Videocards.. which to buy and whatnot.. simply videocards!

Post by **TheStig** » 29 Jul 2004, 00:56

Here you can discuss what ever you want about videocards

- Which to buy
- Ask for card advice
- Say what you think about the hardware but please DON'T make it a brand war.

skyline_350z · Post by **skyline_350z** » 29 Jul 2004, 01:43

http://factorydirect.ca/cgi-bin/categor ... DE?page=20
Do any of these vid cards jump out as good deals? Also, is a 256mb card pretty much twice as good as a 128mb.

^Sparco^ · Post by **^Sparco^** » 29 Jul 2004, 11:56

My suggestion is always to choose a video card between 100-200$

About 128mb/256 mb: NO!!! this is only memory, but a video card has many more features. Sometimes there are the same gfx model, with 2 different memory: 128 or 256. For example there is a 128mb FX5700 and a 256mb FX5700. The other features are the same in both of them.

Now you have to use your intelligence: if their prices are too similar, choose the 256mb one. If not, the 128mb which will be as good as the other.

Koffy · Post by **Koffy** » 30 Jul 2004, 00:16

Dani is right. A video card with more memory has the advantage that it can have twice as much stuff in the memory than the other. But if the card is fast enough, you shuldn't need so much memory, since the information contained is continiously changing.
Besides, a 256 card costs allmost twice as much as a 128, which is a lot. There is a trick, at least for Nvidia cards, with some versions of the drivers. There is a PCI memory setting somewhere. This determines how much of the conventional memory can be used for graphic processing. (The memory you have connected to the DDR port, if you have DDR.) If you have enough memory of enough speed, you can rise this setting to have more "graphcs memory" than usual. This will not work as fast as the video card memory, but it is something at least, for no cost.

DrewBoi · Post by **DrewBoi** » 30 Jul 2004, 00:28

ummm... i'm looking for a good "All In One" Video Card, is that a good idea? because i also want to be able to play the latest games also.

NightHawkTGO · Post by **NightHawkTGO** » 30 Jul 2004, 01:25

well, i've buyed the INNO3D GeForce FX5500 with 256mb. $127
this videocard is the best what i can buy and don't disappoint me

vuduBoy · Post by **vuduBoy** » 30 Jul 2004, 02:02

i've read in a magazine these days about a ATi Radeon 9800 XT with 256 mb.They said is the best video card,and i think it should be for 650$
what do u guys think?are there better video cards?

Post by **TheStig** » 30 Jul 2004, 02:07

LOL 650....

I got it for Just 500 euro (amost same in USD, to make it easy)

PSZeTa · Post by **PSZeTa** » 30 Jul 2004, 03:01

Which one is the best 9800? I might buy one.

John T, Herder · Post by **John T, Herder** » 30 Jul 2004, 03:53

I got this one http://www.atitech.ca/products/radeon98 ... index.html
for $300.00 , it rocks . Now that ATI has come out with newer cards
they are selling this for cheap , 256 mb

_I3urlNlouT_ · Post by **_I3urlNlouT_** » 30 Jul 2004, 05:00

If I were you I wouldn't spend over $150 on a video card, unless games are your life, then go for something that plays your games good without wasting so much money, unless you're rich or have no life. My opinion.

Just Me · Post by **Just Me** » 30 Jul 2004, 09:56

Last I read is that ATI performs better on some off the latest games. Execpt Far Cry because the 6800 Ultra is the best card for that game.

Half Life 2 will however support the ATI cards much better. Even the 9600 XT 256 MB will give around a stable 30,2 fps on 1024*768.

And the 5700 will do around 25,4 fps on 1024*768. Don't pin me on this info, I got it out off an article I read.

And if noticed that the Nvidia control panel has conflicts with Explorer 6 which in the worst case makes your PC reboot from time to time.

^Sparco^ · Post by **^Sparco^** » 30 Jul 2004, 11:06

I think it is useless to spend too much money on the newest gfx card, when nowadays ATI9200 runs very well. Wait some months, and then you could get Gforce 6800 and it will be cheaper!!!

the same thing with processors, memory.... why to buy a 3.4ghz when 3.0ghz is much more cheaper and it is good enough???

