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*Help* Video Card: Best BANG! for the $$$$ ?

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FATAL ENIGMA

Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2004
Location
Texas
What is the best video card bang-for-buck right now? Can anyone help me out with some ideas on what I need on a tight budget?

I'm not an avid PC gamer but have just ordered parts to do my first upgrade minus video card until I decide which one. I prefer shopping at Newegg if anyone can link me to cards there, or wherever doesnt really matter as long as it's a good deal and a good card. I dont prefer one brand over another at this point because I'm used to only having a TNT Riva Model64

I just purchased these items to go with whatever video card might be suggested.

Mobo: Abit NF7-S
CPU: AMD AthlonXP-M 2600+
RAM: OCZ 512mb PC3200

Hope to be able to play FarCry/Doom3/others etc. with decent settings

so any help is appreciated :)

btw, newegg has refurbed cards, are these a no-no to even think about or are the safe to buy?
 
Maxvla said:
how much money is tight?
good question and I guess I should have mentioned that above.

probably $230 maximum but I'm not looking to spend $230 just to spend $230 :bday:

Since I've never been a pc gamer and havent followed closely that market other than knowing x800/6800 is the top dog now, I dont know what is best bang per dollar.

I want to try doom3/farcry etc. but I dont expect the very best graphics to ever grace a pc monitor either because of my budget range. So looking at it as not to just shoot for $230, is there anything lesser priced that will do me just fine (say around $150 or so?)
 
9800Pro. And it will probably stay that way for a long time :p

Not sure how much the 256meg versions are right now. They might be within your budget but i'm not sure.
 
Yeah, with that kind of budget look for a good 9800 Pro, or even a 9800 non-pro to save a little cash. The 256mb might not be a bad idea, but it's not completely necessary. Still would be nice though, Doom 3 might like it.
 
johan851 said:
Yeah, with that kind of budget look for a good 9800 Pro, or even a 9800 non-pro to save a little cash. The 256mb might not be a bad idea, but it's not completely necessary. Still would be nice though, Doom 3 might like it.
thanks, 9800pro, ok, so any particular brand of 9800pro or should I stick solely with ATI instead of a sapphire/powercolor style flavor of it?
 
not really. just make sure you double check the specs. sapphire has been selling some really odd 9800pros with only 128bit memory instead of 256bit and long style ram chips instead of bga chips. the bga chips are square instead of rectangular so that should help you.
 
^^ so to eb sure avoid sapphuire - if you can get a BBA why not :D
and i think you may be able to find the 256mb versions for around $230 as some places have ahd 9800PRO for $170
 
You can pick up a Sapphire or MSI 9800 Pro with 128mb for just under $200 at newegg. Those two seem to be your best chance at getting a 9800Pro with the R360 core, which means you can flash it to a 128mb 9800XT. The MSI is a little cheaper, has a bundle(Morrowind, Duke Nukem: MP, and one other game I think), and has better stock cooling, whereas the Sapphire is a really trusted brand for ATI products. Both seem to be having really good luck lately so it's up to you. I'd say that would be your best bang for the buck. The next step up would be the eVGA 6800 for about $285. That's the 12 pipe non-GT, non-Ultra, 6800, just to make things clear. It would outperform a 9800XT in just about everything(although the 9800XT seems to take a small lead when at 1600x1200 with AA and AF cranked up, but in most new games, both would be unplayable at those settings anyway), and would outperform an x800 Pro in Doom3 at this point. Anyway, I would say those are your best options. If you're not looking to spend so much, you'd want to look at the 9600XT. You could find them for under $150 now. That would give you good gameplay, but you'll have to stick to 1024x768 with minimal AA and AF in newer games and you're looking at medium quality settings in Doom3 or 800x600 resolution. Oh ya, and the eVGA cards come with Farcry. So if you haven't gotten the game yet, but were looking at picking it up, that's $30 you can knock off the price of the card.
 
Oh, and the Sapphire 9800 card you want to avoid is the 9800 Atlantis(at first they were selling them as pro's, but due to complaints, they changed the name to avoid confusion). I don't think Sapphire is the only company that announced they're going to sell 9800 cards with 128 bit memory either, so just double check to see the specs say 256 bit memory.
 
thanks for the replies everyone, I was hoping someone could link me to just what I need so I didnt have to think too much since I dont know much about them in the first place :D


TxAMD said:
you can get a refurb 9800 pro at newegg for $159-161. Not a problem.
are refurbed vid cards from newegg really a safe buy?
This is the cheapest 9800pro I see, would this be a smart purchase and a good deal 128mb @ $169?
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-362R&type=Refurbish

or would this be a smarter purchase 256mb @ $219
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-290R&type=Refurbish

I'm sure 256mb is better, but is the price difference justifiable in your opinion and again.... is it a safe bet to buy a refurb?

thanks for everyones help :)
 
FATAL ENIGMA said:
thanks for the replies everyone, I was hoping someone could link me to just what I need so I didnt have to think too much since I dont know much about them in the first place :D

thanks for everyones help :)
well what good would that do? ;)

any time i buy something i do alot of research so that i can make my own well informed decision. check the reviews, users comments/results, compare prices, things like that.

you will be more satisfied with your purchase if you do the above instead of just taking someone's word and buying without knowing anything about it.

as far as refurbs, its never a guaranteed good product, my only experience with newegg refurbs has been multiple dead motherboards. i do not buy refurb from them any longer, but i have friends who have gotten great deal after great deal using them, so its really up to chance.
 
not bad. would be great if it had a 360 core so you could flash it to XT. i'm not up on which 9800's are coming with 360 though so someone else will have to help you with that. :)
 
Maxvla said:
not bad. would be great if it had a 360 core so you could flash it to XT. i'm not up on which 9800's are coming with 360 though so someone else will have to help you with that. :)
the reviews for that card seem to indicate 360 core which I guess is what I need to get - unless the reviews are mix-matched somehow with other cards I dont know?

Another question: Just how much difference would I actually see/experience if I were to get a 256mb card instead of 128mb ?
 
FATAL ENIGMA said:
the reviews for that card seem to indicate 360 core which I guess is what I need to get - unless the reviews are mix-matched somehow with other cards I dont know?

Another question: Just how much difference would I actually see/experience if I were to get a 256mb card instead of 128mb ?
with a 9800pro you won't see much difference at all. performance won't go up from going from 128 to 256 on this level of card.
 
Maxvla said:
with a 9800pro you won't see much difference at all. performance won't go up from going from 128 to 256 on this level of card.
thanks for your help, I think I just decided on that MSI one then ;)
 
In early june I got a 256bit 128MB Sapphire Radeon 9800 PRO - Bulk from Newegg for $149 shipped! Not sure what core it is because I don't have a floppy drive to flash it to a 9800XT anyways but it overclocks well with ATITool. I haven't seen any going for that low since I bought mine but be on the lookout because they will sellout quickly if they do show up.
 
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