upgrading video card

duder · 02-10-2005, 08:56 PM

OK,,it's about time I upgraded my video card. I'm possibly gonna go for the XFX 6600GT 128mb card. The 6800 series cards are still a little too pricey for me. Will I have any problems with this card in my system? Will my system be a bottleneck for this card? I have an extra power plug for the card so that's a go. Just not sure if the Antec TruePower 430w PSU is big enough. See specs below for the rest of my system. Whatdoya'll think?

John64 · 02-10-2005, 09:19 PM

i have a silimar system, and i havent put my 6800 in it to benchmakr, but i would think that is fine, i would suggest another manufacture though as there are a lot of quality control issues with XFX i hear.

I think a video card upgrade will make a bigger change than a whole system update without video upgrade.

Once i moved my 9800Pro from my p4 2.8 to my P2 400 and i only lost 2000 3D Mark 2003 points, i was still out benching my friend with the same chip/mobo and a 9600Pro

duder · 02-10-2005, 09:30 PM

so what brand would you recommend for the 6600GT?

John64 · 02-10-2005, 09:33 PM

well i would go for leadtek, asus, eVGA, BFG. I really recomend eVGA. i got there NVTV and it was such a good card i would recomend them, but my video is a BFG, and its a good card. About asus, they use non reference boards on their 6800GT's that have a worse power circuit for ocing, and dont allow the NV5 to be installed, but thats not an issue for you. The thing thats really anoying about the asus card is you cant monitor temps properly

duder · 02-10-2005, 10:03 PM

I might still go for the XFX and just put a better HSF on it. I've heard that these cards can overclock very well,,and if I were to put better cooling on it I might be able to get a little bit more out of it. I'm just trying to stay away from the $230+ range and stay down to around $200

John64 · 02-10-2005, 10:27 PM

i have heard things other than HSF, from what i know the xfx have serious pcb quality issues, i personally dont trust Pine Group of companies, yes Pine Tech owns XFX, that wonderful rebrander for RadioShack and the sort, i use the 10 foot pole theory on XFX and pine, but again this is only personal. i dont meen to offend and i am sorry if i do/did

duder · 02-11-2005, 08:18 PM

i'd like to get some more input about this card from other people. If they have one or know someone that has had one. Anybody with personal experience would be good...

John64 · 02-11-2005, 10:22 PM

about the XFX, none from me, but the BFG is a great card, and i have been 100% satisfied with it

Deer Slayer · 02-12-2005, 01:42 PM

First, they switch to that POS heatsink, and some of them have bad memory on them that won't OC to 1100 mhz even. Some have a hard time running @ 1ghz! Appearantly they are back to OK, except for the heatsink, but you could get hosed with a dud. Plus some revisions don't support temp monitoring, they didn't want you to know how bad their heatsink is! I don't see the point in taking the risk on a POS. Once you pull the heatsink, the warranty is hosed, and you're left with a $200 paperweight if something goes wrong. Now, I have the XFX 6600GT original revision, and it's a nice card. It has the Nvidia reference cooler which is way better than the square POS they say is supposed to be better. They probably didn't want to pay Nvidia money for the patent on their cooler, and switched to their own. It didn't work as planned so they disabled temperature monitoring in the card's bios to keep people in the dark. Personally, I just can't see buying a card from a company like that. You could go for the gigabyte card, it's $199.99 @ zipzoomfly, which is a nice price, and a decent card. Second choice is leadtek for $219.99 (actually first choice, but price is an issue). Your system is fine, and that card will perform great in there. You don't have anything that hogs power like a prescott, so I think you'll be fine with that PSU. The 6600GT isn't any more power hungry than a 9700 pro. STAY AWAY FROM XFX

.

Cogar · 02-12-2005, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by duder

OK,,it's about time I upgraded my video card. I'm possibly gonna go for the XFX 6600GT 128mb card. The 6800 series cards are still a little too pricey for me. Will I have any problems with this card in my system? Will my system be a bottleneck for this card? I have an extra power plug for the card so that's a go. Just not sure if the Antec TruePower 430w PSU is big enough. See specs below for the rest of my system. Whatdoya'll think?

The Antec TruePower 430W will be fine. That is what I use. Since you are already using an NVIDIA card, installation should be smooth. I would also recommend looking at the MSI card. I wrote an informal installation guide and review for it here:
MSI NX6600GT AGP Installation & Review

duder · 02-12-2005, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deer Slayer

You could go for the gigabyte card, it's $199.99 @ zipzoomfly, which is a nice price, and a decent card. .

could you post a link to this card on zipzoomfly. I went to their site and could not find it.

Deer Slayer · 02-12-2005, 06:22 PM

Not to confuse you more, but there's an Aopen 6600GT @ newegg for $215 + $4 shipping. The cooler is covers the ram too though on those cards, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra $20. I'd just get the gigabyte card @ ZipZoomFly and be done with it. It's a very good card, and I like gigabyte's quality. Good luck, and I hope it performs well for you. You should be as fast or faster than me with that rig

.

