200 bucks, what to do...(unbiased please)

yah, ive been doing alot of research into these new video cards and i need a new one lol. ive been running on my pnygeforce4 ti4600 since the day it hit comp usa, and before that i ran either nvidia or 3dfx cards(reason: had problems with ati stuff). now, all i need is an unbiased opinion on what i should do. ive always liked nvidia, and if i had the money would buy the 6800u, but i dont. and like i said ive been researching and all ive seen is quotes and benchmarks like (best quoted by pc magazine) "the x800xt beats the 6800u by a molex". i know the 6800 is a completely new core, and all around is better than the x800 line cards, but since its completely new they havent worked all the kinks out, hense power consumption and lack of efficiency. and to top that i saw that nvidia is coming out with the 6800gt, and that is what i really want. but price is killing me...

and ive been seeing things lately like xfx5900xt on new egg for 188 or so and the 9800 pros for about the same. what should i do. i mean i get average 30 fps or so on medium settings in farcry and ive always been a quality over performance person, but if it was under 40 i wouldnt play it. but i can take the 30 fps for what it gives. and the fact that my stock speed 4600(stock because the fan died and i have a generic one on there now: cools better than the origional makes me just want to push my fsb up to make up the performance) can do that gives me a slight nudge in the nvidia direction again...but like i said, give me an unbiased opinion on how i can get the best bang for my 200 bucks

Well seeing that you want nvidia you probally should get the geforce 5900fx. But i personally would get the ati 9800 pro. but since you like the nvidia cards then get the 5900 fx . One thing about nvidia cards is they die easier than the atis when ocing them. They seem to like the higher core speeds. But i have not actually use the 5900 so i think its probally just as good as the 9800 pro but if you flash it to Xt then the ati is the better way to go. In my opinon.

here go here if you want to buy from newegg.com

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-108-132&depa=0

if it were me I would try to ride that 4600 for a couple of more months.my reasons being that while both 5900 and the 9800pro are good cards they just can't hold a candle to the new generation of cards and I don't believe that they are that big of a jump from what you have now.with that said since you said you like quality over speed I would go with the 9800 I don't think the fx series can touch it when it comes to AA/AF which IMHO make a game look fantastic.

well im just giving what he wants. i would personally get the x800 xt-pe but thats damn expensive 399+

Sp1k3 said:

well im just giving what he wants. i would personally get the x800 xt-pe but thats damn expensive 399+

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I wasn't knocking what you posted at all
I was only posting my opinion on what I would do in that situation.

If u really really really want a new card, I think the 9800pro is just by far the best u can get for 200 and it's a really awesome card. But if I were u, I would stick with that Ti4600, and save up some money so that when the next generation comes out (I mean the generation after the gf6 and x800), u are ready for the fastest of the fastest! And maybe for a A64 as well.

buy a better video card +)

If you gotta buy now the 9800 Pro is hard to beat. Mine OC's past 9800 XT speeds on the core. If you can wait either the X800 Pro or the 6800 GT seem to both be cards that in many cases are twice as fast as the recent champ the 9800 XT.

i agree with what seems to be the flow of this thread. if 200 is all you have, and you MUST buy now, a 9800 will be the best you can get for that price range.

for around 150 you can get a 5700 ultra, not a bad card at all AND save you some cahs. IMO

ATi have better image quality with the same(or more) performance as the Nvidia FX card series...

If you get a Radeon 9800 (which I highly reccomend) then you should make sure it has the 256-bit RAM instead of the crappy 128-bit ram some cards are coming with today. 128-bit RAM nearly halves the card's performance.

Basically for 200, the best choice is the 9800 Pro. If you must have nVidia, then the choice is a 5900. I think you can flash it to an ultra if you heart so desires...but that works best with MSI or Leadtek if I'm not mistaken.

9800 Pro...Easy choice...For 200 bones you really cannot a better video card in that price range.

I would say go for a saphire 9800 pro. From what I've seen around here, you have a pretty good chance of getting the R360 core, which can be flashed with the 9800 xt bios.

I got a Gainward 4600 almost 2 years ago now. It was a great card, till my water chiller killed it. I got a 256MB FX 5600 to replace it, and I have been less than pleased with it. A friend of mine has had a 9500np flahsed to a 9700pro for a while now, and it would beat the pants off of anything my 4600 would ever do. The 9800 should be plenty to hold anyone but the most extreme computer geek (read: wanting to spend a ton of money) for a while.

I agree, sapphire 9800 pros are not only cheap, but they use the R360 core which is nice. a great deal overall, i say go for it!

i'd say 5900xt

whats the difference between the 128 bit chips and 256 bit chips, and also, are there 2 different versions(128bit and 256bit) of the 5900?

jo3 said:

whats the difference between the 128 bit chips and 256 bit chips, and also, are there 2 different versions(128bit and 256bit) of the 5900?

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The 256-bit has twice (on paper) the memory bandwith vs. the 128-bit versions. With the 5900 (as well as the 9800p) I would go with the 256-bit version. They should be a little more expensive but worth it in the long haul.