Video Card

Hello, I am thinking about upgrading my video card, but I am not sure what card to go with i been looking at the Geforce 6600GT. I would like to know if anyone knows anything about this card and is it a good card to run GW and the new games coming out. If you can help me out that would be great.

Thanks,
astokes

Depends, really. Are you only interested in playing Guild Wars? I don't know much about NVidia cards, but my X800 Pro runs the game smooth as glass with all the settings maxed.

A great choice. Most will agree with me when I say that it is one of the best values out currently, with very good graphics for a fraction of the cost of the higher-end cards. Mine runs Guild Wars smoothly at its highest setting. My friend runs CS:Source, HL2, Doom 3, and Unreal Tournament 2004 with his.

ok. No its not just for GW i play all games. I have a geforce 3 it 200. i think i need an update. But yeah just wanted a new one because i am going to be playing new games coming out like Battlefield 2 and theres a few others. i been read up on cards and it looks like everone likes this card. so i may go with it.

Thanks,
astokes

a 5600 Ultra beats a GF3 easily and the 6600GT makes the 5600U look sick

5600Ultra on 3dmark 2005 score 407

6600GT 3dmark 2005 score 2746

rated best bang for buck for some time now and will run tomorrows games as well as todays

How much is it?
I want a fairly priced card that can run GW smoothly at maxed settings. I'm tired of these sketchy ingame changing of the graphics.

You can't really compare a 6600GT with an X800, they're 2 different tiers of vid cards. It'd be more fair to compare a X800 with a 6800Ultra. For the price, you can't go wrong with a 6600GT, which is what I'm running and quite happy with.

Anyone here running it with a Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB? If so how does it fare with the graphics maxed out?

I just ordered the Radeon X700 Pro. I really hope it will elliminate the choppy crap I am dealing with now.

Lastnight i ordered my GeForce 6600GT i should get it tomorrow. oo i can't wait.

I was using onboard graphic card.. GW was crashing and restart my computer. I know it's onbaord card.. It's too much to handle..
So, I got a BFG Nvidia 6600gt. OMG.. it's awesome. I haven't had one problem yet. Graphic setting is max out and it's running great. Everything looks stunning and no hiccup.
Also, (nvidia 6600gt 128ram) is better than (ati randeon x700 w/ 256ram).
It's slightly better across the board. You get 10-15 better frame rate on 6600 compare to ati x700. Just check out tom's hardware website.

I've had this paper weight sitting around the house for the the last six months then a game finally comes out that I want to play other than Doom 3. finally getting my motivation level up high enough to fix the PC. I built this workstation about a year and a half ago now and I found the area its lacking most is in the graphics department its running the ATI Radeon 9700pro now but I'd like better. I was wondering which video card to buy, I'm a fan of the ATI but was wondering between the Radeon x800 & x850 whats the difference between the two other than a little bit of speed and is it worth paying the difference to go from the x800 to the x850?

Current System Specs.
Tyan Tiger 7505i? motherboard
Duel Xeon 2.66Ghz Processors 533Mhz FSB
Kingston DDR 2048 Dual Channel Ram at 266Mhz
2x Western Digital 36Gig 10,000rpm Raptor Hard Drives on a Raid Controller "Striped" Weee Fast!
Radeon 9700Pro with 128MB <--- this is what needs to be upgraded "HELP!"

I run a 6600GT maxed (all AA and AF too, and postprocessing) and LOVE it.

ATi? I thought I heard of them once, but I think it was filed under sux.

(just kidding, I used to run them too...)

How much do you really wanna spend?

If you wanna stay with ATI, you're looking at at least $300 to move to the base-model x800 AGP card. Moving on up, obviously you'll get faster cards, but the price/performance ratio goes down as you get more high end cards.

Over in the nVidia camp, you can start out with the 6600GT for about $150, which should be a fair bit faster than your 9700. For about $250 (though you can sometimes find deals as low as $200 - just watch out for the 6800LE), you can find the base-model 6800 which is the next step up the ladder.

The ATI x800/x850 cards are generally a bit faster than equivalently priced 6800s but the 6800s support a few more advanced features (most notably, Shader Model 3.0 shaders - but nobody's actually using them yet). Unfortunately, ATI's product line has a big hole between the 9600Pro at $100 and the x800XL at $300 - this middle ground is where nVidia's products shine.

The 6600GT is the best bang for you buck... Excellent card and excellent Value... I personally spent a little extra for the 6800 and I run everything maxxed and its smooth. Take a look at these video card benchmark charts from tomshardware.com and decide for yourself =)

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/gra...ml#3dmark_2003

Nvidia Geforce 6600GT: -

Firstly; For anyone comparing the 6600GT to an X800, that's just inhumane. The ATI equivalent of the 6600GT is the X700, and frankly, the 6600GT's faster clock speeds and higher quality memory stomp all over it.

Secondly; The 6600GT has massive overclocking potential. You don't need to look further than the Nzone forums to find that people have overclocked theirs from 500/900 to 570/1120 without any problems.

Thirdly; The 6600GT's performance is comparable to the 6800LE, and for the same price-range as a Radeon 9800 Pro, that's the most "bang for your buck" you will find anywhere in the current market.

