Vid Card Suggestions??

[comphackt]

I have this great new rig with a s*** video card and when I play Far Cry it likes to skip and snag. I have an old style AGP FX5200 with 128MB. I dont remember core speeds and all that, and Im at work right now so I cant check. all I know is that its SLOW, and in a new pimped rig, I wont stand for that....

NOW, Since the new rig, and Im in college, Im on a tighter budget then I would like to be. Id like to spend about $100(US), but can tolerate $150 if like Jesus himself made the card (must be a good one to spend $150).

Ive been looking around newegg and see the FX5500 is around $100, and some reviewers are saying that owners of the FX5200 (ME!) will see more then double the performance. Im pretty intrigued! I am not a hardcore gamer, I play like 4 games religiously (Far Cry, UT2K4, COD) So 3...sue me...

I just want to play these games, as well as maybee a game or 2 in a year without having to set everything to low or medium details. Its a shame this beautiful rig has a achilies(sp?) heel. I want to remedy that.....

Any suggestions? Im partial to Nvidia becuase of many bad experiances with ATI, but if you swear by them, Im a trustworthy guy and will push the grudge aside...

[ColtIce]

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-254R&type=Refurbish
refurb 9700pro but you would have to move fast IMHO it will spank any fx when it comes to AA/AF and it should play the games you mentioned nicely

[johan851]

If you can find a 9700 or 9700 pro for $100, that would be a great deal. Those cards do a wonderful job.

[Xenocide]

see if you can grab a refurb 9800 pro for 150

[johan851]

I don't think the 9800 is worth another 50%, especially if he's on a very tight budget.

[Nandro]

I agree that the 9700 for $137 is the best bang for the buck. A refurb 5900xt for $150 is a good card also, but I had a 9700pro that I got on ebay for $100 and it pretty much played everything. You wont get max eye candy but it will be playable and look fairly good.

[comphackt]

Yea, I usually dont do this, but I compusivly purchased a Vid Card. thanks for the suggestions, I used them to find some benchmarks and comparisons of cards on the market. I ended up purchasing the Radeon(yes, ATI over Nvidia for the first time EVER!) 9600XT. For what I need, it will be perfect. Reasonably priced at $140 which is at the higher end, but still within my pricerange. I figure, I can find something for 100, but that extra 50 made the difference between a card I will have to replace in a year, and one that Ill have to replace in 2+ years.

The main thing that threw me into the ATI boat was the usability of the Next-Gen Direct-X 9.0 games. Since Ill be interesting in HL2 and others of its generation, I will need a card that can play them. Seams as if Nvidia dropped the ball on models such as the FX cards, finding that they will play, but play poorly these Next-Gen games.

So again, thanks for the suggestions, I appreciate them!

BTW...I do and I dont understand the difference in manufacturers of equipment. Motherboards and what-not I understand, for they will offer different slot placement, color, expandability, etc. But when it comes to Vid Cards, and ATI more specifically whats the diff?

take these 2 cards:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-131-242&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProdu...-240-018&depa=1

Other then the obvious HSF, what is the difference in the Cards? any? I went with the Info-Tek simply because the heatsink is clear and cooler looking. I knows thats a DUMB way to shop, but I simply could not tell the difference. If you know some bad S*** about Info-Tek let me know in the next 12 hours, I can still cancel my order while its processing (Thanks to NewEgg!)

[comphackt]

PS...those links are redefined here, cause they are shortened above, resulting in CPU explosion exactly 30 second after clicking.... :p


http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-242&depa=1
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-240-018&depa=1

[comphackt]

I fixed the prob, it was a stupid jumper setting on his archaic Hard drive that allows no other devices commected to its cabeling (stupid thing) as far as the XP just installed on my computer....actually I am legal. I dont use Windows, Ive been running Linux for a long time now. I legally have a version of XP from my educational university and to make sure I burned the ISO correctly I did install it on my computer. 15 minutes later, I deleted it, and formatted the partition. BTW...even if I didnt I have a 7 user lisence from the University so id still be in the clear....

Thanks for the help, and the supervision....hehehe....

[comphackt]

its a funny thing when I am replying to another post and it autoredirects me here....

sorry about that....mods, move that message to the trash if you would like. Or leave it up and make me look like a dumb*** ;)

Lata....

[ColtIce]

I still think you should have got that refurbed 9700pro.
9600xt-dx9 9700pro-dx9
9600xt-4pipes 9700pro-8pipes
9600xt-128bit memory 9700pro-256bit memory

[Nandro]

Agreed, a majority would say the 9700pro available as a refurb from newegg for 137 would be the best buy right now on the low end. Having had this card i can say it plays everything I threw at it quite well.

[johan851]

I concur with the two above me. The 9600XT is still a good card though...just more of a midrange solution than a higher end.

[4megaserver]

the 9700 kicks that 9600XT's ass!!!! I had both in my system and trust me the 9700Pro is waaaaaaaaay better.

[12am]

Would the 9600XT be faster than a 5900XT when running with 2-4xaa and 4-8xaf?. I've heard that nvidia's newer drivers have boosted dx9 performance to levels close to thier ati bretherin is this true?

[Nandro]

The 5900xt should do better all around than the 9600xt. The 128 bit ram really cripples that card.