128 6200 (add $69) or 256 6600 (add $219)?

I'm looking to buy a new computer, comes standard with a 128MB ATI Radeon
X300 SE PCI Express Graphics Card.

The upgrade options offer the 2 NVIDIA's I'm considering:
128 6200 (add $69) or 256 6600 (add $219)

I am not yet a gamer, but am looking at getting the most bang for my buck.
The highest upgrade is the eVGA 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX (add $499).
That seems expensive, given that the card sells for upper $400's to $600's.
I read excellent reviews for it, but I gather that if I'm not asking too
much of it, I won't see the difference.

What do you think would make sense for me and my Samsung 193P?

Thanks for any thoughts,
Ellen Hall

"Ellen Hall" wrote in message
k.net...
I'm looking to buy a new computer, comes standard with a 128MB ATI Radeon
X300 SE PCI Express Graphics Card.

The upgrade options offer the 2 NVIDIA's I'm considering:
128 6200 (add $69) or 256 6600 (add $219)


wtf???

add $219 for a 256mb 6600??? That doesn't make any sense!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...o.x=0&Go .y=0

Also some AGP cards at the top for easy reference if it's an AGP
motherboard:-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...o.x= 0&Go.y=0

As you can see...none of those cards hit the $200 mark, unless you opt for
the Dual card/ SLI setup. In which case dump the 6600 and go for one
6800GT/Ultra.

I am not yet a gamer, but am looking at getting the most bang for my buck.
The highest upgrade is the eVGA 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX (add $499).
That seems expensive, given that the card sells for upper $400's to
$600's.
I read excellent reviews for it, but I gather that if I'm not asking too
much of it, I won't see the difference.

What do you think would make sense for me and my Samsung 193P?

Thanks for any thoughts,
Ellen Hall



Meanwhile, the 6600GT is a nice buy, but if you want a bit of extra oomf you
may as well settle for a 6800GT - the price of which has come down quite a
bit since the 7800GT/GTX have come out.

What are the other specifications of the computer?

CPU, Motherboard, RAM...that will help us see what would be a good idea for
you!

Hope that helps,
DC.

DC,

I think what I'm finding is that letting Micron (MPC) upgrade is expensive.
It gives me a "turnkey" system, as in I don't have to tweak anything. Here
are the specs I'm thinking about:

Millennia 940i(R) Xtreme
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Quantity: 1 Unit Price: $1,675.00 Sub Total: $1,675.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft(R).Windows(R) XP Home SP2
Intel Pentium 4 Processor 650 W/HT Technology (3.4GHZ 2MB L2 CACHE
800FSB)
Free Upgrade to Ballistix 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 533 SDRAM 2-DIMMs
160GB Serial ATA-150 (2x80GB) 8MB Cache hard drives (7200RPM)
Integrated Serial ATA RAID Controller (RAID 0 requires 2 SATA Hard
Drives)
16x Dual Layer DVD-R/RW, +R/RW Combo Drive w/Pinnacle Studio Plus,
WinDVD5, Nero Express
52x32x52x/16x CDRW/DVD Combo Drive w/Nero Express & WinDVD 5 (B)
1.44MB 3.5" Floppy
128MB ATI Radeon X300 SE PCI Express Graphics Card (DVI-I, TV-Out)
Customer Selects No Video Editing-Firewire Solution
Customer Selects No Monitor
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS with rear FireWire
Customer does not select Premium Speaker
Customer selects no speakers
56K Data/Fax PCI V92 Controller Modem
Integrated Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000) Network Connection
Customer Selects No Keyboard
Customer Selects No Mouse
No Mouse Pad Selected
Millennia 940i Mid-tower (B)
350 Watt Power Supply with Passive PFC
No Norton AntiVirus Option
No Misc Software Ordered
Customer Selects No Backup Storage Drive
Belkin 7-Outlet SurgeMaster
DT 1st-3rd Yr Parts, Tech Support & On-site (MPC)
Customer Selects No Bulk Pack
$100 SPECIAL OFFER SAVINGS
Advanced Client System Bios (CP565,MIL940I)


"Dragoncarer" wrote in message
...

"Ellen Hall" wrote in message
k.net...
I'm looking to buy a new computer, comes standard with a 128MB ATI
Radeon
X300 SE PCI Express Graphics Card.

The upgrade options offer the 2 NVIDIA's I'm considering:
128 6200 (add $69) or 256 6600 (add $219)


wtf???

add $219 for a 256mb 6600??? That doesn't make any sense!


