My motherboard has packed in so it's time to upgrade. I'm choosing between two ASUS boards, both of which require a PCI-e graphics card. Since my A8V Deluxe takes AGP, it's time for a new video card as well.
The two passively-cooled ones available from my preferred vendor are these:
AOpen GeForce 6600 128 MB – £79
Gainward 7883 GeForce 7300GS 256 MB – £55
I don't play games so don't really need to worry about fps or anything like that. I do overclock the bus, so might that be an issue to consider? Do PCI-e cards need to be frequency locked in the same way as PCI cards do?
Is AOpen a more reliable cardmaker than Gainward? I ask as I'm curious as to what makes a 256 MB card cheaper than a 128 MB one.
Thanks
Cams
GeForce 6600 vs GeForce 7300GS
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
The 7300GS is a newer generation of budget card, the 6600 is an older generation of mid-range card. The 6600 is a faster GPU, and will be running faster memory; the 7300GS will be cooler running, and if you really don't game at all, you might as well get that one.
For complete non-gamers, a motherboard with integrated graphics would be the best choice, such as the Asus A8N-VM micro-ATX board at the same site.
For complete non-gamers, a motherboard with integrated graphics would be the best choice, such as the Asus A8N-VM micro-ATX board at the same site.