ITT:VidCard Buying Decisions

Out of all the "new" cards on the market. In the 150-200 price range, Would a sapphire 9500 pro be a better buy than say a 9600 pro. Does the 9500 pro still oc like a champion?

Been looking for a good dx9 card under 200 bucks for a while.

Originally posted by Hoss
Out of all the "new" cards on the market. In the 150-200 price range, Would a sapphire 9500 pro be a better buy than say a 9600 pro.

Yes. The 9500 Pro will kick the 9600 Pro's booty.

Originally posted by dobbz
Since November I've had a ~$200 budget for an ATi card and was originally set on a Powercolor 9600Pro 256MB, but prices are dropping so I have two other options now:

$150 256MB 9600Pro @ 400/400MHz
$200 256MB 9600XT @ 500/600MHz
$200 128MB 9700Pro @ 325/620MHz

I havent seen any benchmarks with the 9700Pro in with the 9600XT's but it seems like the XT will be just a step down from ATi's top cards for awhile, so I'm leaning toward that.

What I really want to find out are peoples opinions on 256MB cards. I don't see much talk about these versus 128MB with future gaming in mind (D3, HL2 etc.. which is what I want to have a good card for, since I dont care for many games out in the past two years.)

aye im in the same boat as you, anyone please speak up who knows!

if in the $200 price range grab either a 9700 Pro if you can find it.. I think they are on zipzoomfly.com

or a fx 5900 NU (try to get the NU instead of SE, XT, LX versions, coz they have slower ram)

preference of ATi or nVidia is upto you..

a 9700 pro is by all means better than all of the aforementioned graphics cards in the given price range.. hope this helps you!

KickAssCop,

Glad to see that you have returned (get married?).

Anyway, I wanted to thank you for your help and advice you gave me a few months ago when I was looking for a video card for a couple of non-gamer PCs. I didn't want to spend much, preferably no more than $100 per card. Thanks to your advice, I was able to determine what constituted a good deal and what was a ripoff.

Although I bought the video cards 3 months ago, I just got around to building one of the PCs (P4 2.4C) this last week (little spare money - wife out of work since March). I ended up finding a couple of Sapphire Radeon 9500np 128MB cards at PCMall.com for $95 each! Well within budget, but suitable for some future gaming for my 10 year-old. After our order, the PCMall.com raised the price to over $150 each.

The story doesn't end there. Sapphire apparently had run short on "their" 9500np cards, so what showed up in the boxes were BBA 9500nps, red PCB, "L" shaped memory. I was able to apply the 9500np->9700 softmod with no artifacts. 3dmark03 is around 4200, 3dmark01 is around 12000 (14000 if I turn off HT on my Win2K PC), more than enough performance for us. Oh yeah, text looks super with the 9500np!

Once again, thanks.

Ah yes.. I have returned and am married .. can we all say w00t!

and you are one lucky puppy.. getting them 9500 non pros for 95 a piece.. ha!

so how many cards did you exactly buy.. I am a little confused here and which ones.. english isnt my native language you know.. so what exactly constituted a good deal for you? you grabbed all 9500 non pros and all modded.. (if yes you seriously are a lucky bastard )

as always you are most welcome for any other things you need help with.. pertaining to video cards..

(plus I just wanted to say this.. XGI Volari sucks balls.. ha!)

Let's see, you're married and on [H]. Life is good!

I bought the last 2 9500np's that PCMall.com had in stock at that price ($95 each). One will be in my daughter's PC and one will be in mine. I have only built my daughter's PC, but I have tried both 9500np's in her PC and both softmod!

This is what the box looks like (except mine doesn't say "PRO" on it): http://store6.yimg.com/I/sureneeds_1770_148759125

This is the card I was expecting: http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/show...pid=6164&idx=1

This is the card I actually got: http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/show...pid=6538&idx=1

A good value for me, after seeking the advice of others on this forum, was getting two solid video cards that would do well in standard PC apps (Internet, MS Office, Java and HTML programming, basic games, etc.) while at the same time be able to handle some of the software my pre-teen daughter may be using in the next year or two. The 9500np->9700s certainly fit the bill!

Wow!! Awesome thread!! All the info I needed laid out in front of me.

Based on reading this entire thread, I'd like to get a 9600Pro. Does anyone have opinions on the Transcend cards like this one ?

Dude how much money do you have?

If around 150 bucks then grab a 9600 XT instead that is bundled with half life 2!

Hey, im kinda new with computers, but i do know the "basics". Um i just wanted to know and get some opinions about Video Cards, like what are better for gaming and whats the best prices for these cards. Im kinda young just dont want to get ripped by buying a radion 9200, for example. Like I herd about the new RVseries, like the 380 and 420 .... should i wait to buy one of those ... or what ... just want opinions. THNX

If you can then by all means wait.. since r420 and nv40 have taped out and will be out in a few months..

what system are you running and will you upgrade your system also with the video card.. and as always how much money do you have for a video card?

my system is brand new .... at least for me... its decent, not like all out athlon 64 or nothing just athlon 2200 and msi dual 400fsb. um with a 80 gigs hdd, im not planning on upgrading anything execpt to maybe try and oc my proc and more memory. but it after i buy a vcard

the question still stands.. how much money do you have to spend on a video card.. if you are not in the states then tell me the US dollar amount and I can recommend you a card!

A lot of problems would be solved if the damned search would work. Unless this thread is stickied, it will disappear into the abyss that is without a search.

Actually the thread is already stickied!

Originally posted by KickAssCop
Actually the thread is already stickied!

Then all is right with the world.

Thread Update.. January 27th 2004

- Prices have been revised of the cards that I know have dropped in price. More prices may/may not be revised with the advent of time. If a price of a card is out of synch of the current market price please post here with a link to the price of that particular card.

- If you feel that a card is out of place or appears in the wrong order in the list please provide with the reason why and appropriate location on which it should be in the list.

- Some outdated links have been flagged and will be removed next month.

- Best Bang for the Buck Section has had an overhaul!

- Disclaimer: If you buy a card and are pissed with it. Dont blame me ha! I have never and will not take responsibilty for your buying decision.

- Thread is free to be used, re-used, and copied without permission if a proper reference is made to hardforums. (Reason being that there are a hell lot of updates in here which I wouldn't want anyone to miss)

I have a Gainward Ti 4600 I got $500.00
to spend...My question is should I buy a
9800 pro for $230.00(if its even worth the
performance increase)or should I wait for the
ATI 420 or 423 chip sets.My freind has 9800xt
and there is a huge difference in the way games
look with all the bells and whistles turned on but I
dont want to spend $500.00 on a card just to have the
newer 420 come out next week.LOL!!!
Thanks for any help.

I'm looking for a card in the 50-100 dollar range. 75 or less prefered, but I can go over 75 if needed. Anyone have any recommendations for that price range?

I was looking at a ti4200 64mb, 9200 128mb, or 5200 128mb. I believe the ti4200 performs the best out of all of those, but I'm worried the 64mb ram thing may be an issue with newer games coming out.

If you can stretch to $100, I would say search your local Best Buy for the Radeon 9600np (the Santa Rosa store has them). Best Buy has the 9600np on clearance for $129.99, yet there is also a $30 MIR from ATI on the card, bringing your total down to $100.