Need A Nvidia Video Card Recommendation

i need a nvidia video card recommendation. i have an ati radeon 9600pro and that's the oldest part of my pc (4-5 years old i think). i plan on gettin' a new video card after i get a new processor & motherboard.

Newegg.com - ASUS P5W DH DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Newegg.com - Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 Conroe 2.66GHz 4M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

the only games that i plan on playin' is cs and sims, i'm more of a console gamer (but i may end up buyin' gta san andreas for the pc 'cause i see that you can add real cars to the game and they have a drift mod for it too).

also, would i need a 2nd video card for video capture?

i was lookin' at these cards so far (i have no idea which card to use for video capture, i found some firewire cards but i don't think i'll be capturin' that much video for me to justify buyin' one of them):
nvidia geforce 6800 ultra
nvidia geforce 7600 gt
nvidia geforce 7800
nvidia geforce 7900 gs
nvidia geforce 7900 gt
nvidia geforce 7900 gtx
nvidia geforce 7950 gt
nvidia geforce 7950 gx2

last, which brand is best to get?
xfx
evga
asus
bfg
gigabyte
pny
leadtek
msi

i heard bad things about xfx so i was leanin' towards evga, msi or bfg.

good choice on the motherboard, drop the E6700, get the E6600 and overclock it to the same speed as the E6700 or higher, you should be able to get an E6600 up to 3.6GHz with decent (not Value Select) Corsair/Geil/OCZ/Crucial 800MHz RAM and a decent cooler Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro for example, remember to get some decent thermal paste as well Arctic Silver 5 for example...

for the Video Card get an 8500 or 8600 (or an 8800 GTS if you want to spend any higher) for DX10 support, I would go for BFG or EVGA, lifetime warranty with both of them, and EVGA ur warranty it still valid if you do overclock ur video card, not sure about BFG's terms on overclocking ...

I am not too sure about video capture, maybe someone else can answer that...

You might have seen my thread about my new computer a while back, I went for 667MHz that was before I knew the diference in overclocking between 800MHz and 667MHz RAM, I should be able to my E6600 up to 3GHz which I'd be happy with, I've just ordered the paste and cooler last week, so waiting for them to arrive then I'll post up some stats/temps, I will probably be updgrading the RAM to 800MHz RAM sometime as well...

You will need a decent power supply as well, I'd recomend the Corsair HX520W or the HX620, the 520 should do for you...


what other components have u chosen?

^thanks. i was goin' to get this one here (i came by to modify my first post).

edit: i thought that the 7 series would be out of my price range but it's not. is this a good card? is this card overkill for what i do, an evga nvidia geforce 7950gt?
Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P2-N637-AR GeForce 7950GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP KO Superclocked Video Card - Retail
i guess i could try out wow and see what the hype is all about (no guarantees that i'll like it tho') and i figure it'll be good enough for vista once i'm forced to upgrade in 2-3 years (yea, i'm avoidin' vista).

but then i got this response on anime-eden.com's forum, a geforce 8800gts, and it's not that much more than the one that i had found earlier (the same one that you mentioned).
Newegg.com - EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail

intel has a price cut comin' in july so i might get the e6700 'cause of this.
techPowerUp! News :: Intel Desktop CPU Price Cut On July 22

http://www.techpowerup.com/img/07-05-15/Inte.jpg
Intel to Slash Processor Prices on July 22 - TechIMO News
TechConnect Magazine - Intel preps price cuts of quad-core Xeons for July
i'll have to see how much of a price difference for the e6600 will be. they are cuttin' the prices of all their processors includin' quad cores but i couldn't find the chart that i saw a couple of months ago. i'm tempted to get a quad core in july 'cause it will be the same price that the e6700 is now. but i think a quad core is overkill for music production.

yea, i saw your new pc thread, it looks tite. this is my current setup.
amd athlon xp 2700+ thoroughbred 2.167ghz mildly overclocked to 2.2ghz processor
epox ep-8rda6+ pro motherboard (i should have stuck w/ asus tho')
corsair xms 1gb (2 x 512mb) ddr 400 (pc 3200) memory
ati radeon 9600pro video card
seagate barracuda 500gb sata2 3.0gb/sec hard drive
plextor 16x dvd burner dual layer & slot loading
cooler master praetorian case
4 zalman 80mm quiet case fans
antec true control 500w power supply
thermaltake extreme volcano 12 cooling fan/heatsink
epson r320 printer
logitech cordless mx duo wireless keyboard & mouse
logitech wingman rumblepad
altec lansing subwoofer & 2 satellites
apc 650 battery backup/surge protector

and here's the rest of my future pc setup
corsair xms2 dominator 2gb (2 x 1gb) ddr2 800 (pc2 6400)
m-audio 9900-40768-00 7.1 192khz sound card (maybe not, i think the motherboard sound will be good enough and i'm getting a mbox2, i'm already learning protools on my friend's pc).
seagate pushbutton backup 750gb external hard drive usb 2.0 / ieee1394a firewire (unless a can find an external case with fans, usb 2.0 / ieee1394 firewire connections and accepts sata2 hard drives) (for my anime collection)
antec true power trio 650w power supply (if needed only)
arctic cooling freezer 7 pro cooling fan/heatsink

i already have arctic silver 5. i looks like the ram i've chosen is 800mhz.

