Budget Graphics card. opinions wanted

I want a new pci express graphics card for a conroe system i plan on building later this month. Anyways, im gunna put a majority of my money into the cpu, so i have about 100-150 dollars to spend. these are the three main competitors but other opinions would be appreciated

1. Sapphire ATI X850XT - $119 (open box) from new egg

2. XFX 6800XT - $99 from newegg

3. any 7600 gt under 150 dollars

i am leaning towards the X850XT, but i would like somebody elses opinions.
Thanks

yeah, I'd say between those, go with the X850XT

7600gt is slightly faster and supports sm 3.0 and has better features, and is better for future games, speed on 7600gt makes up for the lacking memory n pipes.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/03/21/bfg_7600_gt_oc_ati_x1800gto/5.html

id go with the 7600gt

redrumy3 said:

7600gt is slightly faster and supports sm 3.0 and has better features, and is better for future games, speed on 7600gt makes up for the lacking memory n pipes.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/03/21/bfg_7600_gt_oc_ati_x1800gto/5.html

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...If you just want to play FEAR...x850PRO/XT/PE is still a pretty good card...7600GT is basicly just a 6800GT but higher clocks...6800GT high clocked vs x850XT w/ good clocks are on par with each other.

ziggo0 said:

...If you just want to play FEAR...x850PRO/XT/PE is still a pretty good card...7600GT is basicly just a 6800GT but higher clocks...6800GT high clocked vs x850XT w/ good clocks are on par with each other.

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yes but like i said 7600gt has newest features so i would get that over x850 . dont get me wrong the x850 is a nice card for the price but i rather spend a tad more to have sm3.0 and newer features

I'd recommend that if you're a gamer you go one step lower on the Conroe (ie get an E6600 instead of E6700) and get a 7900GT (you can find deals and get them for close to $250)

I was planning on going with a E6600 to begin with cause i think the extra 70-80 bucks is worth it for the 2.4 clock speed and the 4mb shared cache. afterall, isnt the shared cache the major selling point for conroe?

BTW, i have seen a couple 7900gt's in the 220-240 price range.

I'd get teh cheapest conroe and use that money for x1900xt. You could save even more if you bought a 3800 X2 for $150 and use that money for the x1900xt.

AMD is cutting their CPU prices by 50% on average next week.

You can get x1900xt's for little over $300 now open box.

Wait if you can if not amd might be a good option

If I were you I would wait for awhile. Right now conroe is not out, in most stores, and it will take some time for the staggered lanch to get the part you need to places like monarch, zipzoomfly, and newegg let anlone at a non inflated price.That alone is not so bad, the problem with conroe is the intel chipsets out now. I personally am going to wait for ATi's offering and possibly nVidia's, although the ati chipset looks to be the better of the two as nVidia's intel chipsets have been poor overclockers in the past. Also these crap intel chipsets are going to cost a bundle as well the 975x boards out now usually cost more then 220 and most dont support conroe without a bios flash; were as a good amd combo would cost a lot less.

If I had to have a computer now I would still buy amd just because of the low price of a cpu + chipset, and a good card to boot, but that would only work for instant gratification. In a few months an amd will look slow by compairison for the same price. Dont be like the 805 people wait if you can it will be worth it. If you can wait that long then new ati and nvidia cards will be around the corner most likely trashing all current gen cards for a similar price. And if you dont want the new cards todays current top performers will surely fall in price.

Im facing this same problem as well so im just keeping myself occupied for the moment by working on a phase cooler just so I dont feel the need to go out and buy the conroe I so desperately want.

He sure is good at herding sheep....

After that, I think I have enuff courage to hold out for another 6 months. Wonder how many phase coolers one can fix tho. :/

What I said before in relation to graphics cards was, or could be, partly wrong as new graphics cards may hit stores after good chipsets do. But never-the-less by the time good chipsets are here, for conroe, all current prices on graphics cards should fall.

also it shouldnt take 6 months for the good chipsets to come out......... hopefully..

sorry this is more then somewhat off topic but just a side note: spending alot of money on good, meaning low latency, ram may be a bad idea on conroe.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2006/07/18/core_2_duo_memory_timings/1.html

anything to save people some money

X850xt Its a good card...I cant believe how damn cheap it is now. I paid 350 bucks for it no more than 6 months ago. XD Oh well thats life I guess

I would go for the x1800GTO or the XT...why nVidia cards are so damm expensive!!

beau_safken said:

X850xt Its a good card...I cant believe how damn cheap it is now. I paid 350 bucks for it no more than 6 months ago. XD Oh well thats life I guess

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I've been posting this link way to much recently but oh well.. If you have a crossfire mobo and run at 1600x1200 or less you could pick up a crossfire master card for only 139 shipped. http://shop.ati.com/product.asp?sku=3019316

Douken said:

I would go for the x1800GTO or the XT...why nVidia cards are so damm expensive!!

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the x1800GTO is only worth picking up if you think you can unlock it, and can get it for the same price as the 7600gt which online is always cheaper then the x1800GTO (sometimes mail in rebates bring the price down but often to only 170). The performace compairison between the two is the usual ati nvidia trade off. Also the x1800gto is so Dam* big and draws a lot more power.

If you are going x1800 series you might as well shell out the extra cash for a x1800xt IMO

the x850xt can be had for less then the 7600gt but is usually louder. Cant go wrong with either. If you can accept open box get the x850xt.

Thiers a bunch of new stuff comming out around xmas. Both ati and nvidia wil be releasing new series of cards, new chipsets, vista. This is really like buying a car, you buy a bran new 05 than in one month the 06's come out and your 05 is now crap but sometimes you just really need a car now.