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...o.x=0&Go .y=0

Also some AGP cards at the top for easy reference if it's an AGP
motherboard:-


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...o.x= 0&Go.y=0

As you can see...none of those cards hit the $200 mark, unless you opt for
the Dual card/ SLI setup. In which case dump the 6600 and go for one
6800GT/Ultra.

I am not yet a gamer, but am looking at getting the most bang for my
buck.
The highest upgrade is the eVGA 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX (add
$499).
That seems expensive, given that the card sells for upper $400's to
$600's.
I read excellent reviews for it, but I gather that if I'm not asking too
much of it, I won't see the difference.

What do you think would make sense for me and my Samsung 193P?

Thanks for any thoughts,
Ellen Hall



Meanwhile, the 6600GT is a nice buy, but if you want a bit of extra oomf
you
may as well settle for a 6800GT - the price of which has come down quite a
bit since the 7800GT/GTX have come out.

What are the other specifications of the computer?

CPU, Motherboard, RAM...that will help us see what would be a good idea
for
you!

Hope that helps,
DC.

"Ellen Hall" wrote in message
k.net...
I'm looking to buy a new computer, comes standard with a 128MB ATI Radeon
X300 SE PCI Express Graphics Card.

The upgrade options offer the 2 NVIDIA's I'm considering:
128 6200 (add $69) or 256 6600 (add $219)

I am not yet a gamer, but am looking at getting the most bang for my buck.
The highest upgrade is the eVGA 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX (add $499).
That seems expensive, given that the card sells for upper $400's to
$600's.
I read excellent reviews for it, but I gather that if I'm not asking too
much of it, I won't see the difference.

What do you think would make sense for me and my Samsung 193P?

Thanks for any thoughts,
Ellen Hall

You (and we) need more information about the cards you can upgrade to. Are
those the only three choices? I ask because most of the 256MB versions of
the plain 6600 aren't that good - they're butchered versions of the 6600,
made cheaper/slower so they can stick the extra 128MB on them. The 128MB
6600s are usually better.

Right now the best bang for the buck card is the 6600GT (note the GT) 128MB,
in my opinion. You say you're not yet a gamer, so that says to me that you
don't need a top-of-the-line uber card. A 6600GT-based (128MB most likely)
upgrade option would probably be about the best choice.

RF.

RaceFace wrote:
"Ellen Hall" wrote in message
k.net...
I'm looking to buy a new computer, comes standard with a 128MB ATI Radeon
X300 SE PCI Express Graphics Card.

The upgrade options offer the 2 NVIDIA's I'm considering:
128 6200 (add $69) or 256 6600 (add $219)

I am not yet a gamer, but am looking at getting the most bang for my buck.
The highest upgrade is the eVGA 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX (add $499).
That seems expensive, given that the card sells for upper $400's to
$600's.
I read excellent reviews for it, but I gather that if I'm not asking too
much of it, I won't see the difference.

What do you think would make sense for me and my Samsung 193P?

Thanks for any thoughts,
Ellen Hall

You (and we) need more information about the cards you can upgrade to. Are
those the only three choices? I ask because most of the 256MB versions of
the plain 6600 aren't that good - they're butchered versions of the 6600,
made cheaper/slower so they can stick the extra 128MB on them. The 128MB
6600s are usually better.

Right now the best bang for the buck card is the 6600GT (note the GT) 128MB,
in my opinion. You say you're not yet a gamer, so that says to me that you
don't need a top-of-the-line uber card. A 6600GT-based (128MB most likely)
upgrade option would probably be about the best choice.

RF.


These are the choices:

(Comes with) 128MB ATI Radeon X300 SE PCI Express Graphics Card
(DVI-I, TV-Out)
128MB ATI Radeon X600 PRO PCI Express Graphics Card (VGA, DVI-I,
TV-Out) [Add $69.00]
128MB nVidia GeForce 6200 PCI Express Graphics Card (VGA DVI-I TV-Out)
[Add $69.00]
256MB nVidia GeForce 6600 PCI Express Graphics Card (VGA DVI-I TV-Out)
[Add $219.00]
eVGA 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX (Dual DVI-I/S-Video) [Add $499.00]

Thanks so much for the input. What do you think?
Ellen

"Ellen" wrote in message
oups.com...
These are the choices:

(Comes with) 128MB ATI Radeon X300 SE PCI Express Graphics Card
(DVI-I, TV-Out)
128MB ATI Radeon X600 PRO PCI Express Graphics Card (VGA, DVI-I,
TV-Out) [Add $69.00]
128MB nVidia GeForce 6200 PCI Express Graphics Card (VGA DVI-I TV-Out)
[Add $69.00]
256MB nVidia GeForce 6600 PCI Express Graphics Card (VGA DVI-I TV-Out)
[Add $219.00]
eVGA 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX (Dual DVI-I/S-Video) [Add $499.00]

Thanks so much for the input. What do you think?
Ellen

I'm assuming this is a system you're ordering online, and those are US$?

