Graphics cards.......

[Woodlouse2002]

Well, about a week ago I went and ordered certain bits of kit to get my computer up to scratch. This included an Athlon64 3500 and an nforce4 A939 motherboard.

However, with all the checking I did to make sure that the motherboard and processor were compatable I didn't think for a moment that my trusty gForce4 wouldn't bloody fit.

So, can someone tell me whether a geforce6 will fit into either a PCI or PCI-E x 16 slot, or failing that name another decent card that will.

Help!

[GeForce]

Don't under ANY circumstances buy a PCI Graphics Card. Much slower than AGP/PCI-E and completely outdated.

The GeForce 6 Series cards are available in PCI-E, one of those (I'd recommend the 6800GT) will do you very nicely. Of course, top of the range would be the 7800GT, which is also PCI-E.

Jon

[Woodlouse2002]

Right oh. I'll have to go to PC world tomorrow then. No big deal as I need some more fans anyway.

[congo]

Hi Woodlouse,

"GeForce6" isn't very specific and covers a range of cards that vary greatly. A more descriptive name is needed that identifies your actual GPU......... ie. 6600GT, and preferably the brand and model no. if you want specific info.

You do need to order a video card that is PCIe. Nothing else will do as you prolly know by now.

I'll put my 2 cents worth in here and make a couple of recommendations for the benefit of anyone else considering a similar system.

The 3500+ CPU is a reasonable choice, however, if the budget can be stretched to a 3700+, it is a superior CPU. The San Diego 3700+ core has 1mb of L2 cache ram and can be easily overclocked to extreme speeds without any further modification to the standard components. I had a 3500+ and replaced it with a 3700+, the difference with the 3700+ is that you just don't have any more delays caused by a slow CPU, it's the first time I ever saw a PC go so smooth and fast, even though the clock speed is the same as the 3500+.

The biggest bonus with the 3700+ is that the FSB speed can be wound up to turn it into a 4200+ easily, providing you don't get a dud CPU. Many owners of the San Diego cores report similar O/clocking results. If you are definitely not going to overclock, then the San Diego 4000+ is going to be the better CPU for you, it exactly the same as the 3700+ but it has a higher internal multiplier and price tag.

For those looking at buying a Dual Core CPU, the 4400+ is the minimum choice to get you the same performance as a 3700+ single core cpu where an application only uses a single cpu core. This is because the 4400+ is basically two 3700+'s taped together, which gives a combined L2 cache ram of 2 mb's, which in dual core operation will outperform just about any CPU on the market. These CPU's are almost identical to Opteron CPU's.

The L2 cache amount of 1mb per core is important. L2 cache RAM on the CPU gives the processor more onboard ram to do it's calculations with, eliminating bottlenecking on the CPU itself, a pretty important function as you can imagine.

Some people debate whether the extra L2 cache really improves performance or not, and at first, I too was skeptical after seeing some benchmark results. But after installing the 3700+, you immediately see the difference. They cpu's with 1mb of L2 cache per core are the way to go.

Next point is the video card. I'm going to be recommending a 7800GT (or a similar performing card), as a minimum spec as soon as the next series of cards are readily available and we see a price drop for the NV 7800 series.

Now some of you might think this is a bit Xtreme as a minimum, but the reason I say this is that without a 7800GT and a CPU like the 3700+ or above, you are still going to have problems with FS9 and the imminent release of FSX will no doubt be putting even more demand on our rigs.

I run a nv 6600GT on my 3700+ based system and I must conceed that it is still an inadequate Video card for FS9. I can see I'm going to be buying yet another video card in the near future to not only match up my CPU and video card, but to be able to run FSX without the jitters.

[legoalex2000]

ok ok ok....

so here's what im getting at, congo i could use your expertise, cause i wana make sure everything is good here..

so i got

+3200
1GB ram
ATI radeon X1300 512mb

any more info on my sig

was this a good combo choice?

Ramos

[Woodlouse2002]

I hear what you're saying and if money was no option that is what I'd do. I've heard good things about the gforce 6600gt and I think that it's just about affordable. Changing my processor is out of the question now. However you shall not see me complaining as I'm going to have an athlon64 3500+ where I had a 700mhz Duron before.

The reason I'm not going to go for a 7 series gpu is, not only cost, but avaliability. I havn't seen them for sale on the UK highstreet yet and as I need a gpu ASAP it ceases to be an option.

I must also add that FS9 performance is not a major factor in my life. I don't even own it.

[4_Series_Scania]

Right oh. I'll have to go to PC world tomorrow then. No big deal as I need some more fans anyway.

Noooo !!!

Not the  Land of the "Purple shirt People!"  ;D

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/ ... ns_47.html

Far better.



As for a GFX card Woody, I'd go for a PCI-Express 6600GT from Overclockers.  
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/6600_Series.html

Chat to me on MSN if you want any details as to which I'd go for.  ;)

[Woodlouse2002]

[quote]

Noooo !!!

Not the

[4_Series_Scania]

Also, could do with an MSN chat. This pc building malarky ain't as easy as it looks...

I've just got in from a night out, sorry I missed you earlier, I'll be about on MSN tomorrow (today!)

04:45AM, I need to goto bed!

[Delta_]

Look at these:
Pcworld:
6600GT
This is a bad price compared to the ones below.

Ebuyer:
6600GT

This is my choice though:
6600GT

[Fozzer]

...has anyone figured out why this thread is spreading itself over two page widths (almost!).... ...!

It involves a lot of scrolling around...!

Paul... ...!

[congo]

ok ok ok....

so here's what im getting at, congo i could use your expertise, cause i wana make sure everything is good here..

so i got

+3200
1GB ram
ATI radeon X1300 512mb

any more info on my sig

was this a good combo choice?

Ramos

Well, Ramos, without hijacking this thread too much, I would have looked at something more powerful if I had the extra money. The video card, though I'm not familiar with it, looks dodgy.   Low cost, lot's of cheap RAM, I try to warn people off this particular marketing trap. The cards are invariably inferior to a true hi performance card.

[4_Series_Scania]

[quote]

[Saitek]

...has anyone figured out why this thread is spreading itself over two page widths (almost!).... ...!

It involves a lot of scrolling around...!

Paul... ...!

Paul it is due to the huge links in the thread. It is helpful if folk put them in the tags. [url=http:www.etc ]MY link![/url ]
Just close the brackets in and there you go - nice and neat!.

[Delta_]

Paul it is due to the huge links in the thread. It is helpful if folk put them in the tags. [url=http:www.etc ]MY link![/url ]
Just close the brackets in and there you go - nice and neat!.

Sorry did not realise, i'm on a 1280x1024 display i did not notice.  I've sorted it now, and have made note for future messages.  :-[