John64 · 02-12-2005, 10:29 PM

are the reference 6800GT any good at cooling my ram, i seem to hit a wall at around 1150, after that its imediate artifacting. I have 2.0ns Samsung ram

Deer Slayer · 02-13-2005, 02:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by John64

are the reference 6800GT any good at cooling my ram, i seem to hit a wall at around 1150, after that its imediate artifacting. I have 2.0ns Samsung ram

I really don't know if the stock 6800GT cooler cools very well, especially the ram. I think 1150 is pretty good, some people don't make it to 1ghz even. I've seen speeds up to 1250 though too. I consider myself lucky with 1188 mhz, that's good enough for me. My card has the same 2.0ns samsung DDR3 ram. Personally, I think that anything over 1100 mhz is pretty good. I dunno, this DDR3 doesn't seem to handle overclocking like the ram used to. I've heard of a lot of dead video cards as of late, and most have been bad memory. I'm running 550/1150 for every day use, and my temps went down to 69c on the GPU. I just didn't see that much imprvement pushing every last MHZ out of it, and it seems to run a little smoother in actual gameplay like that. I'd back off on your overclock too unless you feel like parting with the dough for another 6800GT. Your lifetime warranty went with the heatsink

.

duder · 02-13-2005, 03:38 AM

yea,,I liked the look of the heatsink on the Gigabyte card on Newegg but they were a little bit pricey on it. that price at zipzoomfly is pretty good,,so that's the one I will probably get.

--Back to finishing up my install of Linux Redhat 9. OHHHH this is gonna be so much fun to learn...

Now I think i'm gonna go for the BFG 6600GT OC card, still looking at reviews

02-10-2005, 08:56 PM	#1
duder Registered User Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Florida Posts: 182	upgrading video card OK,,it's about time I upgraded my video card. I'm possibly gonna go for the XFX 6600GT 128mb card. The 6800 series cards are still a little too pricey for me. Will I have any problems with this card in my system? Will my system be a bottleneck for this card? I have an extra power plug for the card so that's a go. Just not sure if the Antec TruePower 430w PSU is big enough. See specs below for the rest of my system. Whatdoya'll think? __________________ ---------------------------------------------------- A7N8X-E deluxe (Trats 1013 CPC on modded BIOS) XP3000+ Barton (2167mhz @ 2417mhz)(186x13) Kingston 2x512mb (Dual Channel) valueram (PC3200) XFX GeForce 6600GT ATI TV card Western Digital 160gb HD DVD & CDRW Sound Blaster(Audigy 2zs) Logitech Z-640 speakers ---------------------------------------------------
(Offline)

02-10-2005, 09:19 PM	#2
John64 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 4,450	i have a silimar system, and i havent put my 6800 in it to benchmakr, but i would think that is fine, i would suggest another manufacture though as there are a lot of quality control issues with XFX i hear. I think a video card upgrade will make a bigger change than a whole system update without video upgrade. Once i moved my 9800Pro from my p4 2.8 to my P2 400 and i only lost 2000 3D Mark 2003 points, i was still out benching my friend with the same chip/mobo and a 9600Pro __________________
(Offline)

02-10-2005, 09:30 PM	#3
duder Registered User Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Florida Posts: 182	so what brand would you recommend for the 6600GT? __________________ ---------------------------------------------------- A7N8X-E deluxe (Trats 1013 CPC on modded BIOS) XP3000+ Barton (2167mhz @ 2417mhz)(186x13) Kingston 2x512mb (Dual Channel) valueram (PC3200) XFX GeForce 6600GT ATI TV card Western Digital 160gb HD DVD & CDRW Sound Blaster(Audigy 2zs) Logitech Z-640 speakers ---------------------------------------------------
(Offline)

02-10-2005, 09:33 PM	#4
John64 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 4,450	well i would go for leadtek, asus, eVGA, BFG. I really recomend eVGA. i got there NVTV and it was such a good card i would recomend them, but my video is a BFG, and its a good card. About asus, they use non reference boards on their 6800GT's that have a worse power circuit for ocing, and dont allow the NV5 to be installed, but thats not an issue for you. The thing thats really anoying about the asus card is you cant monitor temps properly __________________
(Offline)

02-10-2005, 10:03 PM	#5
duder Registered User Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Florida Posts: 182	I might still go for the XFX and just put a better HSF on it. I've heard that these cards can overclock very well,,and if I were to put better cooling on it I might be able to get a little bit more out of it. I'm just trying to stay away from the $230+ range and stay down to around $200 __________________ ---------------------------------------------------- A7N8X-E deluxe (Trats 1013 CPC on modded BIOS) XP3000+ Barton (2167mhz @ 2417mhz)(186x13) Kingston 2x512mb (Dual Channel) valueram (PC3200) XFX GeForce 6600GT ATI TV card Western Digital 160gb HD DVD & CDRW Sound Blaster(Audigy 2zs) Logitech Z-640 speakers ---------------------------------------------------
(Offline)

