Not a gamer, but TV looks GREAT on this PCI-E Graphics Card!
Written: Dec 10 '07 (Updated May 01 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Affordable Graphic Card that allows going digital to digital from PC to DVI compatible Monitor.
Cons: None.
The Bottom Line: This is a very good card based on price, features and quality. It runs cool in my case and has its own fan. Good deal!
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| mongomad1's Full Review: Pine Technology XFX GeForce® 6800 XTreme, (25... |
About two years ago, I came into a somewhat free Dell 20" Widescreeen LCD for my computer, a Dell Dimension 4700. I ran it at first in VGA mode since the Dimension 4700 lacks a DVI Port on its built-in graphics card.
I am no gamer, BUT I am a college football FANATIC. As such, I purchased an Hauppage TV Tuner years ago to record games and put them on DVD for my private collection of games.
This was great, BUT I wanted my monitor to display high quality for watching games as my PC is in the living room with the big TV, is set up with a DirecTV box and remote and an external sound system with remote. Instead of flipping channels during commercials, it is much easier to change my viewing angle towards my monitor.
Obviously, I needed Digital Quality and not VGA that converts digital to analog. I cracked open my case and found that it DID have a PCI-Express slot available, which allows for faster, better quality performance for cards that are designed for this. If you look in your PC’s case, the PCI-E slot is labeled on most motherboards. It is tiny, but you can find pics on the net and compare them to make sure yours is PCI-E.
Since I am not a gamer, though I am sure this card will get it done for many that are, a 256MB card was all I needed. The main deal is to get digital from the PC directly to a digital picture on the monitor, minimizing degradation.
Enter the GEForce 6800 Xtreme. It was VERY reasonably priced at newegg.com though they no longer carry this model. I paid well under $100 for it and newegg.com does carry similar cards for around the same price that are likely better. An example: GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card, $87.99, as of the date this is written, 12/10/07.
Back to this card. It supports resolutions up to 2048 X 1536, though my monitor is limited to 1680 X 1050. I can say when I full screen the software for my TV Tuner, it is a great, crisp picture even though I do not have HD (High Definition) service. This card will support HD with its HDTV Encoder if you have HD service, with 16.7 million colors, 8-bit grayscale mask at 32 bits. I plan to upgrade to HD once the right priced, huge LCD HD Television is within my budget for such things.
Its graphic chipset is NVIDIA with a core clock speed of 350MHz and a RAMDAC speed of 400MHz. The 256MB of memory has a 1GHz clock speed and uses GDDR3 technology.
I also plan to one day add a second LCD widescreen monitor to my PC and this card will get it done since it has two DVI connections with twin view architecture in addition to VGA adapters for those that are old school.
Overall, I could not be more pleased with this card. It has not caused any type of heat issue and is equipped with its own fan to help out on that front.
Quick Reference for What You Need in Your PC to Install:
An available PCI-Express slot (typically brown and longer than the regular PCI) on an SLI ready motherboard.
600Mhz Processor at minimum, preferably one at least 1.5GHz.
128MB of RAM at least, best if 256MB or more.
A power supply connector just like the ones used for DVD/CD drives.
XP or Vista Compatible
Final Tips:
Once you install the software, there are all types of settings for manipulation to optimize it for your use. If you want to see the control panel and learn about the various capabilities, type or copy and paste: ftp://ftp.xfxsupport.com/public/Manual/100.65_NVIDIA_Control_Panel_Quick_Start_Guide.pdf into your browser and scroll down to page 19 of the document as the pages are numbered or enter page 25 based on the actual page in Adobe.
The deals you will find on this are great now that it is an older technology and if this is your first graphics card, it is new to you! The install is easy as long as you have basic concepts of how to install any type of card. Just be gentle and take your time if you are a novice. Gamers on a budget may be pleasantly surprised.
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Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 80
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Epinions.com ID:
mongomad1
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Location: Actionville, FL (Jacksonville)
Reviews written: 58
Trusted by: 65 members
About Me:
I would give my right arm to be ambidextrous.
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