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Best Video Card for the money?

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jer4202

Registered
Joined
Sep 5, 2004
Whats everybodys opinion on the best Video Card for the money. I like was looking at the Saphire 9800pro for under 200. My friend keeps telling me that a lower end 6800 would be a better deal for around 300... so what do yall think, just post any card for any price... whatever you get the most for the least money. Thx
 
well i think dollar for dollar a gt is great......400 dollars is quite a bit but for what u get its a fine deal.......considering that an xt is 500-600 dollars and it performs worse.....if u need 2 go cheaper buying a lesser 6800 would be the way 2 go.............
 
also weclome 2 the forums i think ull find they are one of the best around............one more thing, this should not have been placed in cyber deals........cyber deals is links 2 great prices for hardware............
 
Nick59007 said:
considering that an xt is 500-600 dollars and it performs worse.....if u need 2 go cheaper buying a lesser 6800 would be the way 2 go.............

Generally stating that the Xt is worse than the GT is wrong IMO. The GT might slightly surpass it in some games, etc. But in other games the XT seems to have the GT for breakfast. No clear cut statement like that can be made with any of the new generation cards IMHO unless they relate to very specific applications.
 
for under $200 go with 9800 pro 128.
for $80 more go with 6800nu 128. around $283 or cheaper
for $200 more go with 6800GT 256. around $399 or cheaper

IMO, $283 eVGA 6800nu is a great value, with 12 pipelines.
 
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Nick59007 said:
well i think dollar for dollar a gt is great......400 dollars is quite a bit but for what u get its a fine deal.......considering that an xt is 500-600 dollars and it performs worse.

please, if ou have an OPINION state is as such. if you are positioning what you post as FACT, then have LINKS to back up what you are saying.

show me some proof that a 6800gt beats a x800xt in something OTHER THAN D3.

lots of ppl read these forums, and spreading misinformed information in the form of broad generalizations doesn't help anyone.

p.s. a x800xt should be around $450, the xt-pe has a msrp of $499, but noone has them in stock, so the price is skyrocketing.
 
hUMANbEATbOX said:
show me some proof that a 6800gt beats a x800xt in something OTHER THAN D3.

Any other OpenGL games the GT and XT will be very close.

Best bang for the buck? I'd say: 6800GT, regular 6800, 9800 Pro



Notice: These are my opinions and should be taken with a grain of salt.
 
The GF2 MX400s are great performers for the cost of a few packs of smokes!

...what?


...well they are!


:D
 
This is just my opinion...but I think the best bang for your buck might be a Saphire 9500np..they can still be had to softmod to a 9700 and they perform awesomely(is that a word?) Anyways...I love mine...plays anything I throw at it..with very respectable fps as well. :D
 
I just recently bought a leadtek 6800 non ultra 128MB card and this thing is AWSOME! it was 268$ and is great for overclocking because most 6800 non ultras use 2.8ns ram this card uses 2.5 or 2.2 ns if ur lucky, 2.5 for sure =)
I got mine running at 881mhz up from 700mhz on the memory.
Also, the core is more random but mines a fine one, will do 400mhz no problem.
I really like this card and it was 268$ at newegg after rebate, now its back up to 278$ but still a really awesome deal.
And also remember that with the 6800non ultra, there is a very slim chance that you can unlock the 4 pipelines and have a full fledged GT on ur hands, with lower memory speed. Mine was not able too, because my pipes were hard locked, but a very few % of them have them BIOS locked and can be unlocked via rivatuner, and those are usually garunteed to work for ya, as the BIOS lock was just put on to sell the chip as a 6800.
You can see if ur card is softmoddable even before you do it, with rivatuner.

