Is a kick @ss video card really necessary????

Hi All,
All the video card tests I read push the respective cards at 1600x1200 resolution and they always use that as a benchmark. I just bought an NEC LCD1970GX 19" LCD that has a maximum resolution of 1280x1024. Do I really need a card that runs smooth at 1600x1200 or can I get away with a cheaper model.

Example, could I get the same performance from a NVIDIA 7800GT as I could with a 7800GTX or is there more to it than that? Even though the GTX is a better card I can't fully realize it's resolution.

Thoughts?

J.

If money is your primary conern I wouldnt even go that far. An $179 refurb X800PRO from ATI will play any game with alot of eye-candy @ 1600/1200 just fine.

MOney isn't really an issue. I currently have a Radeon X800XL 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card and was thinking of upgrading to the GT.............

if i were you, i wouldnt, the X800XL is good enuf for all games atm

I only bought MY 7800 GTX for bragging rights at school

Not knowing how good a x800XL is personally, I'd say stick with it. I love my 6800GT..it owns at high res + details with all games I play, I'm happy. That includes FEAR

The biggest difference between yourx800xl and a 7800gt is the ability to use a better quality of AA and be able to use it without reducing framerates to a crawl.

Travis Dawes said:

The biggest difference between yourx800xl and a 7800gt is the ability to use a better quality of AA and be able to use it without reducing framerates to a crawl.

Click to expand...

i agree 100%

I wouldn't even say thats the main benefit since you can basically max 1280x1024 on a x800 the main benefit of a super high end card is the ability to go above and beyond 1600x1200. Thats the only reason i have mine, to drive my 2001fp at 60fps.