Finally; The 6600GT has all the support you need for "official screenshot" quality level graphics, and it can handle them without sweating. Full DirectX 9.0c support, support for 4x antialiasing and 16x anisotropic filtering, support for pixel/vertex shader 3.0 for all your needs when it comes to bloom-enabled lighting effects, ultra high-quality shadows, shiny water, beautiful surfaces, and pretty looking skies.

No, my cheque from Nvidia is not in the post, it's simply a fact that this card is the best card there is right now in terms of "bang for your buck" and is the perfect option for anyone who can't afford a Geforce 6800 Ultra but wants similar levels of performance and visual quality.

Thank you for your time. *Takes a deep bow.*

P.D. your now my hero when it comes to a nice complete post about the 6600.

The BFG 6600GT OC AGP or PCI-E verions are excellent cards for the price. HOWEVER, if you want the absolute bang-for-your-freaking-buck, get an ATi Radeon X800 XL. Yes, it's about a hundred more dollars, but my god, it woops the 6600 GT, and stands up to the 6800 GT. It is deffinately a formidable foe against the baddies of the virtual world.

If you can, get an X800 XL. I got one just two days ago, and I have not regretted it since. If you can't, get the 6600 GT, and you will still have a good card. However, the extra RAM on the X800 XL, and the higher clock speeds, make it very, very appealing...

Your choice, but really, you can't go wrong either way.

If you can afford it, get the X850 XT PE. It is THE bleeding edge in graphics technology. If you can't, get the X800 XL. It is THE best bang for your buck currently (many sites agree). At 400 CAD, 300-350 USD, you cannot, and will not, go wrong. It will run everything and anything you throw at it. Have fun!

The 6600 GT's overclocking potential isn't "THAT" massive, however, it is a very good card, and is relatively cheap. BUT! Very few games will officially use PS 3.0 for a long time to come yet. I'm still standing by the X800 XL here - for a hundred more dollars (or so) you get a LOT more in terms of speed and RAM - also, I believe my X800 XL is ViVo capable, but there's neither here nor there (yes, I know it's not supposed to have it).

Also, the X800 XL has good overclocking potential via ATi Tool (Google it, easy to find). The stock cooling is good enough to overclock it a fair amount without artifacts, which is pretty sweet (yes I know the BFG has good stock cooling as well).

If you, the buyer, really can't muster out the extra dough, go for the BFG 6600GT OC AGP or PCI-E version (depending on your motherboard's capabilities), it is a good card for the price, and unfortunately, the X700 Pro, which is in the same price range, is crappy compared to the 6600 GT OC.

My $0.02.

*recieves cheque from ATi in the mail*
>_>
<_<
*cough*

I am running a 6800 and was wondering if anyone knew how they overclocked. looking for max performance
it a 6800 with 128 not the gt or ultra

What your wrote (from what I skimmed over) is true enough, but the cost for the card is still pretty expensive compared to the 6600GT PCI-E. It would be better to wait a few months for its price to drop before buying one right now (the x800 that is).

ATI and Nvidia both are going to be creating SLi cards soon enough in bundles (I'll give them about a year) that will beat out most of what there is now. I'd still rather save that hundred for the new age / generation of motherboards and cards that are coming out soon.

True enough, true enough. I believe the X800 XL will do me for quite some time yet, and as the guy at Futureshop told me when I spent the extra 60 on coverage for three years, "After a year or so, when there's a new graphics card out and you want it, just "accidentally" overclock it, take it in, and, it being worth 400, you would only have to pay 200 to buy a 600 dollar card."

Ah, I love Futureshop - honest people - they even told me not to buy the RAM or cases, since they're overpriced. XD

I run the game at 1680x1050 on my widescreen LCD with 2x AA on a Radeon 9700PRO. Runs very well, probably 40-50fps a lot of the time.

A 6600GT is a good bit faster than my 9700PRO. It will run the game VERY well.

Bottom line is that GW does not need much horsepower in the graphics dept compared to other games, like HL2 and Doom3, and EQ2. You can run Guild Wars very comfortably on a Radeon 9600 or Geforce FX most likely. I would NOT buy a Geforce FX though. Stick with Geforce 6 series or Radeon 9600+.

And if you shop at Newegg, use their advanced search to only look for cards with a fast memory bus. Radeon 9000/9200/9550/9600 and Geforce 6200/6600 should be 128-bit, while Radeon 9700+/Geforce 6800 should be 256-bit. Do not buy a card with a 64-bit memory bus.

Thats funny... Futureshop being honest. Everything there is extreamly way over priced. To save a few bucks I'd suggest going to a smaller shop actually deicated to hardware.

Do some online searching for what you want, then some price checks of stores in the area.

For my "WinFast PX6600GT 128MB GDDR3 TDH PCI-Express 16x (retail) SLi Ready" the cheapest place to buy it was in Mississauga (Ontario) for $249 CND before tax. Other places were charging up to $300 (like Futureshop, I looked at their prices when I bought this card, their 6800's are expensive as well).

Its the last place I buy anything.

If you live in the South Ontario area, here is the store I bought the card from. Decent prices for a lot of hardware. Great if you aren't an internet buyer like myself. (Just remember, all prices are Canadian.)

http://www.infonec.com/vc.htm

hmm im going to remember that next time im in toronto. 45min drives in traffc arent fun.

BTW, as both an Nvidia and ATI user, Geforce 6800 Ultra > Any ATI card. Just thought I'd settle that little thing straight.

This thread hijack will now self-destruct in 5... 4... 3...