Lasereth's Mega Videocard Buyer's Guide!
 

I figured since there were so many threads on TFP about which videocard to buy, I may as well start a videocard buyer's guide. This will be updated when newer videocards come out (if they're worthy of my list!! :thumbsup: ).

An explanation of NVIDIA and ATI's naming schemes is needed. Let's pretend NVIDIA and ATI have three levels of one videocard. A lesser version, a normal version, and a super version. ATI's videocards are named like the following:

ATI Radeon 9600 SE
ATI Radeon 9600
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro
ATI Radeon 9600 XT

Those videocards are better in performance as the list goes down. The SE is the worst and the XT is the best, even though they're all Radeon 9600's.

Here's NVIDIA's naming scheme:

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 XT/LE/SE
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 Ultra

The XT is the worst of the cards instead of the best concerning NVIDIA! Keep in mind that this is a general naming scheme. It does vary on certain videocards, but typically follows the aformentioned guidelines.

*EDIT* ATI is beginning to go against their standard naming scheme and is introducing completely new names such as XL and GT/GTO. If you have a question about any of these types of cards, just send me a PM.

Let's start with a few basics about the actual videocard. First off, the memory on a videocard does not give a clue as to how powerful the videocard is! This is a common misconception that many videocard buyers have. A 256 MB NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 is not a good videocard. A simple 64 MB NVIDIA GeForce 4 TI4200 will run circles around it even though it only has 64 MB of RAM on it.

What really matters is the amount of pixel pipelines on the videocard (4, 8, 12, 16, etc.), the memory interface (128-bit, 256-bit, etc.) as well as the core clock speed and memory clock speed (MHz). This information is rarely given on videocard boxes...if it is, it's vague and misleading. So as of now, we all know to forget how much RAM the videocard has and concentrate on the pipelines, memory interface, and speed of the card.

For example: let's take a look at the high and mighty GeForce FX 5200 256 MB vs the little GeForce 4 TI4200 64 MB. The TI4200's speed is 250 MHz/500 MHz (core and memory speeds). It has 4x2 pixel pipelines. The FX 5200 has 4x1 pipelines, even though it's newer! The speed of the FX 5200 is 250/400 MHz...slower than the TI4200.

This is why a 64 MB videocard is more powerful than a 256 MB videocard.

Now on to the real fun part: the actual videocard buyer's guide! I'll divide each section into prices for every budget gamer. This guide is designed COMPLETELY from www.newegg.com . I consider NewEgg to be the very best in PC reselling, mainly due to their incredible RMA policies and tech support. If you use www.pricewatch.com , make absolute sure to check the company on www.resellerratings.com first.





Every card on this list is worthy of a purchase but the bold videocards are the best deals out there right now for that price point.

• $50-$99
• Radeon HD 4650 ($45)
• Radeon HD 5670 ($65)
• Radeon HD 4850 ($99)
• GeForce GTS 250 ($99)

• $100-$149
• Radeon HD 5750 ($130)
• GeForce GTS 450 ($130)
• Radeon HD 5770 1 GB ($145)

• $150-$199
• GeForce GTX 460 768 MB ($160)
• GeForce GTX 460 1 GB ($185)
• Radeon HD 6850 ($190)

• $200-$299
• Radeon HD 5850 ($220)
• GeForce GTX 470 ($260)
• Radeon HD 6870 ($270)

• $300-$399
• Radeon HD 5870 ($340)

• $400+
• GeForce GTX 480 ($440)
• GeForce GTX 580 ($520, most powerful video card on the market)

Like I said before, this guide will be updated as soon as new videocards worth mentioning come out. If there's any errors in the guide, or if anyone has any questions concerning videocards in general, feel free to ask! This isn't meant to eliminate videocard threads, but it'll at least give people a steer in the right direction.

Thanks Lasereth, since I have learned my one thing for today I can now fold up my tent and go home.

I was wondering when you'd do this. Nice list.

Hear hear, I call for a damn sticky for this business!

I'd suggest adding the Nvidia 6800LE in the $200-$250 range. If you can find it... :)

I dunno how it compares to the 6600, but it beats the 9800 pro hands down (6900 vs 5700 3Dmark03 score). We sell them for 199 Euros a pop, the same as the 9800 pro.

superb job!

i was really starting to get confused with all the seemingly random names of all the video cards.... for me, picking out a video card is almost as stressful as picking out a great bottle of wine.

thanks for sharing the knowledge!

