Best Graphics card and Processor for next generation games( Present and future )

[FAZ007]

Hi. Sorry for starting a new thread as i needed some fresh opinions.

I wanna upgrade my pc ( basically processor, motherboard, ram, hardrive, graphics card)

So far I have zeroed in on

1) 2 gigs ram
2) 250 gigs hdd

I arready have a 24 inch hd monitor .. i dont need to worry abt that .. but the graphics card I hav is an ati 128mb agp card which doesnt keeps up if i wanna play games at high resolution (1600 x 1200 ) and I have 1 gig of ram

Also my processor is AMD Athlon XP 2600 .. problem is it makes so much noice that my dad wakes up from the other room when i turn my pc on

I want some opinions on processor and graphics card for next generation so I dont have to upgrade for next 2-3 years

my budget is $1000 CDN

Any suggestions here would be appreciated

 

[blackleopard92]

your processor would behave like a bottleneck for anything greater than 6200.

I am suuming u have good money to spend, since u have a 24 inch HD monitor.
And to run things smoothly at res greater than 1600x1200, u need

1.Upgrade to dual core socket AM2 AMD FX 4000+ series, or wait for intel conroe to launch.
2.Get an SLI/Crossfire motherboard. and but a 7800/7900 on SLI, or x1900/ x1950 on crossfire to game on 1600x1200 on all bell and whitsles.
Note 7800x2= single 7900.
U can always invest in 7900 if u want to save a little money.

 

[Ritwik]

I assume you would be keeping the monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers and other peripherals from your present system. This will save money and allow you to spend more generously on other components.

I would recommend the following:

1. MSI based motherboard with AMD 3800+, 4000+ or 4200+ 64bit CPU's. The motherboard should have at least 1 PCI-E 16x slot for graphics, 1 or 2 PCI-E slots and a few PCI slots. 6 or more usb ports is recommended. Most motherboards would have a decent on-board Lan card. Firewire port is required if you're into digital video work, but it may push the price up somewhat. This config will allow you to run comfortably for 3 years, and add components as required without problems.
2. 2 GB of DDR2 ram as you've said. Go for Kingston, its simply the best. This should cost you about 200 US dollars. So you can also go for 1GB DDR 2 from Kingston and then upgrade later.
3. 200-250 gb hard drive from seagate SATA architecture with 7200 RPM rating.
4. Sound card optional. Most motherboards will have a 7.1 architecture integrated sound card, but of course a sound card from creative would perform better.
5. Now here's the fun part:
For graphics, go for at least a NVidia Geforce 6600 GT in case you want to run present and future games. This card is available in 3 flavours:
with DDR 2 memory 128 MB (cheapest and reasonably good)
with DDR 2 memory 256 MB (good all round card)
with DDR 3 memory 128 MB (most expensive; outperforms 256 mb card above).

If you can stretch your budget a little or compromise by buying 1GB ram, then I would strongly recommend a 7600GT. This is perhaps the best all-round card in the market, with performance near to a 7800 but much much cheaper. Will comfortably run all games for 2-3 years at medium/high settings.

When buying a graphics card bear in mind that different manufacturers may have a wide difference in prices and consequently performance. Go for XFX cards if you are buying Nvidia based graphics solutions.

Scour the web for better deals on graphics cards. Start with http://www.extremetech.com - very good reviews of graphics cards and other components.

Go for a big cabinet with 2 fans (at least) and 450+ W power supply.

 

[blackleopard92]

warning:
6600 GT is oldie goldie.If u want next gen gaming, at 1600x1200, u want SLI/Crossfire, i.e. pairing two cards!
since ritwik is going to come again at me, so RAW FACTS:

Game :The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
it's a next gen game.


Notre these tests have been taken at 1024x786 which is far lower than 1600x1200.A card which gives 50 fps in 1024x786 would give around 30 in 1600x1200.

Before u take a look at tests.understand what those settings mean:

GPU Performance
Hig quality with bloom effect
the bar lines indicate min frame rates:

with bloom

medium quality:

with bloom

To sum up.Gefroce 6600GT is crap.nvidia 7900GTX is also worthy and Radon x1900XTX is best.

