Tom's Hardware > Forum > Graphic & Displays > Graphics Cards > Need advice on an AGP card
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choknuti   03-17-2006 at 02:24:52 PM

I wish to retire my Geforce 4200 and am looking for something in the 150-170$ price range. The options available to me here are the GF 6600GT, GF6800LE and the ATI 1600. What would you guys recommend?

My motherboard has an 845 chipset (AGP 4x if I remember correctly) will these run on it?

The games that I’m planning to play on this rig (mainly) are: Oblivion, NWN2 and GalCiv2. I think that even a 6600 should be able to handle them (res 1280x1024 no AA)

Thanks in advance.

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choknuti   03-17-2006 at 02:45:42 PM
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How are their drivers? I am asking this because a lot of my gaming time is taken up by Neverwinter nights and ATI cards have a problem with that game (driver issue). Have they improved from a few years back ? The main reason I bought that 4200 and not an ATI card 3 years back was sloppy drivers (from ATI).
:?:
What are the ovrclocking/unlocking capabilities on a 1600? how would it compare to an unlocked 6800le ?
Thanks again

Reply to choknuti
Snorkius   03-17-2006 at 03:27:33 PM
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The "Pro" version of the x1600 isn't that great though...

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Cleeve   03-17-2006 at 05:27:06 PM
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I'd still take it over the 6800 LE though... yuck.

6600 GT or X1600 are the best AGP bets.

Reply to Cleeve
Snorkius   03-17-2006 at 06:00:49 PM
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No doubt, (unless unlocking applies) it's just that, the original poster should be aware that X1600XT>6600GT>X1600PRO.

Reply to Snorkius
choknuti   03-17-2006 at 09:37:04 PM
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AAAAAAAAAAAAggghh!! It is the AGP 1600Pro that is available here :evil:

So I guess the 6600GT is my best bet?
BTW I was thinking og unlocking the 6800le. If I do so what would your ranking be like.
6600gt>6800le(unlocked)>1600pro or
6800le(unlocked)>6600gt>1600pro

note* I'm not looking for 200fps on a shooter :) , Just a card to play the coming RPGs and strategy games.

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Cleeve   03-17-2006 at 09:53:35 PM
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Depends how much you can unlock the 8-pipe 6800 LE.

If you get 12 pipes out of it, you get a 6800 GS

If you get 16-pipes out of it, you get a 6800 GT.


6800GT > 6800 GS > X1600 XT > 6600 GT > X1600 PRO > 6800 LE


THEN AGAIN, you aren't guaranteed to be able to unlock a SINGLE PIPELINE... so the 6800LE is quite a gamble.

But you are pretty much guaranteed to be able to overclock an X1600 PRO to X1600 XT speeds, on the core at least... and a 6600 GT will overclock well, to.

Reply to Cleeve
choknuti   03-17-2006 at 10:16:03 PM
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Thanks that was what I was looking for.

BTW can these cards run on a 350w power supply?

Also does anybody know where I can find a table with these GPUs and their capabilities? (pixel pipelines etc.)

Reply to choknuti
Ashrym   03-18-2006 at 09:12:39 PM
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Don't go for any of the forementioned cards, get this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102608

The X800GTO apparently OCs like a beast. Even at stock speeds it'll beat out the X1600 Pro or 6600 GT. Plus, it'll come out to slightly under your $170 price cap, including shipping.

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MTLink   03-20-2006 at 07:12:20 AM
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Quote :

Depends how much you can unlock the 8-pipe 6800 LE.

If you get 12 pipes out of it, you get a 6800 GS

If you get 16-pipes out of it, you get a 6800 GT.


6800GT > 6800 GS > X1600 XT > 6600 GT > X1600 PRO > 6800 LE


THEN AGAIN, you aren't guaranteed to be able to unlock a SINGLE PIPELINE... so the 6800LE is quite a gamble.

