Would the 7600GT be good for this? Multi media and games

[dman777]

I am going to build a new pc. I will be useing it for mainly as a PC media center(watching movies and playing music). I am also a casual gamer for games like Unreal and I also like fancy screen savers. I guess getting the best picture quality for the TV out signal is most important(although I just have a regular TV...no LCD or HDTV) since I will be watching my movies off of it. Would the 7600GT be a good choice or is there an ATI equilavent that would be better?

 

[Datman]

Video Shootout: Ati Vs Nvidia

The X1800GTO would be a good equivalent to the 7600GT.

 

[dvdpiddy]

What if the x1800gto had the same clock and mem speeds as the 7600gt? Cause now they trade blows.

 

[Datman]

What if the x1800gto had the same clock and mem speeds as the 7600gt? Cause now they trade blows.

:idea: Well it would be better then.

For the media quality of the Ati cards would be my reason to go Ati, even if it was slower in gameplay.
Anything above the X1800GTO is better again.
X1900GT

 

[dvdpiddy]

Yah but doesnt the x1900gt get owned by the x1800xt?

 

[Datman]

Yah but doesnt the x1900gt get owned by the x1800xt?

8O Show me.

 

[dvdpiddy]

Ok i'll go find it it was somewhere here on this forum be back in a minute.

 

[dvdpiddy]

Found it.

 

[Datman]

Damm, looks like I'm not the only one dissapointed with the X1900GT though.

 

[dvdpiddy]

I was! Hey datman what if the x1900gt had a 16 pipes instead of 12 would that make up for the performance loss?

 

[Datman]

It might, but the X1800XT is cheaper to buy ATM.

 

[dvdpiddy]

Yes but i want to know can you divide a pixel after it has been processed and reassemble it later?

 

[cleeve]

7600 GT ands X1800 GTO are great. Get whichever is cheaper, probably the 7600 GT...

Unless you're into overclocking, then the X1800 GTO is worth the extra $$.

 

[dvdpiddy]

Hey Cleeve can you answer my question?

 

[cleeve]

If I can understand it, sure...

What are you asking?

 

[dvdpiddy]

Ok say that after a pixel has been processed in the gpu can it beat split up into quarters before leaving the gpu and be reprocessed into one pixel before it reaches the cpu?

 

[cleeve]

You can only process 'per pixel' you can't process a part of a pixel.

A single pixel can require more than one texture or shaders though. If there are too many calculations for the pipeline, a single pixel may require more than one 'pass' through the pipeline.

 

[dvdpiddy]

OK thanks cleeve. Another question why does the x1900 have 48 shaders to 16 pipes?

 

[cleeve]

The X1900 doesn't exactly fit into the '16 pipeline' category per se, but people like to call it that (myself included).

Traditionally, a 'pipeline' referred to a pixel processor (shader unit) that was 'attached' to a single TMU (texture management unit)

In Ati's X1x00 series, pixel processors (shaders) are 'detached' from the TMU, which offers more flexibility.

So an X1900 is not really a '48 pipeline' or '16 pipeline' card. But people call it 16-pipeline based on it's TMUs, and because it performs approximately closer to a traditional 16-pipeline architecure than a 48-pipeine one.

Similarly, the X1600 has 12 Shader units, and 4 TMUs. People have called it a 12-pipeline and 4-pipeline architecture.

 

[dvdpiddy]

Ok thanks cleeve for the explanation.

 

[dman777]

Yeah...in all the reviews I have read the ATI does beat Nvidia in Video output. But let me ask this... I have an Xbox which graphics hardware is by Nvidia. When I watch movies on it the video quality is awsome and I love it. The Nvidia graphics hardware in the Xbox is also being used when watching movies, right?

 

[cleeve]

No, 3d accereration is not used when watching movies.

And remember, the Xbox 360 is better than an Xbox, and it has an Ati graphics processor.