What video card to buy?

Ericnmel99

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I havent gotten a new video card in a couple of years so i could use some help as far as whats new and good. Any recomendations as far as a good video card thats not too expensive? Or what chipset is good these days? Thanks.
 
9800 all the way. It is alot better deal and F'ing fast. I would have to say that the 9800 is the bestall aorund card with the perfect trade off of power and price
 
Actually, you may want to wait a little longer to buy one. The big "hubbub" in the Gfx card race is which card (NVidia or ATI) is more DX9 compatible. This will directly affect which games you will get top performance from. Valve/Half-Life 2 is officially supporting ATI. They claim that NVidia doesn't support DX9 per the standards. Yet, Id/Doom 3 is officially supporting NVidia. Id's announcement was just days ago and the report I read didn't really specify a reason. Regardless, I'm sure you can see why waiting will be a good decision.
 
The only problem with the brand new video cards coming out is the price. I really dont have a lot of money to spend. The most i really am looking to spend is about $150. Any suggestions for that price range????
 
[quote name='SneakyPenguin']radeon 9600 or nvidia 5200 are good budget cards[/quote]

I would say that the 9600 would be the best bet. I try to stay away from "big Comp." (ie. Nvidea and Intell) I have found my 9000 that i got over a year ago to still be able to run anything out there with moderitly high settings. Ati and Amd are 2 companies that i like alot. The both have the best trade off of price and power.
 
[quote name='SneakyPenguin']radeon 9600 or nvidia 5200 are good budget cards[/quote]

The Radeon 9600 and the Nvidia 5200 are not even in the same league. The 9600 would absolutely destroy the 5200 as the 5200 is a budget card, the 9600 is a performance mainstream card. A card from Nvidia that competes with the Radeon 9600 is a 5600/5600 ultra. The GeForce FX5200 is NOT a replacement of the Ti4200.

Without a doubt go with a Radeon, the Radeon 9600/9600 pro would be my first choice for a card at around and maybe a little over 100 dollars. I would go with a Radeon this generation for games, next gen comes out in a couple months and its anyones guess what will be the card to get then. Here are a couple of links showing current generation card comparisons, I just chose a game at random.

http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphi...-charts-12.html

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1910&p=19

Here are some ~$100 cards for you from newegg. They should be around what you are looking for.

Radeon 9600
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-102-289&depa=0

Radeon 9600 pro
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-102-291&depa=0

You might also wanna wait a couple months if possible, the next generation of cards comes out soon and it might be wise to wait for those.
 
After searching around and looking at the reviews at newegg i think the 9600 is the way to go for me. Unless i wait a couple of months and wait for when the new stuff comes out so everything else will drop in price.
 
With ATI 9X00 series you can't go wrong. Supposedly there's problems with NVidia and HL2 so I'd wait a bit if you're considering Nvidia. But for now (even though I love NVidia, it kills me) gotta recommend ATI just cuz they're rollin out quality cards
 
i got a 9600XT a few months ago with the halflife2 coupon. couldnt be more than happy with it. no framerate issues whatsoever.

just be careful though, if you have a Via KT400 chipset on your motherboard, you can only use the card up to 4x AGP. something about a voltage problem. If you have a Nforce board, you wont have any problem at all. had to learn that the hard way.
 
Yeah i heard about that issue with the Via KT400 on newegg. Im looking at getting a Nforce board with my new setup i heard their better anyway.
 
I just picked up an awesome board. It a Shuttle AN35N Ultra based on the nVidia nForce2 chipset. I have to admit, I love this board. It's my second Shuttle board and the first is still kicking (Celeron 366)! I highly recommend this board. The layout is great for a SOHO case, plenty of RAM support (up to 400Mhz DDR), 6 USB ports, 6 channel Audio, etc, etc, etc... :D Can you tell I am happy about it?

Oh, and whatever you do, DON'T buy ECS motherboards! G-A-R-B-A-G-E!!!
 
[quote name='SneakyPenguin']i moved from a 3 year old laptop with intergrated graphics, to a 9800 pro 256mb. i nearly cried it was so beutiful.[/quote]

haha!
 
I went through a which card is better issue and found that the ATI cards for the past year or two have been better than Nvidia's. I got a 9200 SE 128 MB vid cards for a great price at bestbuy and it worked better than the FX fifty something hundred that nvidia put out.
 
[quote name='sandwiches99']I've been looking around for a video card too. My motherboard is only AGP 4X, so should I stay away from 8X cards?[/quote]

People will say that there really is no such thing as 8x. In most tests the performance increase is minimal if any - also running cards on 8x has been known to cause problems.

If you are gonna spend big bucks I suggest you wait until pc express comes out and get a pc express board and vid card which ATI will be offering soon.
 
I guess I'll be odd man out here. I have a GeForce 5600 256 and it works great. I had a chance to try some of the ATI cards (and used to have one in an older machine) but just happen to prefer the 5600 at the moment. Truth be told, there's not a whole hell of a lot of difference unless you're some uber-dork posting your 3D benchmarks as if you're announcing the birth of your first born.

Please don't buy video card A because you can play Half Life 2, or video card B so you can play Doom 3. That's foolish and definitely not cheapass.

