Pre-AM2 Mid-Range Buyers' Guide, May 2006
by Jarred Walton on May 9, 2006 6:30 AM EST- Posted in
- Guides
Video Recommendations
Both platforms use PCI-E graphics, naturally, so at least we don't have to worry about that aspect of choosing a graphics card. Beyond that, there are a wide variety of graphics cards that are all suitable recommendations, especially depending on individual needs. If you don't care at all about gaming performance, we would still stick with a GPU that costs somewhere in the $125 range. On the low end, the Radeon X1600 and GeForce 7600 products are reasonable choices. We spent slightly more money in order to get more performance. |
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Graphics Recommendation: EVGA GeForce 7600GT CO 256MB (580/1500)
Price: $184 shipped (Retail)
For only a few dollars more than the stock 7600 GT, the EVGA 7600 GT is factory overclocked (from the default 560/1400 clock speeds). The price difference is small enough and EVGA's warranty policy is so much better than average that we feel it's a good choice. If you can't find the EVGA card in stock where you live, just about any 7600 GT should be acceptable. The performance offered is slightly better than the old 6800 GT cards overall, due to architectural enhancements. That said, there are certainly games out there (Oblivion and F.E.A.R. for example) where you will still have to turn down the detail levels in order to get acceptable frame rates. If gaming is your only passion, you might consider one of the following upgrades - and you can always cut the cost of the processor if you're trying to stay within a budget, as most games will still be GPU limited at high resolutions.
If you prefer ATI cards, for a bit more money (about $200) you can go with the X1800 GTO. In benchmarks, the GTO trades places with the 7600 GT, and both are 12 pipeline cards. Priced at around $290, you can find the 7900 GT cards. Maximum performance (with factory overclocked models) is about 50% to 75% higher than the 7600 GT, so performance scales almost linearly with price. At just over $300, you can now find X1800 XT cards on sale. They don't have all of the architectural improvements of the X1900 series, but you do get 512MB of RAM which is starting to become useful in a few games. We would say it remains a reasonable alternative to the 7900 GT, and in games like Oblivion the X1800 XT comes out on top. Going beyond the $300 range, cards like the X1900 XT/XTX and 7900 GTX are available, but that's definitely moving out of the realm of midrange components.
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Griswold - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link
Shouldnt always go for the bigger number at a similar price. There are more important numbers with PSUs than the absolute wattage.KorruptioN - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link
Even though it's only rated at 400W overall (yes, wattage is not the best indicator of overall output), it can do 30A on the +12V output alone (360W divided by 12V), which is a good amount for a non-SLI configuration. Even two 7600GTs wouldn't be enough to push this power supply past it's limits. I think it is a good all-around choice.JarredWalton - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link
I've got a system very similar to this, only with a 7800 GTX, an overclocked X2 3800+, and two 250GB hard drives... all running off a Thermaltake 410W PSU. Maximum power draw hits about 315W - and that's not even counting for PSU efficiency (i.e. that's measuring at the outlet).I mentioned several alternative PSUs that people can consider. Why do I like modular units? Sleeved cables, reduced cable clutter, and for an extra $15 I'm willing to go that route. Opinions vary, naturally - this guide is basically my opinion, after all.
IntelUser2000 - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link
Sure about that. Only 35%?? I think 35% will be the absolute minimum over Netburst in Netburst optimized apps.
peternelson - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link
Difficult to make comparisons of "same price" netburst cpu, because Intel roadmap will make FURTHER REDUCTIONS in price of 930,940,950 after Core Duo 2 launches through November.950 probably isn't going to compete with the new chips on total performance, but may not be that bad in bang for buck in comparison.
JarredWalton - Tuesday, May 9, 2006 - link
Rough estimate, and it could be more or less depending on benchmarks. Core Duo T2300 costs a bit more than Pentium D 930. Looking at *stock* performance, AutoGK encoding for example should be around 55 FPS for the 930, while the T2400 get 44 FPS. Even with a 25% boost in performance, the Core Duo 2 $210 CPU is probably going to about equal PD 930.The flipped side is that some benches (games especially) will be more than 35%. PD 920 at 2.8 GHz maxes out at 63 FPS in BF2, roughly. (Doesn't matter about resolution - 800x600 still gets ~63 FPS.) Gary got 83 FPS with T2400 at stock, and 112 at 2.8 GHz. If CD2 gives another 25%... we're looking at maybe 104 FPS for a 1.83 GHz Core Duo 2. Assuming such a chip costs $210, it's got a 65% performance advantage. :)
Anyway, I'll tweak the text slightly.