7600GT Vs. 7600GS And Where to Buy

Talking about video cards, I was given advice that pretty much anything that Dell offered on their site (when building your own computer) wasn’t very good, and to go with either of these.

Well, I went with the cheapest Dell offered, which was $100 less than what I was going to get, and pricing these online, I saw that they’re not much more than $100.

So, anyone have advice on where to get them, or how much better one is from the other?

I like good quality video, but I’m not going to be playing any elaborate video games, or making any professional videos or anything like that.

[quote]SWR-1240 wrote:
I like good quality video, but I’m not going to be playing any elaborate video games, or making any professional videos or anything like that.[/quote]

Its a gaming card. WAAAY overkill for what you need. (unless you’re getting Vista).

If you’re upgrading to Vista soon or Playing Games. Buy the faster one. The GT, its alot faster in most games. Or get a GeForce 8. Can’t go wrong with that.

If you’re using XP or Linux to watch video… doesn’t matter. You’re hunting rabbits with a tank anyway.

Just buy whichever in this case.

[quote]SWR-1240 wrote:
Talking about video cards, I was given advice that pretty much anything that Dell offered on their site (when building your own computer) wasn’t very good, and to go with either of these.

Well, I went with the cheapest Dell offered, which was $100 less than what I was going to get, and pricing these online, I saw that they’re not much more than $100.

So, anyone have advice on where to get them, or how much better one is from the other?

I like good quality video, but I’m not going to be playing any elaborate video games, or making any professional videos or anything like that.[/quote]

The 7600GS is cheaper because it’s a lower model compared to GT.

If I may ask what you want to do exactly, maybe we can find a better card for you for less based on your needs, unless you want one of those two specifically for some reason.

Expect to pay a little under 100 for a GS and a little over 100 for a GT from newegg.com

[quote]brucevangeorge wrote:
SWR-1240 wrote:
I like good quality video, but I’m not going to be playing any elaborate video games, or making any professional videos or anything like that.

Its a gaming card. WAAAY overkill for what you need. (unless you’re getting Vista).

If you’re upgrading to Vista soon or Playing Games. Buy the faster one. The GT, its alot faster in most games. Or get a GeForce 8. Can’t go wrong with that.

If you’re using XP or Linux to watch video… doesn’t matter. You’re hunting rabbits with a tank anyway.

Just buy whichever in this case.[/quote]

Thanks. When I did a Google search for them, I noticed I was going to a lot of different gaming forums, and figured the GS would be good enough for what I need.

I did notice that my pinball game’s graphics weren’t very great, even compared to my 5 year old computer (although my old computer’s pinball played a lot slower).

I was seeing tracks behind the ball, and when going to full screen it was fuzzy.

The one I have now is: NVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE.

[quote]daltron wrote:

The 7600GS is cheaper because it’s a lower model compared to GT.

If I may ask what you want to do exactly, maybe we can find a better card for you for less based on your needs, unless you want one of those two specifically for some reason.

Expect to pay a little under 100 for a GS and a little over 100 for a GT from newegg.com

[/quote]

Just watching videos online, and ones that I upload from my camera, maybe playing free online games, but not buying regular computer games.

I’d still like a good quality picture when watching videos in the full screen, so if I can get all that with a cheaper card, I’d go with that.

[quote]SWR-1240 wrote:
Just watching videos online, and ones that I upload from my camera, maybe playing free online games, but not buying regular computer games.

I’d still like a good quality picture when watching videos in the full screen, so if I can get all that with a cheaper card, I’d go with that.
[/quote]

It matters on the image source and the compression level.

Grainy source = shitty picture.
Too much compression = shitty picture.

Unless the video stutters or you notice hitches when its playing… a new card will not make a difference.

It either plays well, or it doesn’t and you have stuttering and other problems.

Quality wise you will get exactly the same.

Please tell us more. Maybe you really don’t need a new card as much as something else.

What screen do you have? Brad and model.

I have an ACER AL1714.

Processor… ram, what brand motherboard. Or is it a bundle? Like Dell or Compaq where they assemble it for you? If you don’t know I can show you how to find out without opening it up.

And one more question: Are you ever upgrading to Vista?

[quote]brucevangeorge wrote:
SWR-1240 wrote:
Just watching videos online, and ones that I upload from my camera, maybe playing free online games, but not buying regular computer games.

