Poll: Which video card should I buy?
 

9500 PRO for $199

9600 PRO for $152

9800 NP (SE?) for $220

Or, which is the best bang for the buck?

Guess I should include my current specs:

Athlon XP 2000+
Asus A7V333 (no 8x AGP)
512 DDR333
GeForce Ti4200 128MB
Audigy 2 Platinum

I just got a 9600 for my media server. I was shocked at its performance for such a budget card. I think it scored around 4000 in 3dmark2003. Once again, not too shabby for a sub $150 card.

ATI 9800 PRO !

Edit: Nermind. You don't have the AGP to satisfy it. Go with 9600 then.

yeah that 4x agp thing really sucks, but i think i want to start with a video card upgrade, to at least get the benefits of DX9.0 support.

I have read bad things about the 9800SE.

This is not on the poll, however, if you are interested in ATI products (great choice, btw), you might read <a href="http://tfproject.org/tfp/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28809">this thread</a> about their partners. Buy genuine ATI.

I got the 9600 pro and it is a whole lot of card for the cash and you could probably squeze out a new MB for the £220 budget you have!!(well worth it for the 8 x agp)

DO NOT buy the 9800 Pro SE. I repeat, DO NOT buy this flaming piece of shit.

Now that that's covered, I'd go with the 9500 Pro. It's a good bit more powerful than the 9600 Pro. Hell, if you were gonna spend money on a 9600 Pro, may as well get a GeForce 4 TI 4200 128 MB 8x. It's more powerful and cheaper. And don't bother giving me shit about the 8x deal, because 8x AGP means shit until you get into incredibly high resolutions and AA.

Depending on which 9500 Pro you get, some models are easily overclockable to 9700 Pro standards. I have no info on this, but I'm sure some other ATI people here do. Like I said earlier, I'd definitely go with the 9500 Pro. I've seen it for lower than $199.00 as well.

-Lasereth

Does he not already have the GeForce 4 Ti 4200? I have the same card and almost same specs... so would it be worth upgrading? Would we see that much preformance bost?

Yes, my point exactly. None of the cards he mentioned are THAT much better than a GeForce 4 TI4200. The 9500 is definitely better, but not by much.

-Lasereth

apg 8x compaired to 4x offers almost no performance difference. get the 9800 pro, even though its not on your poll. you wont be disapointed.

I think the price problem is why he didn't list more choices. Hell, if he had a budget that good, I'd tell him to get a 9800 Pro as well. That's one HELL of a card, even the 128 MB version.

-Lasereth

ah yes missed, the best bang for the buck line :)

Are you buying it for Half-Life 2? If so, wait a few more weeks and get a Radeon 9600 XT (announced today). It runs for under $200 - AND you get a free copy of Half-Life 2 when it ships!

Who can afford to spend almost $400 on a video card? Not my broke ass.

I wouldn't even buy a new videocard, not until you have enough saved up to get at least a 9700 Pro/9800 Pro or FX 5900 Ultra. None of the "in-between" cards are worth upgrading to right now, especially if you already have a GeForce 4 TI4200.

-Lasereth

the 9600xt looks pretty damn impressive as fast as a 9700, and will sell for 199$ msrp. probably as cheap as 160$ online.

I did some research, and it looks like ATI really is marketing the 9600XT to be more powerful than the 9700 Pro. If it is, I might get one myself. :) We'll see how it performs in the next few months when it comes out.

-Lasereth