If you can find me gaming benchmarks on a reputable site, I'll definitely add it. I haven't seen any 6800LE's benchmarked, so I can't give an opinion on it. Considering how powerful the 6800 is price-wise, the LE is probably a contender.

-Lasereth

I love you.


Mr Mephisto

Great guide, it certainly helps clear things up. Why do they bother adding all these non-sensical initials to the same number? Instead of having a 9600SE, regular, pro, and XT why not do a clear naming scheme like 9600, 9620, 9640, 9660 or something similar that can be easily understood and differentiated by consumers?

I think they want confused customers. You have to remember that a large portion of computer buyers have absolutely no clue, will see a brand and go yep!

Classic (but old) example - Nvidia put out the Gforce4 mx440, which from my understanding was a gforce2 card with a 4 chip on it. I bet they sold heaps on the name alone , plus it was significantly cheaper than the 4 ti4200 cards they were REAL gforce 4's.

spindles has it right. They do it to let the people who spend $70 on a new videocard think they're getting a blazing fast Third Echelon model. My favorite is the GeForce FX 5200 256 MB that I mentioned in my guide...a true instance of "Wow mom, that card has 256 MB's of memories!!!!! let me have it please!!!"

-Lasereth

hey mods!!! sticky this!!!

Great guide man, I hope its made sticky!

you forgot the AIW Radeons :(

This guide is meant for gamers. Anyone who's getting an AIW knows what they're getting anyway. :) Most gamers wouldn't wanna pay $300 for a 9800 Pro just to have the AIW options.

-Lasereth

a mod should definately sticky this thread.. there's always q's about vid cards

This is a great thread, good work Lasereth! Can't think of anything to add to it, except a possible explination of PCI-X cards.

I got my Geforce 3 Ti500 for $30.. however it was a refurb and I had to mod the fan for it to work.

Nicely done.

You can flash x800 pro radeons to the 16 pipe XT PE if your into that, saves some cash and pushes it ahead of the 6800GT nvidia in the price range

My 6800 GT is overclocked to 420/1150 without a flash. Just coolbits settings. :) That puts it ahead of 6800 Ultra status. Both are still good deals.

-Lasereth

Here is your test then: I don't want to spend a lot and was hoping to spend around $50 to upgrade my GeForce3 Ti200. I found this on NewEgg for $85. Although it is more than I wanted to spend, it seems like a great deal. Any thoughts?

Albatron nVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 Video Card, 128MB DDR, 128-Bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP Model "5600CP" -RETAIL

Thanks a lot for the guide. You are the SOURCE for all that is video cards. Good luck keeping this updated.

I second the sticky motion . . .

Nice job on the list. This is definitely a very useful tool for all of us.

Nice information in this thread. My only suggestion would be that you take each video card name and make it a hyperlink to newegg's picture or page for that particular card.

Also, STICKY!

That card isn't worth $85. Not when ATI offers a Radeon 9600 Pro for under $100 anyway. A GeForce 4 TI4200 will perform as good if not better than the FX 5600. NewEgg doesn't sell GF4 TI's anymore ( :( ) but you can find them at other Internet stores. The FX 5600 wouldn't be a bad choice for a low budget, I'm simply saying that there is better for under $100. If you don't want a Radeon 9600 Pro or GF 4, then the FX 5600 is fine. Don't expect it too perform too much better than your GF3 though!

-Lasereth

Lasereth, nice fricken writeup! Wish I had seen this before I blew 100 bucks on a brand new Savage4 =) :thumbsup:

thanks for the list man

Good stuff anyways man, hopefully it'll be kept updated as things like this tend to go out of date reasonably quickly.

Heh, just ordered me one of these babies: http://www.gainwardusa.com/products/vga_2400dt.htm

Enjoy. :) It's quite disturbing how powerful the 6800's are. My GT OC'ed past Ultra status with no BIOS flashes...just using the driver options. When I paid $450 for mine, I STILL didn't expect it to be this powerful. A year ago people were saying that only supercomputers will run Doom 3 and now everyone is screwed. Well, now there's a videocard that'll run Doom 3 at 45-60 FPS at the highest settings at 16x antialiasing with a simple $70 processor.