But anyhow...Id say 6800non ultra is def. best value for money. I score above 10k in 3dmar03 and around 85fps @ 1024x768 high quality in DoomIII timedemo1
beats any 9800 out there =)
oh yeah and I get 60000 in aquamark3 =)
 
buckbadly said:
This is just my opinion...but I think the best bang for your buck might be a Saphire 9500np..they can still be had to softmod to a 9700 and they perform awesomely(is that a word?) Anyways...I love mine...plays anything I throw at it..with very respectable fps as well. :D

I'm not too familiar with the techincal term. By saying softmod, do you mean just use radeonator, or radlinker to O/C? Or do you mean flash the bios?

If you are talking about flashing the bios, it's not a guarantee mod.
 
I will shell out an extra $100 to get the 6800 nu. I think it's a better value compare to the 9800pro.
 
From what I understand. the 6600 is coming out by Xmass in PCI express and AGP and will be a budget board of about $200(USD). the previews of this board shows it to kick the 9800pro where it hurts! I thought the 9800 pro was the best price vs performance card but if the 6600 by Nvidia comes out as promised then I would wait and buy it instead.
660 preview
 
Thx for all the replies. I really dont want to pay over 300 for a video card, but i heard that Windows Longhorn will come out 2006 and will require atleast the 6800 or x800 series or higher. Although i dont want to spend 300 right now, i will have to in a couple of years for the new OS. Whats your opinion of it and what would you guys do? Would you go with a 9800 pro for under 200 but buy a new one in 2006,or go ahead with the higer $$$ cards but not replace. Im guessin you will probably say buy the higher price now, which is no prob, and from the sounds of it, the 6800 would be the best buy. Whats your opinion, thx
 
jer4202 said:
Thx for all the replies. I really dont want to pay over 300 for a video card, but i heard that Windows Longhorn will come out 2006 and will require atleast the 6800 or x800 series or higher. Although i dont want to spend 300 right now, i will have to in a couple of years for the new OS. Whats your opinion of it and what would you guys do? Would you go with a 9800 pro for under 200 but buy a new one in 2006,or go ahead with the higer $$$ cards but not replace. Im guessin you will probably say buy the higher price now, which is no prob, and from the sounds of it, the 6800 would be the best buy. Whats your opinion, thx

If $200 is your absolute max, 9800 pro 128Mb version is the way to go. But newegg is selling the 9700 pro refurbish for $150. As for Windows longhorn that requires at least a 6800, or X800, I don't think that is possible. I will say that is just a rumor, and nothing more. This totally doesn't make sense to me. Windows don't run base on Video card power, unless Microsoft design it base of OpenGL or Direct3D engine. If you are refering to minimun hardware requirements, I will say it's min CPU and memory requirements, definitely not video card.

Don't worry about your video card. just go ahead and get 1 within your budget and enjoy your game. You can't wait forever, right?
 
Read this and see where I argue for the 9800 pro and then get schooled!
My point is that in a month or 2 there will be a vid card coming out(6600) that will be the same price as the 9800pro and out performs it in every bench mark by a significant score. If you can wait till x-mass, you most likely have a card that will make the 9800 look like a ti4200 for the same price.
 
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well as far as windows longhorn, my understanding is that it must be dx9 compatible because the whole OS is supposed to be 3d. I just read an article about it in Maximum PC. But why in gods name are you worrying about that now? The cards out today will be MUCH cheaper when longhorn comes out. So if you are upgrading for longhorn, then just wait til it comes out, but i am fairly certain Microsoft isnt going to cut out a HUGE portion of their market by making it only compatible with the uber high end. that would be a very stupid move on their part.
 
snyper1982 said:
well as far as windows longhorn, my understanding is that it must be dx9 compatible because the whole OS is supposed to be 3d. I just read an article about it in Maximum PC. But why in gods name are you worrying about that now? The cards out today will be MUCH cheaper when longhorn comes out. So if you are upgrading for longhorn, then just wait til it comes out, but i am fairly certain Microsoft isnt going to cut out a HUGE portion of their market by making it only compatible with the uber high end. that would be a very stupid move on their part.

Point well said........ :clap:
 
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