CleanSlate
Supreme [H]ardness
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2003
- Messages
- 5,258
Well hello everyone, my thanks out to Steve for putting my humble little guide up on hardocp.com among many links (for three months in a row ). The tension of the new Geforce 7800Ultra (which is speculated to soon be here with a whopping 32pipes! You can only hope... But I doubt it , if anything it'd probably be another 24 pipe card)
The purpose of this thread is to try to give an objective view of what card to buy for the best all-around performance for each of the price ranges that exist as of 7/05. If you have suggestions please leave them, they are all welcome.
Some sections might seem like "price lists" but that's decieving in itself because some cards have different features that need to be listed even if they "perform" similar to another card in the category.
I only use newegg.com because it's a very good e-tailer and doesn't price gouge (anywhere as much) as the other e-tailers do.
For reference, there are no performance differences between the PCI-E and AGP cards right now, no cards have come out yet that can even fully utilize AGP4x bandwidth (b/w) let alone 8x b/w where as PCI-E is double the b/w of agp8x. Here goes the shpeel!
If you don't EVER game and KNOW you won't ever game (!!!!) get the cheapest possible that supports DX8 or 8.1 and the older DX7/7.1 cards aren't too bad either
$60 or less section
It can't play Doom3 nor will it play HL2 but...
This is a very difficult section because the cards are all... well junk for gaming. However, there is one with dx8.1 support which could probably play half-life 1 mods and older games well enough at the clock speeds/bit rate given:
9250 128-bit agp model which comes in at $40 shipped, $10 mail-in rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814166002
There is no PCI-E card that I've seen for $60 or less worth anything to game with but there are now 6200's with 'turbo cache' If you are wondering what that is, www.hardocp.com has a review on it, it's NOT for gaming so I will omit this section.
$112.50 or less section
AGP CARDS
ATi 9600 pro agp $77 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102408
The 9600 pro is a great card and I suggest it over the non-pro if you are a gamer. The 6200 and 9600pro are very close in performance in almost all games reviewed by [H]ardocp.com.
Nvidia 6200 $76shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814133138
Good card if you are looking to mod/OC, especially just OC... it OCs like a mad man according to the [H]-trial.
PCI-E CARDS
X600XT $95.50shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127167
6200 $88shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814140046
I suggest the X600XT but the 6200 with it's great OCing capabilities and the modding might be something you would want to look into .
PCI CARDS
I recommend the 5200 but the 9250 is a good card too, the only reason I put the 9250 up is because it's best for those who have agp cards as well as pci cards in thier systems to keep with the same manufacturers with both agp and pci cards. Why? Well, the short answer is for stability and the long answer is driver conflicts cause system instability.
The 9250's price has dropped quite a bit and it's now a contender for the 5200 in a system with only pci cards.
Nvidia 5200 PCI $94.50 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814145087
ATI Radeon 9250 PCI $82shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814131411
$210 or less section
AGP CARDS
6600gt $156shipped and a $20 mail in rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814135160
6800nu $200.50shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125142
Modding/OCing? 6800nu. I suggest the 6800nu if you can afford it but often people can't or wont spring for it so the 600gt is there... if you really must.
PCI-E CARDS
X700pro $129.50shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814123146
This is about equal to a 9600XT which is about equal to a 9800se type 2 (256 bit ram), it's a good card and can play HL2 decently.
6600gt $165shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125156
X800 128 meg GDDR3 $197.50 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127176
My personal favorite over the 6600GT is the X800 which spanks it in most benchies. The X700 pro is a good card for the price and is between the 6600 and 6600gt. If you find yourself buying the X700pro... just get the 6600 and OC if you are into that sort of thing.
The purpose of this thread is to try to give an objective view of what card to buy for the best all-around performance for each of the price ranges that exist as of 7/05. If you have suggestions please leave them, they are all welcome.
Some sections might seem like "price lists" but that's decieving in itself because some cards have different features that need to be listed even if they "perform" similar to another card in the category.
I only use newegg.com because it's a very good e-tailer and doesn't price gouge (anywhere as much) as the other e-tailers do.
For reference, there are no performance differences between the PCI-E and AGP cards right now, no cards have come out yet that can even fully utilize AGP4x bandwidth (b/w) let alone 8x b/w where as PCI-E is double the b/w of agp8x. Here goes the shpeel!
If you don't EVER game and KNOW you won't ever game (!!!!) get the cheapest possible that supports DX8 or 8.1 and the older DX7/7.1 cards aren't too bad either
$60 or less section
It can't play Doom3 nor will it play HL2 but...
This is a very difficult section because the cards are all... well junk for gaming. However, there is one with dx8.1 support which could probably play half-life 1 mods and older games well enough at the clock speeds/bit rate given:
9250 128-bit agp model which comes in at $40 shipped, $10 mail-in rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814166002
There is no PCI-E card that I've seen for $60 or less worth anything to game with but there are now 6200's with 'turbo cache' If you are wondering what that is, www.hardocp.com has a review on it, it's NOT for gaming so I will omit this section.
$112.50 or less section
AGP CARDS
ATi 9600 pro agp $77 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102408
The 9600 pro is a great card and I suggest it over the non-pro if you are a gamer. The 6200 and 9600pro are very close in performance in almost all games reviewed by [H]ardocp.com.
Nvidia 6200 $76shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814133138
Good card if you are looking to mod/OC, especially just OC... it OCs like a mad man according to the [H]-trial.
PCI-E CARDS
X600XT $95.50shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127167
6200 $88shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814140046
I suggest the X600XT but the 6200 with it's great OCing capabilities and the modding might be something you would want to look into .
PCI CARDS
I recommend the 5200 but the 9250 is a good card too, the only reason I put the 9250 up is because it's best for those who have agp cards as well as pci cards in thier systems to keep with the same manufacturers with both agp and pci cards. Why? Well, the short answer is for stability and the long answer is driver conflicts cause system instability.
The 9250's price has dropped quite a bit and it's now a contender for the 5200 in a system with only pci cards.
Nvidia 5200 PCI $94.50 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814145087
ATI Radeon 9250 PCI $82shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814131411
$210 or less section
AGP CARDS
6600gt $156shipped and a $20 mail in rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814135160
6800nu $200.50shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125142
Modding/OCing? 6800nu. I suggest the 6800nu if you can afford it but often people can't or wont spring for it so the 600gt is there... if you really must.
PCI-E CARDS
X700pro $129.50shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814123146
This is about equal to a 9600XT which is about equal to a 9800se type 2 (256 bit ram), it's a good card and can play HL2 decently.
6600gt $165shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125156
X800 128 meg GDDR3 $197.50 shipped
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127176
My personal favorite over the 6600GT is the X800 which spanks it in most benchies. The X700 pro is a good card for the price and is between the 6600 and 6600gt. If you find yourself buying the X700pro... just get the 6600 and OC if you are into that sort of thing.