best bang for my buck in ~$150 range at 1680x1050?

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th0rbahn

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I haven't paid much attention to the video card market lately.. I'm wondering what would be the best purchase to replace my hurting 6600GT ( :( ) for some casual gaming at 1680x1050.. games like COD4 and maybe a bit of Crysis, older games as well such as Oblivion. Looking to spend not much more than $150.

NCIX links preferred..

thanks
 
For ~$165 you could grab a 4850 off of egg. I think NCIX has them listed around $175. Little more than what was mentioned but you'll get a lot of bang for those bucks.
 
a 4850 somewhere near your price range gives you the most future proof bang for the buck.
 
a 9800gtx might be better depending on what you play and what type of mobo you have (sli or xfire)
 
I was in kind of the same boat as you (I had a 6800 GTS and 22" 1680x1050 LCD) and I went with an Asus HD 4850 that InCogneato pointed out. This is without a doubt the best card for the money I have ever bought. I can play Crysis at high settings at 1680x1050. This card really feels like a steal for $150. I was looking at getting a 8800 GT or 9800 GTX before the 4850 came out. Clearly the HD 4850 card is the best card at the $150 - $225 price point. You could wait a few weeks for the 9800 GTX+ but all indications are that the HD 4850 will perform as good or better than that card (and the 9800 GTX+ will likely be over $200).
 
th0rbahn said:
I haven't paid much attention to the video card market lately.. I'm wondering what would be the best purchase to replace my hurting 6600GT ( :( ) for some casual gaming at 1680x1050.. games like COD4 and maybe a bit of Crysis, older games as well such as Oblivion. Looking to spend not much more than $150.

NCIX links preferred..

thanks
Click to expand...

At that res and for that price, the 8800 GT 512 is probably your best bet. Some should actually be cheaper than that with MIRs. The 9600 GT/HD 3870 are good options aswell (and are even cheaper), but the 8800 GT is better. Obviously, if you can find a HD 4850 or 9800 GTX for that price or don't mind to spend a bit more, then they would be the way to go.
 
4850....with MIR's it can get had for about 150 ish... best bang right now

9800GTX wouldnt be bad either

if 150 is your max cieling...then the 8800GT is where its at
 
another vote on the 4850, fast card and cheap and maybe cheaper cuz of nvidia dropping their prices.
 
Get the 4850. I just upgraded from an x1800xt 256mb, so I know exactly where you're coming from.
 
8800GTS G92 if your not keen on MIRs. Card is a powerhouse. Preformance matching that of the GTX.
 
legendz411 said:
8800GTS G92 if your not keen on MIRs. Card is a powerhouse. Preformance matching that of the GTX.
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Where can you get a 8800 GTS for $150 without rebates?

No offence but I really see no reason to get a 8800 GTS over a HD 4850. The 4850 performs significantly better than the 8800 GTS and costs about the same. The 4850 also has some other advantages over the 8800 GTS. If the 8800 GTS can actually be bought new at $150 before rebates that would be a good deal. The 4850 also performs better thant the 8800 GTX and 9800 GTX and costs less. The 8800 GT can be bought in the US for $150 before rebates though I would spend a bit more and get the 4850.

Another thing to point out is that the OP requested NCIX links so I imagine that he is in Canada. At NCIX the 8800 GT costs about the same as a HD 4850 (before rebates). A 8600 GTS or 8800 GS costs about $150 at NCIX. The lowest priced 8600 GTS at NCIX that I can find is $154 and $144 for the 8800 GS ($114 after rebate).
 
FlipCody said:
Where can you get a 8800 GTS for $150 without rebates?

No offence but I really see no reason to get a 8800 GTS over a HD 4850. The 4850 performs significantly better than the 8800 GTS and costs about the same. The 4850 also has some other advantages over the 8800 GTS. If the 8800 GTS can actually be bought new at $150 before rebates that would be a good deal. The 4850 also performs better thant the 8800 GTX and 9800 GTX and costs less. The 8800 GT can be bought in the US for $150 before rebates though I would spend a bit more and get the 4850.

Another thing to point out is that the OP requested NCIX links so I imagine that he is in Canada. At NCIX the 8800 GT costs about the same as a HD 4850 (before rebates). A 8600 GTS or 8800 GS costs about $150 at NCIX. The lowest priced 8600 GTS at NCIX that I can find is $154 and $144 for the 8800 GS ($114 after rebate).
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I've seen many claims like this now, and know that they are backed up by the numbers put out by various review sites, but strangely I've seen the opposite from those who actually own the 4850. It's a good card, but doesn't appear to be quite as fast as some have worked themselves up in to believing it is.
 
silent-circuit said:
I've seen many claims like this now, and know that they are backed up by the numbers put out by various review sites, but strangely I've seen the opposite from those who actually own the 4850. It's a good card, but doesn't appear to be quite as fast as some have worked themselves up in to believing it is.
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Who are these others? Where have you seen the opposite from people that own the 4850? This statement would imply that the majority of the people that own the 4850 feel this way. That obviously is not the case. Look in the ATI flavor forum. There are lots of very happy campers with 4850 cards.