-Lasereth

Ok then - I took your advice and my cheap ass to TigerDirect and got a PNY GeForce4 Ti 4200 / 128MB / AGP 8X / VGA / DVI / TV Out Video card. It was $59.99 with no tax and a $20.00 rebate and total on shipping was $13.76 which also covered the 512mb stick and the two new case fans I bought. I don't really game that hard anyway, but if I did, I would get something like your current card. Since I don't, I just wanted an upgrade to what I had and $59.99 seemed near free compared to kicking down the full $400 for something decent.

Thanks for the expert advice.

Oh yeah - and as prices are changing all the time, you should expand your guide a bit more with some of the cards that are too expensive right now to be worth it. As those cards prices fall, maybe they will outweigh others that have not dropped as much. Just a thought.

Apart from the awesomeness of the GF6800 series, you have the Gainward 6800 GT thats as fast, and in some cases even faster than the Ultra.

I like having a warranty over my overclocked video card.

The 6600 is looking damn good, add it to your price guide since its cheap and the most powerful by far in its price class.

I'm definitely gonna keep up with price-to-performance ratios. If I find a card that all of a sudden has a huge decrease in price and is a kick ass card, I'll add it (first example is the Radeon 9800 Pro). This is certainly a perpetual guide...it'll be updated!

-Lasereth

I have the 6600 GT on my list as a VERY good contender (beats out the 9800 Pro easily...at the same price!!). Are you talking about the regular 6600? I can't find prices for the GeForce 6600. It'd definitely be on the list if I could find a damn price! I imagine it'll be around $150.

-Lasereth

*EDIT LIST*

Added the ATI Radeon X700 series into the list. At $150 and $200, they just beat out the Radeon 9600 Pro and Radeon 9800 Pro as being the best mid-range cards on the market. NVIDIA's competition will be added as soon as I can find some damned prices!

-Lasereth

So remeber when I ordered that Ti4200 128MB card the other day. Just got am email from Tiger Direct. I was wondering what I should do.

Ok so, Option 2 is just silly.

Option 4 kinda bugs me b/c it requires me to go to the UPS Store and have this thing shipped back so I can get my money back. So they got to hold my money for XX amount of time and I have to put forth effort since they screwed up? Doesn't feel right.

Option 3 may appeal to me, since the card I got (will get next week acording to UPS) may be worth it for $39.95 rather than $59.95. I dunno.

Option 1 though is the weird part. It leaves them open to the "you get f*cked at the drivethrough" part. I leave it up to them to define comparable and it will be over.

I called them to find out the details of Option 1 and of course I need to catch them during east coast business hours.

So what should I do here? If they want to give me a BETTER card (compareable) that is fine. Can I MAKE them do this? I have a great relationship with my credit card company since I use it for work and charge $3000+ a month on travel expenses (that are reimbursed by the company I work for). I bet they can play hardball and did it once before to a company that was non-responsive on an order.

You're not in as big of a predicament as you think you are! Most of the tests I've seen have actually shown the 64 MB TI4200 pull ahead of the 128 MB version in some games!! The 64 MB version has a higher memory speed than the 128 MB version resulting in better performance. Overall, they're basically the same card. I'd pick option 2 and get a free flash drive (those things are really, really useful...I use mine all the time).

-Lasereth

Added information regarding the GeForce 6200, 6600, 6600 GT, and the Radeon X700. All PCI-E, and all due out in AGP form "soon" according to my sources.

-Lasereth

this isnt a sticky yet? very sticky worthy! thanks for taking the time lasereth :thumbsup:

I'm getting a computer built for me soon, Dell, and they only offer 3 cards. I saw the two 256 cards on the list, but they were both appearing to be good cards. I'm pretty confused on witch one to pick.

:: 128MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon™ X800 SE
:: 256MB PCI Express™ x16 Nvidia® GeForce 6800 GTO Graphics Card
:: 256MB PCI Express™ x16 (DVI/VGA/TV-out) ATI Radeon™ X800 XT

Thanks,

SM Deluxe

I'd get one of the last two. Both are really strong videocards!

-Lasereth

If I had a 925X Series motherboard I would buy two 6600 GT's

Thanks :thumbsup:

Any updates for the Christmas buying season?

