PC upgrading

[Surreptishus]

Thanks, i'll go and look for them in english pounds now.

[Janmanden]

I'm also looking for a mid range card. I was pondering the ATi Radeon 9800 PRO since it's just about EUR125, but the nVidia 6600GT is also within that price range and it has those v3.0 of Shaders and uh, that other thing. I'd go for that: the 6600GT.

[metadigital]

nVidia pwns the mid range at the moment. If you can't affort a 7800, get a 6800 (although they are very noisy, you may want to modify the heatfan).

[SteveThaiBinh]

I don't follow graphics cards so i was wondering if anybody could point out a good "mid range" card. It has to be AGP.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I bought one a week or so ago. Folks on this board strongly recommended the GeForce6800, and it looked pretty good, but after searching on a dozen different websites it became clear that the AGP version was out of stock everywhere (this is in the UK, elsewhere might be different). My guess would be that the manufacturers or suppliers or whatever don't want to sell high-end AGP cards because they want everyone to switch to PCI-E as soon as possible.

 

I ended up getting a GeForce 6600GT instead. The 'GT' apparently is important, or at least costs more than a plain 6600. It's great. The units in Civ4 actually move through the terrain, rather than teleporting directly to their destination.

Edited November 27, 2005 by SteveThaiBinh

[angshuman]

At this point, a 6800GS would give you the best bang for the buck ($199). Currently, they are only available in PCI-Express form, but I have heard several rumors that it is going to be released in AGP. However, the 6800GS in all avatars is expected to be a short-lived product, with the upcoming 7600GT and 7800GS flanking it from either side within a few months.

 

At any rate, if I were you, I would probably grab a 6800GS AGP the moment it lands if it retails for ~$190. It's tough to get a sweeter spot than that. There's arguably just one card in history that can rival that -- the legendary Ti4200.

[WITHTEETH]

There's arguably just one card in history that can rival that -- the legendary Ti4200.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Don't forget the ati Radeon 9500 Pro. I got mine when it first came out for $150, then the radeon 9600 pro came out right after for $200. but the 9600 was slower, The 9500 pro was almost as fast as the 9700. I think i still have it laying around not even being used.... damn shame. Anyone want it?

 

EDIT: Nevermind, its in my Girlfriends PC, sorry guys!

 

EDIT:EDIT: Does it seem as though video cards are coming out faster and faster? The 6000 series and 800 series from Nvidia and ATI seem like they just came out 1 year ago. Is that the norm, 1 year then a new batch come in?

Edited November 27, 2005 by WITHTEETH

[angshuman]

EDIT:EDIT: Does it seem as though video cards are coming out faster and faster? The 6000 series and 800 series from Nvidia and ATI seem like they just came out 1 year ago. Is that the norm, 1 year then a new batch come in?

Quite the contrary, I'd say. Video card product cycles typically used to be 6 months in length. Nowadays, as you mentioned, they're more like a year. About that 9500 Pro, yeah I've heard a lot of good comments about it, although I've never tried one. I always tend to stick to Nvidia due to their excellent Linux support. I've owned a GF2MX, a Ti4200, a 6600GT, and now a 7800GTX

Edited November 27, 2005 by angshuman