is the 6600 gt really that bad?

i was going to get and actually ordered a x1900xt with my new system which is costing 3600$ CAD including tax, shipping and insurance. My friend is very knowledgable about computers said that i should cancel it and buy it with a 6600gt instead for 100 vs 650$. is this a good idea, i want to play games like fear on full without it dying but he says it will handle it no problem, here's the setup right now.

11843 NCIX Heavy Duty Shipping Box 1 $5.99 $5.99
13537 HALF-LIFE 2 - Voucher Only - *W. A64 CPU & Barebones System Only* Expires 3/31/06. 1 $0.00 $0.00
Q2222137 NETLINK COMPUTER SYSTEM 1 $3,095.92 $3,095.92
1 x PC ASSEMBLY AND TESTING (PRE-CONFIG OS IF PURCHASED)
1 x AeroCool AEROENGINE2 Silver ATX Case 4X5.25 1X3.5EXT 6X3.5INT USB 1394 Audio W/ Side Window No PSU
1 x AMD Athlon 64 3700+ Processor S939 San Diego 2.2GHZ 1MB L2 Cache 90NM Retail Box
1 x ASUS A8N-SLI Premium ATX S939 NFORCE4 SLI DDR 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E 3PCI SATA RAID Sound GBLAN Motherboard
2 x OCZ EL Platinum REV.2 (TCCD) PC3200 1GB 2X512MB DDR CL 2-2-2-5 184PIN DIMM Dual Channel Memory Kit
1 x Western Digital Caviar SE16 250GB SATA2 7200RPM 16MB 8.9MS Hard Drive 3 Year MFR Warranty
1 x 1.44MB Black 3.5IN FLOPPY DRIVE
1 x Viewsonic G90F 19IN 18VIS .25MM 16X12 Colmon TCO99
1 x ATI Radeon X1900XT 625MHZ 512MB 256BIT 1.45GHZ GDDR3 PCI-E Dual DVI-I VIVO HDTV Video Card
1 x LOGITECH MEDIA KEYBOARD Black ULTRA FLAT DESIGN W/ AUDIO CONTROLS & ENHANCED FUNCTION KEYS
1 x Logitech G5 Laser Gaming Mouse 2000DPI USB Bilingual
1 x Enermax All In One 535W ATX12V V2.0 20/24 Pin Power Supply W/ PCI-E SLI Ready
1 x MICROSOFT WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL OEM (WITH SYSTEM ONLY)
1 x Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Xtrememusic 24BIT Sound Card
1 x LG 16X Black DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM IDE UDMA33 INT OEM
1 x LG GSA-4167B 16X DVD+-RW 16X Dual Layer Writer IDE 2MB Black OEM W/ SW Burner
1 x Logitech Z5500 Digital 5.1 Speakers 500W RMS SILVER-BLACK Analog Coax Optical

Shipping & Handling: $200.40
Shipping Insurance: $93.06
SUBTOTAL: $3,395.37
GST (7%): $237.68
TOTAL: $3,633.05


ALL PRICES IN CANADIAN DOLLARS

this is very important so straight answers please, no sarcasim not in the mood.

also, he wants me to buy it from a local place called compubest who gets their supplies from icct.ca, i'm worried they may not have everything i want, and their website is not as user friendly as ncix(no pc builder), what do you think?

infact i just looked it up, and they don't have the x1900xt or any of that series, the next best thing is the 7800gtx oc 256mb and the 6600gt is 210$

OK... forget that they do have the x1900xt from saphire but its 690$

yes but are the better graphics worth 400$, i want to make this somewhat futureproof since the piece of crap i'm on now is 8 years old and stopped running new games after 4 years

and thanks for referencing the corvette lol

The 6600 GT is a great card, but no way can it run FEAR on full detail.
If you want the newest, most advanced games with all the eyecandy, you gotta pay for it.

The X1900 XT is your card.

i know
i figure the 6600gt won't be able to run new things on low by next year which is no good, but i expect the x1900xt to last at least 4years, is that accurate.
also i hear some "you need to get the best graphics" and "there's barly any difference", i have first hand seen the difference between high and low and i know that sometimes in high detail games which involve sniping, that if one guy has an uber card and your running on low, he might be able to see you, but you can't see him, is that true.
he also critizied me for getting a 3700 with the x1990xt and said it would bottleneck, but i heard that at high res the processor doesn't bear much load and therefore doesn't really matter, this is imortant cause i'm getting a high res crt monitor, viewsonic g90fb i think is this true?

i don't really care if its top dog, the 1900 just seemed to be a signifigant leap so it seemed worth it, and the 7800gt is only 100$ less on ncix so for the extra hundred it seems worth it.

