[Neopopulas]

Being, honestly, just not very knowledgeable about certain things, and after attempting to find some unbiased help around the place, i come here.

In the coming month or so i plan to upgrade my very shabby graphics cards for something much more impressive. But with all the GT and GX and GTS and so forth, its hard to tell what is a good card. Plus, a higher number doesnt always mean more power. So i'm here to bed suggestions

(This here is the mobo stats in case its important)

GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16

GeForce 9600 GSO 384MB 192-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16

The 8800 GTS ends up being about 120 bucks, which isn't bad at all, however the 9600 GSO ends up at around $130, so its a little more expensive, but i don't know whether its any better. Recently i've been hearing about price drops in cards and i'm wondering if thats the cause for the fairly cheap cost on these cards, since i think i remember them being much more expensive, or if they are just sub-par versions of better cards.

My limit is about $200, and these cards seem good for the price, if anyone knows of better cards - especially for latter SLI implementation - i'd love to heard opinions

[vernong1992]

the 8800gts 320mb is the old G80, which is quite dated

the 9600gso is just a flashed 8800gs, I'd get the G92 8800gs or 9600gso because they aren't power hogs, consume less power and don't run hot like the G80's

There is a video card ranking sticky up in the Hardware Section

[Prototype]

How about a 9600GT.

Newegg.com - KFA2 by Galaxy 96GFF6HUUEXV GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

8800GTS is old and isnt good. it uses G80 architecture

9600GSO is a rename for the 8800GS which is cheaper Newegg.com - XFX PVT88SFDF4 GeForce 8800 GS 384MB 192-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

EDIT: i was too slow

if you have $200 to spend maybe a $170 8800GTS 512MB G92

[vernong1992]

Wow the KFA2 9600gt is pretty cheap!!

its exactly $120 with the MIR, thats a good deal!!

[Neopopulas]

Thanks for the help guys, so, all up, the 9600 GT is probably my best bet at this point? Its a bit more expensive - but well within my range - but better than the alternative. Its actually pretty cheap right now so i think it'll be a good deal.

I don't think i'll need a new power supply, i hope i don't, but even if i do i think its worth it

[thirdshiftdj]

good choice.

[Neopopulas]

Sorry to keep this going guys but i don't often get a chance to upgrade like this so any time anyone says something i need a second opinion, someone mentioned a few things to me. First, that the low 9 series were a little disappointing compared to the high 8 series. Like say, this one 8800GT

Then they mentioned whether my power supply and mobo were even capable of running these things. THe mobo is fairly new, so it should, i guess, but i'm not sure about power supply, but the PSU i can fix easily (the mobo, not so much)

Finally, is there any reason i should worry about what windows OS i'm using?

[Peter.Cort]

window's OS won't matter as long as you're running xp or vista. also what is the make and model of your computer (provided its a prebuilt) and if its not, what are the specs of the mobo/psu. if you can just get us the specs of the psu and mobo that would help greatly.

[Prototype]

the 8800GT is kinda more better then the 9600GT cz of the stream processors

[Neopopulas]

I think This is the specs you want from the mobo, and This would be the PSU (its kinda old, i know, it all is, sadly)

Like i said, i rarely get the opportunity to upgrade and i'd really like to not only make sure that i get the best i can, but that it all works. I'll be buying a lot of this stuff online to get good deals, which means that if it doesnt work, i'm kinda out of luck.

Thanks guys