Whats a good video card for under $250

[Gus]

As said in the title i would like your guys input on a good video card for under 250 $. So far i have been looking into the 9600 series from ATI radeon. And what is the dif between the 9600xt and 9600 with 256meg ram or does the ram not help? Oh and the purpose of the card will be gaming and some 3d work.

[ATW]

Doesn't newegg still have 9700 Pro's for under $250? If so, definitely pick one up.

[juppy]

From what I've heard and read about, there's not much difference having the 256M version over the 128M version. Not a whole lot of speed difference.
As for the difference between the two cards, it's mainly the clock speeds of the memory and of the main chip itself. The specs are as follows (chip speed/memory speed):

Radeon 9600 SE - 325/365
Radeon 9600 - 325/400
Radeon 9600 Pro - 400/600
Radeon 9600 XT - 500/600

They all have the same 4x1 pipeline setup and the bottom 3 in the list are 128-bit cards, whereas the SE is only a 64-bit card. It's the slowest of the bunch basically, and the XT is the fastest.

EDIT: I just checked Newegg, and yes they do have the Powercolor 9700 Pro for $202. You can almost get a 9800 Pro too if you can spare an extra $23. They have the Powercolor 9800 Pro 128Meg for $273.

[Gus]

I'm guessing brands don't mean a hole bunch in video cards? They all function the same basically?

I just went on new egg and saw this:

SAPPHIRE RADEON 9600XT Video Card, 256MB DDR, 128-bit, DVI/TV-Out, 8X AGP -BULK -OEM

Specifications:
Chipset/Core Speed: RADEON 9600XT/500MHz
Memory/Effective Speed: 256MB DDR/600MHz
BUS: AGP 1X/2X/4X/8X
Ports: VGA Out(15 Pin D-Sub)+TV-Out(S-Video Out)+DVI Connector
Support 3D API: DirectX®9, OpenGL®2.0
Cable/Accessories: 1 Cable, 2 CD
Max Resolution@32bit Color: 2048X1536@85Hz

This is better then the 9600XT with 128meg right?

And one more question when does the 8x piplines start for ATI? is it at the 9800 series?

[imbest123]

The 9700Pro is definately the winner for newegg on cards under 250. the 9500 nonpro/pro had 8 pipelines and the 9700 nonpro/pro the 9800pro/nonpro.

[kram 2.0]

Generally, ATI has pretty definite guidlines for hte cardmakers, that all ATI card makers maintain a good standard in cardmaking. If you go to http://www.pricewatch.com , you will see the Radeon 9800 PRO for 220+ - might want to check it out.

Hope that helps,
kram

[juppy]

This is better then the 9600XT with 128meg right?

Sorta depends on your definition of 'better'. Does it have more memory? Yes. Will you notice any difference? Not likely. Again, from what I've heard, there's not much difference performance-wise between a 128M card and a 256M card.
You say it's going to be for gaming and some 3D work, so here's what I would do. That 9600XT 256M card you listed is $172 at Newegg. For $202 you can step up to a Powercolor 9700 Pro 128M card. The 9700 Pro is a 256-bit card with 8 pipelines as opposed to 128-bit and 4 pipelines in that 9600XT, which basically means it should be faster. The $202 for the 9700 Pro is still well under your $250 limit, so I'd go with that. Here's a link to the 9700 Pro I'm talking about. CLICK HERE

[pam123]

Go over to www.newegg.com.
The Sapphire 9800pro is now going for $229.
The ATI vs NVidia price war is heating up.

[ConLog]

I read an article recently in UK's PC Pro magazine which said 256MB video RAM was a complete waste of time and money.

[not important]

Originally posted by pam123 Go over to www.newegg.com. The Sapphire 9800pro is now going for $229. The ATI vs NVidia price war is heating up.

That link shows that card at $322.

[pam123]

Originally posted by not important That link shows that card at $322.

It's $229 : http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...=BROWSE&depa=1

What were you looking at ?

[juppy]

The $322 card IS a Sapphire 9800 Pro, but its the 256M version with DDRII memory. So yes, that particular card pam listed is $229.

[ATW]

It's been proven that 256mb is only beneficial when AA/AF is cranked up quite high. And a 9600 Pro isn't going to run with that stuff enabled period, so it's a non-issue.