Incidentally, my primary machine runs on an ECS motherboard, and I've had zero problems, aside from a friend of mine trying to overclock the RAM when it (the RAM) didn't support it.
 
[quote name='PsyClerk']Truth be told, there's not a whole hell of a lot of difference unless you're some uber-dork posting your 3D benchmarks as if you're announcing the birth of your first born.
[/quote]

I take mild offence to that.
 
[quote name='PsyClerk']I guess I'll be odd man out here. I have a GeForce 5600 256 and it works great. I had a chance to try some of the ATI cards (and used to have one in an older machine) but just happen to prefer the 5600 at the moment. Truth be told, there's not a whole hell of a lot of difference unless you're some uber-dork posting your 3D benchmarks as if you're announcing the birth of your first born.

Please don't buy video card A because you can play Half Life 2, or video card B so you can play Doom 3. That's foolish and definitely not cheapass.

Incidentally, my primary machine runs on an ECS motherboard, and I've had zero problems, aside from a friend of mine trying to overclock the RAM when it (the RAM) didn't support it.[/quote]

Yes, PSIClerk, you are the odd man out. Your Card A/Card B opinion is fairly unique as most people who are going to buy the latest and greatest cards are basing their decision on which game they want to play. That's why I suggested holding off. Another reason for holding off is that when Doom 3/Half-Life 2 release, both Gfx Card Manufacturers are likely to do some sort of marketing campaign which could yield some hefty discounts in the mid to lower ranged cards.

Congrats on the ECS motherboard working. You are among the lucky few (and I emphasize few). I tried 2 ECS boards purchased from different retailers and had the same lack of success with them. Shuttle has proven to be a godsend for me and therefore has my loyalty. As they say though, YMMV.
 
To base a relatively large financial outlay on ONE frickin' game is crazy, at least to me. If you have the cash, then more power to you. The PC I mentioned was about $700 after I got through with it, and runs every game I've thrown on it (about 30 or so now) with all graphics turned on.

All this is based on the fact that the latest and greatest video cards are $200+. Given the choice, I'd rather wait for a price drop on a $300 video card if that's the only way I can play Doom 3. In all my years doing PC work and repair, and even among my game-rabid friends, I can't remember anyone spending more on a PC or video card (or any other upgrade for that matter) just so they can play one or two games. The opinion has always been "wait a few months" when the price will be reasonable.

Interesting related story:
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/action/halflife2/news_6090952.html

Surprised to see the GeForce 4 MX is popular. I figured the TI would be ahead of the MX.
 
The MX is only popular because uneducated mainstream customers want the most power for minimum money. I don't think they realize G4 MX is only a GeForce 2 with prettier colors.
 
Stop being cheap and just go out and buy a commercial video card, like the one used to make Pixar movies.

It should only set you back a few thousand dollars. =P
 
[quote name='Scrubking'][quote name='sandwiches99']I've been looking around for a video card too. My motherboard is only AGP 4X, so should I stay away from 8X cards?[/quote]

People will say that there really is no such thing as 8x. In most tests the performance increase is minimal if any - also running cards on 8x has been known to cause problems.

If you are gonna spend big bucks I suggest you wait until pc express comes out and get a pc express board and vid card which ATI will be offering soon.[/quote]

I won't be spending any big bucks. I'm not a PC gamer, but would definitely play more PC games if I had a better card. I have a Shuttle SS51G, so upgrading the motherboard is out of the question for me. I probably want a card more for the TV-out than anything, but I figure since I'm spending money on it, then I might as well get something decent. Looking mainly for price/performance rather than just performance.

I used to have the ATI AIW 8500DV a year ago, but the drivers were frustrating to deal with, and I found the TV tuner to be disappointing so I sold it. Other than that it seemed like a fitting card for me.
 
With the X800 and the 6800 coming out this summer it would be best to wait until they come out, as all of the other cards should drop in price.
 
[quote name='CaseyRyback']I have a 9600 and it is amazing. I only paid 70 for it after rebates.[/quote]


Best Buy Black Friday?

I got mine for that price that day. Great deal, and i sold my gf4 for $40+ a gf2.


Anyways for $150 i would go with radeon 9600xt. I don't know if they discontinued the deal for free half life 2 with that card or not, but thats the best card that money can buy. If you can wait until summer there should be better cards, and details on how Doom3 will run on them.
 
I have a geforce fx 5900 i could sell you. About 2 months old, still has all packing. PM me if anyones interested.
 
I concur with the others who stated to wait. The new generation of video cards are coming out/already out, ATI X800 and nVidia 6800 series, so the price of all the previous generation will drop down in price. I currently own a Radeon 9800 Pro and I love it. Newegg.com has some good deals.

If you want to buy now and you don't mind Refurbished you can get one for $169 (shipping $1) or brand new for $209. I also recommend the 9600XT for $150.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-281R&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-238&depa=0
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-125-124&depa=0

Unfortunately, ATI and the Half Life 2 deal is no longer good with the new ATI cards, but you might be able to find some sitting in store shelves.

Just as a side note, and I know Quackzilla was kidding around, the cards used to make Pixar and such movies are not good for gaming. Good for rendering, but not for gaming. That's what I've experienced with video rendering cards. And the drivers will probably suck for gaming too. But it'll still be really cool to have!
 
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