Which Graphics Card for my system?

I've been holding off for 2 months on purchasing my computer system because i was aware that there was going to be a big drop in price on the AMD X2 chips. Thats now happened, and the system is on order and ill have it within the next week. I have chosen everything, as you will see below, except the Graphics Card. Im not a keen gamer, in fact its been about a year since i played a game, but i might want to a some point in the future, so i want something decent enough. I am limited in choice, and i wont ever run dual SLI graphics cards, so dont let that encourage you to recommend NVidia cards over the Radeon ones. Thanks

Ok, here is my system, feel free to make any comments on the actual system:

- AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+ 2.4GHz Socket 939 2MB L2
- Asus A8N-SLI Premium, nForce4 SLI,Socket 939 Super Cooling
- Cooler Master Centurion 5 Black Midi Case
- AKASA Powersupply ATX/EPS 12V 550W 80mm Silent Fan
- Corsair TWINX2048-3200 C2 DDR-DIMM 1024x2
- Samsung SpinPoint P120S 250GB SATA2 8MB Cache NCQ
- Plextor DVD±RW burner, PX-750A, 16x Dual
- Sony Floppy Drive, 3,5" 1,44MB Black
- Samsung 19" LCD Syncmaster 930BF TCO-99 4ms
- Logitech Cordless Desktop MX3000

My Graphics Card Choices:
- POINT OF VIEW GeForce 6800GT 256MB GDDR3
- POINT OF VIEW GeForce 6800GS 256MB GDDR3
- PowerColor Radeon X800GT EVO 256MB GDDR3
- Asus Radeon X850PRO 256MB GDDR3, PCI-Express

My original choice was the 6800GT, but after looking at the specs between it and the 6800GS, I have discovered that the 6800GS has a Core Clock speed of 425MHz (RAMDAC 400MHz) whereas the 6800GT only has a 350MHz Core Clock (400MHZ RAMDAC)? The GS is £8 cheaper. Anyone explain this to me or tell me which is the better. Here are both below:

6800GT:
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=313892&cks=PRL

6800GS:
http://www.komplett.co.uk/k/ki.asp?sku=315184&cks=PRL

I dont know much about the Radeon chips in the PowerColor and Asus cards. Anyone?

Thanks guys, really appreciate the info

Chris

 

Personally I would go for the 6800GT as it has more pipelines than the others.
Compared to the 6800GS, it has 4 sets of 4 pipes compared to 3 sets of 4 pipes, meaning it can handle more pixel changes at any time.
You can not unlock the extra pipelines of the 6800GS as it uses an NV41 core compared to the different NV45 core of the 6800GT.
The 6800GS tries to make up for the lack in performance by ramping up the clock speed.
The ATI cards have 8 and 12 pipes between them.
The GT is a good card at a good price for what you will get in performance.

 

P.S. Nice system by the way.
I would add another HDD to set it up in RAID0.

Rather have these as well, as they have the 16MB Cache instead of 8MB.

Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 10 NCQ 250GB 6V250F0 SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM

 

The 6800 gs is new, and based on the existing nv42 core. it has 12 pipelines versus 16 on the gt, but offers near identical performance due to its higher clock speeds. The gs is being made frantically by nvidia as demand is ultra high for this amazing midrange card. In my opinion,don't bother with a 6800GS or a 6800GT as you will be better off getting a cheaper 7800gt for around the same price. If you have ~300 you can get a 7800GT. The 7800GT has 20 pixel pipelines and 7 vertex shaders as opposed to it's big brother the 7800GTX which has 24 pixel pipelines and 8 vertex shaders, not much difference between these cards feature wise.. If you want B for B get a GT and Oc it ..but if your going to run stock then you would get the GTX.. If you have a some extra cash, shoot for the 7800GT..

 

Damn nice system by the way.........

 

Thanks for the comments guys. The system is an excellent one, though probably wasted on me since all i really use it for is browsing the internet, authoring DVD's and burning stuf. GF uses it for Ipod stuff, so i guess the reason i went for the X2 4800+ over the FX57 (which i did consider) is its great multitasking abilities - can have a DVD authoring in the background while she does her Ipod stuff.