But you are pretty much guaranteed to be able to overclock an X1600 PRO to X1600 XT speeds, on the core at least... and a 6600 GT will overclock well, to.


IMO, unlocking and OCing capabilities are great, but like Cleeve said, don't depend on it. Just because some people had sucess with unlocking and OCing doesn't mean you will, too.

Reply to MTLink
choknuti   03-20-2006 at 10:09:50 AM
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Thanks everyone for the advice. Even though I was leaning towards a 6800le in the start I think I'll go for a 6600GT (not really looking to overclock it since a decent videocard cooling solution is hard to find here).

I found an ASUS with 256MB onboard for 140$ so that saves me a few bucks :D .

Thank you

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linux_0   03-20-2006 at 12:39:54 PM
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Quote :

Thanks everyone for the advice. Even though I was leaning towards a 6800le in the start I think I'll go for a 6600GT (not really looking to overclock it since a decent videocard cooling solution is hard to find here).

I found an ASUS with 256MB onboard for 140$ so that saves me a few bucks :D .

Thank you



That sounds great :-D

Where did you find it?

Reply to linux_0
choknuti   03-20-2006 at 03:05:51 PM
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Quote :

Don't go for any of the forementioned cards, get this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102608

The X800GTO apparently OCs like a beast. Even at stock speeds it'll beat out the X1600 Pro or 6600 GT. Plus, it'll come out to slightly under your $170 price cap, including shipping.



That sounds great. Unfortunately as far as newegg’s (and most other U.S. retailers’) international shipping policy goes I might as well really be located in Thay .

Reply to choknuti
choknuti   03-20-2006 at 03:07:26 PM
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Here's the link:http://www.denco.spb.ru/index.php?mod=catsub&fl=10#8

It's a retail store here. (St. Petersburg, Russia)

Reply to choknuti
linux_0   03-20-2006 at 03:17:43 PM
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That is pretty cheap :D

Reply to linux_0
choknuti   03-20-2006 at 03:33:47 PM
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Yeah I know. Specially since they advertise it as a retail package (not OEM). Funny thing is that I cannot seem to find the card on the ASUS web site. They’ve got a different 6600gt showcased.

Reply to choknuti
linux_0   03-20-2006 at 03:58:52 PM
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Quote :

Yeah I know. Specially since they advertise it as a retail package (not OEM). Funny thing is that I cannot seem to find the card on the ASUS web site. They’ve got a different 6600gt showcased.




That is almost too good to be true.

Most 6600GT AGP cards are selling for a lot more.....

I hope it's for real.

Reply to linux_0
choknuti   03-24-2006 at 10:01:54 PM
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Thanks everybody I bought the card today. Its a palit 6600gt for 132$ (the other store were carrying 6600GT for >170$ so I think I got a good deal :) ). Unfortunately the 256mb asus 6600gt was not available (I suspect that it didn't exist ever since even on ASUS's web site there is no such thing as a 256MB AGP 6600GT) :(

I did see some thing interesting though and would like to here what you guys think about it:
ASUS 6800GX 128MB DDR it was 150$ and I didn't buy it because of the RAM I hope I made the right choice.

Comments???

Reply to choknuti
linux_0   03-25-2006 at 02:03:23 PM
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The RAM on a 6600GT doesn't really matter.

So the 128MB should be more than good enough until you can upgrade to a 7900GT or GTX :-D

Reply to linux_0
choknuti   03-27-2006 at 12:54:01 PM
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Yeah I realize that. I checked some reviews and the only advantage a 256MB 6600GT has over a 128MB one are a few more fps in some games (funny though I thought that there wouldn’t be an advantage at all) 8O

Reply to choknuti
linux_0   03-27-2006 at 04:49:32 PM
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IIRC the 6600GT is limited to a 128bit bus so I think that's the limiting factor. I could be wrong tho.

For the most part the 256MB isn't worth the extra $.

Good luck! :-D

Reply to linux_0
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