Hey Lasereth, here's a challenge for you! How does my (almighty) ATI X300SE compare to the best video cards of the year 2000?

If this seems like a strange question, I'm playing Deus Ex right now and was wondering how playing it on my computer, now, compares with playing it on the best PCs at the time of its release...

Does memory access time have a large effect on performance? My friend scolded me for getting 3.3ns memory instead of 2.8ns memory. Of course this information isn't listed you just have to read it off the card.

Since I only want to spend $100-$150 on a video card, and I can't seem to find the x700 in agp, is the 9600XT my best alternative?

Sticky this! Just need the same for CPus and Motherboards now :)

Having just recently learned about core speed and memory speed (a couple days before I first read this thread), I come to the question: What the hell does more memory equate to? I assume it relates to how long you can play before it's exhausted, although you know what they say about assuming...

I have a GeForce FX 5600 Ultra that I bought to replace a 64 meg ti4200 that I had which kept locking up constantly. Did I buy something that actually performs worse? I played through Doom 3 and HL2 on it fine, seemed to work ok. I just don't see it on your list.

How do you guys overclock these cards? I am tempted to overclock mine and if it burns out just get something better.

Also, which cards are directx 9 series cards, which cards are directx 8 cards?

I wish I could just build a new machine with a pci express board but I can't spend that kind of money right now.

Lasareth! :)

I need your advises, as I'm likely about to purchase a gfx card.
my budget is ~50 $ (40-70 really) and I don't do *that* much gaming, and usually older games. I would like to be able to at least play new games @ middle settings, if that's possible with such a low price range.
(what I've got in my computer right now is a Radeon 9550SE 128 MB, it's borrowed from work. It falls in my pricerange and I could just buy it, but I wonder if for ~ the same price, I could get something better - another one I'm considering is the GeForce FX5500 128MB, which is a bit cheaper for me)..

so - whatcha think?

Thanks :)

They're about the same performance-wise. You'll see some effects look better with the 5600 Ultra because of the DX9 compatability. In terms of overall performance, like I said before, they're about the same.

-Lasereth

Might want to rethink the 6600GT on the list, I got it, and its been nothing but trouble for me. I've been looking around on a couple boards, and it seems like about 75% of people think its a terrible card. Since installing it I have yet to break 40 FPS in anything.

I just looked through some benchmarks again on multiple sites and the thing is still regarded as a powerhouse. Remember that 40 FPS is good depending on your system. If you're playing brand-new games, don't expect really high FPS with a midrange videocard. Your videocard was $200...it was never the best, unfortunately. It's meant to perform in the midrange area because of its midrange price. It's basically a suped up Radeon 9800 Pro. With today's games, I wouldn't expect a Radeon 9800 Pro or a 6600 GT to go past 45 FPS unless you turn the settings all the way down. 30 FPS or more is what games should be running at with your system.

-Lasereth

I'd try to buy a Radeon 9600 Pro or GeForce 4 TI4200 for $70. You're cheating yourself if you buy something else for slightly cheaper. These cards are awesome for the price!

-Lasereth

Check thru all the posts on Guru3D, the benchmarks are not accurately representing what the card is doing in games. Most people can't even get the bench software to reproduce what reviews are saying. With my system drivers completely updated, running a 2600+ Barton Core, 1gb PC-3200 Dual Channeled ram, and the 6600GT AGP from Leadtek, I'm getting an average of 0-1 FPS in 3Dmark05.

thx for the reply, Lasareth :)

unfortunately, the 9600 Pro is out of budget (~100 euro on ebay.de).
If I was more of a gamer, I'd do it, but it's just not priority (and I've other hardware purchases planned soon).

the GeForce 4 TI4200 is about half that price, so it's within range. (50 euro is my ideal max I want to spend).

I'm a bit confused on a couple things though -
1. 64 or 128? (or, does this have anything to do with the Aperture Size of my mobo's GI? 64 MB in my case)
2. am I wrong, or is this an old card? I think this is what my bf has in his computer, and it's almost 2 years old.
2a. If I'm right, then why would my bf be considering the GeForce FX5500 128MB as an 'upgrade'?

ahh, the confusing world of vidcards :)

good thing we've experts like you here - I may be a geek, but I'm lost with this ....

