~$150 video card recommendations

S

Stetson

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Jan 30, 2009
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I'm putting together a new i7 system, and want a card that will play Mass Effect, Assassins Creed, etc., with decent resolution, and features maxed.

I'd like to stay around $150 now, but I'd consider adding a second for SLI later if I want some extra kick.

I'm upgrading from an ancient Athlon 3200+ XP with only 1 gig of RAM and 6800 GT OC.

I'm planning to go 64 bit, and I may try and run the Windows 7 beta on it, if it's stable enough, then upgrade to the final when it comes out, rather than spend money to use Vista for a few months.

I'm considering a 9800 of some sort, or the ATI equivelent. Would I be better off to splurge a bit more and go with a $200-250 gtx 260 or something? How would 2 9800's (or ati equiv... 4870?) compare with 1 260?

Also, any case recommendations that will give enough room for whatever card I want to put in it, now or later? (Considering the P6T-Deluxe - open to other suggestions on that, too.)

Thanks!
 
Thanks, I added it to my wishlist. We'll see how much cash I can round up this weekend!
 
why spend $300 on a motherboard and only $150 on the video card?

*nvm, forgot its a i7 build*
damn those motherboards sure cost a lot
 
For this price range ati is the best deal no questions asked.

The question is do you want to get the 4850 or the 4870. Personally I would shell out another 30 dollars for the 4870.

And two 4830s (the equivalent to the 9800 gt) would beat a 4870 1gig if the game supports crossfire. Same thing with the 9800gt and gtx 260c216.

If the game doesn't support crossfire/sli then you won't get the performance.
 
ihira said:
why spend $300 on a motherboard and only $150 on the video card?

*nvm, forgot its a i7 build*
damn those motherboards sure cost a lot
Click to expand...

Exactly... plus, it'll be a lot easier to upgrade the video card later than the mobo!

I guess I should ask if I'll really be getting much more with an i7 than with an older processor?

I'm used to spending $300-400 on a card (geforce 3 when it first came out, 6800 gt oc when it was hot stuff), but this is the first time I'll be getting such a card at the same time as the rest of the system.

I should add that, aside from games and browsing the web, this will be a Photoshop/Lightroom machine. But I figure anything that will handle today's games should handle those apps.
 
to be honest I would forgo the i7 and go with a P45 board, good C2Q, and get your video cards. plenty fast and is comparable to the i7 in every way in general usage and games. and the difference in money will get you a 4870X2

they also have a 4850X2 that is hard to beat for the money, 250, and before anyone ask it is supported in the catalyst drivers now.
 
Stetson said:
I guess I should ask if I'll really be getting much more with an i7 than with an older processor?
Click to expand...

Nope, you don't go i7 right now if your immediate concern is game performance.

In terms of grabbing something for ~$150 the 4850 is the standard option right now. However, if you can front the cash and aren't afraid of rebates there's a 9800GTX+ that comes with a free copy of world at war at newegg for $154 AR - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130416

However, there are 4850's that are $130 AR. Depending on the title and resolution both solutions trade blows but they're usually within a few fps of each other, i.e you wouldn't notice a difference.
 
the thing that always seems to be missing when people ask for vid card recommendations is what res will you be running and what monitor do you have.

you can spend what you want, but if you will be at 1680 x 1050 or lower, then a 4850 or 9800 gt will be plenty and save you some money.
 
s[H]aqFU;1033671042 said:
the thing that always seems to be missing when people ask for vid card recommendations is what res will you be running and what monitor do you have.

you can spend what you want, but if you will be at 1680 x 1050 or lower, then a 4850 or 9800 gt will be plenty and save you some money.
Click to expand...

At the moment, it's a 22", 1680x1050. However, I may want to get a bigger monitor later, for blu-ray (I hope to add a blu-ray drive to the system at a later date, and I don't think my current monitor's compatible - and I could use this one for my laptop, anyway.)
 
One more question, how many watts do I need for i7, and one of these cards, possibly 2 later? I'll probably end up with 3 or 4 hard drives, too.
 
