OT: Deciding on a new graphics card - Page 2

narf poit chez BOOM · #11 February 21st, 2008, 12:40 AM

I'm currently looking at this one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130319

Can it support two monitors?

Fyron · #12 February 21st, 2008, 01:09 AM

99% of video cards these days have two VGA or DVI (simple, bundled adapter to connect VGA monitor here) outputs. Even budget-range 8xxx cards have em (though they might cheap out with DVI + VGA). For the card you linked, look at the Specifications tab; it shows 2 DVI under Ports. You can also see on the picture that it has 2 DVI ports, as well as a S-Video out.

The 8800GT 512MB is a very solid card, and about the most expensive card you'll get before the price/performance ratio starts going to infinity.

"So I could buy a PCE-E 2.0 card and it would work with the PCI-E 1.0 slot? "

Yep.

narf poit chez BOOM · #13 February 21st, 2008, 02:36 AM

Thanks, all. Looks like I found my new card.

One question left: How long until the price goes down, or has it already gone down?

Fyron · #14 February 21st, 2008, 02:49 AM

That's about how much a 8800GT 512MB cost back in December (though you had to find it on sale or pay an extra $40).

tesco samoa · #15 February 21st, 2008, 09:28 AM

Narf.

Since your near them.

Did you check out directcanada.com or ncix.com

They have had some great sales on 8600GT and 8800GT

Last week there was a 320MB 8800GT for 149 dollars. I would wait it out until a 512MB one goes for your max price.

Fyron · #16 February 21st, 2008, 03:42 PM

New review of 9600GT (mid-range 9xxx card), comparing it to 8600GTS and 8800GT and ATI HD 3850 and 3870.

http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardw...0gt-review.ars

narf poit chez BOOM · #17 February 21st, 2008, 04:58 PM

Fyron: So the prices aren't expected to drop?

Tesco: Thanks for the references.

I'll have to compare to store prices.

Fyron: Looks like the only advantages of the 9600 are price and lower power consumption.

PvK · #18 February 23rd, 2008, 05:44 AM

Yes, Vista sabotage features. If anyone's paranoid, it's the likes of media megacorps and M$. As in, requiring hardware to support shutting down or reduced fidelity of audio/visual media if systems think they detect DRM issues, as has been discussed and articles cited on this forum about the time Vista came out. The "word" has been out since then - how could you forget it?

And no, not all the 8xxx cards are faster than all 7xxx cards. When I researched that point a few months ago, the advantage was for the 8xxx series unless one coveted the DX10 (Vista only) support.

Hence my inquiry.

Quote:

Fyron said:
PvK said:
"Eh, but the Geforce 8000+ series cards all have features which are for Vista only, not to mention the Vista sabotage features. So for those of us who have no intention of running Vista, the GeForce cards to consider are still the 7000-series. No?"

Vista sabotage features??? Rampant paranoia much? Nvidia and ATI (AMD) have absolutely no incentive to "sabotage" anything; no amount of money from MS would convince them otherwise, since they would lose so much more money from poor sales when word got out...

The 8xxx series cards are a lot faster than 7xxx, and 9xxx will be a lot faster still. 8xxx and 9xxx support DX10, yes, but they still do DX9 a lot faster than the 7xxx cards.

Fyron · #19 February 23rd, 2008, 02:58 PM

Fast 8xxx cards (G92 GPU especially) are faster than the 7xxx line. Naturally, there are gimped cards for the low to mid ranges that won't be as fast as the highest end 7xxx cards, due to the insane amount of market segmentation GPU makers run.

==0==

HDCP is hardly a "Vista sabotage feature." It will come into play in any OS, including XP, Mac OS X, and Linux (unless you use DMCA-illegal cracking software). It's not Microsoft/Nvidia/ATI/Intel 's fault that the movie studios force encryption, and you can't hardly blame them for wanting their OS/hardware to not be gimped and unable to play the latest media. The movie studios wouldn't give a damn if MS/Nvidia tried to take a stand and refused to support HDCP; they would probably prefer no support at all for computer playback, since it only leads to piracy in their eyes. Either piss off the movie studios that don't care, or piss off your customer base... hell of a choice. Of course, HDCP support doesn't matter in the slightest if you are not playing Blu-ray or HD-DVD movies, making it not much of a reason to stop buying newer video cards. Vista's protected media path doesn't come into the picture without ridiculously DRMed content.

Luckily the music industry has seen the light about DRM; hopefully the movie industry will some day, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

luke_slovakian · #20 February 23rd, 2008, 03:47 PM

I don't mean to be a bumm and nock you guys off but if you're going midrange get the 8800 GT if you don't want that get the 7950. IF you can afford 340 get the 8800 GTS w/ 640 megs ram and later add on the top cooler for 30 bucks which takes up another slot opening on the comp. The 8800 work on xp they are not only vista. I know this b/c my friend had 7950, 8600 (NEVER GET THIS ONE, IT SUCKS the 7950 is much better), 8800 ultras. Furthermore my friend also works for Nvidea. If you wish i can ask him what he recommends for your setup. But i would get a 8800 GTS w/ 640 ram and in few years buy another and SlI it to run any new games that are out, or the 7950. Take care and good luck