Need a Graphics Card ATI or NVIDIA $300 to spend

[OLLY89]

Hi i have no idea what to Buy i need a New card for the up coming Games but i have no idea what to Buy $300 to spend and need help what's the best card to buy for that Price? Thanks :)

[mrmister1]

If you want to spend around $300, I would get the ATi Radeon 9800 Pro. You can get it from Newegg (http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-361&depa=0) for $257. It's actually a one day sale today. Or you could also get the 9800 XT for a little over $300 :D .

Hope that helps

[WhatsThisBoxFor?]

You can get the plain version of nVidia's 6800 for under $300: http://www.newegg.com/app/searchProductResult.asp?Submit=Go&Range=1&InnerCata=48&DEPA=0&bop=and&description=Geforce+6800&Order=price

I reccomend the gainward 128mb card, since they are the only brand for less than $300 I trust, if you go $30 over budget you can get a 256mb card.

[Tin]

i dont believe newegg ships to Australia. what are some good Aussie computer hardware sites? if you give us some links to some good sites we can help you out a tad better ;).

[WhatsThisBoxFor?]

An Australian Reatailer would help, after searching google I came up with this: http://www.techbuy.com.au/products/39937/VIDEOCARDS_RADEON_SERIES/PowerColor/VGCPR96ETD3/Radeon_9600XT_256MB_TV_DVI-I.asp But I know nothing about the retailer, and how good the price is etc.

[Alaron]

Is that $300 in US Dollars or Australian Dollars?

[kram 2.0]

Is that $300 in US Dollars or Australian Dollars?
I would presume in AUS...in that case, the Radeon 9600 XT that was afore recommended would be the best card for the money.

kram

[Uber_Gamer]

Hm, I'm thinking that there may be some bottleneck issues. If you look at his sig he has a Celeron 2.2 Ghz. This and a 6800 class card may not do so well together. Perhaps he should settle for a cheaper card such as the 128 mb version of the 9800 Pro or the 9600XT and get himself a better processor. Oh and btw, whats $300 Aussie in USD?

[OLLY89]

Is that $300 in US Dollars or Australian Dollars?

Australian Dollars :)

[OLLY89]

Hi again I was looking at getting a XpertVision ATI 9600le 256mb 128bit DDR, DVI ,TV OUT $185 Or 9600 xt EXTREME or the normal 9600 xt?

[OLLY89]

Will a x800 be worth it's Price because seriously they are alot of money i mean buying a Grapghics card for $1000 is alot is it Worth it or is it just a waste of money for a card Like that? To me i reakon it's Worth it what do you guy's reakon? :)

[fedz]

You'd need a better build to keep up with the X800. Best bang for buck at the moment is the 6800GT, but then again (as I say to everyone) if you can hold out till November the new 'performance' cards (6600GT and X700XT) will be out for your computer, and they'll be within the price range.

:) fedz

:D 500 POSTS :D

[kram 2.0]

The Radeon X800 XT is definately a very the best out there, if not one of the best. I do have to say this - the law of marketing. The better the product gets, the more you have to pay for a marginal performance increase. I disagree with fedz here and would still say the the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro is the best bang for the buck currently - at your budget, that might be something you want to look at. It's around 200 USD, which is around 290 AUS, I think.

kram

[fedz]

lol Thanks for ruining my 500th post!!:P
I took a look at the site, and the 9800 pro there is a GEcube, worth $390. If you're going to wait a little longer, that price will drop to the AUS$300 mark as soon as the better cards are released. Either way you're better off waiting for those cards.
Yeah, best bang for buck is the 9800pro, but the 6800GT sure has A LOT of bang!!

:) fedz

[OLLY89]

That's True but from my Liking the 6800 GT is way better than the 9800 xt the 6800 GT competes with the x800 but still i understand i will have to upgrade my processer if anthing is to happen. And as well as my Friends got a 9600Xt Extreme 128mb are they better than the Normal 9600 Xt why do they call it Extreme what's so specia about them? :) :confused:

[shadowbreaker513]

i say get rid of your 2.2 GHz celeron first

[OLLY89]

Yeah i wil But i would like to No Is my Intel celeron 2.2ghz enough to run a 9600 xt extreme and a 5900 ultra or am i going to need to change it is it better than a P4 1.8ghz Or is it worse? :)

[shadowbreaker513]

i say if your a gamer to get at least an amd athlon64 2800+ or a pent 4 3.06GHz

[OLLY89]

Yeah i'm looking around to get 1 of them and i'm looking around searching more and more about the AMD Athlon. :)

[fedz]

Dont bother with the Athlon if you already have a decent Pentium-based mobo. Just buy a P4 (assuming it's a skt 478 mobo) and install it with your graphics card. You'll need to update a few windows drivers and you'll be fine.