1. 64 MB or 128 MB. Whichever you can afford! Both are fine.

2. Yes, it is an old card. I believe the TI4200 came out in 2002.

2a. Probably because 99% of videocard buyers assume that later generations are more powerful. NVIDIA released a really powerful set of videocards in 2002 (GF4 TI series). In 2003 they released the GeForce FX series. The first few FX cards aren't even as good as GF4 TI series! They're simply newer.

The GeForce 4 TI4200 will actually run better on older games than the FX 5500 also. I've yet to see any benchmarks with the FX 5500 but I'm betting that it's based on technology somewhere in between an FX 5200 and FX 5600. Neither one of those are as good as a GF 4 TI4200 so I'm assuming that the FX 5500 won't be that great either.

-Lasereth

There is a possibility that a huge portion of the 6600 GT chipsets were shipped faulty. When the FX 5900 Ultra came out there was a metric fucklode of faulty cards shipped out. I got two of them from NewEgg ($1,000 RMA anyone?).

3DMark 2005 is EXTREMELY system intensive. I have an Athlon XP 2500+, 768 MB of PC2700, and a GeForce 6800 GT overclocked WAY past Ultra speeds and mine runs at 0-15 FPS during 2005. The average is probably around 10. An average FPS of below 5 wouldn't surprise me with a 6600 GT but 0-1 FPS is awfully low.

I don't know what to tell ya -- it honestly sounds like the card is fucked.

-Lasereth

OK, what about Nvidia VS ATI in general?

I had/have a TI 4200 that I was really happy with, but it's dead. So time for a new one! I've always gotten Nvidia cards, but now I see some pretty good deals on ATI's. So is there much difference between the chipsets, or should I just go best bang for the buck. (which would be around 120 bucks)..

The thing that my roommates and I (Lasereth and Redjake) have thrown around often is the argument of IQ (image quality) vs. flat out frame rates. My roommates are both Nvidia users, and I'm the lone ATI guy, and as has been said before use an OC'ed 6800 GT, and both of them insist the IQ on my 9700 Pro is STILL better than what their cards produce. However, there's no getting around that they have way better framerates on most games when put up against me. That being said, the real question one has to ask is, what do you value most? Is it purely framerate, with a sacrifice in IQ, or do you put IQ over framerate? Honestly, the sacrifice in IQ for Nvidia cards isn't supremely noticeable, but the difference in framerates is noticeable. So, that's just my opinion.

Hey, I'm looking for a fast dual DVI nvidia card. XFX seems to make two cards like this: a 6600 GT selling around $200 and a 6800 selling around $265. Links:

(6800)
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merch...&AFFIL=pg&NR=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...P=OTC-d3alt1me
(6600 GT)
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec....iteria=3625406
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...C-pr1c3grabb3r

Suggestions? They all seem to have the same speed RAMDAC, but the 6800's memory bus is apparently faster, 22GB/s vs. 16GB/s on the 6600GT. Not sure if the faster memory bus is worth an extra $65 though... can AGP 8X even handle 16GB/s?

I just recieved a new BFG 6600GT OC from outpost.com, and am loving it. Great graphics quality and decent fps in games.

I think there were just a ton of faulty cards out there, and I finally lucked out and got a good one, or they figured out how to fix it.

I think we settled on the fact you have a badass monitor :thumbsup: The IQ isn't that much different. Your monitor is brand new, makes the game look a lot better. My monitor is lasting a long time with good quality also. Lasereth's cheapo monitor makes games look a bit washed out.

-bump-

too much good info here for it to fall into oblivion

I just bought another video card and relied heavily on this thread

I don't think anyone has mentioned it yet, but the BFG Geforce 6800 GT OC puts the lotion on the skin. The standard GeForce 6800 GT comes clocked at 350MHz (GPU), but the OC is set at 370. The RAM is also overclocked, and like all BFG cards it comes with a lifetime warranty. I overclocked mine even further and have it set at 400MHZ and upped the RAM speed from 1.0GHz to 1.1GHz, that's the same specs as a 6800 Ultra for $100 less. I have also overclocked higher than that (420 MHz, 1.1 GHz) and got a score of 4985 on 3DMark05. Considering I got a 350 something with my Geforce FX 5200 Ultra, I'm a happy boy.