Quote:

Originally Posted by djloekee27 ^thanks. i was goin' to get this one here (i came by to modify my first post). edit: i thought that the 7 series would be out of my price range but it's not. is this a good card? is this card overkill for what i do, an evga nvidia geforce 7950gt? Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P2-N637-AR GeForce 7950GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP KO Superclocked Video Card - Retail i guess i could try out wow and see what the hype is all about (no guarantees that i'll like it tho') and i figure it'll be good enough for vista once i'm forced to upgrade in 2-3 years (yea, i'm avoidin' vista). but then i got this response on anime-eden.com's forum, a geforce 8800gts, and it's not that much more than the one that i had found earlier (the same one that you mentioned). Newegg.com - EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB 320-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail

I would really go for the Ge-Force 8 series because of the DirectX 10 support, may as well future proof ur build as much as you can....

I have never played WoW, I don't think it's really my type of game... the 7950 card may be an overkill for what you do and the 8800 probably is without a doubt, but if you don't want to have to upgrade in the future it is a good investment, I would definetly get an 8800 card (in fact I did, I got the BFG OC 8800GTS 640MB card...), the 7950 would(should) be able to handle Vista Aero and the 8800 definetly can...

I haven't really had a problem with Vista (note that I'm running the 64bit edition), people keep saying this that and the next thing, but generally people will only report bad experiences... not good... the only problem I've had was installing NFS:Carbon and some Temp. monitoring software, but them I'm no too fussed about... I've had no hardware issues either....

Quote:

Originally Posted by djloekee27 intel has a price cut comin' in july so i might get the e6700 'cause of this. techPowerUp! News :: Intel Desktop CPU Price Cut On July 22 http://www.techpowerup.com/img/07-05-15/Inte.jpg Intel to Slash Processor Prices on July 22 - TechIMO News TechConnect Magazine - Intel preps price cuts of quad-core Xeons for July i'll have to see how much of a price difference for the e6600 will be. they are cuttin' the prices of all their processors includin' quad cores but i couldn't find the chart that i saw a couple of months ago. i'm tempted to get a quad core in july 'cause it will be the same price that the e6700 is now. but i think a quad core is overkill for music production.

Yeah Intel has a price cut coming up, I knew about that but wasn't sure when ur planning on building ur rig

If I had waited I would probably have got a quad core even tho it is way overkill for what I do, I would just get it anyway

Quote:

Originally Posted by djloekee27 yea, i saw your new pc thread, it looks tite. this is my current setup. amd athlon xp 2700+ thoroughbred 2.167ghz mildly overclocked to 2.2ghz processor epox ep-8rda6+ pro motherboard (i should have stuck w/ asus tho') corsair xms 1gb (2 x 512mb) ddr 400 (pc 3200) memory ati radeon 9600pro video card seagate barracuda 500gb sata2 3.0gb/sec hard drive plextor 16x dvd burner dual layer & slot loading cooler master praetorian case 4 zalman 80mm quiet case fans antec true control 500w power supply thermaltake extreme volcano 12 cooling fan/heatsink epson r320 printer logitech cordless mx duo wireless keyboard & mouse logitech wingman rumblepad altec lansing subwoofer & 2 satellites apc 650 battery backup/surge protector and here's the rest of my future pc setup corsair xms2 dominator 2gb (2 x 1gb) ddr2 800 (pc2 6400) m-audio 9900-40768-00 7.1 192khz sound card (maybe not, i think the motherboard sound will be good enough and i'm getting a mbox2, i'm already learning protools on my friend's pc). seagate pushbutton backup 750gb external hard drive usb 2.0 / ieee1394a firewire (unless a can find an external case with fans, usb 2.0 / ieee1394 firewire connections and accepts sata2 hard drives) (for my anime collection) antec true power trio 650w power supply (if needed only) arctic cooling freezer 7 pro cooling fan/heatsink i already have arctic silver 5. i looks like the ram i've chosen is 800mhz.

u could probably use ur old PC as a HTPC, when ur done with it...

You you have chosen 800MHz RAM , u don't need the dominator stuff, the XMS2 stuff should be fine...

for producing I would always recommend a Sound Card, even though I don't produce myself, it is a recommendation I would always make.... I don't know what the MBox thing is so that may be enough...

how much are you looking to spend on a case? there are plenty of cases with firewire and usb 2.0 frontports, for sata 2 it's the motherboard that handles that

I'm not too sure about Antec PSU's, I'd always go for a Corsair/SeaSonic/Tagan PSU, but if you've not had any trouble with Antec ones in the past then I'm sure it'll be fine, with the Corsair HX PSU's u get 5 year warranty which is a bonus, with the 520HX u get a $10.00 mail in rebate

^the mbox is a digidesign/protools external soundcard. i've already started usin' my friend's mbox and protools software so i like its interface compared to cubase. the mbox can be connected to monitors and a headphones, it only plays sounds from protools. so i may want another soundcard just to play sounds from ms windows dependin' how good the built-in soundcard is (i know this 'cause my friend's pc was hooked up to the mbox only and we had no other speakers hooked up to it).

my current case already has usb/firewire connections on the front of it so i won't be replacin' that, i had firewire in mind and that's why i bought it. i may have to get a second case tho' to turn my old pc into a backup pc eventually (but i would need a new hard drive in order to do that).

ok

by

Quote:

unless a can find an external case with fans, usb 2.0 / ieee1394 firewire

i thought u were looking for a new case, what did u mean by that?

may I ask, why external an hard drive? internal ones are cheaper...

^that's mainly for my anime collection. i dl'ed over 230gb worth of anime from anime-eden.com and i stopped only 'cause i was runnin' out of hard drive space. i still have alot of anime that i want that isn't on anime-eden and i would probably have to use torrent for it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by djloekee27 ^that's mainly for my anime collection. i dl'ed over 230gb worth of anime from anime-eden.com and i stopped only 'cause i was runnin' out of hard drive space. i still have alot of anime that i want that isn't on anime-eden and i would probably have to use torrent for it.

o, ok