Need new Video Card

[trelarah]

I currently have a Sapphire ATI Radeon 9500 128MB DDR, and I was thinking about getting a 9800. I want to order it from NCIX Canada Computers (http://ncix.com/products/index.php?majorcatid=101&minorcatid=108) , but I'm not too sure which one to get.

I play games like Halo, KOTOR, SW: Galaxies, and the new DOOM. I want to run the games at pretty good resolution without any lag. I'm looking to spend around $300 - $350 Cdn.

Can someone please help me out?

[kram 2.0]

The <a href="http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=12289&vpn=RX9800PRO-TD128%20&manufacture=MicroStar">MSI Radeon 9800 Pro 256-bit</a> 128MB seems exactly what you want. It will play HALO and other D3D based games very well. On Doom 3, I have the Radeon 9800 Pro VPU and it works nicely - even though it is a OpenGL based game.

Hope that helps,
kram

[trelarah]

Thanks for the advice kram8806, now I know what card to buy.

Do you know if I'll have to install any extra drivers for it (like of the website), or do I just install the drivers that come with it?

Also, why not get the SAPPHIRE RADEON 9800 ATLANTIS (http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=12069&vpn=1024-1C47-00-SA&manufacture=SAPPHIRE) when it's also a 9800 but cheaper? Why is it I should go with the MSI one? I'm just asking because I want to understand the differences.

Thanks!

[kram 2.0]

Do you know if I'll have to install any extra drivers for it (like of the website), or do I just install the drivers that come with it?

Also, why not get the SAPPHIRE RADEON 9800 ATLANTIS (http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=12069&vpn=1024-1C47-00-SA&manufacture=SAPPHIRE) when it's also a 9800 but cheaper? Why is it I should go with the MSI one? I'm just asking because I want to understand the differences.
The drivers should come with the card - since it is retail, all the cords and stuff too should come with it. Install that first, then since I highly suspect it's outdated by now, go to <a href="http://www.ati.com">ATI's Website</a> and install the new drivers - Caltalyst 4.7 if it's not already installed.

And the reason why I avoided the Sapphire Radeon 9800. Remember, it's a Radeon 9800 non-pro, while I picked the MSI that is 9800 Pro. That is a 128-bit card - the rought equivelant of the Radeon 9600XT. The greater the buswidth, the more expediant the data can be transported from the card to the system. As the Radeon 9800 Pro's strongpoint is the 256-bit buswidth, I just picked out the one that I found the least expensive. And I really didn't pay attention to what brand I was going to recommend, since ATI maintains a strict quality control guideline to which these manufacturers are asked to follow.


Hope that helps,
kram

[trelarah]

Thanks again kram8806, I really appreciate your help. I've gone ahead and ordered that video card. Hopefully everything will run well with the rest of my specs. I was thinking about getting another 512MB of ram.