Purchasing decision help needed....

[ACTF_Heat]

I am looking to spen between $250-350.I play alot of games online.I heard alot of bad things about Nvidia cards recently...but I am not sure if thats just heresay.I plan on using my card to play games like Call of Duty,Raven SHield and Half Life 2.

What graphics card would you guys reccommend? What manufacturers versions would you reccommend? Include performance as well as price and software included in your decisions.Link to online vendors is appreciated.If a cheaper card performance is just marginally lower than a more expensive one---include that in you opinion. Also...if a local retailer sell the card your reccommending for cheaper or just a little bit more...please add that info(as well as a link for the online vendor you might reccommend).Also....there are so many versions of the 9700 and 9800 Radeon card available....so if you reccomend a card that has the ATI chipset,please tell me the version.Also,include stability in your opinions

Thanks for all your help!!! :)

[HardwareJedi]

Let me say first that I have a 9500Pro because it was the best card for the money I could find at the time I bought it. Before that I owned 5 different Nvidia products. My only bias is getting the best bang for my Bucks.

If what you have heard about Nvidia is that they are cheating in Commonly used Benchmarks to inflate scores and look faster than they actually are, then it's not hearsay. It's been well documented.
Search the Forums at one of the better Graphics centric web sites like beyond3d.com for the lowdown nitty-gritty on all of nvidias various driver machinations.

As for which card to buy, In that price range, I'd look to the Radeon 9700 or 9800 non-pro versions. They have all the good stuff as far as 256b Memory interface, 8 Pipelines, and HyrearchicalZ, etc., and are basically just declocked versions of the Pro model.

right now newegg.com (My Fav. e-tailer) has only one brand listed, the Info-Tek GigaXCube Radeon 9800 128MB AGP 8X Video Card, Model GC-R9800-C3 - Retail for $265 w/free shipping.
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?catalog=48&DEPA=1&submit=property&mfrcode=0&propertycode=&propertycodevalue=4884,3668

I don't know too much about the Company, but the photo of the card looks like your typical oem Radeon 9800.

With the introduction of the SE model, Regular 9800 np versions seem to be drying up. A leftover 9700 np might be a little less in price if you can find one.

I would stay away from the SE models however. Some have a 256bit memory interface, some have a 128bit mem. interface and all of them I believe have only 4 Pixel pipes. I know some people have unlocked these SE models to full 9800 models, but there's no gaurantee, and the success rate is not that great. Why roll the dice?

As far as stability goes, I just finished Call of Duty. Played it through without so much as a hiccup. Not one crash. Also been playing BF42:SW of WWII, Freelancer, UT2003, Colin McRae Rally 3, Nascar Racing 2003, IL-2 Sturmovick:FB, Galactic Civilization, and a few others without a hitch. Zero issues.

[ACTF_Heat]

what I have heard about Nvidia that makes me wonder...is that Nvidia has been sub-par in the performance aspect.I am also well away of then "Cheating" in the benchmarks

[ACTF_Heat]

OEM version? Doesnt that mean I give up the warranty and the software package?

[Evnas]

Originally posted by ACTF_Heat
what I have heard about Nvidia that makes me wonder...is that Nvidia has been sub-par in the performance aspect.

Very true

For your price rangei would recommend either a 9800np, or a 9800 Pro

[HardwareJedi]

Originally posted by ACTF_Heat
OEM version? Doesnt that mean I give up the warranty and the software package?

Still get a Warranty. Software packages change with the manufacturer. I chose the wrong turn of phrase there as the card I referenced is in fact a RETAIL Package, with retail warranty and Software package. All I meant was that it looked like your typical plain jane 9800 non-pro version type card. No fancy heatsink/fan or Ramsinks etc.

