Vista - Is this a good graphics card??

Hello,
My Dad is looking at this grahics card:
PALIT NVIDIA GEFORCE 9500GT DDR2 1GB PCI-EXPRESS 2.0 Video Card .

These are the specs:
Bus interface: PCI Express 2.0 Support
Memory: 1024MB
Memory Interface: 128 bit
NVIDIA unified architecture with GigaThread technology
Full Microsoft DirectX 10 Shader Model 4.0 support
16x Anti-aliasing technology
128-bit floating point high dynamic-range (HDR) lighting
NVIDIA Quantum Effects physics processing technology
Dual-link DVI output support 2560x1600 resolution display
NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology
OpenGL 2.1 support
NVIDIA ForceWare Unified Driver Architecture (UDA)
Certified for Microsoft Windows Vista
NVIDIA Lumenex Engine
Dual 400MHz RAMDACs
Discrete, Programmable Video Processor
Hardware Decode Acceleration
High-Quality Scaling
Inverse Telecine (3:2 & 2:2 Pulldown Correction)
Bad Edit Correction
Integrated SD and HD TV Output
Noise Reduction
Edge Enhancement
Dual-link HDCP capable

Does it look any good.
its $135NZ.

it depends on what your dad uses his machine for..??, if he does not game & just uses it for general surfing & media playback its fine...


im guessing your dad needs a card which requires no additional power..??



SK

yeh or a broken fan.

He wants to get better graphics out of flight simulator x.
His current graphics is 256 and this is 1gb ,he also doesn't want to spend $700 on a card.

THanks for your help

do you know the model of the existing Geforce card, that way i can compare what kind of performance increase he will likely see with the 9500..??

can you take a pic of the label on the power supply for me.....




SK

Here you are

ok, thanks.......


right the power supply aint up to much so i think the 9500 is about as good as it gets, the 9500 is a very hot card by default, so you'll probably see temps in the 70s when fully loaded.....

but the 9500GT will destroy that 7300GS ..... he will see an instant improvement.

but i'd recommend he buy a new power supply & buy this.... 9600GT, the problem with the 9500 is its really at the edge of what it can handle S/W wise now, in a year or so the advances in S/W will leave this card behind.....the 9600 will give him a little leeway, & will run FSX far better than the 9500.....



SK

I own a Bfg 9600GT OC and it is a fairly long card. Make sure it will actually fit
in his case.
That being said, this is a great card, well worth the money.

Is it Dolby? Just kidding...

It's OK, but depends on what he wants to be able to do with it... is it just a generic card for every day use? If it is, it's fine. If he needs something for gaming or even heavy Photoshop work, he should look at the new Radeon card and the nVidia 275 cards. Can't remember the model of the Radeon, but it's their newest high-end 'budget' 100.00 card. The nVidia can be gotten for about a 150.00. Both have much wider memory bandwidths than 128mb.

Hello everybody,
Thanks for the help.
In the end Dad bought a Radeon HD 4670 , a Maxtor 500gb external drive and an extra case fan.I will post some pics soon