----------

System Specs (as a reference):
ASUS A7N8X-X mobo
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ (water cooled with Zalman Resorator[sp?] )
1 gig of PC2100 DDR
PC Power & Cooling TurboCool 510 Deluxe PSU
Western Digital 250 GB, 7200 RPM Caviar Edition hard drive

I just called BFG Tech about a Ti4200 a friend of mine had that was having issues, even giving weird blocks during the post screen. Thing was over 2 years old and they are shipping a new replacement or a newer equivalent. Thats pretty cool for a card that is over 2 years old to get a new one free.

Also, Anyone have any advice on a vid card with TV tuner built in that isn't an ATI card?

Follow up on the above post:

I just recieved the replacement for the Ti4200 128mb card. They sent a GeForce FX 5700 256mb card. I think... it says on the back "BFGR57256OC".

I could be wrong, but did I just get a much much better card in return? The memory is double and this should be able to work well with directx9 right?

My guide explains that memory = nothing. The amount of memory on a videocard is one of the smallest determinants of performance.

The FX5700 isn't a bad card, but you don't have the Ultra. The Ultra is the version that would perform better than a TI4200 in all tests. Your FX 5700 will perform better in newer games that rely <I>heavily</I> DirectX 9 but you'll actually lose performance from the TI4200 in older games. It's not a bad replacement, but you may notice a slowdown in older games from the TI4200. Games like Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 will perform about the same.

-Lasereth

Is the ATI 9600 Pro 128mb the same as the ATI 9600 Pro Turbo 128mb (the mobility one)?

So, I am looking to pick up a couple 6600GT's (for two different computers) and I would like to know the difference in manufacturers.

Link goes to Newegg - List of 6600GT's

Once I am narrowed down to the chipset I want, how do I decide which manufacturer to choose from?

Is one better? Worse?

Also, I see reviews where they recommend changing the fan: How do I know which fan will fit on which video card if I decide to upgrade the video card fan (One of my cases has 5 fans, one pointing right at the video card/the other case has three fans, one pointing at the video card)

Thanks,

Edit: I see that the 9800 Pro is around the same price with speeds just a tad lower, but 256 bit instead of the 128 bit on the 6600GT, which would you recommend? (Games: DAOC, BF1942, BF Vietnam and hopefully soon....Battlefied II).

I wouldn't change the fan on your videocard. I've never did it before so I can't give ya any advice. There are fans that are designed for NVIDIA and ATI cards but again, I have no advice to give. The default fan should suffice!

The GeForce 6600 GT has GDDR3 RAM on it. This makes up for the lack of a 256-bit memory interface. The 6600 GT is faster and more powerful than the 9800 Pro but the 9800 Pro is an INSANE deal.

The games you listed are compromised mainly of EA's Battlefield series (which I enjoy to an astronomical degree :thumbsup: ). I hate to say it, but ATI's cards simply slaughter NVIDIA's in the BF series. Faster framerates, better image quality, they simply run the BF games better in every aspect. If you're gonna be playing the BF games primarily, I'd suggest a Radeon 9800 Pro. Make sure to get the 256-bit version!

Oh, and there aren't any brands to watch out for. Powercolor used to have a bad reputation but they redeemed themselves with their excellent 9800 Pro card.

-Lasereth

Lazereth -

Thanks for the reply.

So, even though the 660GT has 900-1000 MHz of memory speed and the 9800 Pro has less than 700 MHz, it outperforms the nVidia? That is interesting. What about the 9800 Pro makes it better when a numbers comparison seems to indicate otherwise.

I am also a draftsman and do a decent amount of CAD work--does that affect your opinion at all?

What makes the 9800 Pro such an insane deal? The price? Should it be more? Or is it the output of the card? Sorry, I was just trying to figure that comment out.

One computer gets BF played on it a lot and the other computer usually has DAOC played on it. Should I get the 9800 Pro for the BF computer and the 6600GT for the DAOC computer?

Sorry for all the questions. I am replacing cards that are not very old because I didn't know what I was doing when I bought them. This time, I want to make sure I get the very best deal for my money.

My budget for the two cards is roughly $400 bucks.

