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Thread ID: 81185 2007-07-19 13:17:00 Recommendations for the best value video card around $150 bigburger (9465) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
570349 2007-07-20 13:36:00 i think the best desicion is 8600GT. Rover (93)
570350 2007-07-20 15:10:00 On the tomshardware website, there is a very recent article (written this month) where they have recommended the best gaming video card at each price level .

Here is the link . tomshardware . com/2007/07/03/the_best_gaming_video_cards_for_the_money/page2 . html" target="_blank">www . tomshardware . com

In US dollars . . . at the sub $100 level they have suggested the GeForce 7300 GT DDR2 .

1) What is this video card like?

2) How much of an upgrade is it over my current X300se?

3) How would it fare with new games such as Test Drive Unlimited - would I be able to play at a resolution such as 1152 x 864 and would I be able to turn on HDR? (with my current video card I don't even have the option to turn on HDR)

4) I can get this card locally for about $110 NZ dollars . Does that price represent decent value?

5) How much performance difference would there be between the 7300 GT and 8600 GT considering the price difference? 		bigburger (9465)
570351 2007-07-21 07:27:00 This chart has some comparisons. www23.tomshardware.com
With 7300, I guess you may need to upgrade again in a year or two if you want to play new games. 		developer (4447)
570352 2007-07-21 14:31:00 8600GT is definitely the best of all of them, wouldn't go anything lower on the 8 Series though, 8500/8400 etc are a joke.

The 8600GT will work fine on XP, but as XP doesn't support DX 10 you won't be able to use it. Currently only vista supports it, but I think most games can run under XP (just don't have DX10 features)

7600GT isn't too bad either though, if you wanted to save money.

a 7300, only if it's a GT, but I think most have 64-Bit RAM, which is quite sad, don't think it's much of an improvement over an X300 really 		Agent_24 (57)
570353 2007-07-22 10:10:00 Well I play games for about 5 hours a week max, so not really a hardcore gamer . And I have no idea if I will even be playing games 2 years down the track, as I am playing a lot less games now than I did 1 or 2 years ago . Also, 2 years down the track, the rest of my computer will probably be too old to play new games .

I looked it up on the nVidia website . It says that 7300GT is 128-bit while the GS, LE, SE are 64-bit .

I can get a "Gigabyte" 7300GT for about $110 from PB Tech . Would that be a good deal? I'm hoping there is scope for some overclockability as well?

And if anyone has first hand experience with this model, then please let me know! - what games you have played with it, what settings you use, what framerates you get etc . 		bigburger (9465)
570354 2007-07-23 07:46:00 www.hardwarezone.com

Is a good review on the gigabyte 7300GT from PB Tech, choose for yourself, but it looks to be not too bad a card at all, but overclocking looks a bit limited 		Agent_24 (57)
570355 2007-07-23 09:44:00 So for about $10 more, the 8600 GT is a better buy than the 7600 GT? I went to a local PC store today and the guy there seemed to know everythign about naything to do with computers. He also recommended the 8600 for this particular game as opposed to the 8500 which I was otherwise looking at.

I am running Windows XP, so the Direct X 10 card will still be compatible right? And am I right in assuming that for the same price, nVidia cards are better than ATI cards?

That question is far too loaded for a finite answer! Their are several variables to consider, DX API, Resolution/AA?AF required/desired/needed & lastly the game engine.
Sorry, but its not an easy answer, broadly speaking is if you take DX9 out of the equation, ATI x195x series have the best performance & IQ, but require the top 80% of PSU to drive it which, MOST pc's wont have so cost additional money to setup, nvidia 79xx series are probably the best bang for the buck. 		SolMiester (139)
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