02-10-2005, 10:27 PM	#6
John64 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 4,450	i have heard things other than HSF, from what i know the xfx have serious pcb quality issues, i personally dont trust Pine Group of companies, yes Pine Tech owns XFX, that wonderful rebrander for RadioShack and the sort, i use the 10 foot pole theory on XFX and pine, but again this is only personal. i dont meen to offend and i am sorry if i do/did __________________
(Offline)

02-11-2005, 08:18 PM	#7
duder Registered User Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Florida Posts: 182	i'd like to get some more input about this card from other people. If they have one or know someone that has had one. Anybody with personal experience would be good... __________________ ---------------------------------------------------- A7N8X-E deluxe (Trats 1013 CPC on modded BIOS) XP3000+ Barton (2167mhz @ 2417mhz)(186x13) Kingston 2x512mb (Dual Channel) valueram (PC3200) XFX GeForce 6600GT ATI TV card Western Digital 160gb HD DVD & CDRW Sound Blaster(Audigy 2zs) Logitech Z-640 speakers ---------------------------------------------------
(Offline)

02-11-2005, 10:22 PM	#8
John64 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 4,450	about the XFX, none from me, but the BFG is a great card, and i have been 100% satisfied with it __________________
(Offline)

02-12-2005, 01:42 PM	#9
Deer Slayer Unscanable!!! Tatoo??? Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Howell Michigan Posts: 3,847	I would stay away from XFX. First, they switch to that POS heatsink, and some of them have bad memory on them that won't OC to 1100 mhz even. Some have a hard time running @ 1ghz! Appearantly they are back to OK, except for the heatsink, but you could get hosed with a dud. Plus some revisions don't support temp monitoring, they didn't want you to know how bad their heatsink is! I don't see the point in taking the risk on a POS. Once you pull the heatsink, the warranty is hosed, and you're left with a $200 paperweight if something goes wrong. Now, I have the XFX 6600GT original revision, and it's a nice card. It has the Nvidia reference cooler which is way better than the square POS they say is supposed to be better. They probably didn't want to pay Nvidia money for the patent on their cooler, and switched to their own. It didn't work as planned so they disabled temperature monitoring in the card's bios to keep people in the dark. Personally, I just can't see buying a card from a company like that. You could go for the gigabyte card, it's $199.99 @ zipzoomfly, which is a nice price, and a decent card. Second choice is leadtek for $219.99 (actually first choice, but price is an issue). Your system is fine, and that card will perform great in there. You don't have anything that hogs power like a prescott, so I think you'll be fine with that PSU. The 6600GT isn't any more power hungry than a 9700 pro. STAY AWAY FROM XFX .
(Offline)

02-12-2005, 06:22 PM	#12
Deer Slayer Unscanable!!! Tatoo??? Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Howell Michigan Posts: 3,847	Here's a linky, good choice. Not to confuse you more, but there's an Aopen 6600GT @ newegg for $215 + $4 shipping. The cooler is covers the ram too though on those cards, but I'm not sure it's worth the extra $20. I'd just get the gigabyte card @ ZipZoomFly and be done with it. It's a very good card, and I like gigabyte's quality. Good luck, and I hope it performs well for you. You should be as fast or faster than me with that rig .
(Offline)

02-12-2005, 10:29 PM	#13
John64 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2003 Posts: 4,450	are the reference 6800GT any good at cooling my ram, i seem to hit a wall at around 1150, after that its imediate artifacting. I have 2.0ns Samsung ram __________________
(Offline)

02-13-2005, 03:38 AM	#15
duder Registered User Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Florida Posts: 182	yea,,I liked the look of the heatsink on the Gigabyte card on Newegg but they were a little bit pricey on it. that price at zipzoomfly is pretty good,,so that's the one I will probably get. --Back to finishing up my install of Linux Redhat 9. OHHHH this is gonna be so much fun to learn... Now I think i'm gonna go for the BFG 6600GT OC card, still looking at reviews __________________ ---------------------------------------------------- A7N8X-E deluxe (Trats 1013 CPC on modded BIOS) XP3000+ Barton (2167mhz @ 2417mhz)(186x13) Kingston 2x512mb (Dual Channel) valueram (PC3200) XFX GeForce 6600GT ATI TV card Western Digital 160gb HD DVD & CDRW Sound Blaster(Audigy 2zs) Logitech Z-640 speakers --------------------------------------------------- Last edited by duder; 02-13-2005 at 01:08 PM.. Reason: change of plans
(Offline)

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Switch to Threaded Mode