Thanks for your time,

No no, the 9800 Pro isn't more powerful than the 6600 GT, it simply runs the BF games better. BF games run very well on all ATI cards. That's definitely one series that ATI has the lead on, sort of like NVIDIA and Call of Duty.

The 9800 Pro is such a good deal because of its price. You can get it for $170 or less.

DAoC doesn't really prefer videocards of any type because it's so old. Any videocard will work fine...you could get two 9800 Pros if you wanted to save money.

-Lasereth

OK, I have a question. Im building out a machine for the little brother of a friend. He has anywhere from $150-$250 for the video card, but I dont want to go overboard. He doesnt play anything more demanding than WoW, and doesnt really play shooters at all, though I could see him possibly picking them up now that he'll actually have a machine capable of playing them. Id also like the machine to last as long as possible--he won't likely be able to build another one for several years. What card would you buy? Obviously the first answer is to jump on a vanilla 6800, but Im afraid that may be overkill, and like I said, I dont want to spend too much of his money.

Im going with a PCI-E board for future upgradability, so the card has to (obviously) be PCI-E.

Thanks!

I'd go with a Radeon X700 Pro PCI-E or a GeForce 6600 GT PCI-E. Sorry for the delayed response!

-Lasereth

Lasereth, knowing that SLI isn't supported on many games yet, what are your thoughts on the this tech?

What is this? 2 video cards able to run in parallel? Sounds insanely cool!

SLI is amazing. If you thought the GeForce 6800 Ultra was a powerful card, look at the results of the SLI versions. It literally doubles the performance in some applications. SLI is awesome, but you're right, not many games support it. It'd be a great investment if more games supported it. As of now, it's basically out there to brag about your 3D Mark score. :)

Oh, and SLI is just two NVIDIA videocards running together. They must be PCI-E videocards, not AGP. A bridge connects them both sort of like the old Voodoo 2 series (except the connector is internal, not external). After being bridged, it's like having two videocards combined into a single powerhouse -- as long as the application you're using it for supports it.

-Lasereth

At E3 NVidea had a whole setup of 6800's running SLI for a small tournament of (not positive here) America's Army. The screens looked just great. So smooth for sure.

They also had some crazy beast which was (I think) a pair of 6900GT 512MB ($999 Retail) running in SLI. Freakin' crazy. That is $2k in video cards before you have even bought a case to put them in.

I'm glad that I found this thread. I just purchased a Dell P4 last september, which has an integrated video card. I guess that this means that it is part of the motherboard, not separate. (i'm dumb with this stuff). I've noticed that some games that I play or my nephews play have video problems e.g. sponge bob sq.pnts, the outline of spnge bob is visible but the character is transparent when he turns sideways. Is this a problem with the capacity of the video card?

also, when I play zoo tycoon 2, the game gradually slows down until the curser jumps and hangs, and I have to quit, re-boot to do (what I figure is) clear the memory buffers...

am I ealing with Video card problems? If so, should I be purchasing a card to install? what would be a good one to buy around the C$ 100-150 mark?

And Most Importantly: how do I put it in the computer?? what are the tricks, things to watch for? (i'm nervous because my attempt to add a cd burner to my Dell P3 a couple of years ago, resulted in my being unable to get it out of safe mode, and I had to take it to a computer guy to retrieve all the data, and reformat).


thanks!

That sounds like old videocard drivers to me with the Sponge Bob game. Same thing with Zoo Tycoon 2. The onboard video on your computer undoubtedly sucks, however, and could be causing some of the problems.

For $100-$150 I suggest ordering an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB 256-bit memory interface. You won't find a better deal. You'll have to disable the onboard video in BIOS most likely to get the new videocard to work.

The only thing to watch out for when putting in the new videocard is static shock. Unplug the computer and touch a screwdriver to the metal pieces in the computer to discharge the electricity. Then firmly press the videocard into the AGP slot. It should click in fine!

-Lasereth

Made a few changes:

The Radeon 9800 Pro is approximately $120 now. That's unbelievable. I can't suggest anything else from $100-$200 now. This is the best deal I've seen in a long time.

Changed a few of the higher end videocard prices.

-Lasereth

Okay, I've read through the thread and still have a couple of questions that I didn't see answers to.

Since I'm a relative idiot when it comes to the world of video cards, I'm following the advice at hand to the letter and trying to stay as close as possible to the other recommendations.