P.S.Ritwik, I have been following Hardware for 7yrs, its the only thing that can pull me off from doing Physics

 

[aussie1st]

Radon x1900XT only worthy? It topped the tables in every department, it is the best Card going around. 7900GTX was runner up or even 3rd.

 

[Brett_Lee]

Well go with an Ati Radeon at least and by looking over those graphs blackleopard92 put above you can see which ones suit you.

 

[blackleopard92]

Radon x1900XT only worthy? It topped the tables in every department, it is the best Card going around. 7900GTX was runner up or even 3rd.

Oh well, I was actualy trying to say that GeForce 7900GTX SLI is better implemented, and gives better all round performance.This test is one of lesser.

However, please note that nvidia are not known for their longetivity, ATI cards perform much well over the range of thier lifespan.Nvidia cards generally have performance drops quickly, while ATI cards are much better at fading away

This is due to better architecture of ATI cards.
Also, due to better architecture, ATI cards suffer far less performance drops when all bell and whistles are turned on.U can see that all ATi cards have higher min frame rates than nvidia

CASE Point: X1600 pro and GeForce 6600GT/7600GS.
Initially, on launch of GeForce 6600GT/7600GS, they generally performed better than/equal to x1600 pro.However,ATI claimed that 1600 is a card of future, and it is evident today, with ATI having almost 10 increase on nvidia.

x1600 pro is a great buy for lower card range, and a wothy upgrade if u want to play games on 800x600.Grab one today!
(I am going to buy 1600 in this week)

 

[kmk1284]

if you really want to play games i suggest you uy a console since you already have an 24 inch HD monitor , go for the 360 , its a good buy with all the launch bugs ironed out or if you can wait for the ps3, i wont recommend the wii for you as you have cleary stated you want to play next gen games, wii games are not next gen from the technical view but from the playing point of view they sure are

 

[FAZ007]

if you really want to play games i suggest you uy a console since you already have an 24 inch HD monitor , go for the 360 , its a good buy with all the launch bugs ironed out or if you can wait for the ps3, i wont recommend the wii for you as you have cleary stated you want to play next gen games, wii games are not next gen from the technical view but from the playing point of view they sure are

I was thinking of doing the same thing. But I ll have to upgrade ne ways for windows vista. I wanna just upgrade the graphics n processor. I hope I ll save enough money to buy the ps3. I ll get my paycheck next week. So i ll upgrade it step by step. Everyone .. thank u so much for the replies. Keep posting coz this will help other people too who wanna upgrade

 

[blackleopard92]

I was thinking of doing the same thing. But I ll have to upgrade ne ways for windows vista. I wanna just upgrade the graphics n processor. I hope I ll save enough money to buy the ps3. I ll get my paycheck next week. So i ll upgrade it step by step. Everyone .. thank u so much for the replies. Keep posting coz this will help other people too who wanna upgrade

well, I generally never go with consoles.They can't play FPS( First person shooter) or RTS( real time strategy), even RPG( Role playing games).these type of games are what I love, and they define gaming.

 

[kmk1284]

FPS- halo2 supposed to be the biggest game release ever is fps
most of the shooting segments in mgs is in fp
metroid prime is fps
virtually all major pc fps shooters are available for the consoles
bottom line consoles can more than handle fps maybe not with the precision of a pc but they do the job

RTS- reason why you dont find rts on the consoles is because simply ppl wont buy it, rts games are slow consume time and commitment. similary genres like the mmorpg and simulations, its got more to do than controlling it

RPG's-dont tell me psone and ps2 are supposed to be rpg heaven , only rpg's you get on pc is morrowind, neverwinter, diablo etc youget all that on consoles plus final fantasy,dragon quest,chrono cross,shin megami series and a ton more
btw have you ever played vagrant story its the most awesome awesome rpg ull ever play

 

[Ritwik]

warning:
6600 GT is oldie goldie.If u want next gen gaming, at 1600x1200, u want SLI/Crossfire, i.e. pairing two cards!
since ritwik is going to come again at me, so RAW FACTS:

It is generally advisable to READ the post you're replying to before actually hitting the reply button. Las_faiz has very clearly pointed out that his budget is around 1000 canadian dollars, which is not enough to run SLI or Crossfire configurations since he has to buy other stuff (apart from graphics cards) too.

