some advice on buying a new video card

[almightysparda]

This is some advice on buying vid cards because i see alot of questions on buying cards or which is better hopefully this post will help people decide which ones to get

Nvidia cards

FX5200- a good mainstream card with ok specs DO NOT get the regular one only get the ultra version if you want to play games even with the ultra it is slow on games like halo. This card and all the other nvidia cards work well for they games that they are made for (8.1 X) games so if u are not gonna drop alot of cash on a video card get an nvidia they have good cards for good prices

FX5600- another mainstream card is ok but ATI's 9600 kicks its butt for about the same price. however the 5700 came out so this cards price will drop who knows this might get down to about 120 then i would have to suggest this over the 9600 just because of pricing.

FX5700- a real competitor with the 9600 pro this card is a good buy and it runs tough games like halo and COD really well

FX5900- a competitior with 9800 pro this is a great card the 9800 pro outclasses it though. But then again this card is better overclocker and can run faster than the ATI card

FX5950- just a little step up from the 5900 for about 50-60 bucks more just go with the 5900, they both run about the same when it comes to actually playing the game

ATI cards

9000- a card for someone with a serious budget problem, anyway this card works fine on D. X 8.0-8.1 fine and can play some first person shooters with no problems but its no good when it comes to UR 2003 or Halo

9200- from what i hear avoid this card just get the Nvidia FX5200 ultra

9500- a great card but was discontiuned get one if you can find one (powercolor might) this card works like a 9600 but is a little slower when the high res. is on.

9600- This is the best card (my opinion) for the gamer right now. Its cheap about 175 for a pro! my advice is get the pro for 25$ more this is the best value right now.

9700- This card preforms about the same as the 9600 pro but costs alot more, is you have the money get an All in Wonder 9700 its great

9800- the most sought after gamer card. This card is just amazing, about 400$ it will kill your wallet. This card is almost the same as the 5900 but is a bit more expensive. They both rock but get the 9800 pro over the 5900 ultra if possible. This card comes in i think four kinds, SE, regular, pro, and XT all are great but dont touch the SE it sucks!

thanks for reading and please excuse any typos
please fell free to disagree and post more or add to any of my descriptions
thanks 8)

[DVD-Man]

Excellent post almighty! 8)

Altho, I do wanna add some points ;)

FX5600 - I think you took it a bit easy on this card lol :P

9800 - BestBuy have the Pro @ $299. :)

[almightysparda]

thank you, i will update the 5600, and thx's for correcting the pricing

[auraflame]

hmm.. if you live in san diego and get a computeredge magazine then look at these prices:

Fx 5200 128mb= $75
fx 5600 128mb=$150
fx 5800 128mb=$269
fx 5900 128mb=$291
fx 5600 256mb=$169
fx 5900 256mb=$420

Ati 9200 128mb=$59
Ati 9600pro 256mb=$160
Ati 9700np 128mb=$215
Ati 9800pro 128mb=279 - dvd man said so
Ati 9800XT 256mb=$495

these do no represent the lowet possible price, but the general price for these cards! :D

[Twin]

thanks a lot, your post are greatly appreciated, i think i'm gonna go with the 9600pro but they have the non pro for just $99 so i dunno. I gotta a 9000pro which is a joke and like you said a serious budget card. Thanks a lot, Twin

[almightysparda]

get a 9600 pro that will be worth the extra 75$ bucks

[darkclone13]

hey almighty sparda, i don't get it. you say the 5950ultra is not worth it but then you say the xt is great but don't touch the SE. And i like what Ati did with their 9600xt, they clocked it higher and put cheaper mem chips 3.3ns samsung when they offer 2.8ns on their pro's only Asus was kind enough to include 2.8ns chips. So if anything the 9600xt is a rip off with the exception of Asus 9600xt. That game Halo on the 5700ultra, do u have links, because i would be interested in what the benchmarks are. That game is hard on my vga card. I know you are trying to help people with their purchases but did you ever think what Nvidia readers will think when they read this. Anyways, just my observation in my perception towards your posts.