Nothing wrong with keeping it simple. It also keeps it cheaper. ;)

[ajrettke]

Well if you don't mind rebates you can get a XFX 5900 (non ultra but has 2.2ns memory which is rated for ultra speeds) for 160 bucks. checkout cyberdeals for info on that. That card is a good card for cash honestly. However if you don't like upgrading often (I would rather spend 160 now, then in 6 months sell the card for like 80 and buy another 160 card), and just want to put down the cash and stay safe for a year or so I would hang around newegg.com's refurb section and pickup any 9700np or pro, to 9800np or pro (WATCH OUT FOR SE'S!!!!!!!) and take one of those. The best card out there is the 9800XT (which I'm not sure if it's for sale right now though) and that will be under 350 but IMHO it's a waist of money, I like buying a good bang for the buck card then sell it later and get another bang for the buck....

[harryinny3]

the 9800XT is for under 350 bucks! I want one!! The lowest ive seen on em is $499. Heck ill buy 2 for under 350 each and resell on ebay. You must have made a typo LOL. J/K anyway.

Harry

[HardwareJedi]

Originally posted by ajrettke
Well if you don't mind rebates you can get a XFX 5900 (non ultra but has 2.2ns memory which is rated for ultra speeds) for 160 bucks. checkout cyberdeals for info on that. That card is a good card for cash honestly. However if you don't like upgrading often (I would rather spend 160 now, then in 6 months sell the card for like 80 and buy another 160 card), and just want to put down the cash and stay safe for a year or so I would hang around newegg.com's refurb section and pickup any 9700np or pro, to 9800np or pro (WATCH OUT FOR SE'S!!!!!!!) and take one of those. The best card out there is the 9800XT (which I'm not sure if it's for sale right now though) and that will be under 350 but IMHO it's a waist of money, I like buying a good bang for the buck card then sell it later and get another bang for the buck....

He also said he wanted to play Half-Life 2. If that's the case, a Radeon card is the one to have. For Half-Life 2 or any other REAL DX-9 Game. (DX8 XBox ports with a couple of DX9 functions don't count imho) My overclocked 9500Pro would whip the snot out of a regular 5900. and an overclocked 9800 non-pro will kick it's ass even more. Did you actually look at any of the benchmarks for HL-2 from the Shader Day Event? Here's a link...

http://www.beyond3d.com/misc/hl2/index.php?p=6

That shows a 5900Ultra and 5600Ultra. How well would a 5900 non-ultra do? The 5900U was only getting around 30 FPS at 10X7.
How can you seriously recommend a 5900? The Radeon 9600Pro was beating the 5900Ultra and is a few bucks cheaper. Tsk, Tsk...Friends don't let Friends buy Nvidia! :D
The price may be right, but what's the cost of the aggravation you suffer when Half-life 2 runs like **** and looks like ****? Nvidia's AA implimentation is a joke. Trilinear filtering is verbotten by Nvidia, even if you WANT it, across ALL 3D Apps. (Another feature that got the ax to give a few more FPS in your fav. game or benchmark. Welcome to 1999!) So That is Cinematic Computing huh? :rolleyes: If He truly wants an Nv product I'd say wait till Nv 40 because Nv30/35/36 etc. is a waste of good silicon compared to ATI's solutions right now no matter what the cost.

Your right though that he might pick up a good deal at newegg refurbs. That's where I got my MB. :) a Cherry.

[ACTF_Heat]

Hmmm...I think I'll go with a 9800 Pro...but does anyone know how the HL2 offer works? Do all 9800 pros come with the voucher for the game,or just some? And,if only selected boxes come with the voucher for the game....how can you tell which ones they are? I called Circuit City,and they have the card for $349

[Acko]

Well if you want to play HL2 all the reviews I`ve read say 9800Pro. I`ve always had Nvidia based cards but I`ve just bought the Pro because I want the best card for the game! I am not biased one way or another I sum up whats about @ the time of an upgrade. I used to have AMD systems but IMO Intel are the best for me @ this moment in time although that could change?
Anyway here`s a link to the card I`ve got. It runs @ 2 speeds with a great blower design that pushes air out of the case & its so quite. Also because it runs cooler than all the other cards it can be OC`ed past an XT?
http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/83/
the cost was £295-00

Acko