:) fedz

[kram 2.0]

i say if your a gamer to get at least an amd athlon64 2800+ or a pent 4 3.06GHz
Nope...Intel P4 2.8C definately runs Doom 3 and FarCry, intense games, that is, very well. I'd recommend going with anything above 2.0Ghz...I believe that's the minimal requirement for Doom3.

kram

[OLLY89]

Yep DOOM 3 and FAR CRY and ect: need good computers and they recommend High quality Grapghic card's soo to my point of view i need a Up Grade Big Time lol. :) :)

[Yuanji]

realisticly, you could probably play doom3 on mediocre graphics on a 9600XT. with 9800Pro, you could probably play doom3 at decent settings. i would probably actually buy an LGA775 CPU and MOBO to go with it and then upgrade to the 6600GT or X700XT. it would cost a bit tho. with the PCIE cards, you get more bang for the buck.
edit- looking at your build, i would also mabye get 2 sticks of 512 RAM to run dual channel in.

[AgentVX]

And as well as my Friends got a 9600Xt Extreme 128mb are they better than the Normal 9600 Xt why do they call it Extreme what's so specia about them? :) :confused:

The Extreme editions have better RAM chips so the memory can operate at about 100MHz faster than regular 9600XTs, and I think sometimes the core is overclocked out of the box (but I'm not too sure about that). Extreme editions are basically just souped-up editions of the regular cards.

And mate, go to www.ausprices.com for all your computer buying needs ;)
Just search for an item name and it will give you a list of all the listed dealers that have it, which you can then sort by Price. Fantastic site.

realisticly, you could probably play doom3 on mediocre graphics on a 9600XT. with 9800Pro, you could probably play doom3 at decent settings. i would probably actually buy an LGA775 CPU and MOBO to go with it and then upgrade to the 6600GT or X700XT. it would cost a bit tho. with the PCIE cards, you get more bang for the buck.

I have a 9600XT myself, Doom 3 runs at High settings with good frame rates on 800x600 or even 1024x768.

[fedz]

I have a 9600XT myself, Doom 3 runs at High settings with good frame rates on 800x600 or even 1024x768.

That's quite decent, but there must be a good build behind that. A 9800pro and any P4 above 2.4GHz should run the next set of games fine.

:) fedz

[OLLY89]

Yeah my friend has a 9600XT Extreme and it run's well but he put's his DOOM 3 settings on Meium becuase if he put's it on High it Laggs Not to much but enough to take away your concertraton. 128mb cards are Ok but i prefer 256mb. :)

Olly :)

[fedz]

The 9800 pro, though 128mb in some cases, destroys the 9600XT extreme by a considerable margin.
X700XT>9800pro>9600XT extreme
6600GT rules them all

:) fedz

[OLLY89]

True that But doesn't beat the 6800 GT and The x800 ATI Card. :) :) :D

[fedz]

You put your limit at $300. Otherwise, the sky's the limit:
Here's a proposed config:
Intel server board with x processors
2 256mb 6800 ultra extreme in SLi config. There's a guy on the forums trying to do it now, that will destroy pretty much anything.

Anyway, I recommend a decent P4 and 9800 pro as a low cost, good power upgrade. Give me your mobo model, and I can help you further

:) fedz

[Yuanji]

2 256mb 6800 ultra extreme in SLi config. There's a guy on the forums trying to do it now, that will destroy pretty much anything.

:) fedz
untill a better card then the 6800ultra comes out with SLI capabilities :D

[fedz]

Yeah true lol

[OLLY89]

Yea ok i will get myself a New Processor as soon as i have the Money i'm looking for a P4 2.6ghz with HT or Higher :) anything Lower i'm not interested in then after a cople of week's later i will Buy myself The 9800XT or 6800GT when i get the Money other wise what else can i get better apart from that. :) :rolleyes: :)

[fedz]

That sounds good. Get the 6800GT over the 9800XT anytime. 9800XT gets caned in that contest. X800pro is also an option, but it loses out to the GT and doesnt have SLI capability.

:) fedz

[kram 2.0]

That sounds good. Get the 6800GT over the 9800XT anytime. 9800XT gets caned in that contest. X800pro is also an option, but it loses out to the GT and doesnt have SLI capability.

:) fedz
Agreed...the Radeon 9800 XT VPU is quite mispriced right now. It's around the same price as the X800 Pro and the GF6800GT, but performs just slightly better than the 9800 Pro 256MB. I'd say the X800 Pro or the GF6800GT would be both good contendors.

kram

[Yuanji]

That sounds good. Get the 6800GT over the 9800XT anytime. 9800XT gets caned in that contest. X800pro is also an option, but it loses out to the GT and doesnt have SLI capability.

