Which video card?

[rjn17960]

I'm putting together a new AMD system, and haven't yet decided on the video card. Primarily the system will be for photoshop, video editing, web surfing, and gaming. The Monarch combo comes with Half Life 2, so that's what I'll be playing first.

Anyway, I've been leaning toward the eVGA 6800GT at about $300, but the 6600GT is available for about $130 after rebate. And of course, nVidia has just come out with a new line of cards, but I'm not really willing to pay more than $300 for a card.

So, how much difference is there between the 6600GT and 6800GT in terms of Half Life 2? I wouldn't mind saving the $170 if there isn't a really noticable difference.

Thanks, Rich

 

[Azzkikur]

People are finding ways to get a BFG 7800GTX for $349 from Dell. That's too good to pass up in my opinion. I have that card, and it's simply amazing. $50 than you want to spend, but a LOT more performance and your good for at least a couple years with that thing.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=31&threadid=1661355&enterthread=y

 

[ZeroFrag]

If you want to play Half-Life 2 and later on maybe BF2, i would highly recommend you go with 6800GT and nothing lower.

You might be able to run HL2 on the 6600 but BF2 is very strict, and Epic has not a lot of support for lower cards.

They told my buddy to upgrade his 5700LE or they offered him a refund for the game. (you send them the game, they send you a sealed copy back, you return it to the store)

If you are an avid gamer, i would even look for something higher like the card Azzkikur recommended or check Hot Deals section, outpost.com, zipzoomfly.com or slickdeals.net.

 

[cabroker]

I'm putting together a new AMD system, and haven't yet decided on the video card. Primarily the system will be for photoshop, video editing, web surfing, and gaming. The Monarch combo comes with Half Life 2, so that's what I'll be playing first.

Don't fudge on the graphics card. You will most ceretainly regret it if you do. Get the 6800GT. I have used both and do see a noticeable difference especially when gaming.

 

[Sforsyth]

yeah get the 6800GT or at least get a X800XL these are way cheaper here in Canada and almost the same preformance.

you'll be happy you did !

 

[DaveSimmons]

If you can wait a couple of weeks for the card to arrive, GottaDeal front page has the coupons needed to get a 7800GT for $332.

 

[theMan]

Originally posted by: ZeroFrag
If you want to play Half-Life 2 and later on maybe BF2, i would highly recommend you go with 6800GT and nothing lower.

You might be able to run HL2 on the 6600 but BF2 is very strict, and Epic has not a lot of support for lower cards.

They told my buddy to upgrade his 5700LE or they offered him a refund for the game. (you send them the game, they send you a sealed copy back, you return it to the store)

If you are an avid gamer, i would even look for something higher like the card Azzkikur recommended or check Hot Deals section, outpost.com, zipzoomfly.com or slickdeals.net.

what do you mean? you can play hl2 with an mx 400. and, i can play BF2 with my 6600gt with 512mb ram at 1024x768. but, i do agree that the 7800gtx for $350 is a sweet deal. i mean,you can play bf2 at 2048x1536 with that thing.

 

[rjn17960]

Unfortunately the Dell deal is dead. One day late!

 

[ZeroFrag]

theman, sorry, i wasn't clear about that. I didn't mean to say that it will not work, i just mean to say they will not support it.

EA support sucks anyway, and they are not shy about blaming something that doesn't work on system specs.

And i certainly wouldn't recommend playing BF2 on a mx400.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

The X800XL is a better bang for your buck than the 6800GT. It costs about $50 less but offers about the same performance.