a nice graphics card?

[brownbox]

ok, i dont have a computer yet, but im guessing its gonna be 8x AGP. So, for my price range of 140-180$, whats a good graphics card

[SUBS17]

It'll be obsolete soon so get a cheap 2nd hand one, because of dx10.

[brownbox]

im afraid i wont have the money to afford a faancy pci-e dx10 graphics card.

[creator2003]

I wouldnt get agp anymore ..agp cards are now classed as a bottle neck by most computer tech, but thats up to you
you can pick up a 6600 256mb pci express from $120
pbtech in hamilton have some awesome prices and can build a puter for the money you have to spend as long as you dont need montor and keyboard etc..,, just the tower .. http://pbtech.co.nz/
check out there prices and see how much it will be to put an awesome tower together
mike

[Zöltuger]

I wouldnt get agp anymore ..agp cards are now classed as a bottle neck by most computer tech, but thats up to you
you can pick up a 6600 256mb pci express from $120

agreed, AGP is old news. even if you can't afford a DX10 graphics card, definitely get a motherboard with a PCI-e 16x slot for graphics.
what you can get will ultimately depend on your budget.

for ~$170 you could get a GeForce 7600 GS 256MB, PCI-Express which would be a good value for money unit, especially if its only $50 more than a vanilla 6600.

[brownbox]

mmmm ok ok ok let me check out trademe for some computers or motherboards.

[Jimmy]

If you want new try:

http://www.pricespy.co.nz/cat_16.html

Im looking to get a new PCI express card soon and theres some god prices there.

James

[Zöltuger]

just to check Jimmy- you're not planning to use your old motherboard with the new PCI express card, are you?

[Jimmy]

I dont kno wif my mobo has a PIC express slot or not, I will be doing resherch about my certain board before buying anything but I suppose itd be able to take it?? How do I tell

[Zöltuger]

i'm pretty sure it won't have a PCI express slot. especially if you're using Trolly's old 5600, which is an AGP model.

[Jimmy]

Nope I checked it aint got one Ill just have to look for the best agp card I can get (for a good price )

Sp whats a "good" AGP card?

James

[Zöltuger]

whatever you can afford
don't spend too much tho, your CPU is going to restrict the maximum framerate you can get. some more video memory wouldn't go astray i suppose.

[Jimmy]

K so I look for no more the 256 and then find out what my AGP slot is capable of, like is it 8x or what. What brand gives the best performance for my pc's specs?

Thanks
James

[Zöltuger]

i think anything up to an nvidia 6600GT would maximise your performance.

depends on your budget of course. the vanilla 6600 with 256MB memory could be better for flight sim.

[brownbox]

i was looking at the ATI radeon x800 GTO. Seems pretty fancy-not to mention the price tag...

[Jimmy]

Iv noticed that PCI-express cards are actuly cheaper than AGP

I have decided ill save and I should be able to afford a geforce 6800 by the end of December (a christmas pressy for myself )

There was an interesting thing in computerPilot magazine (volume 9, issue1) were it has a graph of 32 populer cards showing what fps they get compared to each other all in the same situation, (two graphs, one with AA and AF on and the other with them both off) and the 6800 and 6800gt came out very near the top on the first and top on the second (second being with AA and AF on).

Maby ill should scan the graph and upload it, is anyone interested?

[Charl]

Yep please upload that graph, should be very interesting to compare!
EDIT: Thinks twice - there is copyright on that material so on balance probably not!
One should buy the magazine I guess, thanks for the pointer.

[creator2003]

james i thought id just remind you that if you have a agp slot you mite not have a pci express slot,so do double check this before you go put money into a new card likely hood is that you dont have one ...
sorry to knock you of your buzz ,do check motherboard before buy !!!
mike

[Jimmy]

  james i thought id just remind you that if you have a agp slot you mite not have a pci express slot,so do double check this before you go put money into a new card likely hood is that you dont have one ...
sorry to knock you of your buzz ,do check motherboard before buy !!!
mike

yes I have checked and there is none that is why I will buy a AGP 6800 ]

Ill have a look later and see if I can find the site were the graph is sourced from (once I dig threw my 6kilo grames of CP mags lol) I didnt think it would be ilegal just to show one small part?

James

[Zöltuger]

here's a similar chart, and it has all the new cards on it too
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html

i have an AGP 6800GS myself. its a nice card, but just be wary that you might need a beefier power supply- mine gave the minimum at 450W

if you budget is running a bit short, then take a look at a Geforce 7600GS. just having a look at some benchmarks and they're pretty close together in terms of performance, especially if you're using antialiasing.