Just Me · Post by **Just Me** » 30 Jul 2004, 11:25

I agree with you Dani.

Right now i've got a FX 5200, and I can run most games with out problems.

I'll just wait till the current top card start tumbeling in price and then i'll see which card give the "best bang" for it's buck.

M_S · Post by **M_S** » 30 Jul 2004, 11:39

im pulling a 256MB 9600LE DVI VGA Card

exonn · Post by **exonn** » 30 Jul 2004, 13:50

i got geforce fx5600 and am so happy, you know, ther are some tools relised by Nvidia to overclock cards, now i dont have any problems playng all games but when i'll have i'll overclok it, i allready got some experiments on it and results were impresive...

PSZeTa · Post by **PSZeTa** » 30 Jul 2004, 17:35

Dani350z wrote:I think it is useless to spend too much money on the newest gfx card, when nowadays ATI9200 runs very well. Wait some months, and then you could get Gforce 6800 and it will be cheaper!!!

the same thing with processors, memory.... why to buy a 3.4ghz when 3.0ghz is much more cheaper and it is good enough???

Some months eh? I bought my 5900XT like 5 month's ago for 200 euro's, and it's still the same price.

jayhan_2003 · Post by **jayhan_2003** » 01 Aug 2004, 10:50

check out this link, it reviews the latest ati card and make a comparison with nvidia 6800

http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/hardware/d ... 3-1,00.htm

^Sparco^ · Post by **^Sparco^** » 01 Aug 2004, 19:04

PSZeTa wrote:Some months eh? I bought my 5900XT like 5 month's ago for 200 euro's, and it's still the same price.

wow! good choice!!!
I meant I dont like to spend so much money (+400$) in a thing that will cost 150$ within time. And in 2 years, all those gfx cards will be considered as shiznit so...

About 6800 vs X800 review --->

+700M triangles/second!!!!

Sergio · Post by **Sergio** » 02 Aug 2004, 04:10

well....its not about how much graphic card have ram....but is about how fast is the card...my 5700 ultra 128mb pushes
960 MHz Memory
550 MHz Ram
overclocked ofcourse and works lot more better than fx5200 128mb
because is faster

p.s. fx5200 is like mx440.....crap4life

Drewb99 · Post by **Drewb99** » 02 Aug 2004, 04:27

Faster isn't always indicitive of better. Because of the different core designs and pipeline counts, the brand new 6800GT runs at the same speed as my old Ti4600 yet is heaps better in every game ever made. However, the 5200 and 5700 are pretty much the same core from the same generation of card, so yes, the faster version of the same core will run better.

Sergio · Post by **Sergio** » 02 Aug 2004, 04:40

yea ofcourse....i tottaly i agree but when it comes to cards like fx5700 or fx5200 you should check also speed..not only ram like some people do when they buy graphic cards

its so easy to sell some crap to 11 yeards kids who care only about speed of cpu, ram and size of hdd...
you can sell like to them

p4 celeron 3.0ghz (everybody knows that 3.0 celeron is like 2.0 p4)
256mb 233mhz ddr ram (or even more slow)
and atleast some graphic card like fx5200 who got 128mb ram
than some cheap 80+gb hdd

and they never will realise that they buyed junk...unitall they learn something

Just Me · Post by **Just Me** » 02 Aug 2004, 08:02

Well no wonder your card is faster. You overclocked it.

And I got the FX5200 for free when a friend got a new PC.

So i'm not complaining. But I am saving up for a 9800 Pro right now, because I wanna play Half Life 2 on a decent setting.

skyline_350z · Post by **skyline_350z** » 02 Aug 2004, 22:41

Is the 128mb 9800 Pro worth 190 bucks Canadian more than the 128mb fx5200.

AngelSiN · Post by **AngelSiN** » 02 Aug 2004, 22:45

You can win radeon x800 at an magazine called Hacker here in Croatia,but of course i didn't won it

!
My recommend and best buy is Radeon 9600XT,nothing else,maybe 9800XT but it's too expensive.