Video Cards

[Oakwing]

Ok, time for a new one... There once was a thread here with some good advice & suggestions. It archived anywhere?

[Rooster]

Price range?

$100-$150

$175-$225

$375-$450

[Noleader]

Oak,

Most folks are in one of two camps, ATI or Nvidia. I am a Nvidia person, but when it comes to giving advice for cards I am very general.

Find the best one on the market from your prefered maker and go 1 to 2 cards below it and buy it. If you can afford the best then go the best.

[Rooster]

I'm very middle of the road... I go with performance / price tempered by quality / issues, etc...

Thats why I break it down by price.

$100-$150
$113 : Radeon 9600 Pro http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-240-020&depa=1
$150 : Radeon 9600XT Ultra http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-274&depa=1

$175-$225
$179 : Radeon X600 PRO http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-240-027&depa=1
$195 : Radeon 9800 Pro http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-142-009&depa=1

$250-$325
$280 - GeForce 6800 http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-170-056&depa=1

$375-$450
$385 : GeForce 6800GT http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-130-203&depa=1
$422: Radeon X800 Pro http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-240-023&depa=1

The 9600/9800 ATI's blow away the FX series.

The 6800 (nVidia) & X800 (ATI) are really evenly matched. I'm leaning towards the 6800GT myself.

[Kyriee]

The hubby and I're both using Radeon 9200's w/o a problem...
(I was playing on a geforce 3 lol so, it's a vast improvement)

[Rooster]

Just my 2¢ .. anything slower than a Radeon 9600 Pro is not worth putting in a system used for gaming.

No offense Kyriee, but the performance drops by leaps and bounds under that level.

[Kyriee]

<shrug> It's better than the geforce I had, and didn't break my budget, so, I have no complaints...
You have to remember, up until a few months ago when a guildy mailed me a 1 ghz system, I played DAoC on a 400 mhz computer... and dial up to boot, when I first started..
So, I'm not horrifically picky... I get the reflective water & the rest of the effects w/o framerate issues, etc.

[Boom]

My Geforce only has 4200. I see the new ones have 6800. Thats 2600 more! Is it time for me to upgrade? CoH runs ok, but it gets a little choppy when everyone starts blasting stuff. My processor has 1200 megasplurts, and I have 512 rams (I actually have 768 rams stuffed in there but my computer only wants to use 512 of them for some reason). Would I be better off upgrading the proc first? Or is it just time to get a whole new system? Or should I just sit tight and wait till after WoW comes out to upgrade?

[spyder913]

boom that system will run WoW okay, but I think you'd end up doing a full system upgrade even if you just tried to upgrade the processor (cause you'd need a new mobo and probably ram too)

[Ziggin]

I currently have a ATI Raedeon 9600 128 mb.

Will I see a performance increase if I choose to upgrade to the ATI 256mg X800 Pro?

I have 1gig of ram currently...also thinking about putting in another 1gig stick.

Thoughts?

help meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[Ivyrielle]

You'll definitely see a performance increase from the 9600 128mb to the x800 Pro. It's got (I think I remember...) twice the pixel shading pipelines (8 vs 4?), as well as faster components and twice the video ram. :)

More ram is never a bad thing. :)

[Rooster]

I think the X800 Pro has 12 (vs 16 for the 800 ultra/extreme).

The biggest benefit you'll see is being able to turn the details all the way up... and use FSAA & AA without a severe drop in FPS.

I did pick up the 6800GT... man.. it flies... but CoH is still a pig!

[Rooster]

There's severe diminishing returns on RAM over 1GB (used to be 512MB until games started using it).

[Ivyrielle]

Ah, you're right Roo, I'm remembering why I was thinking 8 now. the 9800 has 8 versus 6 (or was it 4? i think 6...) pixel shading pipelines on the 9600. The x800 is 12. Dagnabbit, now I'll have to look up the right number of pipelines to set my pixelated brain to rest.

Rassinfrackinggraphicdesign/gamingchicksRus....

[Rooster]

9800 (non-pro/ES version) had 6 vs 8 on the 9800 Pro ( I think, didn't look it up yet ).

[Ziggin]

So you're saying that taking my ram from 1gb to 2gb won't help?

I have a 2.4gig processor.

Thanks. :)