There's a HUGE gap in performance going from the plain 6600 to the 7800GTX.
Very strange that they aren't offering a card in between those.

I think you'd be better off getting the card it comes with, and either
ordering a different card and installing the new one yourself, or getting a
local shop to put one in for you. The prices seem rather high for the cards
you're getting. I'm positive you can find a 6600GT for less money than the
$219 they're charging you for the plain 6600. Assuming these are US prices,
of course.

RF.

You may not get helpful advice unless you can give some idea what the card
might be used for.

High-end cards are mainly for 3D gaming, although they might offer some good
capabilities for OpenGL graphics for CAD. (The Dell workstations my employer
buys to run ProE seem to come with nVidia Quadro cards. I have read that the
Quadros aren't much better than their consumer versions.)

However, if you're using an LCD monitor (193P) with a maximum resolution of
1280X1024, I doubt that you're doing serious CAD.

Perhaps the safest course would be to get the base graphics card, which
ought to do an adequate job in 2D graphics. Micron's upgrade prices are high
enough that buying a better card later (elsewhere, like www.newegg.com)
would incur no cost penalty. (You'd have to arrange for the card change.
That would add to the cost, if you had to pay someone to do it. It's one of
the easiest things to change inside a PC, although it's certainly possible
to make a mess of it. On the other hand, it's possible to damage a graphics
card by carelessly jamming in the video cable.)

You could take the attitude that nothing is too good for your 193P, and go
with the most expensive card that Micron will sell you. You probably won't
get much utility for the extra money, but there are worse things in life.

My desktop at work is a small form factor Dell Optiplex GX280. The Intel
onboard graphics seem to be adequate to drive an 17" LCD monitor at
1280X1024 through an analog (HD15) interface.



Disclaimer: I have a close relative who works for Dell. I own no Dell
hardware or company stock, though. The machine this is being sent from uses
an AMD CPU, and is home-assembled.


Address scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.

"Ellen Hall" wrote in message
k.net...
I'm looking to buy a new computer, comes standard with a 128MB ATI Radeon
X300 SE PCI Express Graphics Card.

The upgrade options offer the 2 NVIDIA's I'm considering:
128 6200 (add $69) or 256 6600 (add $219)

I am not yet a gamer, but am looking at getting the most bang for my buck.
The highest upgrade is the eVGA 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX (add $499).
That seems expensive, given that the card sells for upper $400's to
$600's.
I read excellent reviews for it, but I gather that if I'm not asking too
much of it, I won't see the difference.

What do you think would make sense for me and my Samsung 193P?

Thanks for any thoughts,
Ellen Hall

"Bob Knowlden" wrote in message
...
You may not get helpful advice unless you can give some idea what the card
might be used for.

High-end cards are mainly for 3D gaming, although they might offer some
good
capabilities for OpenGL graphics for CAD. (The Dell workstations my
employer
buys to run ProE seem to come with nVidia Quadro cards. I have read that
the
Quadros aren't much better than their consumer versions.)

However, if you're using an LCD monitor (193P) with a maximum resolution
of
1280X1024, I doubt that you're doing serious CAD.

Perhaps the safest course would be to get the base graphics card, which
ought to do an adequate job in 2D graphics. Micron's upgrade prices are
high
enough that buying a better card later (elsewhere, like www.newegg.com)
would incur no cost penalty. (You'd have to arrange for the card change.
That would add to the cost, if you had to pay someone to do it. It's one
of
the easiest things to change inside a PC, although it's certainly possible
to make a mess of it. On the other hand, it's possible to damage a
graphics
card by carelessly jamming in the video cable.)

You could take the attitude that nothing is too good for your 193P, and go
with the most expensive card that Micron will sell you. You probably
won't
get much utility for the extra money, but there are worse things in life.

My desktop at work is a small form factor Dell Optiplex GX280. The Intel
onboard graphics seem to be adequate to drive an 17" LCD monitor at
1280X1024 through an analog (HD15) interface.



