New video card (for new system)

I've been out of the sim scene for a while, but I'm building a new PC and want to select a good video card for it. I want to spend no more than $200US. It will be for old (GPL, NR2003) and new (GTR) sims. My questions... Do you think its worth going for a PCIexpress motherboard (right now I'm thinking AGP), so when (if) I upgrade the video card in a couple of years, I'll have a decent selection to choose from? Anti-aliasing was very helpful for racing sims and used to be better on the ATI cards. Is this still true and is it a good enough reason to select ATI over NVidia? (My old PC has a Voodoo 5, so I am a little bit out of the loop. :) Some of the candidates I've seen: NVidia 6600, NVidia 6600GT, ATI 9600XT, ATI 9800Pro. What would you recommend? Thanks for your answers and suggestions... (FWIW, here's what I'm considering building: A64 3000+ (socket939), Abit AV8 (VIA K8T800Pro), 1x 512m PC3200, Seagate EIDE HD, NEC ND3520A DVD+-RW, and Antec SLK2650-BQE w/350w PSU. My priorities are cheap, quiet, and reasonably high performance.) "But in a way, fear is a big part of racing, because if there was nothing to be frightened of, and no limit, any fool could get into a motor car and racing would not exist as a sport." -- Jim Clark ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World! >100,000 Newsgroups ---= East/West-Coast Server Farms - Total Privacy via Encryption =---

you like mentioned GPL, if your going to run that, you gonna stay away from ATI for a while, least that is my conclusion readin posts here everyday... you should google the groups, ati gpl, and dbl-check me though Jeff Vincent enlightened us with:

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> I've been out of the sim scene for a while, but I'm building a new > PC and want to select a good video card for it. I want to spend no > more than $200US. It will be for old (GPL, NR2003) and new (GTR) > sims. My questions... > > Do you think its worth going for a PCIexpress motherboard (right > now I'm thinking AGP), so when (if) I upgrade the video card in a > couple of years, I'll have a decent selection to choose from? > > Anti-aliasing was very helpful for racing sims and used to be > better on the ATI cards. Is this still true and is it a good enough > reason to select ATI over NVidia? (My old PC has a Voodoo 5, so I am > a little bit out of the loop. :) > > Some of the candidates I've seen: NVidia 6600, NVidia 6600GT, ATI > 9600XT, ATI 9800Pro. What would you recommend? > > Thanks for your answers and suggestions... > > (FWIW, here's what I'm considering building: > A64 3000+ (socket939), > Abit AV8 (VIA K8T800Pro), > 1x 512m PC3200, > Seagate EIDE HD, > NEC ND3520A DVD+-RW, and > Antec SLK2650-BQE w/350w PSU. > My priorities are cheap, quiet, and reasonably high performance.) > > "But in a way, fear is a big part of racing, because if there was > nothing to be frightened of, and no limit, any fool could get into > a motor car and racing would not exist as a sport." -- Jim Clark > > > ----== Posted via Newsfeeds.Com - Unlimited-Uncensored-Secure Usenet > News==---- http://www.newsfeeds.com The #1 Newsgroup Service in the > World! >100,000 Newsgroups ---= East/West-Coast Server Farms - Total > Privacy via Encryption =---

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> (FWIW, here's what I'm considering building: > A64 3000+ (socket939), > Abit AV8 (VIA K8T800Pro), > 1x 512m PC3200, > Seagate EIDE HD, > NEC ND3520A DVD+-RW, and > Antec SLK2650-BQE w/350w PSU.

As for video cards IMO ATI looks the best, and the general thought it they still out perform Nvidia in the FASO and AF functions, but the gap has closed with the newer generation cards.. I run GPL, NR2003, and F1C with no problems on my ATI 9700 pro. IRC ATI doesn't have FSAA with 16 bit color so that can be a factor in GPL If you are going to stay with AGP slot then you might as well save a few more bucks and go with a socket a setup on an Nforce2 400 based board. If I was to build a 939 setup I would go with a PCIE card for future upgrades. From what I have seen there is not a lot of price difference between AGP or PCIE, and the 6600Gt seems to be getting pretty good bang for the buck ratings. MadDAWG

MadDAWG wrote:

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>>(FWIW, here's what I'm considering building: >> A64 3000+ (socket939), >> Abit AV8 (VIA K8T800Pro), >> 1x 512m PC3200, >> Seagate EIDE HD, >> NEC ND3520A DVD+-RW, and >> Antec SLK2650-BQE w/350w PSU. > > > > > As for video cards IMO ATI looks the best, and the general thought it they > still out perform Nvidia in the FASO and AF functions, but the gap has > closed with the newer generation cards.. I run GPL, NR2003, and F1C with no > problems on my ATI 9700 pro. IRC ATI doesn't have FSAA with 16 bit color so > that can be a factor in GPL > > If you are going to stay with AGP slot then you might as well save a few > more bucks and go with a socket a setup on an Nforce2 400 based board. If I > was to build a 939 setup I would go with a PCIE card for future upgrades. > From what I have seen there is not a lot of price difference between AGP or > PCIE, and the 6600Gt seems to be getting pretty good bang for the buck > ratings. > > MadDAWG > >

I run all of the sims mentioned previously on my 9700 Pro as well, in addition to GTR. There's no problem running GPL with ATI.