DirectX10 Videocards, will they work for me?

[Saze]

Hey guys,

I'm a hardcore gamer looking forward to running games such as Bioshock, Company of Heroes, Crysis etc etc and here is what I planned on ordering.


(Processor) Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz

(Memory) 2GB Dual Channel Kit

(Motherboard)
ASUS P5K3 DELUXE/WIFI-AP LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813131181

(Video Card)
SAPPHIRE Radeon X1950PRO 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card

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I have seen the differences between DirectX9 vs DirectX10 and I must say

that I need to get a video card that is compatable with DirectX10 ( i'm i

installing windows vista too so it would be a waste not to use it's DirectX10)

Now heres my question. Which video card would best work for me and will any of them work with my processor and motherboard?

Radeon HD 2600 XT , GeForce 8600 GTS, GeForce 8600 GT. I believe these are the currently top videocards if I researched correctly.

EDIT: If the Radeon HD 2600 XT only has 256 MB and the Radeon X1950 PRO has 512 MB wouldn't the x1950 pro run games such as BioShock better even though it wont have the ability to support DirectX10?

[taff9]

what i have read it wont be until late next year that we start seeing direct 10 games. so until then it wont be much use.if im wrong im sure someone will be along to correct me

[jlreich]

CPU is good. 2GB ram is good but with vista 4GB would be great.

The 8800's are the top cards. The 8600's are budget cards. The ATI 2xxx cards are not at all impressive from what I understand.

As a hardcore gamer you should be looking at an 8800, preferably with 640MB of ram or better, and vista.

Here is a list (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_games_with_DirectX_10_support) of DX10 games and their expected release dates. Only a few are supposed to be released now. Most are due out fall or winter this year. Not too long to wait really.

If the Radeon HD 2600 XT only has 256 MB and the Radeon X1950 PRO has 512 MB wouldn't the x1950 pro run games such as BioShock better even though it wont have the ability to support DirectX10
The extra ram will help, a little, but will not at all make up for the lose of DX10 features the older card cannot support.

Dx10 and vista are well worth it for "hardcore" gamers. I am a gamer but not hardcore and will not touch vista for along time. I have a 7900GS, 2GB ram on XP and am very satisfied for the time being. Could it be better? Yes I know it could. But for me it just isn't worth dealing with vista or going for the big video card and ram upgrade in order to get DX10.

[Saze]

Okay i'm going to get the 8800 GTS 340mb. So atleast my system will be able to run games like company of heroes on max.