BigDK - From what you have said i gather that the GT, with its increased pipelines, has a slight advantage over the GS with the lower number of pipelines, though slightly higher clock speed. I see that the RAMDAC is the same on both of them though. As for the Hard Drive, the company I ordered from didnt have the Sata II version of the Maxtor in stock when i chose the features. Im unlikely to need any more than 250GB at the present time, though when Sky HD comes out, ill maybe consider streaming it through my PC and then i might consider 2 x 500GB Sata II drives.

Elusiv1 - Thanks for your reply. I understand from what you have said that you feel both cards are very similar. With that in mind i think that something running at a slower clock speed, with less heat/noise and maintaining a similar or even slightly better performance might be the best option. So the GT it would be over the GS. I can get the GS for £175 or the GT for £182. However, the 7800 GT goes up to £220. For someone who hasnt played a game, i cant really warrant forking out the extra money. I might instead put that money towards another identical 2GB RAM set to bring me up to 4GB of good memory.

I take it no one recommends the ATI cards then lol...

Cheers
Chris

 

That's a great choice for you card, if your really not gaming then go for more ram like you said........Enjoy that awesome system.

 

youve got all that power in that machine and you want to get a 6 series grpahics card ?!?!?!?!?. id say your selling yourself short if you buy anything less than a 7800 for that rig

 

Thanks Elusiv1

SypherTek - why is the graphics card selling the system short? I would only really benefit from the features of the high-end graphics cards if i were gaming. The 6800GT will be more than capable of feeding my HiDef display with 720p images, and it will be fine for my uses like AmericasArmy once a year game I play lol. I only really use the system for browsing, authoring, ipod and general usage like photo editing.

The system is fast, but again, probably its speed is wasted with me at the minute. But then in a years time it should still be a fast system...

Thanks
Chris

 

I would go with the 6800...nice system!

 

Cheers

Chris

 

GET ATI X1900

 

It would be handy if you read my post before making a reply directing me to an expensive ultra fast graphics card for gamers....

 

Plus, it makes no sense to put an ATI card on an SLI board???

 

Go with the best you can afford. I have always used nVidia but the intergrated ATI card will work for now. Also a little suggestion, get the best, your computer can handle it no matter what. For you (unlike the rest of us) your system will still out perform anything out there and demands a better graphics card than is out right now.

 

Well, the top card until march is ATi's X1900XTX, and that will still best the 7800GTX, SLi board or otherwise, but it is a bit of waste if you would be using SLi.

 

Cheers guys, as i mentioned before, its really not a priority for me to have the top graphics card. Something that will allow me to send a decent image to my projector (HD) and basically the rest is just general use computing...

Thanks
Chris

 

You basically only need a good graphics card if you game. That's it. For basic applications a simple cheap card will do the job.

 

I wasn't trying to sound like the other person that told you to buy an X1900. I was speaking from personal experence. I thought that if I got a low end or middle of the lien graphics card I would be fine. But then when i went to buy a new computer I wanted to make sure it would be compatable with Vista and support all that it will have to offer. What you could do is wait till Vista came out and let these Middle of the road graphics cards that will still be supported by Vista drop in price. That was what I was getting at. Also keep in mind that your computers speed is only worth what you paid for if you have the other componets to support it. Its like if I had an Intel 64 onboard graphics processor and a Athlon x2 64, I might as well have bought a more ballenced computer at half of the price.

 

thats a very nice set up your going with BUT....

if you are only surfing the net and want your gf to tranfser tracks and what not, seems a bit of an overkill.
personally, if I was building a system and only used for what you said I would save myself A LOT OF MONEY by getting lower end parts.

I also agree with what Distorded mentioned, if your gonna have a system like that may as well go the whole 9 yards and get a mad ass graphics card. no point backing out now

didnt mean to piss on your parade mate, just my point of view.