Disclaimer: I have a close relative who works for Dell. I own no Dell
hardware or company stock, though. The machine this is being sent from
uses
an AMD CPU, and is home-assembled.


Address scrambled. Replace nkbob with bobkn.


Yes, RF, US prices. It's Micron (now called MPC). I have one that I've
loved
and it's time for a new one. Even I noticed that gap, once I started
reading about the 7800GTX. Almost had myself convinced I had to have it
because it sounded so cool. But it can be purchased for less than what
Micron is asking for the upgrade.

Thanks to all for the comments. I think it would be wise to not do the
upgrading with Micron. And the 6600GT sounds like a good choice. I've
removed all the cards in my present computer and put them back with no
problems. Should I look forward to some tweaking to upgrade from the base
card (128MB ATI Radeon X300 SE PCI Express Graphics Card [DVI-I, TV-Out]) to
something like the 6600GT, or possibly hardware incompatibility? Part of
why I've been tempted to let them upgrade is that they test the system
before they send it to me.

I appreciate all the input!
Thanks,
Ellen Hall

Sounds like doing your own upgrade would be the best course.

The normal way to do this is:

Start with the old card in the system.

Have the drivers for the new card on your hard drive. (If you use nVidia
drivers from www.nvidia.com, they usually provide an installer.)

Uninstall the old card's driver from the add/remove software control panel.
(Compulsive people, as myself, might also use Driver Cleaner Pro from
www.drivercleaner.net , after restarting the PC. I've never had it remove
anything that I regretted removing, although I have read claims that it
might.)

Power down the PC, rather than rebooting. (Rebooting is OK, though you'd
have to shut it down again after.)

Remove the old graphics card.

Install the new one.

Start up the PC. It will autodetect the card, and start to search for
drivers.

Rather than permitting Windows to continue the search, cancel out of that.

Run the nVidia installer.

You'll have to reboot once more.

I don't know what happens with a DVI interface, but in regular VGA, the
machine comes up at 800X600 at 60 Hz. The display settings need to be
changed to the proper ones.

With any luck, you won't need to tweak the system. Some machines are
unstable if Fast Writes are left on in the system BIOS, but I've had no
problem with it. (Athlon 64 system, Asus A8V Deluxe mainboard, 6800GT AGP
graphics card.) I'm not sure that it's even an option on a PCI-Express based
system. If you feel adventurous, look up nvtweak: it allows the use of
settings nVidia hides in their drivers (including overclocking the card). I
would be surprised if there were any significant compatibility issue with a
mainstream system from a major vendor like Micron. If you wish to play safe,
get an upgrade graphics card of one of the same types as sold by Micron. (It
shouldn't be necessary to try match the manufacturer.)

I've assumed that you'll be running Windows XP. Things are probably a bit
different with Linux, FreeBSD, etc.

Besides nVidia cards, you may also find it worthwhile considering ATI
products. Their new X1000 series is supposed to be interesting, although
they have limited availability at the moment. Matrox users seem to be loyal
to the brand, although Matrox has pretty much vanished from the mass market
(especially for gaming).

"Ellen Hall" wrote in message
hlink.net...

(snip)

Yes, RF, US prices. It's Micron (now called MPC). I have one that I've
loved
and it's time for a new one. Even I noticed that gap, once I started
reading about the 7800GTX. Almost had myself convinced I had to have it
because it sounded so cool. But it can be purchased for less than what
Micron is asking for the upgrade.

Thanks to all for the comments. I think it would be wise to not do the
upgrading with Micron. And the 6600GT sounds like a good choice. I've
removed all the cards in my present computer and put them back with no
problems. Should I look forward to some tweaking to upgrade from the base
card (128MB ATI Radeon X300 SE PCI Express Graphics Card [DVI-I, TV-Out])
to
something like the 6600GT, or possibly hardware incompatibility? Part of
why I've been tempted to let them upgrade is that they test the system
before they send it to me.

I appreciate all the input!
Thanks,
Ellen Hall

"Ellen Hall" wrote in message
k.net...
DC,

I think what I'm finding is that letting Micron (MPC) upgrade is
expensive.
It gives me a "turnkey" system, as in I don't have to tweak anything.
Here
are the specs I'm thinking about:


Hi Ellen,

It's a very good sounding system, and it would almost be a travesty to keep
the X300 in there!

Follow Bob Knowlden's advice...accept the X300 that comes with the package,
then buy a newer, better, card and install that instead. If you've done it
before, you can do it again - a Bob's post has a good set of instructions.

