express cards

[teh anarchist]

I just got a new pc .. 3.4 ghz intel intel with hyperthreading (that comp with 512 less memory).. just ridiculous .. but it has a radeon X300 graphics card ($97 on newegg) and it's just shitty .. can't touch the radeon 8500 in my old machine, but I can't replace it with the 8500 because it's not an express card.

soo anyways, I've got no more than $180 to spend on a graphics card that has to be an express card.
Any suggestions?

also, I have 512 ram in the machine and am planning on playing cs source, doom 3, etc. Should I buy more memory as well?

Thanks

 

[Fire_ze_Missles]

More ram is never a bad idea. As for video-cards, try looking into the nVidia 6600 GT series. I personally like nVidia over ATI; but that's only because nVidia has a cooler name.

 

[Descent]

I personally like nVidia over ATI; but that's only because nVidia has a cooler name.

That's a good reason .

If I were you, I would save up a bit more cash and buy a 6600GT. They are only a few bucks more...however, if you want to play DirectX games that are heavy in shaders, such as FarCry (Believe it or not!), then an X700 XT will be a better choice. It has six vertex pipelines, as opposed to the 6600GT's four, and the X700 outperforms the 6800 by a fair amount in the jungle portions of the game.

EDIT: WHOOPS, I MEANT A 6600GT. MY BAD!

 

[Fire_ze_Missles]

That's a good reason .

When I don't know much about the guts of a video card, it is a great reason. Haha!

The only thing I strike against nVidia, is that they do not make their own "nVidia brand videocard" such as ATI does. I prefer to buy things direct from the maker of the gpu, instead of through a vendor, speaking of, what's a good vendor to purchase from, i.e. Gigabyte, Asus, XFX, etc. ?

 

[teh anarchist]

is it worth the 20 bucks to get the x700 new or is the refurb just as good?

 

[Fire_ze_Missles]

Twenty bucks is not really anything. Go for the new, IMO.

 

[Hypertron]

yeah x700 is a good card i was gonna get that but i didn't have a pci express so i had to go with a x800 pro...darn.

 

[teh anarchist]

I've been readin up a bit on it .. and apparently it won't pull through with the newer games ... I think I'm gonna wait a few months and live with low res for now cause I really don't see the point in shelling out $200 for a card that in 6 months will have a more future-game-friendly replacement for the same price .. if I'm wrong on this, please correct me and I'll take the x700 .. but I just don't wanna be pissed for feeling like I wasted money

 

[Descent]

You are not wasting money on that card. I have a 9700 Pro and I can play all my games maxed out at 1024x768 flawlessly...The X700 XT has even more power, around 30%, and it will last you a good two years, IMO.

Don't forget that the 9700 Pro has had the longest lifespan of any card around. It was released a good two years ago, and was so ahead of it's time that it is still an excellent card today. ATI is my favorite GPU company because they are always upping the design ante. Not many people know this, but the X800 was a finished product MONTHS before the 6800 was even completed. They purposely sat on it until nVidia released their 6800 series for some unknown reason, but since nobody can design a new chip in about 1 month (Even if it is just a souped up version of an older card, in this place the 9800 Pro), that really does prove that it was designed earlier. You have to get things such as board design, BIOS programming, and heat dissipation down before you can release a chip.

Anyway, I would recommend the X700 XT, it is a very good card at a very good price.

 

[misterwaffulz]

WHY did I not see this yesterday? I just bought an 8x agp 6800.

...and I was careless at looking at the packaging, because it was the 128 mb and not the 256 that UI thought it was (FUCKING PEOPLE NOT PUTTING BOXES WHERE THEY BELONG). I haven't built it yet (still waiting for the ram) but I can't wait. The only thing that might suck is my athlon 3000+ because I coulda got a 3400 for just a little more (damn I'm stupid)

 

[Fire_ze_Missles]

WHY did I not see this yesterday? I just bought an 8x agp 6800.

...and I was careless at looking at the packaging, because it was the 128 mb and not the 256 that UI thought it was (FUCKING PEOPLE NOT PUTTING BOXES WHERE THEY BELONG). I haven't built it yet (still waiting for the ram) but I can't wait. The only thing that might suck is my athlon 3000+ because I coulda got a 3400 for just a little more (damn I'm stupid)

Well if you had looked yesterday, you would have realized that the site was down. So, either way, you would have gotten screwed.

 

[Descent]

Fire_ze_Missles, I tend to recommend Asus and Gainward for nVidia cards, because they are the best of the best. For ATI I recommend them as well as Power Color, and Asus.