what do you think about these two video cards???

[JHZR2]

Hi,

I dont know much about video cards - crossfire, all this gaming stuff is generally unfamiliar to me...

I can build a killer machine for number crunching and mathematical modeling or other 'real' CPU-intensive things, but video cards generally arent that important there.

Anyway, Im building a machine at home that will be used for some of my PhD work (which will include the tough math stuff in some of my engineering classes), but I'd like to be able to play some computer games - likely warcraft, a flight simulator and some sort of shoot em up game too...

Anyway, Ive narrowed it down to two cards, not the top of the line $500 cards, as I cant justify that, but one is a Geforce 7300GT that is less than $100 (and has a huge heatsink but no fan), and the other is a radeon x1950xt, and is $199 after rebate.

The chepaer one runs well, and seems to get good reviews for the most part, the more expensive one gets very good reviews, but runs quite hot... Frankly Im a bit worried about its longevity if it funs so hot - maybe this isnt an issue to most.

Anyway, the cheaper:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814121021

the pricier:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102067

Which would you buy and why??? If neither, what would you get, in the
Thanks!!!

JMH

 

[1 FMF]

you didn't mention it, so I'm assuming from your links that you have a motherboard with PCI-Xpress for video, and not agp. If your budget is up to $250 then that should be more than enough.
Look for the highest:
core clock freq
memory clock freq
memory interface # bits
amount of memory
and memory type- ddr4 vs 3 vs 2.

these are the basics which will make one card better than other, and they're all on neweggs search list. Not including of course how good the drivers are, and everyone will agree if the drivers and manuf. support is garbage then the card is going to be too no matter how fast it's marketed to be. I would be weary of no-name cards with little to no reviews. Before you buy, a good idea is to make sure there is manufacturer support and they put out driver updates online.
If I had to choose the best card for a good price, I would look first at all the PCIxpress at 16x and compare prices with 128 and 256 MB memory size. For memory interface get at least 128-bit, preferably 256-bit.
Expect to pay for the GDDR4 vs GDDR3 vs GGDR2, but I would look for more RAM on the card first than looking for GDDR4 or GDDR3. Last thing to consider is if you want analog d-sub output or dvi output, or both.
I have an ATI Radeon 9800 card in my dell 3ghz, it's a 325mhz GPU clock, 580mhz memory clock speed, it has 128MB ram, and is a 256-bit card. I've been very happy with it since 1/2004 so maybe consider those numbers as a baseline. I play Unreal, grandtheftauto, and just got Tiger Woods PGA2006. All are good graphics-wise.

 

[sxg6]

I just built myself a brand new system, and this is what i put in mine.

$169 after rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150209

Right now it's at 49c at idle, and i've seen it get as high as the mid 70's when gaming.

 

[1 FMF]

these cards have 512MB of RAM, as opposed to 256,
are 256-bit cards, and have good reviews.

$209 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102075

$200 after $50 rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814103022

search on pci-x16 and 512MB RAM. leave everything else as any. You can toggle the interface between 128-bit and 256-bit to observe price.

 

[ikeepmychevytoo]

^ I could buy the Diamond only for its name, I can't see those nowadays.

I've just bought this for ~120 before taxes. Installed it and haven't install the drivers yet (whish me luck). I got Nvidia's GS7600GS partly because it wasn't overclocked and cheap. I prefered it over 7300s, guess better processors and has 128 bits instead of 64 on most brands. Overclocked version is 7600 GT. MSI was only thing avaible nearby with two DVI outlets, and they've been saying reliable for MSI brand, we'll see...

For 250 and slightly higher you should also check the PNY FX-450 FX-500 if you're into 3D modeling. However I don't know if they would work in PC as well they are for workstations. I bought MSI with childish graphics because it's compatible with Open GL 2.0, has same vertex engines (nVidia doesn't close features on lower models, just run slower -no overclock) and my entry level modeling programs wouldn't utilize any better things, but it may still be better than working with on-board VGA with D-15 anaolgue outlet. And I don't see it once installed

It also has a fan version, which I'd prefer. Having capacitors that popped in the past, for reliability-wise I just thought it's nice to have a thing that don't heavily rely on cooling from the start. ATI of the same price seems to have higher clock speeds while nVidias look more traditional, I'm not sure though if this is of any validity for long term reliability.

 

[JHZR2]

chevy,

that is roughly the specs of the asus card that I chose... the one I got was the 7300, but it was only $88 or so, and is also 128 bit.

Right now, I think Ill be waiting for a bit more price drop, and then go for the big fish, this one:
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16814122018

640MB ram, super fast, latest nvidia processors, directX10 - for games.

I dont need to visualize models per se. Most of what I do is intense calculations (but mostly 2D plots are the result), not intense visualizations - I want a good card for playing games

You'd rather have a fan-equipped video card??? I dont trust the reliability of fan equipped cards, as the fans arent replacable, and fans do seem to be very failue prone... it is kind of nice to be able to get away with passive cooling, as then Im reliant only on the more reliable large case fans.

Thanks,

JMH

 

[ikeepmychevytoo]

Well, what happened is just the opposite what I've expected from this game-card...

It smoothed out my fav. 3D modeler in this Intel-945 mainboard with Pentium D. Takes quick render within the blink of an eye, at least five times faster. AND, there was a Ford motorcars game (can't recall the exact name) and it only slightly improved. This is better for me but I was expecting the opposite, with he hopes to improve real-time renders reasonably, so at least I can use it. Maybe game can't see the drivers or direct X is not the latest edition, I'll look into that but I don't expect blacks to turn whites.

So for serious games probably it is better to wait for the prices to drop and get a better (much better) thing. Or like everyone and the store guy says at least get the GT version not the GS. Ford game is unplayable if there are many cars in the scene. There are some overclocking options though and there was a nVidia software where you can monitor the G-cpu temp.

And, DVI... well at least with the MSI drivers improvement in color trueness, not worth it (if its for DVI). LCD Sony (SDM 93) had the similar realism with the D-15 VGA input.

I prefer passive cooling, just for this particular model I'd prefer the fan version, because this thing already can cool with fins only, if fan slows or even stops it still has some fins touching the card. But the ones with the pipes are different... They look "automotive", so hard to resist

May be the question is nVidia or ATI. I've found detailed comparisons when I typed competing chipsets in Google. Good lucks for your selection.