A Question for the Pros.

I am getting ready to purchase a new video card but I don't know which is the best to get.

I'll be running NHL 06, Halflife 2, GTAIII, and a few more top end games on it and I'd basically like to have everything run superb without any hiccups or problems.

I'll also be doing my whole pc over but the video card is the first thing I'm going to purchase.

Any ideas or recommendations would be MOST appreciate.

<Yes, I'm a newb >

 

depends on the price range. for a medium price and outstanding performance choose between the ati radeon x800xl and the nvidia geforce 6600 gt...for high expenses and maximum performance choose between the ati radeon x850xt platinum and the nvidia geforce 6800gt.

 

read announcement, post your specs so we can recommend something.

Zelda, the 6800GT isnt = to x850 PTE, the 6800U is.

 

This is only my own personal opinion, but I think that the top end cards from both manufacturers are way overpriced and unnecessary.

A 6600 GT would be fine and shouldn't have any trouble playing current games.

 

I agree on a point. The point is pending on what resolution and how much AA and AF he/she is using. I typically run my games (which I rarely play games) at no AA and no AF. I could care less about these two things. And I typically run my games at 1024 x 768.

 

I've yet to see a huge improvement with AA and AF turned up, at least on the machines I've used, and they had pretty good hardware.

Hopefully the next generation cards will improve on this.

 

I can run half life 2 w/ AAx2 if I turn the particle count down @ 1280x960res... same with far cry ..so I would think that the 6600GT would be best bet.. unless you like to use 1600x1200 res and have money to burn

of course if you don't have an AGP or PCI-Express slot(different than PCI) than this info is pretty much useless to you