The only complaints I have seen are from people that have other issues (like underpowered CPUs like Athlon 64 X2). I cannot see upgrading from a 8800 GTX or 9800 GTX to a 4850. The gains for most are probably not significant enough to warrant it. Upgrading from an older or lower end card to a 4850 instead of 8800 GTX or 9800 GTX makes a lot of sense to me...
 
I went from an 8800 GTX to my 4850.
The 4850 is 'significantly' faster.
 
silent-circuit said:
I've seen many claims like this now, and know that they are backed up by the numbers put out by various review sites, but strangely I've seen the opposite from those who actually own the 4850. It's a good card, but doesn't appear to be quite as fast as some have worked themselves up in to believing it is.
Click to expand...

what numbers did you see, I have one 4850 and one hd 4870, they are both in different systems, and to come here tell him that users are experiencing low performance with their cards is just not right or honest in my opinion, these cards are better than even the 9800gtx+ which is highly overclocked, and 4850 beats it in most games, and turn on AA and go to higher resolution it just keeps leaving the gtx far behind. Please don't come here and try to tell that the user experience is opposite of what the review sites reported, as I am one of the users.

there will always be that one person who rallies either for green team or red team, what they don't know is that they are not getting anything out of it.
 
4850, got my xfired rocking hard in my box @ 1920x1200 4x AA , 16x AF on COd4 @ 91fps, and mass effect 1920x1200 w/ AF @ 60fps (looks like the engine caps it there)
 
With my Zotac 8800gt amp edition I can run bioshock at full settings and very rarely dip below 60 fps, and Crysis at high settings and 1440x900 with fps of 35-55. I bought mine though Canada Computers for $180+tax (so about $200) then there's a $30 mail in rebate. Not sure if there more in stock, but the prices for the 8800gt are an amazing bang for the buck and will meet all your gaming needs now and for a while to come.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/index.php?do=ShowProduct&cmd=pd&pid=016746&cid=999.243.390

Looks like the MIR is over, but the price has dropped to $170. Great card, great price.
 
Oh, and don't get a 256 MB version of the 8800GT. It will suck at higher resolutions.
 
Varmint said:
4850 seems to run insanely hot w/ stock fans, according to this review. They blamed the stock cooler.

http://www.techspot.com/review/103-asus-radeon-4850/page10.html
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UtopiA said:
It's not the cooler itself so much as it's the fan, which can be controlled manually by editing the CCC profile, bios, etc.
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i think u all fail to see that this card was designed to run with these temps. check the temp gauge in ccc and see where the needle is on its scale.
 
Why should we force our fans to run at 14% and 80C when we can run them at 50% or more at 50C with no additional noise?

I run my fan at 40%, same noise level as the stock fan speed, but it took 30C off my temperatures. So why not?
 
4850, first choice, absolutely.

UtopiA said:
Why should we force our fans to run at 14% and 80C when we can run them at 50% or more at 50C with no additional noise?

I run my fan at 40%, same noise level as the stock fan speed, but it took 30C off my temperatures. So why not?
Click to expand...

yeah, 4850 50C at load might be possible.....in alaska.
 
nösferatu;1032721470 said:
yeah, 4850 50C at load might be possible.....in alaska.
Click to expand...

I had an 8800 GTX at 675 / 1620 / 1000 running 28C idle 42C load. Anything's possible... with water. ;)
 
Well I tried the 4850 to replace my 8800GT SC and after benching it with COD4, BF2, Company of Heroes and crysis, I found that its only about 3-5 fps faster than my GT. And on 3dmark 06 the GT scored about 13K and the 4850 got about 11.9K And too me I thought that the GT had better IQ than the 4850. So I returned the 4850 and I'm going to keep my GT. And I too went by the reviews that said, wow this 4850 is faster than a 9800GTX, and I found that to be totally untrue in my case. It was pretty much neck and neck with my 8800GT
 
Sorry to bump this after a few days of not reading.. thanks for the opinions so far everyone.

FlipCody said:
The only complaints I have seen are from people that have other issues (like underpowered CPUs like Athlon 64 X2).
Click to expand...

Athlon 64 X2? That's me ;)
still considering the 8800GT simply because I'm still held back by other 2 year old parts.
 
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