:) fedz
note: only the PCI Express version has SLI capabilities.

[fedz]

Yep, thanks for reminding me Yuanji ;)

:) fedz

[daveyp225]

If you are looking for the best DEAL, I would say get the 2.4c p4, and a 9600xt. That will run farcry VERY well. Don't be misguided by people who get the best for no reason (and upgrade every few weeks or so- as it is nothing but a hobby). I would however recomend the ATI 9800 pro 128mb for games in the upcomming couple of years.

I have a 1.7ghz compaq x1000 notebook with an ATI 9200 64mb video card, 512mb RAM, and have no problem playing farcry.

Dave

[fedz]

errm daveyp what settings are you running it at?
I recommend the 9800pro or 6800GT as good long term options, and thr 6800GT will last for ages, whereas 9800pro will have a couple of probs with doom3 and HL2.
Processor GHz doesn't matter. High cache (512k) and fsb (800MHz) matters. H-T is a cool extra.

:) fedz

[daveyp225]

The 9200 runs farcry at mostly lowest settings, but it still looks great. For further info visit x1000forums.com. The only difference is that the pentium m chip is more efficient and redundant than the p4.

As far as the 9800.. it already does work fine with doom 3, and I speculate that it will also work as well with half life 2. The 6800GT/X800 cards are overkill for 99% of gamers, unless they want to run 100fps+ @ 1600x1200. In the future, probably 2 years or so, it may be necessary to upgrade to those cards, but definetly not needed now.

Think of it this way: If a 9200 64mb card can run doom3, what is the point in getting something like the 6800gt, unless of course if your a benchmark junkie, where the benchmarks have no real relevance to todays games. Wanna see a compaq x1000 run doom3 with a 64mb video card? http://www.x1000forums.com/index.php?showtopic=6389 . enjoy :)

Come to think of it, wasn't ATI giving out coupons for a free HL-2 just for buying the 9800? Hmm.. something to think about..

Dave

[fedz]

The point of buying a 6800GT now is so that you can enjoy all the eye candy now and still be able to play great games in 2 years time.
In the link given there's a quote "do not overclock your laptop's GPU". Well, my ol' 32mb mobility m6 is happily rendering away with a 50% overclock. That's HUGE!! I only up it for games tho, runs rather hot lol ;)

Anyway, it's not my choice, I can only recommend.

:) fedz

[OLLY89]

To me Buying a 6800 GT or X800 XT will be amazing buying these cards no matter what 1 you get wil be good it will last you for about 5 Year's and you will be informed with the best card for about 3 year's. The Games you buy will run AMAZING and you will have no problem at all with Lagg. But all you need is a Good CPU and 512mb Ram DDR or Higher then RELAX and watch your computer FLYYYY. :D :)

Oliver :)

[daveyp225]

No offense, but anyone who buys one of those cards now, will NOT wait 5 years before upgrading. I give them a year at best. I am guilty of the same thing, as I REALLY want one of those cards, but I barely just bought a 9800pro AIW. It won't be long before the urge overtakes me. I can't wait to see how much the x800XT A-I-W will be. God that is a nice peice of hardware.

Dave

[fedz]

3 years being the best card is wildly optimistic. SLI already opens up HUGE number crunching prospects. X800XT AIW will probably not materialise. The X800XT already has VIVO capacity, all that's missing is a remote. There's a slight chance of a X800pro AIW, but the only addition would be the remote and software, and a couple of hardware tidbits.

:) fedz

[daveyp225]

No x800xt aiw? What about the sept. 9th press release?

http://www.ati.com/companyinfo/press/2004/4780.html

[OLLY89]

Ohh Na say if i Bought a 6800GT or x800 XT Now I will Not Upgrade Till Probally after 2-3 Year's I mean WHAT FOR? wasting Money Na come on Seriously i will be running Games Heaps madd and also No matterwhat game comes out i will Be able to play it on High Grapghics that's what i mean by Not Upgrading straight away. :)

[daveyp225]

Thats what people said about the 9800pro when it was released. Now the 9800pro is looked at as obsolete even though about a year ago (maybe a bit longer), it was "holy crap, i'll never need another card after this". In three years, the 6800 and x800 will definetly be "obsolete", and you will probably buy the next gen card after it, even though the 9800pro will still be running the same games, but maybe not at high everything (neither will the 6800gt).

Of course the newer cards are better, just not necessary.

