Looking at a couple of models available in NZ:

Asus EAX1600PRO Video Card, Radeon X1600 Pro, 512MB, DDR2, PCIe-16, TV
out, DVI Dual head NZ$272


Gigabyte GV-RX16P256DE-RH Video Card, Radeon X1600 Pro, 256MB, DDR2,
PCIe-16, TV out, DVI, HDTV, CrossFire Dual head NZ$275.85

Pricing from ascent.co.nz

Are these good brands, considering there is a lot of cheap and nasty
junk out there?

Yes. And given the prices I'd pick the Asus (twice as much RAM) over the
Gigabyte.

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."

"SchoolTech" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:448747eb$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Looking at a couple of models available in NZ:
>
> Asus EAX1600PRO Video Card, Radeon X1600 Pro, 512MB, DDR2, PCIe-16, TV
> out, DVI Dual head NZ$272
>
>
> Gigabyte GV-RX16P256DE-RH Video Card, Radeon X1600 Pro, 256MB, DDR2,
> PCIe-16, TV out, DVI, HDTV, CrossFire Dual head NZ$275.85
>
> Pricing from ascent.co.nz
>
> Are these good brands, considering there is a lot of cheap and nasty junk
> out there?

SchoolTech wrote:
> Looking at a couple of models available in NZ:
>
> Asus EAX1600PRO Video Card, Radeon X1600 Pro, 512MB, DDR2, PCIe-16, TV
> out, DVI Dual head NZ$272
>
>
> Gigabyte GV-RX16P256DE-RH Video Card, Radeon X1600 Pro, 256MB, DDR2,
> PCIe-16, TV out, DVI, HDTV, CrossFire Dual head NZ$275.85
>
> Pricing from ascent.co.nz
>
> Are these good brands, considering there is a lot of cheap and nasty
> junk out there?

I'm guessing your buying this for a wee bit of gaming (yes?).

Assuming your budget is in the $300 NZD range, and that you'd prefer to
buy from Ascent (which is entirely understandable), then would not
something like a 7600GS or 6600GT be a better option?

SchoolTech wrote:
> Looking at a couple of models available in NZ:
>
> Asus EAX1600PRO Video Card, Radeon X1600 Pro, 512MB, DDR2, PCIe-16, TV
> out, DVI Dual head NZ$272
>
>
> Gigabyte GV-RX16P256DE-RH Video Card, Radeon X1600 Pro, 256MB, DDR2,
> PCIe-16, TV out, DVI, HDTV, CrossFire Dual head NZ$275.85
>
> Pricing from ascent.co.nz
>
> Are these good brands, considering there is a lot of cheap and nasty
> junk out there?

I would be happy with Asus or Gigabyte.....gigabyte actually produced a
4 sli motherboard months back running 4 graphics cards.....so they are
serious players to my mind. So I would be happy with Gigabyte as my
choice as they seem to do hi performing kit and a good price point
beating Asus so for my myself....Gigabyte.

regards

Thing

First of One wrote:
> Yes. And given the prices I'd pick the Asus (twice as much RAM) over the
> Gigabyte.
>

Good point 512Meg is worth a wee bit more, all else being equal.....

regards

thing

First of One wrote:
> Yes. And given the prices I'd pick the Asus (twice as much RAM) over the
> Gigabyte.
>

The additional frame buffer memory is somewhat of a gimmick IMHO.

Unless he's going to be doing some high resolution FSAA gaming
(1600x1200 and higher) then 256MB should be fine. Plus if he was going
to do gaming at those resolutions, he's looking at the wrong card (and
certainly the wrong price range).

First of One wrote:
> Yes. And given the prices I'd pick the Asus (twice as much RAM) over the
> Gigabyte.
>

Looking at the Asus and the gigabyte, the extra price of the gigabyte
seems to be the passive cooling solution, which it is normal to pay
extra for from what I can determine.....

From bitter experience over the last 5~6 years a fan on a hi-end
graphics card cannot actually be replacedd easily, if at all....so I am
all for passive cooling if possible. think I have lost all three of my
hi-end video cards due to this....

regards

Thing

Daniel wrote:
> SchoolTech wrote:
>
>> Looking at a couple of models available in NZ:
>>
>> Asus EAX1600PRO Video Card, Radeon X1600 Pro, 512MB, DDR2, PCIe-16, TV
>> out, DVI Dual head NZ$272
>>
>>
>> Gigabyte GV-RX16P256DE-RH Video Card, Radeon X1600 Pro, 256MB, DDR2,
>> PCIe-16, TV out, DVI, HDTV, CrossFire Dual head NZ$275.85
>>
>> Pricing from ascent.co.nz
>>
>> Are these good brands, considering there is a lot of cheap and nasty
>> junk out there?
>
>
> I'm guessing your buying this for a wee bit of gaming (yes?).
>
> Assuming your budget is in the $300 NZD range, and that you'd prefer to
> buy from Ascent (which is entirely understandable), then would not
> something like a 7600GS or 6600GT be a better option?

pp.co.nz is a good place to buy as well IMHO....as is aquila.....and yes
I would tend to the nvidia myself as well.

tomshardware had a recent review on cards so I would suggest reading it.

regards

Thing



regards

Thing

SchoolTech wrote:
> Looking at a couple of models available in NZ:
>
> Asus EAX1600PRO Video Card, Radeon X1600 Pro, 512MB, DDR2, PCIe-16, TV
> out, DVI Dual head NZ$272
>
>
> Gigabyte GV-RX16P256DE-RH Video Card, Radeon X1600 Pro, 256MB, DDR2,
> PCIe-16, TV out, DVI, HDTV, CrossFire Dual head NZ$275.85
>
> Pricing from ascent.co.nz
>
> Are these good brands, considering there is a lot of cheap and nasty
> junk out there?

To clarify
The card is to be used for high end presentation software - not gaming.

The DirectX9 capabilities with larger amounts of video memory are being
used by developers these days to design software that can do fancy
presentation effects, like motion backgrounds and live video with text
superimposition etc etc.

SchoolTech wrote:
> SchoolTech wrote:
>> Looking at a couple of models available in NZ:
>>
>> Asus EAX1600PRO Video Card, Radeon X1600 Pro, 512MB, DDR2, PCIe-16, TV
>> out, DVI Dual head NZ$272
>>
>>
>> Gigabyte GV-RX16P256DE-RH Video Card, Radeon X1600 Pro, 256MB, DDR2,
>> PCIe-16, TV out, DVI, HDTV, CrossFire Dual head NZ$275.85
>>
>> Pricing from ascent.co.nz
>>
>> Are these good brands, considering there is a lot of cheap and nasty
>> junk out there?
>
> To clarify
> The card is to be used for high end presentation software - not gaming.
>
> The DirectX9 capabilities with larger amounts of video memory are being
> used by developers these days to design software that can do fancy
> presentation effects, like motion backgrounds and live video with text
> superimposition etc etc.

Hmmm... I'm interested.

What software are we talking about? Can you provide a link please?