Which nVidia card to pick?

[jim1013]

Greetings Everyone,

I was hoping to get a little advice into my choice of nVidia Graphics card.

[Note: I have read THGC Graphics Card Buyers' Guide (02/Aug/2004), but that didn't provide enough detail]

I'll be using it in a system build around a P4 3 Ghz.

I plan to rungames such as Doom3, Halflife2, Deus Ex 2, Latest Unreal's, and others.

I'm looking at getting at least a nVidia FX5700 128 mb, up to a 6800 at most.I won't get a 6800 GT or Ultra, as they are above what I'm prepared to pay.

Some of the problems with my choice are should I go for a lower end model with 256 ram, or a higher end model with 128 ram. few benchmarks compare the 128 mb versions with the 256 versions. I'd like to know what circumstances would cause the 256 mb ram to be Considerably better than 128 (i'm thinking many games/settings would not use all 128 even), and also, where it becomes better to have more ram rather than the better gpu (eg FX5950 256mb better or worse than a 6800 with 128 mb ram)

Part of the problem is the number of choices
from 5700 up to 5950 there appear to also be versions with
LE, XT, TD, and Ultra.

So what i'm hoping is for someone to explain (briefly) is how these (LE, XT, TD, Ultra) versions differ from the basic ones, and the difference between the various models 5700, 5900, 5950, and if there is much difference in performance and quality between them.

Any advice on this would be great!

 

[lik]

256Mb on a lower end card are a mistake. That cards aren't powerfull enough to use them. IMO you should get a 9800Pro 128Mb. Its cheap and it beats the nvidia competition (of that card generation of course). The nvidia cards of that gen are more expencive and in most cases slower. The Gf FX5950U for example is in some (few) cases faster than the 9800 Pro but its more expencive. If you wanted a new gen card, then nvidia would be better. In case of really wanting a Gf than the 5900Xt would be IMO a good choice. The XT, TD, LE, Ultra, are variantions of the same chipset. At Ati, XT is the topend model, in Nvidia Xt is a mid-end, value card.

Hope to be of any help

P4-2800->FSB800, Asus P4P800, 512DDR-400, Radeon 9800 Pro - 128Mb

 

[pauldh]

I agree with Lik.

If you want NVidia for sure, buy the GF6800. But read up, because their is a big performance decrease buying the plain 6800 over the 6800GT.

Otherwise get a 9800 Pro or on a tight budget the R9600 pro. The FX series was a letdown in many respects. And in HL2, the FX series even defaults to DX8.1 path because it's DX9 performance was too slow. Here is a quote and link to back that up: <A HREF="http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/half-life2_vst/page2.asp" target="_new">"all high-end GeForce FX 5900 series cards run in DirectX 8.1 mode, even though they’re technically DirectX 9 cards. Valve’s argument was that running the default DX9 codepath, GeForce FX cards ran abysmally slow, the game literally turned into a slideshow."</A>

Anyway, if you insist on going with a GF FX card, definately don't do the FX5700U. For about the same price the FX5900XT is clearly faster. But I'll stick with the GF6800 and Radeon 9800 Pro as your clear best choices in your price range.

ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 1GB Corsair XMS 4000 Pro Series, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt

 

[pauldh]

Also, here are some reviews to look at to help see clock speeds and performance of many of the cards out there.

<A HREF="http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/index.html" target="_new">Toms VGA Charts III</A>.

<A HREF="http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/over2003/index.html" target="_new">Digilife's Huge 80-video card review</A>.

ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 1GB Corsair XMS 4000 Pro Series, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt

 

[georgebeee]

<A HREF="http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=17846" target="_new">6600</A>
<A HREF="http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Features/6600series/" target="_new">6600</A>

amd 2000+
gigabyte ga-7va
512mb samsung pc2700(2x256mb)
maxtor 60gb 7200rpm
LG cd-r/rw 48x24x48
soundblaster live 5.1
BBA radeon 9600xt 128mb
antec 550w true control

 

[KCjoker]

I wouldn't bother with the FX 5700 if I were you. I'd suggest the 6800 regular if you can afford it. If not go for either the FX 5900XT or if you can wait a little bit the new 6600 GT will be a great deal at $180.

 

[sweatlaserxp]

I wouldn't recommend anything from the FX series because of the DX9 performance issues, especially cards that staggeringly overpriced like the 5900U or 5950. Half-Life 2 is exploiting a lot of features, so it's a bellwether of what to expect from future DX9 titles. The standard 6800 seems to be a decent performer, but it's in that "gray area" price range- in a lot of tests it beats the 9800 Pro, but it's nowhere near the performance of its older siblings, and there is often a huge performance gap. Also, with the moderately-priced 6600GT on the way, I would be careful to recommend the 6800. I still maintain that the 9800 Pro 128Mb is an excellent buy, just look at the performance in HL2 and Doom 3.

 

[pauldh]

GF6600's do look good. But paper launches are far from exciting. They probably won't be abundantly available until the Holiday season. Definatley will be cards to keep an eye on once they appear on the shelves.


ABIT IS7, P4 2.6C, 1GB Corsair XMS 4000 Pro Series, Radeon 9800 Pro, Santa Cruz, TruePower 430watt