Hello,

How good of a card is this:  PCI-e 256MB ATI RADEON x700 TV-out & DVI

I just bought a new computer and chose this card, but I don´t know a whole lot about video cards.  Is this a decent choice for everyday use and maybe a little gaming?  It seemed to have the most bang for the buck, but like I said, I don´t know much about it.  

For a little gaming?  Yeah, its not a bad card for that.  It is an 8-pipe card, so it will keep right up there with most current games with no trouble at all.  

It's a good card and will play most of your games at a decent quality level. Don't expect Doom3 at maxxed detail levels though.

Keep in mind guys this is a PCI Express Card and that is better than AGP. While its not top of the line of PCI Express, its definately a good card.

Breaks down into a few parts:
* X700 - this is the engine or what does the actual work.  The X700 does a good job and is right in the middle.  It will play the latest games, but not at full throttle with all the effects turned on.  In a year or two it'll likely be hurtin' to play the games that come out in 2007.
* 256MB RAM - a measurement of capacity, not speed.  Sure, you need enough memory to get the job done, but the X700 isn't exactly a strong enough card to be handling 256MB of stuff.  For example, you'll have some of the game-settings turned on, but not all of them because you need the game to be fast enough to be playable.  I'm guessing you'll be using around 90+MB of video memory on the latest games as the X700 will poop out on performance before you get much over the 128MB mark.  If you had an X700 w/128MB of video memory, I'll guess that they'd test out very similarly.
* PCI-e - this is the connection to the motherboard.  True, the PCI-e can handle more traffic than the older AGP (and much more than the even-older PCI...non-e).  However, the X700 isn't powerful enough to really be overwhelming the AGP bus.
* Extras - TV-out/DVI - if you have a DVI connection to an LCD, then you might be able to notice the increased quality.  TV-out is nice if you ever do that sort of thing.

Decent choice for bang-for-the-buck with a little gaming?  Absolutely!

Quoted: Keep in mind guys this is a PCI Express Card and that is better than AGP. While its not top of the line of PCI Express, its definately a good card.

PCI Express isnt better than AGP, just different.

Quoted: PCI Express isnt better than AGP, just different.

I agree with this statement. Currently, cards that come in PCI-E and AGP flavours perform on par with each other in most benches/games/apps. The PCI-E technology has great potential, and once it matures it will be better then AGP.

The card you have is a good mid range card. It is perfect for what you are looking for, offering great multimedia features, with some decent power for gaming. You should be able to play most games, including HL2, Doom 3, F.E.A.R. and Far Cry at medium resoltuions.

I had that card in my old setup, until I got my 24" Dell LCD. I upgraded to a BFG 7800 GTX 512 and my LCD has never been happier.


^_^_^

Thanks for all of the info guys.  I´ve had the computer for a week, and so far I´m happy with this video card.  I haven´t pushed it past its limits yet, but it plays movies and Counter-strike 1.6 like a charm.  I can´t wait to test it out on a newer game.