And you're right: be careful about getting over excited by how cool a piece
of hardware sounds...once you start buying you simply can't stop!
Way back when, I was going to buy a 6800GT...my local parts store didn't
have the manufacturer I wanted in stock, so then I thought maybe I should
buy an Ultra...Then I saw the 7800GTXs there (this was the first they came
out, so you can imagine the price premium)...it was awfully tempting.
I'm glad I waited though, and that there were no 6800GTs or Ultras in
stock - I now have the 7800GT I always wanted!

A 6600GT is a good buy if you're looking for adequate power. It has been the
sweet spot for price against performance for a long while now, but with the
7xxxx series out, and ATI's new lines, it's time for the 6800GT or Ultra to
take that sweet spot with reductions in prices, and increases in video card
performance demands from newer games.

If you want to play the latest games, (eg., Quake 4, Tomb Raider: Legend -
when it comes out - F.E.A.R. and so forth), and you play more than say one
game every 2-4 months, then you'll want a good card that will give you good
results - a 6800GT or Ultra will do this for sure.


Keep us updated!

Millennia 940i(R) Xtreme
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Quantity: 1 Unit Price: $1,675.00 Sub Total: $1,675.00
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Microsoft(R).Windows(R) XP Home SP2
Intel Pentium 4 Processor 650 W/HT Technology (3.4GHZ 2MB L2 CACHE
800FSB)
Free Upgrade to Ballistix 1GB Dual Channel DDR2 533 SDRAM 2-DIMMs
160GB Serial ATA-150 (2x80GB) 8MB Cache hard drives (7200RPM)
Integrated Serial ATA RAID Controller (RAID 0 requires 2 SATA Hard
Drives)
16x Dual Layer DVD-R/RW, +R/RW Combo Drive w/Pinnacle Studio Plus,
WinDVD5, Nero Express
52x32x52x/16x CDRW/DVD Combo Drive w/Nero Express & WinDVD 5 (B)
1.44MB 3.5" Floppy
128MB ATI Radeon X300 SE PCI Express Graphics Card (DVI-I, TV-Out)
Customer Selects No Video Editing-Firewire Solution
Customer Selects No Monitor
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy2 ZS with rear FireWire
Customer does not select Premium Speaker
Customer selects no speakers
56K Data/Fax PCI V92 Controller Modem
Integrated Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000) Network Connection
Customer Selects No Keyboard
Customer Selects No Mouse
No Mouse Pad Selected
Millennia 940i Mid-tower (B)
350 Watt Power Supply with Passive PFC
No Norton AntiVirus Option
No Misc Software Ordered
Customer Selects No Backup Storage Drive
Belkin 7-Outlet SurgeMaster
DT 1st-3rd Yr Parts, Tech Support & On-site (MPC)
Customer Selects No Bulk Pack
$100 SPECIAL OFFER SAVINGS
Advanced Client System Bios (CP565,MIL940I)


"Dragoncarer" wrote in message
...

"Ellen Hall" wrote in message
k.net...
I'm looking to buy a new computer, comes standard with a 128MB ATI
Radeon
X300 SE PCI Express Graphics Card.

The upgrade options offer the 2 NVIDIA's I'm considering:
128 6200 (add $69) or 256 6600 (add $219)


wtf???

add $219 for a 256mb 6600??? That doesn't make any sense!


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...o.x=0&Go .y=0

Also some AGP cards at the top for easy reference if it's an AGP
motherboard:-


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...o.x= 0&Go.y=0

As you can see...none of those cards hit the $200 mark, unless you opt
for
the Dual card/ SLI setup. In which case dump the 6600 and go for one
6800GT/Ultra.

I am not yet a gamer, but am looking at getting the most bang for my
buck.
The highest upgrade is the eVGA 256MB NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX (add
$499).
That seems expensive, given that the card sells for upper $400's to
$600's.
I read excellent reviews for it, but I gather that if I'm not asking
too
much of it, I won't see the difference.

What do you think would make sense for me and my Samsung 193P?

Thanks for any thoughts,
Ellen Hall



Meanwhile, the 6600GT is a nice buy, but if you want a bit of extra oomf
you
may as well settle for a 6800GT - the price of which has come down quite
a
bit since the 7800GT/GTX have come out.

What are the other specifications of the computer?

CPU, Motherboard, RAM...that will help us see what would be a good idea
for
you!

Hope that helps,
DC.