Video Card Recommendations.

[UD_Delt]

I'm looking for a video card that will handle the current and next gen of games (WoW, EQ2, FFXI, etc...) reasonably well. I don't necessarily need to have all options on the highest level but I don't want any video lag for at least average options. I currently have an old GeForce 2 MX400 PCI card which isn't holding up any more.

Money is a big issue as I don't have a lot of it since I'm paying for a wedding in 2 months. So I want the most bang for the buck.

My options:

Sapphire Radeon 9200 SE 128MB - $39.97
Sapphire Radeon 9600 SE 128MB - $64
Gigabyte Radeon 9600 SE 128MB - $66.75
Sapphire Radeon 9200 256MB - $74
Gainward GeForce FX5600 XT 128MB - $92
Sapphire Radeon 9600 256MB - $98
Powercolor Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB - $128
Chaintech GeForce FX5700 128MB - $129


Is the 9600 Pro worth paying twice as much as the SE? I'd rather not spend over $100 unless it is really, really worth it.

Anyone with some Vid Card knowledge want to take a stab at breaking it down?

Thanks.

[HaemishM]

If you don't want to spend the extra $30, go for the Sapphire 9600. The Pro will be faster, but I'm not sure if you'll notice the difference.

[shiznitz]

Always avoid SE cards. The 'special' in Special Edition is like the 'special' in Special Olympics. I would go with the 256MB Sapphire.

[UD_Delt]

How does the extra 128MB on the 256 compare to the Pro with less memory? Is it about a wash or is the Pro still better?

If it helps here are my system specs to see if anything other than the card would be a bottleneck:

ECS L7S7A2 Mobo
AMD XP 2500+ Barton
512 MB PC3200 Ram
80GB main HD
60GB data drive
SB Live
GeForce 2 MX400 PCI
400 watt PS
Cable modem

[SurfD]

you culd check out a few sites like www.tomshardware.com or www.anandtech.com for comparative reviews on preformance.

From what little i can seem to rememner, adding an extra 128 meg of ram gets you nearly squat for performance improvements (and nearly no games at all are going to make proper use of it for at least a year or so yet).

If best preformance is what you really want, get the pro, the performance improvement is usually worth it for the difference in pric.

A quick glance at this benchmark from AnandTech makes it look like the 5700 would be your best bet, provided you want to go top price out of your selection.

Also, remember that XT in ATi cards means better then the standard, while XT in Geforce cards means less then the standard.

[Jon Carver]

The 9600 SE's all have their data paths limited to 64 bits whereas the Pro is 128 bits.  

I, personally, have the 9600XT. The drivers are rock solid and support overclocking based on GPU temperature. (This feature might be XT only, not sure)  The support for two monitors with one card is also nice. ALso you can rotate your monitors for true page display if that's your preference.  The Pro isn't too much less (perfomance wise) from the XT so it would be a safe bet.

I like the ATIs because there's more hardware support for DX9 than on the Nvidia models.

[Ookii]

I'm actually in this dilemma too, upon upgrading my cpu to 3 ghz I have found that my Ati AIW 8500 dv cannot handle games well enough.  I was thinking of getting the 9600 xt, but then I checked the employee prices (I work at Best Buy), and the 9600 xt is 160 on discount while the 9800 pro is 200 on discount.... hell I'll pay the extra 40 to get the better card (I didn't know they were making THAT much of a profit on those 9800).

[ceej]

You really should consider doubling your RAM. 1gig will get you some very cheap performance improvements.

[Raven]

I hope this helps.

Raven

[Slayerik]

I'm actually in this dilemma too, upon upgrading my cpu to 3 ghz I have found that my Ati AIW 8500 dv cannot handle games well enough.  I was thinking of getting the 9600 xt, but then I checked the employee prices (I work at Best Buy), and the 9600 xt is 160 on discount while the 9800 pro is 200 on discount.... hell I'll pay the extra 40 to get the better card (I didn't know they were making THAT much of a profit on those 9800).

9800 Pro is an awesome card. I ordered mine on ebay a while back for 250 and they sent me the 256mb version by mistake. No way I was telling them :)

[Glamdring]

Powercolor Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB - $128

But I'm pretty sure you can get a better deal.  I'll try to look around today and let you know what I find.

If you aren't afraid of a refurb sold by a top notch seller then go here :

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-219R&depa=0

[Anonymous]

I have a 9600 XT as well, great card.

[Sloth]

Since you've got a low budget I'd concentrate on looking at the Geforce FX cards because many games like UT2k4, Doom 3, are designed with the geforce in mind.

However, all those low end cards, honestly aren't that good unless you are using some kind of MX card now or maybe a Geforce 3. Out of the two products that I buy for computers Power Supply and Video Card are the two most important to me. Power Supply because I don't want any damage to my computer and Video Card because its the easiet part to export to a new machine.

My advice is to go to http://www.newegg.com/ and read the customer reviews of all the cards you listed. They'll give you a pretty good idea.

Right now, the Radeon Pro 9800 is the card of choice for most people because it gives great performance for a good price.

[Dren]

I'm also shopping for a new v-card and found newegg to be very helpful.  However, what is this "3dmk3"?  Obviously it is a way to benchmark what you have to what you want, but is it a free download someplace?  I tried Google but didn't get anywhere.

Anyone use this or know where to get it?

