The "what video card" question to end all video card questions...

[reboot]

Given that most users do not overclock, and most users are not comfortable (or competent) enough to do a hardware mod, and
given that most threads in this forum are "What video card?" types, and there's loyalty to both ATI and GForce, here's my questions:

1.) What is the best (money no object) video card for GAMING?
2.) What is the best "bang-for-the-buck" video card?
3.) What is the best general purpose (no serious gaming) card?
4.) What is the best budget (no gaming at all) card?
5.) Why to all the above?

Based on today's purchase prices for OEM if possible (links not needed).
Will be using this as a reference thread for all the "what video card?" questions, probalby make it sticky.

[morriswindgate]

I really cannot answer on a case by case basis, but I gave up using NVida based cards a couple of years ago and now use only ATI based cards.
The reason for this was there is a wide range of quality in NVidia based cards which leads me to believe that NVIDIA doen't give a damn about who is building cards that use their chips. On the other hand I have used ATI based cards from 5 different manufactures other than ATI and all are equal in quality to ATI's own cards.
I also find that ATI seems to work well for every computing neeed.
To me NVIDIA,like creative labs, uses a lot of hype with there products which doesn't always transfer to real world performance.

[bailey]

I belive that ati today will have something that will cover all questions based on what you want to spend

top dollar card will do best for games

lower priced cards will cover the others

[grasshopperbe]

i recently chose for an aopen gf4ti 4200 8x 128mb "aeolus" because of the price. (189 euro) my other options were ati 9500 ,250 euro,which was over my budget. And a radeon 9000(non-pro, 140 euro ) which was not really equal to the Ti .
A friend got the ati 9500 pro at about the same time (he's got a little more bucks :-)

We tried some new games on em and there's not really any difference now
On longer term his card will prolly do better since it's directx9, while the gf isn't
I dont really care for this, i just want games to work.

I think it all comes down to the price. if you can and want to afford it, get the best (ati 9700 pro imho) . But otherwise
it comes down to what it's needed for.
for non graphic intensive pc's, anything from tnt2 and so should do just fine i think.

[simwiz2]

For gaming, the FX 5800U is the best IMO. Since this is just pure gaming, noise, cost, low availability do not matter. The benchmarks at THG, for example, show that in the games where the 9800 beats the FX, the difference is often marginal, while the FX really beats the 9800 hands down in some games. The FX doesn't do too bad on 2X AA (excellent quality for games) and who really cares if it chokes on 8X AA or whatever, if someone really wants frames per second (games) they wouldn't run either card in that mode.

http://www6.tomshardware.com/graphic...ournament_2003

I did count up the wins awhile ago here since it was close, and got something like 8 wins 9800, 7 wins FX. However, I noticed that many 9800 wins were close, so I counted again, this time counting all results within 5% (IIRC) of each other as ties. THE 9800 lost all but 2 of its wins, while the FX only lost one and still had 6.


As for the other questions, I have no idea, since I have only read the reviews on the high-end ones. They are much more interesting to read.

[Spyda]

1Ghz DDR2 - yes please

[glc]

I'll answer, using prices from Newegg in USD, for cards that are listed today.

1. We can argue this one till the cows come home, so I will list one each Nvidia and ATI.
Sapphire ATI RADEON 9700 Atlantis PRO 128MB DDR,325/310, DVI/TV-out/CRT AGP BULK $298.00
This, of course, will be replaced by the 9800 on the short list when it becomes available.
VGA PNY Verto GEFORCE FX 5800 128MB DDR AGP 8X ULTRA VGA DVI & TV-OUT. $399.00
Yes, this is an Ultra, and it's an OEM pack.

2. Once again, I'll list one ATI and one Nvidia.
ATI OEM RADEON 9500 128MB DDR Black BULK $155.00
GAINWARD/CARDEXPERT GeForce 4 Ti 4800SE8X AGP, 3.6ns, 128MB DDR $159.00

3. ATI OEM RADEON 8500 LE 128MB DDR DVI/CRT/TV $87.00

4. ATI OEM RADEON 7000 64MB SDR W/TV $34.00 or a MSI TNT2 M64 (MS-8808-32M M64 8808-320) M64 TNT2 M64 32MB SDRRAM 4X2X AGP W/O TV-OUT - RETAIL $24.00

5. (1) was a no brainer - they are the top line cards in ATI and Nvidia's line. (2) is based on gaming performance vs. price and trying to keep it around $150. (3) is probably the finest general purpose card out there under $100 bar none. (4) is the cheapest current cards in the line, I don't take SiS or Trident seriously at all.

Note - I will take NForce or Intel Extreme Graphics onboard video over either card in category (4).

[Spyda]

best bang for buck

Albatron Ti 4800SE, it comes with 128MB 650Mhz RAM, easily good for 700Mhz

or the new 9600, the stuff ive seen of that makes it promising

[reboot]

Thanks George, Spyda, and simwiz for the detailed answers.
I wasn't ever going to consider Trident or SiS et al.

Anyone else have a detailed opinion?

[ssahl]

Not real detailed, but not more then a month ago a guy I work with (and he's a big time gamer Quake3, counter strike, everquest, ect...) was using the newest GeForce4ti, and had just bought the newest RadeonPro and said there was no comparison, The Radeon was way faster and clearer. I know I didnt see first hand the difference, but he is a fellow tech support guy I work with and I trust his opinion.

[suitcase]

Quote;"For gaming, the FX 5800U is the best IMO" All I've read about the high end cards says they are pretty much neck and neck. But the nVidia fan seems to be very loud and the card takes up two slots because of the fan.

[TwoRails]

On Q#1:

The 9800 Pro is already out and in stock, even at Best Buy.

According to all the reviews I've read:

the 5800 Ultra just barely beats the 9700 Pro
the 9800 Pro beats the Ultra.

Then kick in the fan / noise issue, along with the often mentioned better image quality of the 9700 / 9800, would make the 9800 Pro on top IMHO. (and that's from an nVidia fan!)

TwoRails

edit: PS: Here's a link showing it as In Stock at Best Buy:

http://www.bestbuy.com/Detail.asp?m=...at=&e=11212743

I might go to my local store later today to see if they have it offline.

[glc]

Okay - Newegg is listing the 9800 Pro now -

OEM SAPPHIRE RADEON 9800 PRO 128MB DVI/TV 8X AGP
$425.00

[ssahl]

OUCH!!!

and that's OEM!?!?!?!

[TwoRails]

That does sound high, eh?? Best Buy's price is only $399 for the ATI full retail version. See the link above.

TwoRails

[Spyda]

i dont know

OcUK

Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB - OEM (GX-016-SP)
Price: £304.95 (£358.32 Including VAT at 17.5%)

[glc]

The original question was "price no object" and I'm not gonna dig around - Newegg is as good as any for a reference. I only added the post to replace the 9700 with the 9800 for the "ultimate" gaming card from ATI.