8600GT - Must I?

[The_YongGrand]

Here - I'm preparing for a little bit more juice. Will using a 8600GT or its equivalent a huge jump over my current 7300GT (ddr3)?

Or I'll just skip the idea, and get the Radeon 1950 instead? They are almost the same price.

Btw, I need not any DX10 now, at least not now, or at least not next time. Will a 7300GT be fine for handling my new preordered game (Team Fortress II), or must I give a little bit more push, since I'll be also having a mini TF2 server (my deathmatch lags upon more than 4 players)? Also, I want to play some Unreal3-based game (like Rainbow6:Vegas) smoothly with max details. (no need max AA - mine's a CRT)

Must I change the card, or must I ditch the idea and let the card prices to take a huge plunge prior to getting a new one?

[Adrian Wong]

Hmm.. If you don't need DX10 support, then I would recommend something like the GeForce 7950 GT.

[The_YongGrand]

Originally Posted by Adrian Wong

Hmm.. If you don't need DX10 support, then I would recommend something like the GeForce 7950 GT.

I couldn't find the 7950 in the markets, and not even the 2nd hand auctions are spared.

The nearest option for me is 1950Pro (I've seen MSI ones and sold cheaply around RM480), but not sure whether it could be as good as the 7900 series. As I have mentioned before, I'll be doing extensive HL2 modding and also hosting my fave game server, TF2 with some more players without too much of a lag.

What do you think? Or I might be buying an 8600GT since the price is close?

[Adrian Wong]

Well, IMHO, the X1950 GT is not as good as the GeForce 7950 GT but it should still be a better option than the GeForce 8600 GT.

[jomuj]

Well, IMHO, the X1950 GT is not as good as the GeForce 7950 GT but it should still be a better option than the GeForce 8600 GT.

Sorry but i'm going to have to disagree with you there. If you do some digging around on the net you will see that allot of those cards from any manufacturer were defective. Something wrong with the chipset. Left allot of people out there unhappy. You can take a look on ebay, no one wants to touch them.

I'm getting a x1950, should be here in about 10-14days. If you can wait a bit I can see how it runs and let you know.

But it poses an interesting question, would a newer mid range card be faster than a top end last generation card.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by jomuj

Sorry but i'm going to have to disagree with you there. If you do some digging around on the net you will see that allot of those cards from any manufacturer were defective. Something wrong with the chipset. Left allot of people out there unhappy. You can take a look on ebay, no one wants to touch them.

I'm getting a x1950, should be here in about 10-14days. If you can wait a bit I can see how it runs and let you know.

But it poses an interesting question, would a newer mid range card be faster than a top end last generation card.

Hmm.. Are you referring to the GeForce 7950 GT? Or the X1950 GT?

Not necessarily. If you take a look at our review of the GeForce 8600 GTS cards, you will see that the older GeForce 7950 GT beats it flat.

[The_YongGrand]

Originally Posted by jomuj

Sorry but i'm going to have to disagree with you there. If you do some digging around on the net you will see that allot of those cards from any manufacturer were defective. Something wrong with the chipset. Left allot of people out there unhappy. You can take a look on ebay, no one wants to touch them.

I'm getting a x1950, should be here in about 10-14days. If you can wait a bit I can see how it runs and let you know.

But it poses an interesting question, would a newer mid range card be faster than a top end last generation card.

Which one are you referring to? The X1950 or the 7950? From the Extremeoverclocking forums, I read that the 7900GTs are very susceptible to getting KOed.

[jomuj]

As you may have seen in one of my other posts, I was looking for a new graphics card, I was considering getting the 7950, but i read quite a few bad things about them, take a look at these comments from new egg for example http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150223

Reading those sort of things don't exactly give you much confidence.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by The_YongGrand

Which one are you referring to? The X1950 or the 7950? From the Extremeoverclocking forums, I read that the 7900GTs are very susceptible to getting KOed.

Hmm.. I've been testing and using the GeForce 7950 GTs for sometime. Don't seem to have a problem with them. Could be a card issue, rather than a GPU one.

[Adrian Wong]

Originally Posted by jomuj

As you may have seen in one of my other posts, I was looking for a new graphics card, I was considering getting the 7950, but i read quite a few bad things about them, take a look at these comments from new egg for example http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150223

Reading those sort of things don't exactly give you much confidence.

Well, the X1950 GT isn't without its own problems either. But I suspect NVIDIA cards may have a problem with QC.

Look at Dashken's infamous GeForce 6800 GT. The card that keeps dying again.. and again.. and again. It's like a suicidal Duracell bunny of graphics cards.