PC Video Card

MrNightly

Need some advice. I've been outta the upgrade cycle for too long on my video card (ATI 9800 PRO that is burned out). I need a new card, plain and simple.

I'm running a 3.4G P4, 1.5G memory, SB Audigy something something computer. Need a great PCI-e card for PC games. I probably won't spend more than 250-300. Don't care about the multimedia stuff that alot of cards come with, because it's used strictly for games.

Anyone have advice on the best card for the buck in my price range??

Let me know... I'm gonna splurge soon. Time to get my sleeves rolled up for the entourage of games this fall!!!

Was checking ebay tonight, and the price on these things have really dropped! Wow. Seems like now's the time to buy.

Sami

I would go for X1800XT with 256MB for $200.

billbillw

Sami wrote:

I would go for X1800XT with 256MB for $200.

Sami, gotta link for an X1800XT with 256MB at that price? They are pretty hard to find from my searches since the X1800 series are discontinued and replaced by the much better X1900 series.

MrNightly,
The X1900XT (512MB) is close to the top of the heap right now for performance.
It can be had for your price range (if you are willing to wait for rebates)
Here is a realtime price engine search:
http://labs.anandtech.com/products.php?sfilter=444

You can see the prices are dropping drastically.

Sami

Well, lucky me, I just ordered two x1800xt's for $199 ($206 a piece with shipping) before the weekend. Now they seem to be gone and replaced by the 512MB versions at much higher prices.

In that case here is a good deal on a X1900XT (with a MIR): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127206

AsSiMiLaTeD

I'm an Nvidia fan myself, so I'd point you towards the Geforce 7900GT in your price range. eVGA is the Polk Audio of the video card world, they have the best support by far, and second place isn't even close - so I'd reccoment them over any other manufacturer.

AsSiMiLaTeD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130032

That's on sale at newegg, no rebate

billbillw

Might be useful to see this comparison too:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html
Allows you to select a game/rez/settings and compare the cards performance. Note: cards indicating CF or SLI are using dual card arrangements and are obviously much faster than single cards.

Sami

X1900XT is a faster card than the 7900GT and can do HDR+AA unlike the NVidia chips, so if MIR doesn't scare you then the ATI is a much better option. X1800XT is a more comparable card to 7900GT.

billbillw

Actually saw a huge $150 rebate on the MSI X1900XTX at Newegg. That is a faster clocked version of the same chip and it typically at the top of the charts right now for speed from a single card.

Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127205

Edit: Looks like the rebate is good a number of e-stores, so shop around.

lomic

Before you spend $$$ on a new video card, remember that DX10 is right around the corner. I'd go with a budget card now, and look towards getting a DX10 card early next year. Yes, the games won't be out for another 6-12 months, but the cards should run DX9 games much faster as well. Especially if ATI pulls off the unified shader architecture.

At the $300 pricepoint a graphics card should last you 2-3 years as a casual gamer, right now a $300 card won't, IMO.

This looks like a good deal:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143049

billbillw

^ Good point. Might be better off getting a "mid-range" card for $150-$200. It will still be leaps and bounds beyond your former 9800pro.

AsSiMiLaTeD

That 7600GT is a good card for $150...

I've supported both brands for a long time, and they always trade places on those charts. Many times the difference between cards in those charts is so small it's meaningless - you're not going to notice 5 extra frames per second going from 150 fps to 155. You may be able to get a better score in 3DMark, but you'll never see that advantage in real world gaming.

Why do I choose NVidia products then? Simple, reliability and support. It's not about the company making the GPU, it's about the guys making the card. In my 10 years of supporting these cards for customers, I've always had MUCH better luck with manufacturers making NVidia based cards. I've encountered numerous problems with ATI cards, and their inability to provide support for their products. I've never once had a problem with an NVidia card that I couldn't get resolved. That's not to say there aren't bad manufacturers out there who make NVidia based cards, but I've always got a company like eVGA that I can do business with, the only other company I've ever encountered that comes close to Polk in CS.

Since the difference between the cards is negligable IMO, I go with who I know will support their product. BTW, I have the 7950, which smokes anything else out there

MrNightly

lomic wrote:

Before you spend $$$ on a new video card, remember that DX10 is right around the corner. I'd go with a budget card now, and look towards getting a DX10 card early next year. Yes, the games won't be out for another 6-12 months, but the cards should run DX9 games much faster as well. Especially if ATI pulls off the unified shader architecture.

At the $300 pricepoint a graphics card should last you 2-3 years as a casual gamer, right now a $300 card won't, IMO.

This looks like a good deal:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143049

Hmmm, excellent point. My only question is, will this card you linked play games like FarCry, F.E.A.R., Crysis when it hits smoothly and at full rez?

That's the only problem I have with a cheaper card 100-150 range. Is it that much of an improvement on the 9800Pro?

If I do save now, and then splurge once the new technology hits, will it actually be worth it? (Duh, it's worth it I know, 'cause my card is fried. But you know what i mean)

AsSiMiLaTeD

I don't think any os uf will have any need for a DirectX 10 card for at least another year...so I personally say go ahead and get a good card now.

PolkThug

Video cards depreciate faster than any other peripheral. There is always a better card than whatever you just bought, just weeks (or days) away from being released. Just make sure the card can play the specific games you want and bite the bullet.