I’d still like a good quality picture when watching videos in the full screen, so if I can get all that with a cheaper card, I’d go with that.

It matters on the image source and the compression level.

Grainy source = shitty picture.
Too much compression = shitty picture.

Unless the video stutters or you notice hitches when its playing… a new card will not make a difference.

It either plays well, or it doesn’t and you have stuttering and other problems.

Quality wise you will get exactly the same.

Please tell us more. Maybe you really don’t need a new card as much as something else.

What screen do you have? Brad and model.

I have an ACER AL1714.

Processor… ram, what brand motherboard. Or is it a bundle? Like Dell or Compaq where they assemble it for you? If you don’t know I can show you how to find out without opening it up.[/quote]

Yea, it’s a Dell.
From right clicking on my “mycomputer”:
AMD Athlon 64X2 Dual Core processor 4200+
2.2Ghz, 960 Meg RAM

From my account on dell.com (I tried deleting unnecessary info to make it a little less cluttered):

Dimension E521,Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (2.20GHz, 512Kx2) $679

1 311-6540 1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz

1 320-5049 19 in (19 in viewable) E197FPBFlat Panel Display

1 320-4270 Integrated Graphics

1 341-4210 160GB SATA II Hard Drive (7200RPM)

1 412-0688 Image Restore

1 310-8551 Backup media for XP Media Center,Dimension E521

1 430-0412 Integrated NIC card

1 420-6399 Sonic Cineplayer

1 313-2758 Integrated Audio

[quote]brucevangeorge wrote:
And one more question: Are you ever upgrading to Vista?[/quote]

No. I thought about it for a while and looked at Microsoft’s description of it, and don’t believe I need it right now, or for a few years (unless they make XP non-usable in the near future).

I might when I’m ready to upgrade again, but definitely not for a while.

[quote]SWR-1240 wrote:
brucevangeorge wrote:
And one more question: Are you ever upgrading to Vista?

No. I thought about it for a while and looked at Microsoft’s description of it, and don’t believe I need it right now, or for a few years (unless they make XP non-usable in the near future).

I might when I’m ready to upgrade again, but definitely not for a while.[/quote]

Those are great specs. But as I said before: Unless you want to play a game or run vista… a new videocard is not needed.

Are there any problems with video playback being jerky or skipping frames?

If not… its not needed. I have a geforce 4600 right now and its more than my system needs. I play games ocassionally which is when I need it… but otherwise its fine.

My older computer at home has a geforce 2. It looks exactly the same on both computers. Video that is.

Are you connecting your PC to a HDTV screen and watching DVDs on it?

Anybody using this computer to do rendering? Like 3D graphics modeling?

That would use a little bit of the power the card has to offer. But alot of it will not be tapped when playing videos or just general work on XP.

That’s like buying a supercomputer to run Microsoft Word. It won’t type any better, so its not more useful.

[quote]brucevangeorge wrote:

Are there any problems with video playback being jerky or skipping frames?

If not… its not needed. I have a geforce 4600 right now and its more than my system needs. I play games ocassionally which is when I need it… but otherwise its fine.

My older computer at home has a geforce 2. It looks exactly the same on both computers. Video that is.

Are you connecting your PC to a HDTV screen and watching DVDs on it?

Anybody using this computer to do rendering? Like 3D graphics modeling?

That would use a little bit of the power the card has to offer. But alot of it will not be tapped when playing videos or just general work on XP.

That’s like buying a supercomputer to run Microsoft Word. It won’t type any better, so its not more useful.[/quote]

When I watched a video on youtube in full-screen it skipped twice, but I don’t know if that was from the uploading from the site, or from the video card.

I watched other video files from my computer and they looked good, fuzzy but good.

I do know that the videos on my computer are probably fuzzy because they were taken with a low-end digital camera, so it’s hard to tell.

I’m also not used to the resolution I set for this monitor yet. It’s set to 1280X1024 (recommended for the 19" screen I got), and I was used to a much lower resolution with my last screen, so everything looks different, especially when I make it fit the whole screen.

The clarity of image files, and from browsing online is great though. Surprisingly better than my last computer. Even everything on this site is more crisp and clear looking.

