3dmark respectable scores?

[Slug Toy]

if you want to future-proof yourself, you want a 7800 or 7900 honestly. they both have double the pixel pipelines over the 7600. on top of that, the 7900 has even better clock speeds than the 7600. i would say that the 7900gtx will stay competitive longer.

on the other hand, the x1900xtx also has an impressive showing to say the least, and i think its a little cheaper than the 7900. its obviously slightly different in performance, but it at least matches the 7900gtx in general performance.

what i would suggest doing is looking at the games you want to be able to play. if they are heavy in to textures like halo or is an openGL game like doom3, go nvidia because they hold strong there. if the games you are looking at are heavy in to shaders like in fear, then ati is the way to go right now. most new games are shifting away from textures because they take up a lot of bandwidth and arent that flexible anymore. shaders are much more versatile and are basically code, so it executes better and uses comparatively less bandwidth.

also, take a look at some prices. the 7900 and x1900 series are new and expensive... perhaps out of your range. if you move down to the 7800 and x1800 level, those cards are more affordable and the same performance rules apply. nvidia still has good texture and openGL performance, and ati still does good with shaders. you just wont have the newest and best hardware.

to boil this down to something a little less confusing:

-for really good performance, go 7900 or x1900, preferably x1900 right now
-to stick with the $300 budget, go 7800 or x1800, preferably x1800
-if you really want sli instead of crossfire, then your choices are restricted to the 7900 or 7800

i cant give any recommendations on what brand to check right now, but i can look into that tomorrow. im really tired right now and i dont feel like doing any more research today. just let me know if you want any brand opinions... ill check back here tomorrow and give you some more info if you need it.

[Slug Toy]

for the sake of keeping myself occupied, i went ahead and checked out some cards and prices. heres what i see, keeping in mind that this is in canadian dollars:

-7900gt is in the $300 range, and there are some pretty high factory overclocks too
-7900gtx is in the $500-$600 range, which is probably too high, but there are some overclocked models
-x1900xt is in the $450-$500 range, slightly high, and no factory overclocks that i see
-x1900xtx is in the $500-$600 range, lots around $500 though, and again no factory overclocks
-X1800xt is all over the place, from $350-$500, youd be just as well off to go to a x1900xt
-7800gtx is anywhere from $400-$700, lots around $500, so youd be just as well off to go to either of the 7900's

it looks like the budget card in all of thses would be the 7900gt. the x1900xtx and 7900gtx are comparable in price, but pretty high. in my opinion, the x1800 and 7800 are still retardedly high considering there are better things out. id say the 7900gt is the way to go both because you want sli eventually, and also because its the cheapest. you could probably wait a while and the prices will come down a bit, but keep in mind if you wait too long, you might as well go to the geforce 8 series.

thats my thoughts on the situation. i gotta cut this short because im taking off momentarily, but that should keep you on track.

[bcampbell91]

thanks slug toy,
im not exaclty made of money yet so the 7900gt will be fine for gaming as an upgrade from an x800pro! plus when theyre like 150$ next year and its starting to get outdated, i pick up another plug it in and im running graphics thats as good as any single card out there, so i guess this seems like the best performance to price ratio in the longrun. thanks again for all the help.