Advice Please 9800 Pro or 6600GT

[jg1234]

Hi Folks,

I have done my research and for my price range have narrowed it down to two cards. Any advice would be appreciated.

I am hoping to play FPS like Call Of Duty at good frames/ My system is a Dell Dimesnion 4550 , 2.5mhz, 1GB DDR PC 2700 Ram,

9800 Pro or 6600 GT - this will be for AGP.

1. The 6600GT I saw said I need an AGP 8x slot compliant motherboard - my system is only AGP 4x compliant. Is this a problem ?? Card says AGP 8x/4x

2. I am upgrading from a GeForce 5700 ( not Ultra ,128 Bit interface, 256 MB DDR Ram) - from what I read a good 128 MB card may be better then what I have even though what i have now is 256.

3. My PSU is rated up to 325 W - will I be okay ??

So should I keep my 5700 or go for one of these ???

-jg1234

 

[alexi]

I would recommend the 6600gt, and it should work fine in your 4x slot. I cant help but mention the 6800 non-gt/ultra card, at some sites like zipzoomfly.com you can get a 40 dollar or so mail in rebate, which makes it come to around the same price. The 6800 has 4 more pipelines than the 6600gt, so if it is still in your price range, I would recommend the 6800. Depending on what brand your psu is, and as long as you dont have too much other crap hooked up to it, your psu should be fine.

 

[cleeve]

Either card is great.

If you're strapped for cash, go for the 9800 PRO. I understand you can find them VERY cheap now, in the $12 [EDIT I meant $120!] range. The real-world difference between 6600GT and 9800 PRO performance is hardly noticable.

If you want to spend the cash, the 6600GT is a bit better. But if you have that cash to spend, then why not go for the vanilla 6800 like alexi said above... Much better card than both the 6600GT and not much more $$$ than the 6600GT.

Just stay away from anything with an "LE" on it (i.e. 6800LE)

________________
<b>Geforce <font color=red>6800 Ultra</b></font color=red>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>~3300+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 412 FSB @ 2266 Mhz)</i>
<b>3dMark05: <font color=red>5,275</b>

 

[jg1234]

Thanks,

I appreciate the info - great board. I finally went with the 6600GT from MSI w/ copper heatsink / fan. It cost me 193.00 but I read several reviews about how great it was.

On question which has me wondering- technical in nature.

( I have an AGP 4x MOBO ) Why in the reviews is a 128MB 6600GT ( 128 bit interface ) much better / faster then a 256MB 5700 ( 128 bit interface ) ????

-jg1234

 

[chuck232]

First off, the 6600GT has 8 pixel pipes while the FX5700 has 4 (or it was kinda 2x2 IIRC). Then the 6600GT is clocked at a pretty massive 500/1000 while the FX5700 is clocked significantly slower.

Also the core is totally revamped so yeah. It's much faster.

<A HREF="http://nfiniti.blogspot.com" target="_new">nfiniti plus one - my blog</A>

 

[cleeve]

Because generally, the amount of memory don't mean squat for performance.

What's most important on a videocard:

1. GPU (the architecture, # of pipelines, etc) - MOST IMPORTANT
2. Memory Interface (64, 128, or 256-bit)
3. Clockspeeds
4. AMOUNT of RAM (Least important, assuming you have the minimum spec for the game*)


To clarify... all the factors above are relevant to videocard performance, but this is the general heiarchy.

GPU architecture is the most important. How many pipelines the card has and how it uses them, which advanced affects the processor can handle. In this case, the 6600GT trumps your 5700 because it has twice the pipelines (8 vs 4), and because it's simply a much more efficient GPU.

Second most important is the memory interface. This relates to how FAST the memory is accessed, which in most cases is much more important than now MUCH memory there is. A 64-bit memory bus is only half as fast as a 128-bit memory bus, and a 256-bit memory bus is twice as fast as that.
Be wary of cards like that have the "SE" or "LE" designation... in most cases, it means their memory bus is half of what the non-SE versions are, and this has a large impact on performance

Third most important is clockspeeds. Higher clockspeeds on both the GPU and RAM mean higher performance. But remember, 400 Mhz memory on a 64-bit bus is the same speed as 200 Mhz memory on a 128-bit bus.

Least important is the AMOUNT of RAM. Developers create games for the lowest common denominator, and that means they are still making 64-meg texture sets for games. But the newest games are starting to make use of 128-megs of RAM, so 128-megs is the minimum. A few games will show a slight performance increase with 256-megs of RAM, but these number less than 5 I can think of.

256-Megs of RAM is, in most cases, a marketing tool for uneducated people to make a buying decision on. But trust me, you'd rather have a 64-meg Geforce4 Ti4200 than a 256-meg Radeon 9600SE.


________________
<b>Geforce <font color=red>6800 Ultra</b></font color=red>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>~3300+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 412 FSB @ 2266 Mhz)</i>
<b>3dMark05: <font color=red>5,275</b>

 

[jg1234]

Thanks,

I had heard about the pipeline thing before but didn't fully understand it.

This thread was a big help.

-jg1234

 

[pauldh]

If you're strapped for cash, go for the 9800 PRO. I understand you can find them VERY cheap now, in the $12 range.

LOL Cleeve. For that price, give me a few hundred of them. eBay here I come.



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[chuck232]

Yep, $12 is quite cheap...









<A HREF="http://nfiniti.blogspot.com" target="_new">nfiniti plus one - my blog</A>

 

[BirdRobin]

2.5mhz cpu, now thats a bomb.

AMD A64 3200+ Newcastle @ 2.4 Ghz
MSI K8N Neo Platinum
1GB Corsair DDR400 ValueSelect (CL2.5) @ DDR440
Geforce MX440 64mb @ C300Mhz/M400MHZ on FANLESS COOLING >.<

 

[cleeve]

Doh! Meant $120, fixed...

________________
<b>Geforce <font color=red>6800 Ultra</b></font color=red>
<b>AthlonXP <font color=red>~3300+</b></font color=red> <i>(Barton 2500+ o/c 412 FSB @ 2266 Mhz)</i>
<b>3dMark05: <font color=red>5,275</b>

 

[sobelizard]

Yep, I'd say that's the bottleneck right there. No video card in the world can help his 2.5mhz cpu play any of those games.

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[chuck232]

Haha, you guys are horrible. :tongue:

<A HREF="http://nfiniti.blogspot.com" target="_new">nfiniti plus one - my blog</A>

 

[chuck232]

You still hang around here way too much so even though you're a vet, you're still a geek on the side.

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