[Rof]

The 9600 Pro is probably the best card (I have one and I think it gives excellent performance and value for money), but I'd avoid the Powercolor brand. They have a bad reputation for build quality. Sapphire are good, they make some of the "ATI" branded cards.

"3dmk3" probably referes to 3DMark2003. It's a graphics card benchmark that's really strongly dependent on pixel shaders and fancy features like that, so it tends to score older graphics cards rather poorly. The older 3DMark2001 is a more straightforward graphics speed test.

[Glamdring]

I'd personally get an old generation card before getting the lowest end current gen ati or nvidia.  You'd be surprised at just how punch you can still pull out of a ti4200 64meg card.  And I'm pretty sure I saw a thread on anandtech where you can get one for ~$50 shipped.

Here it is :

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/PRODREFURB-VG.hmx?Updepts=Blowrefurb.hmx&Dname=BLOW%20OUT%20SALES

MWave isn't quite as well known as Newegg, but I've never had any problems out of them.  It's $39 + shipping and I think I'm going to pick one up for one of my older boxes.

[UD_Delt]

Lots of good advice and links... Thanks for all the info. I think after looking at some benchmarks I'm going to go with this card:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-102-301&depa=0

The DX9 support convinced me to spend the extra money. Going with a 9200 or 9600 SE seems like it would only last about a year before it wouldn't support the newest games. I'm gambling that the 9600 Pro will at least stay current for 2-3 years. So, in the long run to stay current I'd spend the same amount so I may as well pick up the better card right now and enjoy today's games at the highest settings...

[Alluvian]

I have a lowly Geforce 4 TI4200 and am doing fine in SWG with max settings -shadows for my card (max settings are system relative in SWG), but the key is the ram and mb bus speeds I think more than the vidcard.

Without a gig of ram I don't think you will be able to run any of the newer mmogs without video lag on medium settings no matter what your video card is.  Once your computer has to go to the hd for a texture it needs your frame rate will dive under 5 fps no matter what.  Raising your card will only cause you to hit a new bottleneck at your ram.  Ever since EQ SOL mmog games have really wanted 1 gig of ram.

WoW may run on less since their textures look somewhat low resolution.  EQ2 will gobble ram like crazy.

[UD_Delt]

More Ram will come after the wedding and I'm not bleeding cash quite as quickly (fucking $1000 for flowers that'll be dead in a day! damn women to hell). Either that or if I post a few good weekends w/ the online poker I'll pull some out and use it to buy another stick of Ram.

[Alluvian]

Ah, so glad we had a nice tiny wedding with IMMEDIATE family only (9 guests).  Nice dinner at a great restaurant that was WAY better than anything you could afford at a bigger wedding. Nice Hotel room for the night.  We had ONE boquet of flowers.  No damn music no horrible reception (fuck I hate wedding receptions).  Just close friends and family and some nice chatter.

[UD_Delt]

The worst part of the whole thing is the Fiancee is now sick of all the planning now that it's getting close and is wishing we would have done just that. Have the wedding in Jamaica or something with a few close friends and immediate family. It would have been cheaper and a whole hell of a lot easier. Well at least I'll get 10 days in Jamaica any way for the honeymoon.

I'm finally looking forward to at least part of the planning now. We have our tasting next week. From what I hear the caterer for our wedding is one of the best in Cleveland. I'll find out soon enough...

[Glamdring]

The worst part of the whole thing is the Fiancee is now sick of all the planning now that it's getting close and is wishing we would have done just that. Have the wedding in Jamaica or something with a few close friends and immediate family. It would have been cheaper and a whole hell of a lot easier. Well at least I'll get 10 days in Jamaica any way for the honeymoon.

I'm finally looking forward to at least part of the planning now. We have our tasting next week. From what I hear the caterer for our wedding is one of the best in Cleveland. I'll find out soon enough...

That's exactly what my best friend is doing.  We leave in 3 weeks for his wedding in the Caribbean.  ~20 people total.  It might be costing them almost as much, but at least it isn't $1000-$3000 on fucking flowers.

[Bloodrage]

I'm going to tell my children to elope. We can have a reception at a later date if they so desire. Our upcoming wedding is weighing in at 300 people; at least some of them will bring gifts.

[UD_Delt]

at least some of them will bring gifts

I get my first taste of the gifts this Sunday, my family is throwing the first shower. Thank god I don't have to be there the whole time. Me, my dad, and brother-in-law are going to spend a few hours at the corner bar while the women-folk do their thing...

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a nice score. :)

[kidder]

Weddings huh...  I wish newegg had a gift registry.

[esad]

Lot's of good suggestions above, but this would have me a little concerned:

I'm looking for a video card that will handle the current and next gen of games

"Next gen" games will probably not run great on a 9600 Pro (good card). You'll have to go cutting edge if you want something that is going to last or just realize that you'll have to upgrade again in a year. Upgrading every year is usually cheaper though then shelling out $300 for the latest and greatest.

You also didn't mention the specs on your box. You can get a great video card but if your box is a little dated you won't see much improvent. CPU and bus speed will cause more performance problems then the video card if they are below specs.

[RVWinkle]

Just a heads up, the next generation graphics boards are due to be announced within the next month and at that time prices for the current models will be adjusted downwards. If you can wait till then you should be able to save a bit of cash.