Considering a new graphics card

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Originally Posted by orangat

the 7600gt is not slightly slower than the 7800gs. It is slightly faster.

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It's been a long day :yes:

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Originally Posted by Geezer57

Hmmm, this would imply your current machine is equipped with an AGP graphics interface.

That's a great card, but for AGP the highest-perfoming option offered now is the GeForce 7800GS (or alternatively - nearly as fast and much cheaper, the 7600GT), which is noticeably slower than the 7900GTX. So you may have to factor in other hardware changes (mobo, etc.) to get what you want, if your current machine is in fact AGP equipped.

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Your correct Geezer57, I missed the point that Miss Frog has an AGP requirement.

I have PCI Express so I can run the 7900 GTX 512 monster.

Ignore my post Miss Frog.

Geezer and Beirut seem to be well up to date.

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Originally Posted by AussieGiant

I have PCI Express so I can run the 7900 GTX 512 monster.

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Good to see you can take advantage of the newer technology. On that same note, have you read up on the new ATI Radeon X1950 XTX? ATI is being very agressive with pricing, and the new card appears to be outperforming the 7900 GTX in many tests. See Anandtech's review here: http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2821&p=1
Looks like there's multiple choices in that price range.

Hey Geezer,

You're also correct. I've been reading that site and a few other for the last 3 weeks. The more I read the more difficult the choice is becoming :)

I currently run a 6800 GTO 256 so as you can see I am a whole generation behind at this stage.

With MTWII coming at the end of the year I am looking to make sure I can run it on my December 2004 purchased Dell. 3.4 Ghz with 2 Gigs of 533 DDR2 ram and a Raid 0 10,000 rpm HDD.

2 years ago it was amazing...but of course now it is in the mid range of machines.

The Graphic Card is my last option to keep it going so that is why I have been looking very hard. The only worry I have is the Power Supply. I really have no idea how to check (I'm currently overseas so I can't check physically) and that is my only concern before buying the 7900 GTX 512. The power supply is quite important as I am sure you know, and I have been leaning towards an Nvidia again because that is what I have got now. I hav enever had a ATI before so I am a bit bias towards staying with what I know.

Having said that, your link has made the job even harder to decide. The pricing has been a real hot point at the moment as you mentioned, so things are becoming even more blurred.

Do you have an opinion for purchasing in the next 2 or 3 months?

Cheers

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Originally Posted by AussieGiant

Hey Geezer,
<STUFF DELETED>
Do you have an opinion for purchasing in the next 2 or 3 months?

Cheers

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I usually find it best to wait until I really need the upgrade, usually after I've purchased a new game that bogs down my current machine. Then I look for "best bang for the buck" type upgrades, especially 2nd tier hardware that I can overclock, softmod, or BIOS flash to the equivalent of high-end stuff.

Buying new hardware in anticipation of an upcoming title is usually wasting your money - you're guessing too much, about something you can't possibly know enough about (unless you're a game industry insider). And computer technology is in a constant state of flux anyway - you never know what's coming tomorrow, but you can be sure it'll be more powerful and less expensive than what's available today.

Because of my "value" approach, I'm not a good candidate for dual graphics card configurations (Crossfire/SLI) - I tend to focus on single-slot solutions. In that area, ATI and NVidia are both very close, with good offerings for most needs. It really boilds down to price and feature-set available at the time of purchase - and whether you prefer red or green! :laugh4:

Thanks for all the information Geezer.

I think you have convinced me to wait and see what happens once I get the game.

I am no where near as technical as you are so I would never do the many things you mentioned to get a performance boost.

Thanks again Geezer.

I'll post this here too, in case anyone uses this thread as a reference in the future. I did actually have both AGP and PCI Express slots on my motherboard. One large white PCI express slot, and two smaller ones. If only I'd thought to open the PC up and check; I'd forgotten the board has everything labelled, so I thought I'd be confronted with a selection of anonymous similar looking slots. :sigh:

So if anyone else thinks they may have both slots, open the PC up and check. Don’t assume.

Just out of curiosity, I checked availability at Newegg for motherboards with both PCIe-X16 and AGP 4x/8x slots - out of over 450 motherboards offered, nine had this feature (4 AMD, 5 Intel CPU). I don't think it's exactly a mainstream feature (less than 2%), but if you're not sure, it doesn't cost anything (except a little time) to check.