-Strike: Source
Day of Defeat: Source
Half-Life: Source
Half-Life: Source Deathmatch
Half-Life 2
Half-Life 2: Episode One(aftermath expansion)
Half-Life 2: Deathmatch
Team Fortress 2(unrelased, been working on it forever)

Then theres
Alien Swarm: Infested
Dark Messiah of Might & Magic
Realms of Valhallon: Age of Nations
SiN Episodes
They Hunger: Lost Souls
Twilight War: After the Fall (production resumed)
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Unannounced Warren Spector game

The Doom 3 engine never realyl took off since it is just not a very good engine. Valve's source works on 90% more hardware, runs faster, looks just as good, Can do HDR and AA with SM2, can put more enemies onscreen and handles higher poly models without slowing down.

Opengl is nvidia's game(except for the x1900s and x1800s in which ati is just as fast) but opengl is dying. SM3 is important but dont bring Doom3 into this. It is not a popular engine and never will be since it is so horribly programed. They decided to push technological boundaries instead of making a decent engine that would make a fun game. ID and Doom 3 engine = :thumbsdown:

as i said though, a 7600gt for lower resolutions due to a memory bandwith problem at higher resolutions and a x850xt at higher resolutions.

You for one dont understand anything about game engines. The doom3 engine scales better than the source engine without downgrading much IQ.

For example, a GF4 would run HL2 at DX7? a GF4 would run doom3 at low quality in doom3 but it will still look great, unlike differences you see between DX7-8-9. The doom3 engine was programmed to run on a GF3 which it did. This engine scales very well (high end cards run it 16x12 4xAA 16xAF no problem while you can even play on your GF3), and its playable UNLIKE games like F.E.A.R which does indeed makes your comment "they decided to push technological boundaries instead of making a decent engine" correct in that context. A engine that brought in unified lightning and shadows is a great achievement especially at the time.

IT aint horribly programmed. ATi is just very weak where lots of stencil shadows are used. The doom3 editor is MUCH easier than any other editor out there and this is coming from my own personal experience (especially how EASY it is too just create a light source instead programming where the light is etc etc). How can you compare lost coast to what id released quite a long time ago? HDR plus AA used various hacks but i suspect prey and quake wars will use them.

It doesnt matter how many games USE the source engine compared to doom3, when NON of those "new" upcoming source titles are going to stand up against something in the likes of prey Nor Quake wars. Its the quality not quantity.

Many said doom3 cant handle out door enviroments, but they are wrong. Look at quake wars! Im really partcipating for that game. Something that will get rid of the sour taste from BF2 which is the defitnition of being "crappy coded".

Bah, im not going to start another argument, but simply your post was just pure BS.

Plus Ids new game is based on their new engine which will probably get rid of some issues they had with doom3. (Correct soft shadows, maybe HDR, AA applied correctly when softshadows enabled, high res textures etc etc)

edit - this was the same response as when quake3 was released. Now after many years, the entire gaming industry is (well most FPS) based on the quake3 engine in someway. Source engine for one is the quake3 engine (although revamped in someways).

edit2 - UT2007 is indeed S.M 3.0. It might have a backup shader, but its not going to run UT2007 efficently. This is why the 7600GT is my choice. Not many people have the money to even consider a 7800GT nor any higher end cards. A 7600GT will be a perfect card for those who do play at 10x7 medium settings probably enough to play UT2007. An X850 this late will restrict on the games the OP plays, unless he wants to play games where you will not see those new mouth drooling pixel shader 3.0 eye candy, or even worse a downgraded IQ on certain games which use S.M 1.1 backup shader instead of S.M 2.0. Even then there is a difference.

 

[fierydemise]

Cookie UT2K7 will no doubt have a backup shader, so few people actually understand the difference between SM2 and SM3 and accordingly don't have SM3 cards making it SM3 only would alienate so many the people the game no matter how good it was wouldn't sell at all. Also as far as I know only Splinter Cell used a SM1.1 backup shader and that was later remedied by a driver update, so I doubt many if any games will use an SM1.1 backup shader.