GeForce 7600 VS. GeForce 7300 supporting

[cronus88]

Hello guys, i'm a first time poster, but i have to say i've come by many times for help with my computer troubles.

The trouble i'm having is in choosing a new video card. I bought a Dell Dimension 9100 a few months ago, and found out it had a terrible video card, a Radeon x300 series. I can't play any high quality games on it, everythings choppy.

I decided to get a new GeForce video card. Please assume that i know very little about video cards. I found two cards at the store, (1) GeForce 7600 GS with 256 DDR2 and (2) GeForce 7300 GS with 512 DDR2 supporting.

Appparently 'supporting' means that it feeds off my own computers ram rather than having its own, whereas the 7600 may only be 256 MB but at least its built in.

My question is, based on my system, which should i get? The Ge Force 7300 has 512 ram but the RAM is 'supporting' and doesn't come built in, it actually gets it off my own computers ram.

I have 1 GB of RAM now and am considering getting 2 GB of RAM

THIS IS MY SYSTEM:

CPU-Z version 1.33.1.

Mainboard and chipset
Motherboard manufacturerDell Inc
Motherboard model0X8582,
BIOS vendorDell Inc.
BIOS revisionA01
BIOS release date05/25/2005
ChipsetIntel i945P/PL/G/GZ rev. 00
SouthbridgeIntel 82801GB (ICH7) rev. 01
Sensor chipSMSC 7901

Graphic InterfacePCI-Express
PCI-E Link Widthx16
PCI-E Max Link Widthx16

Memory
DRAM TypeDDR2-SDRAM
DRAM Size1024 MBytes
DRAM Frequency266.0 MHz
FSB:DRAM3:4
CAS# Latency4.0 clocks
RAS# to CAS#4 clocks
RAS# Precharge4 clocks
Cycle Time (TRAS)11 clocks
# of memory modules2
Module 0Samsung DDR2 PC4300 - 512 MBytes
Module 1Samsung DDR2 PC4300 - 512 MBytes

CPU(s) Number of CPUs2 (1 Physical)
CPU#1APIC ID = 0
NameIntel Pentium 4 640
Code NamePrescott
SpecificationIntel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.20GHz
Family / Model / SteppingF 4 3
Extended Family / Model0 0
PackageLGA 775Core SteppingN0
Technology90 nm
Supported Instructions SetsMMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, EM64T

CPU Clock Speed2792.9 MHz
Clock multiplierx 14.0
Front Side Bus Frequency199.5 MHz
Bus Speed798.0 MHz
L1 Data Cache16 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L1 Trace Cache12 Kuops, 8-way set associative
L2 Cache2048 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Speed2792.9 MHz (Full)
L2 LocationOn Chip
L2 Data Prefetch Logicyes
L2 Bus Width256 bits
CPU#2APIC ID = 1
CPU NameIntel Pentium 4 640 (logical unit)

Software
Windows versionMicrosoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
DirectX version9.0c

[nizzy1115]

deffinatly dont go with the 7300 gs, but get the 7600 gs. heres why:

GPU Geforce 7300GS
Core clock 575MHz
PixelPipelines 4
Memory Size Supporting 512MB(256MB on board)
Memory Interface 64-bit
Memory Type GDDR2
3D API
DirectX DirectX 9
RAMDAC 400 MHz
Max Resolution 2048x1536@85Hz
SLI Supported No

GPU Geforce 7600GS
Core clock 550MHz
PixelPipelines 12
Memory Clock 850Mhz
Memory Size 256MB
Memory Interface 128-bit
Memory Type GDDR2
3D API
DirectX DirectX 9
RAMDAC 400 MHz
Max Resolution 2560 x 1600
SLI Supported Yes

The 7600 has 12 pixel pipelines vs the 4 of the 7300. Thats a huge difference. Also, the 7600 has 128 bit gddr2 ram while the 7300 uses 64-bit gddr2 ram which is another huge difference.

If you are really looking for a better gaming experience, get the 7600gs as it will give you the most bang for your buck. Also, dont buy from retail stores, they really markup the prices. You should check out www.newegg.com or www.tigerdirect.com and purchase your graphics card from there at a big savings.

[cronus88]

Thanks for the advice, looks like its the 7600 for me!

[nizzy1115]

No problem, I'm glad to help. Have fun gaming :)

[bwjones]

Not sur about the 7300 or 7600. But the 7800 is great if u have the money. If you want to save about $100, go with a 6800gs and you can unlock 4 extra pipelines to make it 16 which will put it on par with the most expensive cards. Go to newegg.com for your card though, you'll save money and they ship quick. Never buy it in the store! You can't get the best brands in stores such EVGA. And definately get that extra gig of RAM. It makes a huge difference.

[nizzy1115]

You are not guarenteed being able to unlock the extra pipes. Also it would not be recomended to do this unless you got a new heatsink for it.

[bwjones]

You are not guarenteed being able to unlock the extra pipes. Also it would not be recomended to do this unless you got a new heatsink for it.

? not guaranteed by who? the manufacturer of the card? well yea, obviously, they intentionally hide the feature to tweak clock settings for OCing cards. Thats another subject though. Anyway, I have a 6800GS and used Riva Tuner to unlock the 4 extra pipes. Still have doubts? here's the tutorial to do it......... http://www.aoaforums.com/forum/hardware-hacking/35737-mod-your-6800gs-agp-ultra-extreme.html

I can't comment on ATI cards, because I have no experience with them. But Nvidia cards regardless of manufacturer are always sold with software that will not allow consumers to utilize the complete power the card has. This is because if you do not know what you are doing, you can easily fry a card by OCing too much or adjusting other features that you might not have the processing or power supply capabilities for. As long as you review tutorials from reputable sites such as overclock.net or extremeoverclockers.com, you can't go wrong. And unlocking 4 pipes for a 6800GS to run a game such BF2 on all high settings makes a day and night difference with quality of graphics. FYI, unlocking the 4 extra is not sensible if you do not posess a sufficent PSU to negotiate what the card will require to output graphics associated with 16 pixel pipelines. I play BF2 everyday on all medium settings with 2xAA, this is only because at the moment I only have a 250watt PSU, which is basically equivalent to running the game on all high, 4xAA with a 470 watt PSU. But I have not added any extra fans or heatsinks and have not had any problems. Plus, you can always minimize and go to your Nvidia manager and check your GPU temp to assure you staying at safe temperatures.

I'm only speaking from my own experiences and am not condoning any outcomes good or bad from OCing or tweaking a card in any way shape or form. I simply have had nothing but positive results from doing so with my card. Good luck with whatever card you get.

[nizzy1115]

? not guaranteed by who? the manufacturer of the card? well yea, obviously, they intentionally hide the feature to tweak clock settings for OCing cards. Thats another subject though. Anyway, I have a 6800GS and used Riva Tuner to unlock the 4 extra pipes. Still have doubts? here's the tutorial to do it......... http://www.aoaforums.com/forum/hardware-hacking/35737-mod-your-6800gs-agp-ultra-extreme.html

Yes it is POSSIBLE, but not guaranteed to work flawlessly. And btw, a manufacturing process does not work exactly the way you think.

[bwjones]

Like I said, I'm speaking from my experiences with OCing and tweaking. And for me, it has worked flawlessly. Maybe you have had not so graceful experiences with it or know someone who hasn't. And that's fine, better safe than sorry. But if someone is confident they can follow directions and could use the extra drive from their card, then why not?