Need help selecting new video card.

[poO_onyou]

Recently my eVGA 7800gt died. I sent it back to newegg for an RMA but they no longer carried that model and instead they refunded me $305. Now I can buy a new card but am having a difficult time deciding what to do. I am hoping to recieve some helpful input. I was going to buy a x1900xt for about $400, but I thought direct X10 cards are coming out in January so I have decided to instead buy a card in the $150-200 range. About all I play is Counter-Strike: Source. ATI cards generally seem to run Counter-Strike better then Nvidia so I am leaning towards ATI. Here are the cards I have looked at.

Saphire x850xt $140 after rebates.
Saphire x1600xt $150
XFX 7600gt $150 after rebates.

Also I have considered the 7900gt for about $260 its performance seems to rival that of the x1900xt. The other thing is my motherboard is SLI capable so that is a bonus towards Nvidia. However if im not mistaken CS:S runs worse on SLI then on a single card?!

Right now the x850xt is what I am leaning towards. Suggestions?

 

[prozac26]

Go for either 7600GT or X850XT. In this price segment, you can't go wrong with either card. 7900GT is comparable to a X1800XT, not X1900. What are you system specs? It'll help little in the decision.

CS:S doesn't see any benefits from having SLI.

 

[poO_onyou]

Alright

System Specs:
AMD 64 4000+
Biostar N4SLI
2 Gig Corsair XMS RAM
250gig SATAII WD HD
S3 Gamma Crome 18 <--LOL It sucks
Audidgy 2 ZS
500Watt Ultra PSU

 

[Anoobis]

If all you play is CS:S then as prozac26 stated, either the 7600GT or the X850XT will work for you. From what I've heard, ATI cards seem to have better visual quality although I think either card will be impressive in CS:S no matter which way you go.

However, you may want to go with the 7600GT. It might have better re-sell value on places like eBay as opposed to the X850XT when you decide to go with one of the newer DX10 cards become available. This way you buy an inexpensive card now, and sell it to regain some of the cost of the new DX10 card.

 

[raven_87]

Why dont you just have newegg ship back your card, then RMA directly to Evga? ----You pay maybe $15 max for shipping and dont have to buy a new GPU if your looking to save for DX10 GPUs...

Maybe thats just me, but I figured that would be the most logical (and cheapest) solution...

 

[poO_onyou]

Thanks Anoobis thats a good point. My 7800gt ran CS:S fine so should the 7600gt.

Raven, newegg refunded the full amount I spent on my 7800gt, $305. If I send it back to eVGA thats another $10-15 for shipping so essentially it costs $315. If I simply buy a $150 card off newegg then I have an additional $150 to spend towards a DX10 card

 

[raven_87]

I'm just saying becuase the preformance of that $150 GPU is going to be far less than what your getting with thatt 7800GT....but whatever bud, its your call.

 

[poO_onyou]

Maybe but if both the 7600gt and 7800gt give me 100fps in CS:S im happy... and since I run it in direct x 8...

 

[raven_87]

Maybe but if both the 7600gt and 7800gt give me 100fps in CS:S im happy... and since I run it in direct x 8...

Why the hell would you force DX8? Either card should run the game fine with DX9 as the rendering path.

 

[Anoobis]

I would hope he is referring to running it with his onboard S3 graphics with DX8 for the time being.

 

[poO_onyou]

Yea I run it in DX8 with my S3 EWW, ill run it in DX9 on the 7600gt, which I did buy btw.

Thanks for the help guys

 

[angry_ducky]

Maybe but if both the 7600gt and 7800gt give me 100fps in CS:S im happy... and since I run it in direct x 8...

Once you get above 60FPS, the human eye can't tell the difference. Also, if your monitor's refresh rate is 60Hz, then your FPS can't go over 60. At least I think that it can't.

 

[poO_onyou]

Everyone always says there that you can't tell a visual difference, which may be true, but to me the game just feels smoother at a constant 100fps.

 

[FatFunkey]

this is reason number 500 why i hate Frame Whores, cutting visial qualty for frames..even though your getting above the sexy 60

why the hell would u buy a 7900 to run in DX8 path..seesh

christ flakes mabey im just used to low frames (used to own a geforce 2 upgraded to 9800Pro...and going DX10) i could cry less as long as im getting 30frames (in FPS...oblivion and games like that..thats another story) and everything looks good im happy...

 

[poO_onyou]

Well FatFunkey I don't consider myself a frame whore. When I am playing single player campaigns I crank the graphics up as high as possible and will settle with 30 FPS. Online it is a different story. When your playing in matches and such you need everything you can get.