I forgot to answer your other questions. I might be watching DVDs on it, but not all the time. That’s about as far as I’d go with it.

[quote]SWR-1240 wrote:
When I watched a video on youtube in full-screen it skipped twice, but I don’t know if that was from the uploading from the site, or from the video card.[/quote]

Oh hell no. Not from the videocard. What you have is very good for a desktop PC.

If you really have problems… make sure that you have the latest drivers installed.

Here are the latest ones:

For your GeForce 6150LE… right?

[quote]
I watched other video files from my computer and they looked good, fuzzy but good.
[\quote]

Hate to tell you this… bit there’s nothing you can do about that. If the source was low resolution… a new videocard will not make it look sharper.

But there is one solution. Havne’t tried it though. Looks good. Take a look:

http://qolabs.com/pixelfusion/

Its a plugin for Windows Media Player.

[quote]
I’m also not used to the resolution I set for this monitor yet. It’s set to 1280X1024 (recommended for the 19" screen I got), and I was used to a much lower resolution with my last screen, so everything looks different, especially when I make it fit the whole screen.
[\quote]

Because you set it to a higher resolution… everything looks sharper. Crisp. Also because its an LCD. So its much easier to tell when things are displaying blurry because of how crisp your screen shows it.

[quote]
The clarity of image files, and from browsing online is great though. Surprisingly better than my last computer. Even everything on this site is more crisp and clear looking.[/quote]

In conclusion… you do not need a new videocard. If you are going to get one… in my opinion its a waste of a few hundred dollars. It will not make everything magically look better. The source material is either very compressed or low resolution.

Try the plugin I posted and see if it helps with the blurriness. Remember: It only works in Windows Media Player.

[quote]SWR-1240 wrote:
I forgot to answer your other questions. I might be watching DVDs on it, but not all the time. That’s about as far as I’d go with it.[/quote]

What you have now is a good setup. I don’t see the need to change it. Especially since it will not make any difference in terms of image quality.

If you are playing games… then yeah get a new card! More enemies and explosions on the screen!

But it will not make a difference for just regular media.

Cool. Thanks a lot brucevangeorge!

I appreciate the help. You made sense and probably saved me from wasting over $100 (I think one that I was pricing online was $120 or $140).

[quote]SWR-1240 wrote:
Cool. Thanks a lot brucevangeorge!

I appreciate the help. You made sense and probably saved me from wasting over $100 (I think one that I was pricing online was $120 or $140).

[/quote]

Do me a favor and tell me if the plugin woks ok.

I have been meaning to try it… but my XP is “customized”. I removed all the stuff I don’t need including Media Player and replaced it with other stuff.

Does it work like in the screenshots?

[quote]brucevangeorge wrote:
SWR-1240 wrote:
Cool. Thanks a lot brucevangeorge!

I appreciate the help. You made sense and probably saved me from wasting over $100 (I think one that I was pricing online was $120 or $140).

Do me a favor and tell me if the plugin woks ok.

I have been meaning to try it… but my XP is “customized”. I removed all the stuff I don’t need including Media Player and replaced it with other stuff.

Does it work like in the screenshots?[/quote]

Yea. I looked at one of my low quality squat videos (in full screen) after I uploaded the plugin. At first, I looked at it and saw the poor quality, so I uninsulated the plugin, then watched the video again. The video was noticeably worse so I re-installed the plugin.

So I’d say it does work, noticeably, but it’s no miracle worker.

Thanks again

No Problem SWR.

The GT uses DDR3 memory and faster speeds on the core and memory. The GS uses a slower chip (the same type but no doubt the GT rejects that would not go so fast) and slower DDR2 memory. Many GS’s are passive too which makes them quieter as there is no fan just a heatsink.

However there are fancier GS’s which are like the GT with higher clock speeds and DDR3 memory, these however are usually cheaper than a GT but perform similarly, and are a real bargain as its all marketing. Examples are the Inno 7600GST and the Galaxy 7600GS with DDR3 which get similar benchmark scores to 7600GT in 3DMark06.

Also look at the 7900GS which is a mega bargain has more power than the 7600, 20 pixel piplines vs 12.

Also the 7300GT is good even for some gaming, don’t confuse with the 7300GS which is crap.

Newegg is a good place to shop online.