Jesus, I think his knowledge in modern computer parts is really poor. His new PC has 3 GB of Ram and he built it with an Athlon XP. You should teach him to balance his system before shooting out ideas like 7950->x1950xt->x1950xtx->8800gts while no one talks about his Athlon XP.
They never made an Athlon XP 5000+. What are you talking about? It's obvious he made a typo. He meant an Athlon X2 5000+.
You are right. But you should ask him what was his intention in adding 'XP' after 'Athlon' and leave out '+' after '5000'. Either way, his new computer is not that remarkable. The 5000+ does not have shining price performance ratio and outstanding performance. I still insist I do not think he computer is 'new'.
Sorry, I meant to say Athlon 64X2 5000+, not XP. This is a brand new computer that my girlfriend bought for me for my birthday. Sorry if you dont find this computer good enough, but i feel it will be great. So the general idea is hat I should send back the 8600gt (with company of heroes) and get the 7950gt? And for what it is worth, I do have Vista Home Premium. Some people said that if I have Visa, then go with the 8 series card. Will that actually make a difference, or will the 7950 be better in all aspects?
Go ahead and pick up the 7950. You won't regret it! Price vs. performance the 7950 is the best bang for the buck.
After all, I have to like it don't I??? I think im going with the 7950 GT. I plan on scoring a sweet deal for this year's Black Friday sale. I think I will love playing on this computer. Thanks for all the help guys, but one last question. Why have people been telling me if I have vista, get the 8600 over the 7950? Are there any compatabiliy issues I should kow about.
That will make a decent gaming system so don't worry. That's a good girl you have too, hold on to her - geek friendly, lol Ignore the vista & 8600gt thing that people are telling you - they be stupid! If your going to get a 7950 for your new "love rig" make sure you get the 512MB version. Shader intensive games and high resolution wide screen monitors are starting to max out the 256MB cards. I would consider the x1950xt for that price range if I were you.
Yes. NVIDIA is keeping 7950 GT at higher price level than it should be to try to secure the survival of 8600 series, to no avail. ATI has lowered the prices for X1950 XT and this 256 MB sweet thing can handily beats the 512 MB 7950 GT and everything the 8600 GTS can offer. In that price range, the X1950 XT is the super star, dude. When we mention the X1950 XT, some people will mention the 8800 GTS 320M (in fact they already had) but you have to choose it yourself. The 8800 is on a higher league and higher price tag of course.
The 7950 GT card I was looking at was the 256mb version. It is because I can get it for $139.99 after a rebate. I don't want to spend too much if I will be upgrading near years end. For some reason, I never have wanted to get an ATI graphics card. I always thought they were sloppy, if not still very powerful. How are the drivers, interface, etc on the ATI cards anyways? http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=2918356&sku=B52-7870 I was researching the difference between the 512 and the 256 version and found an article that they actually tested the two. Here's what they said: It is obvious here: 512 megabytes of graphics memory does not provide much benefit for a performance-mainstream graphics card like GeForce 7950 GT. Most of today’s games don’t really need more than 256MB. Or they need more memory in extreme display modes only when the GPU performance and the memory bandwidth are too low for comfortable play. http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gigabyte-foxconn-gf7950gt.html
256MB is more than enough for 1280X1024 and lower. Once you start to game higher than 1280X1024, your chances of maxing the frame buffer in a 256MB card are much higher. For that price, the 7950GT 256MB is still a great buy and honestly, most people don't even have a monitor that will display at resolutions higher than 1280X1024. Because you're used to using such an older setup, I'm confident even the 256MB card will be more than plenty for you.
I have a 22" LCD HP monitor (HP w2007)....as long as I play at the 1280 resolution I should be fine ten. (should have mentioned, the girlfriend bought me this new monitor with the computer )
Depending on the game, you can run even higher. Most games available today your card will run very smooth with max detail settings and very high resolutions. There's only a select few titles that will force you to turn the settings down to play smoothly.
Thank You. I just want to finish my game of Command and Conquer since my old computer cannot even play it anymore (for some reason). I think Nvidias last drivers sucked, hopefully new ones are coming...
Command and Conquer is capped at 30 FPS anyway, so it doesn't take much of a card to push that game to the hilt.
