Help me pick a video card

[bam23]

A while back my video card fried.

So, I'm looking at this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150228

and this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143090

Which one is better and more worth the money? If there's a better card in the same price range, I'd like to see that too.

And about the sizes, how big are they? I haven't changed my case in a while and I don't know if they'll fit in there . Current card is a 9800, if you wanna compare or something.

 

[OmegaX]

Probably the 8600GTS. It will give you better pefromance and has DirectX 10 combatibility, Unlike the 7950.

 

[staticprimer]

Also, some people are complaining about lack of support of the 7950 from nvidia. Apparently the 7950gt is not an 'authorized' model, rather some manufacturers made it custom.

 

[hool10]

The 8600GTS is cheaper too and can support DX10 while the other cannot.

 

[Asus]

7950GT is faster in games like BF2 and Prey. (review showing both on multiple games)
They are similar in performance with other games and the 8600GTS is faster in Oblivion.
I would think the 8600GTS would also be faster in future games that use a lot of effects similar to the level of Oblivion.

I'd get the 8600GTS myself because it's built for more shader hungry DX10 games that have not yet been released.

 

[The Brick]

Am I missing something or are you all guys missing something? The 9800 is an AGP card. So we take it you have an AGP mainboard? If so, you can buy neither of those. In which case it's good to look at the x1950pro AGP.

 

[bam23]

Ah I forgot to say, I was planning to upgrade the motherboard also but I'm talking about the video card right now.

 

[DEATHMASTER]

few dx10 games...but just hearing that the 7950 is lacking support moves me to say go for the 8600.
I for sure as hell am not upgrading to anything but dx10 the next graphics upgrade.

 

[3ssence]

i'd wait it out until nvidia release their next mid range offering (maybe october/november time), which won't have a crippled 128 memory bus (which is what's holding back the 8600GTS from being a far better card), You'll be sure to get a lot more card for the money. However, if you don't want to wait, i'm not sure i'd go for the 8600GTS, reason being that DX10 is still quite unproven, and from early signs, i'm not sure the 8600GTS will be up to playing DX10 titles that well. So it might be worth concentrating on good DX9 performance, in which case, i'd be seriously tempted by one of these:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102067

Just my 2 cents.

 

[MRG]

i'd wait it out until nvidia release their next mid range offering (maybe october/november time), which won't have a crippled 128 memory bus (which is what's holding back the 8600GTS from being a far better card), You'll be sure to get a lot more card for the money. However, if you don't want to wait, i'm not sure i'd go for the 8600GTS, reason being that DX10 is still quite unproven, and from early signs, i'm not sure the 8600GTS will be up to playing DX10 titles that well. So it might be worth concentrating on good DX9 performance, in which case, i'd be seriously tempted by one of these:

Just my 2 cents.

Very well said. There are several benchmarks out that test the 8600, 8500 & lower 8xxx series cards. They support DX10, but thats all. Performance wise, they are severely lacking. Again this is proven several times from several different reputable hardware sites. While the lower 8xxx series cards are not junk by any means, they are not advisable hardware for gaming. As DX10 matures, so will the games built using it. Whats the point of having a card that supports DX10, but can't render a game using it? Plus the 128-bit aspect of it really holds it back.

-MRG