I ended up replacing a defective GeForce 8600GT (which was the DDR2 version that the article says to avoid) with one of the two recommended ~$290 cards the GeForce 88GTS 512MB. I picked it up from Newegg, just before a $30 rebate expired, so it ended up costing $260. Compared to the original card, this thing is huge. It's twice the width. So, depending on the motherboard, it could take up two slots (my motherboard was built for this so while I had to remove a second slot cover on the back of the case, it didn't actually eliminate a slot on the motherboard). It is also so long that I had to move my hard drives to a different location because the video card wouldn't fit with the hard drives in their original location.
EVGA (I shouldn't have looked. The price dropped another $20 in the last 10 days and there is a new $30 rebate). Like the additional memory, I haven't run anything that really takes advantage of the card yet. However, it did allow me to connect the monitor via the DVI connection again. I lost DVI on the old card a few months ago.
I have a PCI card slot not the express; so I am limited at what I can purchase. Finally decide upon a Diamond Stealth 9250 with 256MB. Well I purchase it on Ebay and it was unused but it was one of the first models and it had a fan that made a high pitch sound that created headaches. I try covering it and it was better but still there was the louder then previous sound. Finally decided to unplug the power pin for the fan on the graphics card and it solve everything. Great card and does 1920 X 1200 for my new Lenovo L22 hex 22" S-PVAS monitor. I heard it can go up to 2048X1536! I love to test it at 256 hex 1600! In summary; make sure the graphics card has no sound or if it doe make a sound not a high pitch sound.
GPU's tend to require some kind of cooling, even if only a passive heatsink. Noisy stock fans can be replaced with quiet after-market fans without much trouble or expense.
This card start to act up with waves bands coming across the screen. Found out that my integrated Intel Extreme Graphics adopter on the motherboard was capable of drive it at 1920 X 1200. It does 16 bit very nicely! Does not look to good at 32 bit! I am happy however and the 1920 X 1200 wallpapers are just fantastic to look at!
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AlexPanzer Deactivated User
1593 Posts 6/03
Posted - Mar 28 2008 : 2:58AM
I havent read that link but my bet that for the best results you should go with top-of-the line GeForce 9 card (that sells for $550-$600) in quad SLI configuration.
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AlexPanzer Deactivated User
1593 Posts 6/03
Posted - Mar 28 2008 : 3:00AM
The next video card that I will get will be the mid-level GeForce 9 with 1GB of memory. It does not cost an arm and a leg but still delivers rock-solid performance.
Introducing Natasha Carter
Posted - Mar 8 2008 : 2:56PM