I'm looking to buy a new video card and had my eye on this one...

9800Pro at Newegg.

Now for some questions, if you don't mind...

1- I notice a lot of different variations on the 9800Pro card. I mean, a simple search at newegg will net like 17 different cards all with different (I assume they're manufacturers, right?) names attached along with different price tags. Aside from the obvious differences (some have aftermarket stuff added) what's the big difference between a "Sapphire 100556L Radeon 9800Pro" and a "JetWay 98PR-AD-128D Radeon 9800Pro?" Are there any differences other than in name?

2- I want to spend between $100-150 on a new card. I'm not looking for anything overly obnoxious as I don't play all that many games on my PC. Just looking for something that might run HL2 moderately well if I choose to play. So, I guess the question is...Is this the good choice?

By the way, I don't know if it matters to the particular question, but the system running the card will also be running an Athlon XP 2800+ and a gig of RAM.

Thanks in advance :D

Go for the Radeon 9800 Pro. The cheapest one will do. Make sure it has 128 MB of memory on it and that the memory interface is 256-bit. DO NOT buy the 128-bit memory interface version...it's gotta be 256. Yes, they are different manufacturers. Just buy the cheapest one with the aforementioned specs. :)

-Lasereth

I've got a 9800 Pro I'm trying to get rid of right now.

I'll happily delete this if a Mod says "No selling on the forum", btw. Just thought I'd throw it out in case I could pass on a deal.

I'm not 100% if it works right now, though. My computer died a few days ago and I had to take it to Fry's to get it fixed and I don't know if my screen screwing up was because of the VC or the Hard Drives that crashed.

Updated quite a few prices and made some additions including the new GeForce 7800 GTX.

-Lasereth

Check and check. :thumbsup:

Thank you very much, Lasereth

Heya one ontopic question and a couple really off-topic but hopefully not out of Lasereth's league.

1. Will a GeForce 6600 card be okay for multimedia usage e.g. TV Tuning and Recording, Halflife 2 and media streaming?

2. In this setup (HP Media Center m7088d Desktop PC - if link doesn't work) will 512mb of ram be okay?

3. If the card is pretty crudy, do the processor speed or RAM have any affect on it (uplifting, I hope)

Thanks, even if you can't answer some of them.

Lasereth, I just wanted to say thanks for putting this together. It was very helpful in coming to a decision regarding my new video card. Heck, just the part on the naming schemes is worth having this as a sticky.

Keep up the good work!

Thank you Lasereth, you have saved me hours.
Now if I weren't stuck with this damn socket 754.

New Graphics Card
 

I am sure i am the 100000 person to ask this question, but here it goes. I am getting back into this desktop deal after finishing college and after reading some reviews about the card that is coming with my new dell... i realized i need a new card. My new dell is coming with a ATI x300 PCI-Express. I do not want to be able to play doom or any of the new "hot" games. What i want is to be able to play some of the less demanding games like sims 2 and maybe some of the older first person shooters at the highest graphics settings as well as a card to take advantage of my LCD moniter. I am looking to spend under $200 IE less than $150 on ebay. Please let me know what your suggestions are, i would prefer a card that has its on dedicated memory as i only have 512 for right now.Let me know if you need more info from me. And i would like to thank you in advance for your help.

Well first, any dedicated graphics card will have dedicated memory. Onboard video uses system RAM.
Lasereth has a huge thread on video cards for each price range.

i hear the geforce 6600GT is great, and you should be able to find it for less than your price. Its the card Im getting soon to replace my decrepid geforce2

I'll second Lasereth's thread.

I know jackshit about video cards, but I read the thread, asked a couple of questions and bought a Radeon 9800Pro for $120 off of newegg.

It does all I ask of it and more. Lasereth really knows his stuff.

The card you have currently is more then adequate for running any game, especially older ones. Why do you think you need to downgrade to play older games?

Thanks again for the thread, great job. and thanks again for answering my pm's.

thanks a lot for this information, its about time it was spelt out for us less proficient technophiles

Just wanted to add again, thanks Lasereth. With some more help today, i got a ati radeon 9800 pro off ebay. Great deal as well, beat the pants off any retail card price i could find new/used that did 256bit.

Added a brief section explaining the difference between PCI-E and AGP videocards.

-Lasereth