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cheap video card to run doom3 well..suggestions please

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hydrata

Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2001
Location
Birmingham, AL
Hey, I know my current video card can run doom3, but i really want a dx9 card so i can get the full effects, but i don't want to drop a lot of cash right now because i plan on building a whole new system in a few months. so i'm looking in the 100-200$ range for a dx9 card, preferably 256 of ram since d3 seems to like lots of ram on the video card. right now i think i like the 9600xt...what do you guys think? are there better nvidia/ati cards in the same price range? if not, how's the 9600xt oc?? thanks
 
yeah the 9800 pro is at a great price right now, and its the highest performing card for the money of its generation anyway. it wll deffinatly run doom at a medium-high detail setting. im hoping to run high anyway :D
 
Yup, double-agreed. 9800Pro is less than $200 brand new, and sometimes you can get uber-lucky and get a 9800Pro 256mb card for not much more (that could be flashed to a true 9800XT)
 
well, that card sure does look nice, but the 256 meg versions are over 200$, which is more than i wanted to spend. i know nobody knows for sure, but don't you guys agree that it looks like more video memory will definitely boost doom3? hopefully the price might drop on it in the next few weeks. is the 9600xt that much worse than the 9800pro for 80 dollars cheaper?

Edit: i've been outta the hardware loop for a few years, so i trust you guys, but i'm on a budget
 
You have to be careful; more ram doesn't necessarily mean more speed, it usually just means more room for textures. A 9600 has approximately half of the pixel processing power of a 9800, so your scores will drop accordingly.

Your best bet in that price range is a 9800Pro 128mb. The only reason I suggested a 256mb model is for Doom3's want for that much memory in "High" visual settings -- a 128mb card only meets the "Medium" visual settings criteria. You can still force higher settings, but you will likely experience hiccups and brief glitches while the game has to load textures across the AGP bus.
 
alright, well sounds like a 9800pro is the best bang for my buck here then. i appreciate the help, especially since i've been outta the loop for a while. i also was just aiming for a 256 meg card to try and get the "high" setting for doom3. i'm guessing there's nothing really that good on the nvidia front?? i remember the 5900 series from nvidia kind of lagged behind the ati's....well, i'll just keep my fingers crossed for a price drop.

Edit: also, do you guys recommend a certain brand of the ati card over another? thanks again.
 
In the price range you're asking for, the NV parts fall behind the ATI parts in your requested game :) If you were talking about the UBER parts, then NV has the definite upper hand.

Sapphire is a very high quality brand; they build quite a few of the actual "built by ATI" cards. All my previous ATI cards (9500np modded, 9800np, 9800XT and my current X800Pro Vivo modded) were all Sapphires. My opinion anyway :)
 
Right now, you don't *need* a 256mb card to play D3 on High. I'm ~10 hours into the game, and at 1024x768 w/ 8xAF I haven't had a *single* stutter. In fact, the only stutter related to lack of vram I've had was one time during a deathmatch between friends. Now, I have a gig of ram (which is supposed to make a difference), and I'm not saying that it's better to get a 128mb 9800, but if you really can't afford a 256, then you should still be fine with a 128.
 
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Doom3 is OpenGL so the 5900-5950FX cards are just as good as the 9800Pro. The 9800 Pro would be better in pretty much any DX9 title though. I would stay away from the 9600 series like they have the clap, might as well buy a Ti4200 for DOOM3....
 
Nero said:
Right now, you don't *need* a 256mb card to play D3 on High. I'm ~10 hours into the game, and haven't had a *single* stutter. In fact, the only stutter related to lack of vram I've had was one time during a deathmatch between friends. Now, I have a gig of ram (which is supposed to make a difference), and I'm not saying that it's better to get a 128mb 9800, but if you really can't afford a 256, then you should still be fine with a 128.

Sure if you want to play without AA and AF and never go above 800x600......
 
my 128mb 9700 (with a large core oc and embarrassing memory oc) does surprisingly well with doom 3. i play 1280x1024 and high quality settings and really don't have many hiccups (no AA or AF). there are a few, but it's a 1 second hiccup as you enter into a new area, and they happen every 20 minutes probably, not a big deal. anyway, i think the 128mb 9800pro will do you just fine
 
Albuquerque said:
In the price range you're asking for, the NV parts fall behind the ATI parts in your requested game :) If you were talking about the UBER parts, then NV has the definite upper hand.

Sapphire is a very high quality brand; they build quite a few of the actual "built by ATI" cards. All my previous ATI cards (9500np modded, 9800np, 9800XT and my current X800Pro Vivo modded) were all Sapphires. My opinion anyway :)

damn.. hardcore gamer right here. How much money have you spent anyway?
I'm tempted to upgrade my killer GF3 Ti200 but I don't know if I have the money. :p
 
Dragonprince said:
Sure if you want to play without AA and AF and never go above 800x600......

I edited my above post. I should have mentioned that I was playing @ 1024x768 noAA 8xAF.
 
Albuquerque said:
You have to be careful; more ram doesn't necessarily mean more speed, it usually just means more room for textures. A 9600 has approximately half of the pixel processing power of a 9800, so your scores will drop accordingly.

Your best bet in that price range is a 9800Pro 128mb. The only reason I suggested a 256mb model is for Doom3's want for that much memory in "High" visual settings -- a 128mb card only meets the "Medium" visual settings criteria. You can still force higher settings, but you will likely experience hiccups and brief glitches while the game has to load textures across the AGP bus.

I just got one and thats a pretty damn accurate description of it on low-mid end hardware. Oh and if you get this one carefull: both the latest omega drivers and the doom 3 beta drivers from ati are running with some bugs: nothing major but expect to see your desktop every 10-20 minutes if it gets as bad as with me.
 
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