Another Video Card Poll.

[Jale]

Here I come again. Do you remember that poll I made last year? (GeForce 4 Help (http://forums.emulator-zone.com/showthread.php?t=2098)) I think it's time to upgrade it. I'm now more self-conscious about video cards, but still I want something for a price-performance balance. Notice that I want AGP models, since I don't have a PCI-E slot.

And now, the candidates:

ATI Radeon X1600.
nVidia GeForce 6200.
nVidia GeForce 6800.
These cards are 256 MB or higher. There's no way I'm gonna get the GeForce 8800 (DirectX 10), since I'm not ready for Vista... and I don't have that much money. Feel free to add any other card to the list. Remember it has to be balanced (price - performance / not too expensive - not too powerful).

Thanks in advance. I need some replies before new year's eve (December 31), since I'm going to travel to Falcón State (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falc%C3%B3n_(state)) and spend some money.

I'm not gonna add a poll yet, I want some suggestions from you.

[Jale]

People, I need some feedback quickly...

[onewecallgod]

Is the 6800 a non ultra? If so, it's still the most powerful card there.

I actually picked up an x800xl used for $75, but that's a damn good deal and I doubt you'll find one for that cheap.

[Jale]

Well, I don't know if it's ultra, but the manufacturer is Asus. Here's a descritpion of the card:

Brand: ASUS
Model: N6800/TD/512M
Chipset Manufacturer: NVIDIA
GPU: Geforce 6800
Core clock: 325MHz
PixelPipelines: 12
Memory Clock: 540MHz
Memory Size: 512MB
Memory Interface: 128-bit
Memory Type: GDDR2
DirectX: DirectX 9
OpenGL: OpenGL 1.5
Interface: AGP 4X/8X
D-SUB: 1
DVI: 1
TV-Out: S-Video/Composite Out
VIVO: No
Tuner: None
RAMDAC: 400 MHz
Max Resolution: 2048x1536@85Hz
SLI Supported: No
Cooler: Heatsink and Fan
Operating Systems Supported: Windows 2000/XP

As for the ATI one, I can only find PCI-E :(
My current core clock is 133 MHz.

[onewecallgod]

That is a very strange since the reference 6800 calls for 256 bit memory, but this has 128 bit. It should definitely be more powerful than 6200, but slightly more than the x1600 pro AGP. What are the prices?

[Jale]

Prices vary from US$ 180 to US$ 380, but where I'm traveling I can find it at cheaper prices. If I can't find the 6800, I'll have to go with X1600.

[Zach]

I can't confirm it at this exact moment, but I'm pretty sure my 6800 is 256-bit also.. I don't recall seeing a 128bit card when I was shopping.

Also, when I got my 6800 it was around the same price, possibly lower, it was a while ago... I can't advise you on the Radeon because I don't mess with ATI anymore, but if you can find a more powerful card than the 6800 for around the same price or for a few dollars more, buy that instead.

The 6800 is no slacker by any means, but it is well over a year old now I think

[Jale]

Importing stuff from another country make things more expensive though. I can't afford anything beyond that price, because I'm not a hardcore gamer and I'm short of money.

[Zach]

Sometimes it is best to just save up for the next best thing and wait.
I have no plans to upgrade my computer at all in the near future, because I've got everything I want essentially.

[Jale]

It's not gonna be a big update. I just want to have a DirectX 9 card to last at least for two years.

[Jale]

Well, I'm leaving in two days. If I don't find the 6800, then I'll have to go with the X1600.

[onewecallgod]

Any card in the x800 or x850 series is a good choice, too.

[Jale]

I can't find the X800 in AGP.

[Jale]

I'm back from my trip and this is what I got. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any good AGP card except for GeForce 6200. Obviously I didn't want that, but I found a cheap one that allowed me to buy two of them and it's the GeForce 7300 GS, 512 MB and PCI-E. Of course I'll need a motherboard with PCI-E port to run it, so I still have money available to buy two motherboards (for me and my brother).

I went to nVidia's site and to my understanding it's a good card compared to the other 7300 models available (the LE and SE, but the GT wins anyway). The good things are that this card is DirectX 9 enhanced and Pixel Shader 3.0. I think it was the best choice.

Oh, and it was around US$ 113 worth each card. I also bought two PlayStation-like gamepads. Pics soon...

[Jale]

Oh well, this is inconvenient situation. My motherboard is socket 478 and most of the PCI-E boards have a socket 775, which my processor isn't, but I've been looking for hours and found many motherboards supporting socket 478 with PCI-E 16X. All of them are Asus brand.

[onewecallgod]

What's wrong with Asus?

[Jale]

Nothing wrong. Seems like Asus and Albatron are those brands which mix old and new tech.