I'm hoping someone who is familiar with the brands and is a gamer or has tried various brands (or if you've stuck with one brand and can give your experience and opinion) can comment.
I'm trying to consider whether I should buy a used Geforce 7 series video card or buy a plain jane 8800GT or the cheapest 8800GT I can get. But, I don't know if I should be concerned with brands or seek certain brands.
I know that EVGA used to be one of the top brands but I read on here they might have slipped recently regarding quality.
Out of EVGA, XFX, BFG, Galaxy (cheapest cards I've found so far) and Zotac, which should I consider?
Also, the cheapest cards are the basic specs featuring 512MB of memory, 600MHz, 1.8GHZ etc. If these cards are around $200-$220, is that a good deal? I found the Galaxy cards for under $200 and XFX and EVGA cards (600MHZ) for $210 for either. Which one would you choose?
I like the idea of the cards also offsetting the cpu usage when playing certain video (formats) but it's probably just a bonus as it mostly has to do with Hi-Def (HD) video?
The other concern I had is the price factor and the rumour that 7900 series cards may have issues and it's a crapshoot trying to avoid one that has them. These are the artifacts going all over the screen issue that some gamers discovered. I read some threads somewhere regarding this issue. I don't plan on gaming much but I'm not sure it's worth paying $100 for a defective card or a card that has issues.
Can anyone give me their opinion and offer a unique perspective (perhaps, one that I haven't considered). I also thought that if I came across a cheaper card later, I could always sell the 8800GT. It should be able to hold enough value that I could get 90% of my money back if I so desire? However, the 8800GT seems like a card that can serve many purposes for a while and I have never bought a new video card. Seems like a good card for a first time.
Thanks in advance for any opinions, comments and advice.
I'm trying to consider whether I should buy a used Geforce 7 series video card or buy a plain jane 8800GT or the cheapest 8800GT I can get. But, I don't know if I should be concerned with brands or seek certain brands.
I know that EVGA used to be one of the top brands but I read on here they might have slipped recently regarding quality.
Out of EVGA, XFX, BFG, Galaxy (cheapest cards I've found so far) and Zotac, which should I consider?
Also, the cheapest cards are the basic specs featuring 512MB of memory, 600MHz, 1.8GHZ etc. If these cards are around $200-$220, is that a good deal? I found the Galaxy cards for under $200 and XFX and EVGA cards (600MHZ) for $210 for either. Which one would you choose?
I like the idea of the cards also offsetting the cpu usage when playing certain video (formats) but it's probably just a bonus as it mostly has to do with Hi-Def (HD) video?
The other concern I had is the price factor and the rumour that 7900 series cards may have issues and it's a crapshoot trying to avoid one that has them. These are the artifacts going all over the screen issue that some gamers discovered. I read some threads somewhere regarding this issue. I don't plan on gaming much but I'm not sure it's worth paying $100 for a defective card or a card that has issues.
Can anyone give me their opinion and offer a unique perspective (perhaps, one that I haven't considered). I also thought that if I came across a cheaper card later, I could always sell the 8800GT. It should be able to hold enough value that I could get 90% of my money back if I so desire? However, the 8800GT seems like a card that can serve many purposes for a while and I have never bought a new video card. Seems like a good card for a first time.
Thanks in advance for any opinions, comments and advice.