I had an FX5600 for a long time until Doom3 forced me to get an X850, which has played everything I've thrown at it so far.

lomic

The card I linked: FarCry, yes. FEAR, you need a cutting edge card to run with all the bells and whistles on. Crysis, while demoed in DX9 will be a DX10 game. If you want to see what the game can do, you'll need a DX10 card.

For examples of other common games, the 7600 will run BF2 with most everything at High. Oblivion to maintain a decent framerate outdoors would need to be set at medium.

Feel free to spend $300 now if you don't mind spending another $3-400 in a year to play the newest games - if I had the money, I would.

MrNightly

lomic wrote:

The card I linked: FarCry, yes. FEAR, you need a cutting edge card to run with all the bells and whistles on. Crysis, while demoed in DX9 will be a DX10 game. If you want to see what the game can do, you'll need a DX10 card.

For examples of other common games, the 7600 will run BF2 with most everything at High. Oblivion to maintain a decent framerate outdoors would need to be set at medium.

Feel free to spend $300 now if you don't mind spending another $3-400 in a year to play the newest games - if I had the money, I would.

So how does the 7600 compare to the X850XT? All i've heard is great things about the X850.

billbillw

Read this review of the 7600GT (actually a comparison with the ATI offerings):
http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/08/25/sub_200_pci_express_graphics_card_showdown/

Although this is a slightly different 7600GT, it should be comparable (the BFG should be faster since it is overclocked from the factory)

I'm not sure about the other games you mentioned, but FarCry is definetly playable at 1600x1200 with options enabled.

Sami

MrNightly wrote:

That's the only problem I have with a cheaper card 100-150 range. Is it that much of an improvement on the 9800Pro?

Yes it will be. I get 100+ fps in BF2 set at maximum settings on the X1800XT (& E6400 Duo2), Oblivion at ultra high around 30-60fps. My old 6600GT which is a faster card than the 9800Pro would get around 20-25fps on BF2 with a 3.4GHz P4.

MrNightly

Alright. I'm not gonna drop 300 on a card when DX10 is around the corner!!! I just can't justify that in my mind.

So, after reading the reviews, this bad boy HERE is getting my money!

Thanks guys for all the advice. I feel good about this, although I've never gone anything but ATI in the past.

So who's gonna help me overclock this guy once he arrives?

PolkThug

Does your monitor have a DVI input?

AsSiMiLaTeD

grab a Zalman heatsink and slap it on and she'll overclock very nicely...let me know whe you're ready for that and I'll be glad to help...

AsSiMiLaTeD

and don't worry if you don't have DVI on your monitor, that card will come with a couple adapters...so you'll be good

MrNightly

No DVI but I have an adapter here. Does the VGA give you as good a signal/picture as a DVI? I've just got a flat screen monitor from Dell, one of those really thin ones. I don't think it's HD or anything.

Hope this card works.. should be here in three days or so!! I'm happy now I can get back to gaming.

AsSiMiLaTeD

VGA output is just as good as DVI

MrNightly

Polkmaniac wrote:

grab a Zalman heatsink and slap it on and she'll overclock very nicely...let me know whe you're ready for that and I'll be glad to help...

I put like 8 of those on my 9800. Can I pull them off and stick them on this new card? haha. Re-usable Zalman's? If not, I may be on to something..

I can manage that part, I just have no idea how to flash a bios and all that good jazz... or if that's even how you do it.

billbillw

Polkmaniac wrote:

VGA output is just as good as DVI

I'm not sure I can totally agree there...
I can really see a difference on how sharp text is using DVI versus the VGA connector with my setup (Viewsonic VP930b/ATI X800XT).

For gaming, you probably won't notice a difference between the two.

McLoki

Here is the card I am currently looking at. Seems like it would be a great match for my system. (same specs as your system but only 1 gig of ram)

Michael

No offense, but it is not worth putting a $300 card in that system imo. Get something more matched to the speed of the system and when you upgrade the entire system, get a faster card.

billbillw

MrNightly wrote:

I put like 8 of those on my 9800. Can I pull them off and stick them on this new card? haha. Re-usable Zalman's? If not, I may be on to something..

I can manage that part, I just have no idea how to flash a bios and all that good jazz... or if that's even how you do it.

I think he is talking about the Zalman GPU cooler, looks like a big copper flower that replaces the stock fan/heatsink.
Like this

I put one on my ATI and it works great, much quieter than the Arctic Cooling silencer that I tried first.

AsSiMiLaTeD

You'll want to grabt the VF9000 or whatever to replace the stock heatsink and fan, it also comes with heatsinks for the memory chips in case the main cooler doesn't cover them all.

Other than making sure you have the latest BIOS, you don't need to do anything there to OC the card. Just grab a program called coolbits, it's basically a registry add that opens up the ability to overclock the card from the settings area in the control panel, where you make all the other changes to video settings - you can set and test clock frequency settings...

MrNightly

billbillw wrote:

I think he is talking about the Zalman GPU cooler, looks like a big copper flower that replaces the stock fan/heatsink.
Like this

Yup, I bought that exact one i think. It came with 8 sticky heatsinks... that go onto your memory chips I guess. I thought that was what he was talking about. Interesting.

And McLoki

McLoki wrote:

No offense, but it is not worth putting a $300 card in that system imo. Get something more matched to the speed of the system and when you upgrade the entire system, get a faster card.

You are right... That's why I got the 7600 GT. After a $30 mail in rebate, it will only be $120 including shipping. Sweet deal I think, and from what i've read, it's on par with the X850 and X1800. Hope it lives up to the hype