I'm still not sure why you seem to be avoiding the middle and upper middle class. The 6600 GT is already somewhat second rate (econobox) and the 1900 is at the complete other end of the spectrum being about the best you can buy. The 6800 and 7800 are much better than the 6600 without the high cost of the 1900.

I think a 7800GT should be the minimum you should consider for a system of that cost. The 6600 just isn't going to cut it at 1600x1200. I personally think your CPU of choice is fine for gaming.

It is a good idea to get a handle on exactly what a video card does. A faster video card is not going to help mp3 cds or shrink DVDs. A video card really only helps with games or other 3d apps.

I replaced a 6800 with a 7800GT and noticed a huge difference in the quality of games. Take FarCry for example. On low settings it looks fine but lots of stuff is missing. As you turn up the settings everything gets more and more detailed plus the game adds special effects and other things that are just not even present at the lower settings. On high you get birds and fish and bubbles that are not there at all on low. The lighting looks a lot better on high and on high you can even read the magazine covers. The game is totally playable on low but it is so much better on high. I wish my system was even faster so I could turn on fsaa and trans aa too!

EDIT:

OOPs Looks like more info was added while I was typing.

If a 1900 is only 100 more than a 7800 you got to go for it!

nice reply.
not forgetting to consider inflation and all that econs crap i would suggest not going for the highest and the bestest and you'll save a buttload of cash

IMO the only options you should consider are;

The GF7800GT for $350 , the X1900AIW for $550 , or the Connect 3D X1900XT for $630.

All prices from NCIX, BTW be sure to check other site for prices, you can pricematch them at NCIX.

The GT is a cheap solution that will do but likely won't do as well over the long term, and especially not in F.E.A.R. which greatly favours the new architecture. The AIW is the cheapest solution with some good overclocking headroom as seen in Crashman's review, the Connect3D giving you the high end price/performance winner (but the GT may have better price/performance depending on your focus).

What you need to do is take a look at a few reviews and see if the difference is worth it to you. Looking at the F.E.A.R. results at Firingsquad;
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardwar [...] page13.asp
the difference is quite significant, but is it worth the extra money to you?

Your "friend" is full of shit (well, almost). (Normally I would never say this btw, But this case really justifies it)

Sorry about the language, but either he just wants to frag your ass, or his ego was hurt when he heard you are getting a better video card than he has or can afford in the next 12 months.

A GeForce 6600GT will not run FEAR at full detail with even nearly acceptable frame rates.

Sure a Radeon X1900 might be overkill, but a GeForce 6600 GT is pathetic for a gamer in Q1 2006, leading into Q2 2006 shortly.

A nVidia GeForce 6800 GT/GS (not 6800 vanilla or 6600 GT) or a ATI Radeon X800 XL / XT or higher is what you'll be looking for. And most likely a GeForce 7800/7900 series or Radeon X1800/X1900 series video card is what you're after.

If medium detail is enough, then get a GeForce 6800 GT/GS or Radeon X800 XL/XT.

The phrase 'full detail in FEAR' shouldn't be used lightly either mate.

For gaming you are better off with the Athlon 64 3700+ (high clock, decent cache 'per core', single core though, etc), an Athlon 64 X2 3800+ will likely perform lower in todays games, but in tomorrows it may well be faster (or it may not, threading games well will take quite some time).

PS: Considering how many 'extras' you are getting (eg: You need an OS, Speakers, Mouse, etc by the sounds of it, so remember to add them to any quotes that lack them). Your (1st post far above) PC may be overpriced IMHO. As you didn't give a price break down we can only 2nd guess you there though.

"is the 6600GT really that bad" - YES mine died recently LOL

There a basic card for today, they will run anything, but dont expect miracles.

I was really impressed at mine even a year later it hammered compared to my old vinilla 5600, but theres plenty of cards out there that can double it.

is it not true that x1900 series is a big step up from the previous generation of cards like the 7800 and 1800?
this was the reason i picked it cause it looked like it was worth the money.

anyways i cancelled the order for now, and am waiting for the 7900 or whatever to come out and see if the price drops.

The X1900 does have a HUGE shader advantage over the 7800/X1800 gen that really kicks it in the pants in shader heavy (i.e. future) titles.

You won't see much of a difference today, except that it can run current titles with much more eye candy enabled; more SM 3.0 effects and higher levels of AA & AF.

But as games get more shader-heavy, the X1900 will scale better than the X1800/7800 series.

I think that the 660gt is a good choice. It is in the middle of the road and isn't all that expensive. I am using one myself and I have been able to play Quake 4 will all of the bells and whistles active

But really the choice is up to you on what you get

Anyone that thinks that a 7800GT can be had for around $100 less than a 1900 is absolutely nuts... either that, the 7800GT is overpriced or they're just really bad at math.

7800GTs can be had for under $300... bang for the buck that's hard to beat.