[auraflame]

The concept of a wht a game looks like while running well changes from person to peron DC, and for me I run Halo with my 7500, i won't say it runs well but it is playable (around 15-25 fps on average at 800x600 with high detail textures), it does get too slow to play (5-7fps) sometimes but rarely. Others may think its stupid to play it on a 7500 but i don't mind although i do want to get a nicer video card to play like it was meant to be played.

[darkclone13]

thanks for telling me something i already know, and my point exactly, the game runs terrible. FYI, your labtop, is that where you are gonna upgrade your video card? You don't even know if it is integrated, you could have asked the people you were buying it from or your dad. Do me a favour, make your points on these forums and feel free to post, but whatever you do , don't try and teach me. Because i really don't understand what you are talking about half the time. I don't want to be rude to you, but i really don't need to learn from you. Seriously, teach other people, not me. Even if you had a valid point i probably wouldn't listen. But good luck in buying another video card and am happy you are teaching other people. It's great your trying to help people!

[almightysparda]

sorry i seem bias, i'm am just using info i found on other sites, no i don't have links and yes the 5950 is faster than the 5900, in this forum i was just trying to tell people what cards to get for the money they have now the 9600 XT and the FX 5700 are the value cards.

[darkclone13]

sorry i seem bias,

Hi, almighty sparda, i am not saying your biased because i already know where you stand and i think you misunderstood what i was trying to tell you. So please don't take this the wrong way because this was a helpful post. I was just commenting on the fact that Halo doesn't play well on most computers and that is why they use it to benchmark. I was also insinuating that the nvidia cards to play very well on direct x 8.1 games and that they also play well on the games they optimize for. I will admit ati crushes them in today's direct x 9 games where Nvidia has problems. Also, when aa and af at full throttle, ati will shine, but for some games nvidia is faster. The example u used also was call of duty. here are the links to prove http://firingsquad.com/hardware/call_of_duty_nvidia/page2.asp and http://firingsquad.com/hardware/call_of_duty_ati/page3.asp
Those links will show that nvidia does well in certain games especially the ones they optimize for and driver- ati's problems that they admit for call of duty hence the new beta for cats on megagames site. All i am saying was i wish i saw more info on the nvidia side and repeat i did not say you were biased, just think you can say more on the other side. That's my perception. Otherwise, it was helpful

[almightysparda]

i shall update my post as often as i can because at the time of writing this post i didn't know alot about th XT, or the 50's (5950) cards, please keep in mind that these cards are always a atep up from there predicessor and u should go for these cards if u have the money

[auraflame]

Did'nt really mean to teach you anything DC.... I really do not know how halo runs on Nvidia but i was just making a comment. My post was a bit dumb sorry.
Oh and by the way my laptop has onboard video so i guess it wont be able to be upgraded.... :( Question: I still got full warranty on the thing and can refund it for full cash back. Should i do this and wait along and get a better laptop with better video that is upgradeable. My laptop is a compaq presario and it cost something very near $1399+tax (as far as i have searched that price can't be beat). What would you recommend return and wait for prices to drop, or just keep it?

[darkclone13]

okay,okay, auraflame

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid93/pe085b48c54e8862dca99bd29f88e4963/fa503c7e.jpg

hopefully this pic will show you that halo on my computer(3.36p4ghz) is at 30fps, 4xaa,8xaf, maxed out game settings and at 1024x768. That's performance on an nvidia card, and 30fps is crappy. This is using fraps, at the left hand corner, you can see the 30fps.

[Slvr-Bullet]

Ok, first of all a general comment. If you're using a laptop for gaming then that's you're problem right there. Why?? That's like saying your buying a Mini Cooper, for offroading, or a Hummer for autocross......if you want a gaming machine yer going to be dissapointed with any laptop compared to a proper desktop.......a laptop, no matter how "top notch" it is is always a compromise to what you get (for less) in a desktop.....

[Sparky]

Yeah, I agree Silver........laptops suck at gaming. Stick with a desktop. Sparky