Time for a new video card....suggestions? (1 Viewer)

[Rusty Ray]

Well after alot of back and forth troubleshooting between two mb's and also thinking it was my mb or powersupply, i determined that my video card is bad. I just got a Radeon 9200 for 100 bucks locally but i know i can do better than that. My previous card was a GeForce 4 TI 4400 128mb and i am looking for a card that would be a noticable improvement with out going over $130. Any ideas out there?

 

[Sami Kallio]

You can get 9600SE for $50-70. 9800 Atlantis for $120-130.

Some Radeon cards starting from $40.

Be careful with the title, some cards are not the chipsets they say they are. For example one of the cards was said to be 9800SE and on description the chipset was 9200SE.

 

[DaveGTP]

A LOT better. $100 for a 9200 is not a good deal..

http://www.crucial.com/store/refurb.asp

You can get a refurb Crucial 9100 for $40 shipped, and it's a LOT better than a 9200 (I just put one in my wife's PC). Buy.com has refurb'ed GF4 ti4200SE for $55 shipped - I had to return it and get the 9100 because apparently the ti cards don't agree with Via KT133 chipsets...

Your ti4400 was a much better card than the 9200.

Your best bang for the buck currently would be a 9800 pro. If you can't afford a 9800..(used, or a good deal, on a 9800pro would run you about $150-160. Outpost.com has them for $180.) If you can't swing $150-170, the best bang under

 

[Rob Silver]

I 2nd the ATI 9700 Pro refurb, it's the best bang for buck with your budget. I'd not waste my money on SE video cards, junks, all of them.

 

[WayneO]

^^^^^^^^^^ What he said.

If you need new.........http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduc...131-227&DEPA=0

 

[Rusty Ray]

Well thanks alot for your suggestions, i was able to get "wife approval" to get a Radeon 9800 pro 256mb card at microcenter for $229 UNFORTUNATELY after running the doom benchmarks and 3dmark 2k3 for a couple of hours it shuts off due to me only having a 250w power supply (I know.. I know) so now its back to the store!!!

 

[Ken Chui]

Rusty:

You should consider a 420W+ PSU to be on the safe side. I would also get it online (at sites such as NewEgg.com), as B&M locations charge MSRPs on these, with Micro Center and CompUSA being some of the worst offenders.

I'm partial to Antec PSUs (speaking as an Antec "TRUE430" owner), but there are many reputable alternatives, including Cooler Master, Enermax, Thermaltake and Vantec.

Here are some 420W options for under $70 (link).

 

[DaveGTP]

Yeah, 250W isn't going to cut it for gaming anymore.

My wife has a POS 250W power supply, and it acts a little erratically (occasional power down when no one is around...). It's powering an Athlon 1.1ghz, 384MB PC133 SDRAM, 2 HDD, 1DVD-ROM, and a Radeon 9100.

Newer hardware requires more wattage.

I use a quality Antec 350W on my PC..1800+, 9800pro, 1HDD, 2 optical drives, etc etc etc.

 

[Rob Silver]

Antec PSUs are good stuff. I have a TruePower 480W in my system. Bought it w/ the intention of running a Barton MP system but never go around to the MP mobo. Check out Super Flower PSUs too, they are affordable and match Antec's performance. You can get them from directron.com.

 

[MikeH1]

Its my understanding from reading at guru3d.com forums, websites and reviews that the 9800 pro 256 mb cards really do not perform better than the 9800 pro 128 mb. As a matter of fact, in some cases it performs worse. Definetly not the bang for your buck card out there. I have the 9800 pro 128 and can play demanding games like Half Life 2 and especially Battlefield Vietnam with ease, even though I only have a 2.0 Ghz processor and 512 ram. I'm not sure of prices but the 128 version is the way to go and should be cheaper than the 256 version. Remember, it still needs two power sources. But like others have stated, probably the best bang for your buck card.

Heres a link to a review ( I linked to page 9, the conclusion page for the card). Just google "9800 pro 256 mb review" and you will see many other reviews.

http://www.hardcoreware.net/reviews/review-177-9.htm

 

[DaveGTP]

Yeah, the extra RAM on the 256MB card doesn't do any good. Just makes it look more impressive.

It might be useful on the newest generation of cards...but not on a 9800 pro.

 

[Rusty Ray]

MY buddy has the 128 mb version of my card, and i got higher framerate in doom 3 (39 i think). Also we both started 3dmark 2005 at the same time and it was WAY smoother on my 256mb card than on his. (i have an athlon 2500 and he has a p4 3.0) So i really believe that the extra video ram made the difference in my experience...

 

[DaveGTP]

Anecdotal evidence doesn't count for much - there are inevitably differences between the PCs that could cause the disparity. Check the benchmarks. The extra 128MB doesn't do any good.

The one exception so far is Doom 3 on High Quality - as it requires a 256MB card.

 

[MikeH1]

As Dave said, one pc could be hiding a trojan or spyware or even be running more background programs and thats all it needs to mess with the results. Even if certain settings in your videocard settings (like refresh rate, the drivers used, vsynth) are not kept on par the results will vary.

The internet is a land of many disagreements but one thing that is almost universally agreed upon is that the extra 128 ram, on a 9800 pro, doesn't do much good.

The way video cards are named and such should get a industry overhaul anyway. This is one piece of pc hardware that certain specs really don't mean a thing, its how it utilizes what it has and how efficient it is, and until real world games are benchmarked all these synth tests are better just to see if your in the ballpark area of what FPS/3d marks you should be getting.

Trust us, save the money and get the 128 version

 

[Rusty Ray]

i had already gotten the 256mb one.. it was for some reason cheaper than the 128mb