Anybody can cite the latest and greatest of technologies and feel pleased with themselves, but the real skill lies in determining the best thing to buy in your budget, which will do a reasonably good job of meeting your needs. In this sense, your advise of going for a x1600 adaptor is far more pertinent than shouting from the rooftops about SLI and crossfire.

 

[blackleopard92]

It is generally advisable to READ the post you're replying to before actually hitting the reply button. Las_faiz has very clearly pointed out that his budget is around 1000 canadian dollars, which is not enough to run SLI or Crossfire configurations since he has to buy other stuff (apart from graphics cards) too.

Anybody can cite the latest and greatest of technologies and feel pleased with themselves, but the real skill lies in determining the best thing to buy in your budget, which will do a reasonably good job of meeting your needs. In this sense

His needs are

but the graphics card I hav is an ati 128mb agp card which doesnt keeps up if i wanna play games at high resolution (1600 x 1200 )

I want some opinions on processor and graphics card for next generation so I dont have to upgrade for next 2-3 years

He wants nxt gen gaming at 1600x1200.And u would have knowledge that only SLI/CrossFires have that kind of ability.
Even if he reduces graphics quality, a single nvidia 7900, x1900XTX would do, but no less.
As for Prices, check below.
RAW FACTS

1.00 USD as on 9th June
United States Dollars = 1.10725 CAD
Canada Dollars
1 USD = 1.10725 CAD 1 CAD = 0.903138 USD

Now for prices on MAY 27th.

now for prices, go to
http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2765&p=2


some pointers:
ASUS GeForce 7900GTX 512MB 489.99
ASUS GeForce 7900GT 256MB 299.00

ASUS Radeon X1900XT 512MB 456.99
ASUS Radeon X1900XTX 512MB 529.99
ATI Radeon X1900 256MB A-I-W 275.00

all the prices are in USD, and as u can see, 500 <<<1000

If u have ever played on 6600GT or ATI x1600 at 1600x1200, u would know what exactly Power Point Presentations are.

your advise of going for a x1600 adaptor is far more pertinent than shouting from the rooftops about SLI and crossfire.

I didn't recommend it to him, but myself.
And I want to play DOOM 3 ( yr old game) are 800x600, and x1600 barely does the job.

I go to rooftops, but with a portable mini parachute, a gravity gun, and a chaingun to blast all ritii- wikkis into oblivion.

 

[kmk1284]

hey leo what about consoles not being able to control fps rpg and rts

 

[blackleopard92]

hey leo what about consoles not being able to control fps rpg and rts

RPG was a mistake.I am wrong about it.

RTS are brain games, and that's why I like it.And this ain't the reason why they don't include it.In fact, keyboards and mouse combos are being developed so that FPS and RTS can be ported to consoles.After all, consolers aren't brain dead zombies
try playing AGE series.initially,u will get bogged down, but after playing them for 3-4 days, they become addictive, always u will feel that "u could do that more perfectly".Heck, they are mind simulating, and I am perhaps the only person that plays games before going to exam hall!

As for FPS, the line " does the job" is well, awkard.
How muck awkard, u ask?
Well, try playing UT2004/Quake 4 with keyboard only, and u would get the idea.
as for games with auto lock of targets, they are famously known as"pseudo-FPS", and they hardly "do the job".The feeling of FPS isn't there.I have played FPS on PS2, and they just don't cut it.
If u want to find out just how auto lock is on PC, turn on auto lock in UT2004, or a console command in one of the ID's games does the job( I don't remember which one)

However, other games are simply amazing experience on a console.the disadvantage of a PC is that only four keys can be pressed at once( with precison , however, in console a total of 4+8 = 12 keys can be pressed at once.


Actually, I am so much used to instant 180 turns that consoles give me feeling of turtle on gas!
that's why I mentioned RPG