Suggestions, top of the line right behind the 9800...

T

Trikzy

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 8, 2004
Messages
295
I need a new video card, and i'm looking to not spend over 200 bux on it right now.
I would love to have the 9800xt or pro but funds are limited here, so my question to you guys is which card would you recommend that would still be able to play most all games except maybe the new new shit coming out, without a hesitation.

I'm using an Nvidia right now, haven't really done research to see which man. is getting better benchmarks and such lately.

I just know i need one bad, and am turning to you guys for suggestions. An All in wonder type card would be nice incase i ever wanted to bring video in, but it has to be able to keep up with games as well.
 
You can definitely get a 9800pro for $200. Newegg usually puts a sapphire one one sale for that. I doubt you can get an xt though. On the nvidia side, getting a 5900nu and flashing it to a 5950u is a good bang for your buck way to go but you have to be in to that sort of thing and be careful that you buy the correct cards that flash. If you want an All-in-Wonder, then $200 should get you a 9600 AIW but it lags way behind in performance over the previous cards.
 
You can look for some 9700 pro/np. It should be a bit cheaper than 9800 and eats any 9600xt alive :)
 
There is not and never has been any reason to buy a 9800xt. Almost every 9800 pro will OC to XT speeds. As was mentioned, you can now get them for about 200$ which fits nicely in your budget, so you should be set.
 
Get a 9800pro $180 - $200 and you will be more than happy with that card at that price. I have one and it has been a great card. It will be so much better than the card you have now you will freak. :)
 
Depends on what you game with. If you play mainly FPS games, look for a 256-bit ATI 9800pro, though those are getting hard to find - most are only 128-bit these days, and those aren't a good choice. If you can't find a 256-bit 9800pro or if you play MMORPGs, the Nvidia 5900XT is a better choice.

The best choice would be the Nvidia 6800 non-ultra for $299, if you could somehow scrape together and extra $99.
 
creedAMD said:
What do you mean hard to find? You do shop at newegg right?

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-268&depa=0

Great card man, it'll play any games out today, probably will be pretty good at doom3, and HL2.

5 star rating, read the reviews. Can't go wrong.
Click to expand...

$210 is a bit expensive for the 9800PRO. I was thinking a 256-bit model under $200 like the original poster was asking for. If he is going to spend over $200, he might as well spend the extra $90 and buy the GeForce 6800. A better value with its 12x1 pipeline, SM3.0, and other features the 9800PRO is lacking.

If he can't spend over $200, he can get a 5900XT for $170ish that is 256-bit.
 
Actually I am thinking of selling my BBA 9800pro for like $150 when I get my X800pro which is on Backorder. It is only 4 months old, 128mg, 256bit and in great shape.
 
Alyosha said:
There is not and never has been any reason to buy a 9800xt. Almost every 9800 pro will OC to XT speeds. As was mentioned, you can now get them for about 200$ which fits nicely in your budget, so you should be set.
Click to expand...


Not to mention a Sapphire 9800 pro with the R360 core can be flashed to an XT for nothing....mine did and picked up over 300pts at the same clock speeds due to better optimizations in shaders and such...
 
ok so which cards or manufacturers would be recommended as far as flashing the 5900nu to the 5950u.

my options as of right now are:
Nvidia 5900nu -> 5950u ~170ish
ati 9800 pro -> xt ~200ish
Nvidia 6800 ~300

I've always been a fanboy of nvidia, so i'm leaning towards that side a lil bit more, but like i said i wanna get the best card available in my budget ati or nvidia.

and as far as flshing the card or ocing it...i have no clue how to do, so you guys would have to help me there. I do have just basic ram, dont know if it'd be ok to oc the video card with that or not, or if that even plays into the equation.

I guess the main concern is which card will do my system the most justice, 5900 or 9800.
 
Trikzy said:
I guess the main concern is which card will do my system the most justice, 5900 or 9800.
Click to expand...

9800 will likely do better in FarCry, Half Life 2, and more complex DX9 games
5900 will likely do better in Doom3, most MMORPGs, and OpenGL games.

Then again, the 6800 would be a better bet than both of them if you can spend the extra $100.
 
Overclocking a vidio card is very easy many cards come with an OC aplication wich is right in your drivers control panel if not you can download one off the internet. You just slide pointers to higher clock speeds and hit apply. If you go to far you will get artifacts this means the card is running to hot. If this happens just scale the clock speeds down some until the artifacts are gone and dont come back. :)
 
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