VGA upgrade - opinions are welcome

WizaRd

Time to upgrade my VGA in order to run the newest games.

my modest system is the following:

AMD64 3000+
2GB Corsair DDr Ram
MSI K8Neo4 motherboard
Inno3D GeForce PCX 6600 256MB

my budget is around $200 - i do not want to buy myself a new PC, i just want to run games on medium details at 1024x768 resolution without a pain in the ass (ya3neh FPS 35+)

I have the following VGas in mind

Jetway Geforce PCX 8600GT 512MB DDR3 w/TV $175.00
eVGA GeForce PCX 8600GT 512MB DDR3 $193.5 (www.quantum.cc)
Inno3D Geforce PCX 8600GT 512MB DDR3 w/TV $233.00
Inno3D Geforce PCX 8600GT 512MB w/TV $163.00

first question: will they run fine on my motherboard ? (theoricaly they should)

2nd question: there is a ~ $64 difference on final price between Jetway and Inno3D 512MB DDr3 cards and $20 between the Jetway and eVGA... i looked them all up on the internet and they all have same clock speed etc etc

So what is the real difference between them other than the brand name ? I am concerned with performance.. I have used all 3 brands before but i have no real clue which is better performance-wise.

Any suggestion ?

No, i am not an ATI fan :)

mir

well i can't offer you proper hardware advice
it depends on what games u playin and what new games will be on the market soon that you want to play

but.. here is something intresting you should read :P once you are done with playing

A technique for cracking computer passwords using inexpensive off-the-shelf computer graphics hardware is causing a stir in the computer security community.

Elcomsoft, a software company based in Moscow, Russia, has filed a US patent for the technique. It takes advantage of the "massively parallel processing" capabilities of a graphics processing unit (GPU) - the processor normally used to produce realistic graphics for video games.

Using an $800 graphics card from nVidia called the GeForce 8800 Ultra, Elcomsoft increased the speed of its password cracking by a factor of 25, according to the company's CEO, Vladimir Katalov. The toughest passwords, including those used to log in to a Windows Vista computer, would normally take months of continuous computer processing time to crack using a computer's central processing unit (CPU). By harnessing a $150 GPU - less powerful than the nVidia 8800 card - Elcomsoft says they can be cracked in just three to five days. Less complex passwords can be retrieved in minutes, rather than hours or days.

I'm encouraged that we're finally able to harness all that video silicon to do useful things beyond rendering Doom at 60 frames per second with anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering. :D

WizaRd

LOL mir :D

ana bhannikeh 3al information hehehehehe i have no intension of using it for such activities :P

The thing i am trying to point out is that in the end it is the same nVidia chip on all these cards right ? (weinkoun hardware guys ???? :D ) Only its with a different manufacturer... the roughly $60 difference has to count for something or its just like buying a Sony Vaio with the same specs as a Toshiba Satellite ?

One more thing, will a 8600 GT work on my motherboard ? i've just noticed they are SLI - ready but my motherboard is not.. so i guess i can have it as a single card.. like the usual.. ma heik ?

mir

ana bhannikeh 3al information hehehehehe i have no intension of using it for such activities

crackin passwords.. playin doom... crackin password.. playin doom
eumm.. wich is funnier ?
i think the best is to play doom when tired or in uni put it to crackin mode mwahahah

yeah.. pure and innocent intentions.. flyinangel walla flyinwiz ?

and by the way flyinwiz.. all the hardware ppl converted to the software side..they are busy debuggin code now :P

tigerheart-hackers

If you are only to select one of the mentiond VGAs only, go for choice no.4. You say you hate ATI, but your CPU handles it better. ATI goes better with AMD than with intel. Choice 3 is good too, might not work well with your MB, as it will decrease in performance when the heat goes up. 1&2 are almost the same as 3.

WizaRd

Umm.. choice #4 has DDR2 memory compared to the others.. DDr2 needs more power and heats more than a DDr3 and is less efficient.. so i am going to ommit it.

I am not worried about overheating issue, i have 2 extra fans inside the case and I will probably place a custom fan on the VGA card.

so since 1 & 2 are almost the same as 3.. why not i just buy #1 for the cheapest price ? I am waiting a couple weeks before making a final decision maybe someone will point out to a better offer.

Note: you can mention other graphic cards but most ATIs in this range are either DX 9 cards or are just incompetents when it comes to comparing them with nVidias... my CPU is made before the merge between AMD and ATI so it likes nVidia as much as ATI :P