Dave

[fedz]

9800pro is NOT obsolete. It still runs all games on HIGH settings with high FPS, except it can't hit MAX settings too easily in games such as Doom3. It will continue to run games well until this time next year at least. The step-up in performance with the next-gen cards has been huge, bigger than most. These cards have unusable features, and games will take a long time to catch up. There will also be a no-change phase in games in the next year or so, as most will be using Source or Doom3 engines. The new Quake engine is not that different either.
Sorry about that AIW mistake, my bad!! (Sweet card tho)

:) fedz

[daveyp225]

By obsolete, I meant obsolete from a "hardcore gamer's" perspective in comparison to the x800 series. Most people come here looking for a graphics card, and end up leaving with one that surpasses their needs in every way shape or form. i.e. Someone wants to play some awsome 3d game, has a budget of 200 bucks, and a bunch of people with just a few posts each talk them into getting an x800 or 6800gt because its in their "best interest". Just tryin to save people a few bucks for something they don't need.

Dave

[AgentVX]

The 'necessity' of upgrading a video card is extremely subjective. There are some people who are perfectly happy with their FX5200 or Radeon 9200, simply because they either don't play the latest games or are happy enough to run them at low res and settings.

As for the hardcore gamer argument, I understand what you mean but it comes down to how fussy that person is about display settings. I'm quite happy with my 9600XT, I don't feel the need to run Doom 3 at anything higher than 800x600 on High settings.

I don't disagree with you that some video cards offer better value for money than the 6800/X800s, but in some cases people will just go with the best that they can afford now so that it will last them a long time, and to save them the trouble of upgrading. I have a friend who just bought a new computer, and he decided to put in a 6800GT - not because he's particularly fussy about display settings, but to save himself the trouble of upgrading it until he buys the next PC in 2-3 years.

[OLLY89]

Ok look what computer spec's are better? Where going to compare My computer and my FRIENDS Computer?
OLLY89= Intel celeron 2.2ghz , 512mb DDR , 80GIG Hard Drive, G-Force 4mx440 64mb.
OR
My Friends Computer= Intel Pentium 4 1.8ghz , 384mb DDR , 30GIG Hard Drive , ATI Radeon 9600XT Extreme 128mb. :)

Plz tell me... :)

[daveyp225]

If you have a celeron D, the one with more cache (256k), then you system's CPU *MAY* outperform the p4 1.8. However, his more powerful GPU would win at any game benchmarks. Besides the GPU the 2 system's performance will be pretty close.

Dave

[fedz]

Your friend's PC is much better.
Sorry to say that lol
:) fedz

[OLLY89]

Your friend's PC is much better.
Sorry to say that lol
:) fedz
Na it's all Cool i'm happy with this because i want to No what i should upgrade what stuff should i upgrade to My computer?

[fedz]

Your processor and your video card. The rest is fine.

:) fedz

[OLLY89]

[QUOTE=fedz]Your processor and your video card. The rest is fine.
Yeah I thought so. But Otherwise All My Other Things Are Ok After I Get My New CPU and Grapghics Card I'll get Another 512mb Ram DDR
:)

[fedz]

Sounds good, so what are you actually getting

:) fedz

[kram 2.0]

I like what daveyp is getting at here...those who get the best of the best right now, ie. X800XT PE and GF6800U aren't purchasing those for the prospect of keeping their graphics card to last, they're purchasing it to get the best just because of the sheer numbers that sometimes cannot be observed from the point of the eye - I use the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro which is IMO a very good VPU and it was when it was at a low 200 USD - I say until AGP 8X becaome osbselete, the 9800 Pro is more than adequate even despite the accelerating evolution of the graphics industry.

kram

[OLLY89]

Sounds good, so what are you actually getting

:) fedz
Ohh I'm Looking Forward to getting a P4 2.6ghz Or Higher i want to have HT with it. :) And i'm going to get a 9600XT Extreme 128mb Or a 5600 Nvidia 128mb So Yeah But still decding on which 1 to get But that's Only when i have the Money i will Buy them Next. :)

:) Olly

[OLLY89]

And will i have to Uninstall every Nvidia Drive if i get a ATI card? :confused:

[WhatsThisBoxFor?]

When I went from a nVidia card to an ATi one, I used Driver Cleaner (try www.google.com ) to completely remove the nVidia driver, before I put the new card in, then installed the card and put the ATi drivers on.

[OLLY89]

When I went from a nVidia card to an ATi one, I used Driver Cleaner (try www.google.com ) to completely remove the nVidia driver, before I put the new card in, then installed the card and put the ATi drivers on.
Thanks DUDE that really helped now i know what to do when i get sonner or later Thanks anyway. :) :) :)