Videocard purchase

I am going to buy a new computer (basically just the processor, mobo, videocard, case, and ram) and i was wondering the best videocard for what i have chosen for the rest of the computer. I want to keep it as low of a price as possible with still being able to run the applications/games that i use and also to be able to upgrade to vista when it comes out.

Antec smart power 400w
Asus A8v-E Se Skt 939 Pcie Via chipset
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 939 Skt Retail Box
1GB DDR RAM


And other than that, i dont know if i should search on newegg for a videocard. I am not sure which videocard out there for ~$150 would match the rest of these components. If anyone has suggestions for a good videocard for the rest of the system or improvements that should be made to that list of components above, please let me know.

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: No one's going to reply? It's been hours :-P

I would go with Nvidia 7600 GT PCI Express (around 160-190). Great performance and resonible price. Then add a 2nd card latter (when it become really cheap) and go SLI.

One I bought is this one: http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16814150140
Currently with $25 rebate.

The Nvidia 7xxx series is the most current generation.
Ati current gen is the x1xxx series.

I agree with everything but the VIA motherboard... why? NForce4 is pretty darn solid, and you can get a quality SLI motherboard cheap enough, and be able to add a second video card later on when you need more rendering power.

Also, dual core AMD's are going to drop REALLY low REALLY soon, I'm talking about an X2 3800 for around 150$. It's worth waiting, believe me.

Case in point:
http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/2...icing_1023.png

Thanks for your help guys!

Just my 2 cents,

If you play games and want fast smooth play try and spend as much as you can on a graphics card. You will use it all the time and can sell it later down the road.

For games the graphics card is almost half of the performance.

The 7600 is great but you will not have allot of room in the future. What is the life span of your computer? Will you keep the card for 1 year or 5?

Well seeing as i will be going off to college in about 3 years, that is probably how long i will be using the computer as a gaming system...then a laptop that can play starcraft and diablo2's looking good. So for a system that will be used for 3 years, what is thje best option in the way of performance?

I'm bumping this post, its really important that i get some more opinions quickly!

I second the 7600 GT if you're sticking around with GW. Should be very good for the game, but if you plan to get new games you will want to get at least an X1800.

a 6800Ultra will last you for at least another 3 years.

Well being the proud owner of a amd dual-core i'm not so sure i'd buy it again, if nothing else for the bother of the random programs that aren't very friendly to dual-cores.

Such as GuildWars.

My Opteron 170 runs the game a bit choppy unless I set GW.exe to one or the other of the cores. I found a helpful little program in imagecfg that will set gw.exe affinity permanently, but every time there is an update I have to use the program again.

That said, I can say that the amd dual cores certainly are nice chips, and have never had any problem with it's sheer number crunching power, but I'm sure there's some single core processors that could accomplish the same tasks with little problem as well.

OH back on topic right!! Hadn't kept up since I built this box in January,...last I heard Nvidia is still on top, with maybe a 7800 GS coming out to help those that don't wanna spend an arm and a leg?

Also gotta agree with kvn's post on the via chipset thing. Nforce is King right now! Hopefully Via will come out with something and keep competition alive as I've always liked their chipsets anyway, but now's not the time to look their way for your gamer box.

I'm still on the AGP bus and don't intend to switch until it is truly necessary (there have been announcements that the AGP market will most likely have its fair share of new cards through the Vista/DX10 era).

In truth, GW is far from demanding with graphics cards. I can run it with almost all settings maxxed (except for an AA of 2x and default reflections, but I can turn them on without TOO much lag) on a 5500 FX. If you just want a card decent enough for GW, a 6800 GT or Ultra should be just dandy. However, I'd reccomend shooting for the GeForce 7 series (7600 or higher. Below that is about the same as the GeForce 6 series). I'm getting a 7800 GS this christmas, to help me give GW that final boost in framerate and graphic detail, and for upcoming Neverwinter Nights 2.

They actually have the nVidia Geforce 7950 if you want to spend an extreme amount of money. It's got dual gpus, 1gb of ram (512 per GPU), and is a sick card. If you want to spend the money, here is the link for it. It's 600 bucks, but will last you a really really really long time.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143063

In my system I have a 6800GS (AGP) and it's a solid performer. I have also had a 6600GT in it too and had no problems at all.

If GW is your primary game do NOT buy a nvidia card. ATI cards run GW much better and with less hassles.

I'm using a new system with a nVidia Geforce 7600 GS. Once I installed the latest DirectX, (and Apr 2006 update from Microsoft website), and the latest Nvidia driver, version 91.XX, (sorry not at PC) I've had no problems running Guild Wars.

7600GS is recommended in terms of price and performance in reviews I've looked at.

Thats absolute rubbish, I have both ATI and Nvidia cards, and there is no difference between the performance and look of GW, at least if your going to post, give the guy some decent advice.

7600gt is a good card, if you want your pc to last a few years then maybe invest in something a bit more powerful, x1800 or 1900 range, you pay a premium for these but they are worth it. My advice on nvidia would be a 6800gs very nice card and will last you a few year yet.

I have X1800 GTO from Sapphire, on 3500+ and 1gb of corsair value select. and i can play the game with best looking graphics on 1600x1200 no problems. Nothing is overclocked, only changed the cooling. ATI has major heat problems, if u buy a x1800, buy a damn cu900 cooler or whatver they're called from Zalman, otherwise you Will be sorry. VERY sorry!
My card was 65 celcius idle and usually over 80 with open window with cool air. 99 was the most i had. I didn't play until i got a new cooler.

I believe HiS has the best stockcooling for ATI but I would say, since u want the card to last for three years. Get Other cooling!

Cheers.

Search various forums for 6800 and Guild Wars, youll hear of crashing from many drivers, ranging from 77s to recent and more. For some reason ATIs driver are more stable with GW, but over all ATI cards do DX quicker in most cases which means youd be nuts not to buy one from GW, other stuff well that depends but GW is best with ATI. I dont think Im some fanboi, I own way more nvidia items than ati.

The reason ATI cards are more stable as you say, is that ATI is optimised for GW, so of course the drivers may give a bit better performance, and i'm not getting at that, what I am getting at is your first post, at least give the guy other options, I never called you an ATI fanboy, but your post made you out to be one, wether it meant to or not. As I said I have never had any issues with nvidia and GW, like many members on here, I have no preference wether its nvidia or ATI, whatever I can get my hands on is good enough for me.

What are you talking about?

ATI is better on the software side of thing where as Nvidia is better on the performance. ATI is like James Bong and Nvidia is like Arnold Schwarzenegger. James is cool and slick with all the gadgets where as Arnold is thought and powerful that can over clock well.

Nvidia does not update it’s old model drivers often where ATI does.

The 7600 will beat the 6800 according to benchmarks and 6800 is old tech. Only get the 6800 is the budget does not allow for a better card.

If you would like your system to play games for the next 3 years look for a 7900 GT or x1800 XT(I think it is XT but it is the only 512MB x1800) 512MB.

In the grand scheme of things Guildwars is a CPU based game and does not require the latest greatest computer. A 6800 will run it fine but is not a forward looking card.