High Performance Graphics Card

[Rasczak]

My 7950GX2 failed last weekend and Ebuyer have credited me the cost (very quickly I might add)! However that does leave me in a dilema at present: what graphics card should I get to replace it?

Obviously a 7950GX2 would be the obvious choice. However, although that card was flawless, I couldn't help but wonder if I could get away with something slightly less powerful? Especially as Direct X10 cards are on the horizon so I will be looking for a new card this time next year. I am also, presumably, bottlenecked by my aging CPU. However I am running a Viewsonic VA2012W monitor (widescreen) so I need a reasonably powerful card!

Any advice/suggestions appreciated! I would prefer a Nvidia solution though!

[Games Guru]

Depends on the cash you have.

The first DX10 cards are bound to be buggy and have flaws, and the second gen DX10 cards are bound to be a quantum leap over them. Unfortunately, that puts purchasing one Q3 2007 at the earliest, so it depends what you are after.

My plan was to get a single X1900XT and upgrade to crossfire when they are cheaper around new year sales, which would tide me over til xmas 2007 when the DX10 cards are in good supply and reasonably priced.

But then I don't earn a great deal of money and couldn't justify a huge expense on a graphics card alone.

With all the rumours of vista being delayed, its a tough call IMO.

[Rasczak]

Originally Posted by Games Guru

The first DX10 cards are bound to be buggy and have flaws, and the second gen DX10 cards are bound to be a quantum leap over them. Unfortunately, that puts purchasing one Q3 2007 at the earliest, so it depends what you are after.

Q3 2007 will be when I next upgrade my graphics card - so I just need something to last me until then.

My plan was to get a single X1900XT and upgrade to crossfire when they are cheaper around new year sales

Not really a big fan of ATI (had several bad experiences) - what would be the Nvidia equivalent?

[Games Guru]

Well according to pc format this month, crossfire x1950xt(x??) is faster than quad sli 7950gx2, by quite a margin.

Probably the x1900xtx (512mb) in crossfire is equivilent to dual sli of the card you already had?

A bit faster then, than the gpu set-up I was anticipating until aria shafted me

Again, depends on your disposable income, but latest gpu tech probably isn't a great investment for a period of one year, again unless you are loaded.

IMO I don't like nvidia cards, and the 7900 card series are supposed to be buggy, so if I was going the nvidia route i'd probably go 7600 dual sli for now, as the larger memory ones are mid-high performance for a reasonable price.

[Games Guru]

Having looked at your spec, I would defo go for the 7600 dual sli and then upgrade your mobo, ram, cpu etc in time for Q3 2007 to take full advantage of DX10 gpu.

Especially with quad core around the corner.

If you are an AMD chipset person, then you better start liking ATI gpus because AMD just bought ATI and the chances of getting an nvidia gpu working with a new (2007)AMD chipset are slim to none.

[Rasczak]

Originally Posted by Games Guru

Having looked at your spec, I would defo go for the 7600 dual sli and then upgrade your mobo, ram, cpu etc in time for Q3 2007 to take full advantage of DX10 gpu.

I certainly will be upgrading the whole setup (motherboard, memory, graphics, CPU) come my Q3 2007 update. However I would prefer to avoid an SLI setup at this time as that would mean a new mobo now. Accordingly I am looking at a single slot card - the Geforce 7900GTX perhaps? Where does the Geforce 7900GTO fit in though? Seems to be a lot of positive buzz on it but it's priced as a budget card.

I don't really have a budget - I would want to spend less than £400 I suppose - but if I can spend less then that's ideal! Not really sure what games are coming that will require a big graphics push before Q3 2007 when I upgrade?

[Games Guru]

I'm unsure on that front as well. I am a bit of a graphics tart, and would love to run Oblivion, et. al. at 1920x1200 res with most things enabled at a decent frame rate etc.

I'd probably just replace the gpu you had already then mate.

[Rasczak]

Well I decided to order a ATI X1950XTX to replace my broken graphics card. Never gone with ATI on my primary system before so this is something of a new path for me.

[blizzard]

If you are an AMD chipset person, then you better start liking ATI gpus because AMD just bought ATI and the chances of getting an nvidia gpu working with a new (2007)AMD chipset are slim to none.

guru u think amd are gonna release boards that wont accept nvidia brand cards ??? that will throw a spanner in the works and the pc would no longer be universali just cant see that it would be like consoles then one has a nvidia machine and one has a nvidia machine.

i can't see it happening well i hope not anyways.

[blizzard]

nvidia machine and one has a ati machine i meant doh

[Games Guru]

Originally Posted by blizzard

guru u think amd are gonna release boards that wont accept nvidia brand cards ??? that will throw a spanner in the works and the pc would no longer be universali just cant see that it would be like consoles then one has a nvidia machine and one has a nvidia machine.

i can't see it happening well i hope not anyways.

It wouldn't be in ATIs interests to allow customers to use a rival technology such as nvidia graphics cards.

Optimising their architecture to make the radeon series of cards and AMD chipsets work better together, would inevitably mean that compatibility between AMD and nvidia would be limited IMO.