Stetson said:
At the moment, it's a 22", 1680x1050. However, I may want to get a bigger monitor later, for blu-ray (I hope to add a blu-ray drive to the system at a later date, and I don't think my current monitor's compatible - and I could use this one for my laptop, anyway.)
Click to expand...

somewhere else to put the money instead of i7. but if your going to keep your monitor a cheap 4870 512mb would max everything just about.
 
I agree with the party .Try to save up closer to $200 and grab the 4870 1GB card. Will be worth the extra money you pay since it's near the top of single gpu cards. Once you drop it in you will know that it can handle everything you throw at it and not be a bottleneck for you.
 
bigdogchris said:
I agree with the party .Try to save up closer to $200 and grab the 4870 1GB card. Will be worth the extra money you pay since it's near the top of single gpu cards. Once you drop it in you will know that it can handle everything you throw at it and not be a bottleneck for you.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I was looking at 1 gig cards, because some games seem to really benefit from it.

Cheapest I see is around $225 at newegg (aside from an open box, which I usually shy away from, though my laptop is a no-box display unit).

Maybe something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161247
 
i got my hd4850 for $150 a while back. Can NOT go wrong with that card at all.
 
Anybody here play Mass Effect? That will be the first game I play on it, so I want it to run sweet.

(I got it a while back and put it on my old Athlon 3200+ with an nvidia 6800 gt oc (pretty hot when I got it, but now one of the fans is dislodged, so if I want to play a game, I have to open the case and point a house fan at it!), and I was able to play it, rather choppily - even if I crank down all the settings and resolution, it's still choppy! I think that's probably just bad scaling, but anyway... I got to a shootout with some cops that I can't get past, because by the time I get a frame that shows me where somebody was, they're shooting me in the back and I'm dead.

My laptop's a core duo doesn't do much better, don't remember the video card (7200 or somesuch... it plays Half-Life and the HL Episodes just fine though).

The idea of saving some cash and going with the 4850 is tempting, but so is going for a little overkill, and not feeling like I want to upgrade for at least a year.
 
OldPueblo said:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2118-4.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-radeon-power,2122.html
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'd read the first article, but not the second, before I posted.

I just placed an order for the cpu, mobo, ram, and case.

I'll have to wait for a couple of checks to clear before ordering hd, video, and psu (I'm leaning towards a corsair 650TX?).

I'm leaning towards this MSI 4870 1 gig (still open to suggestions though, and I might have to go cheaper, depending on how much money comes in, and how impatient my debtors get!):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127397
 
Oh yeah, when I tried to place my order the first few times, I got a notice that newegg.com was having problems, and to try again later. Tried a few times... shipping charge was $25.01 though...

So I figured I'd try IE (was using Firefox) and see if that would work... still no go, but shipping was $19.99 there!

After 45 minutes or so, it was ready to work, in both browsers, but the shipping discrepancy remained.

Needless to say, I used IE to finalize the order (and added the $2.99 rush processing... hey, it was like more than free!)... about 20 minutes later, I decided to go through the process again (stopping short of actually ordering a 2nd batch of the same stuff), and the IE shipping price now was the same as he Firefox price!

My order info for the order I placed shows that I got by with $19.99 shipping.

Makes me feel a little better about being broke now!
 
Stetson said:
What resolution are you able to play it at? And do you have to drop any settings?
Click to expand...

Of course I didn't have to drop any settings - Mass Effect isn't very demanding. At the time I only had a 19in LCD, so I played at 1280x1024 (but with at least 4xAA - I think I had it higher, but I don't remember). I think I still have it installed if you want me to try out 1680x1050...
 
pirate252 said:
I just got this for my new build, and am happy with it

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339
Click to expand...

the only problem I have with this is that it cost about 45 dollars more then it should. you can get a 4850 512mb for 105AR. and it is actually faster then a 9800GTX+(this seems to depend on the driver release, so back and forth might be more actuate) but it kills the 9800GTX in features. it is a good card, I just think they are asking more for it then they should
 
Hell, I can play Mass Effect @ 1680x1050 Max Settings on my 8800GT with no slowdowns. Not an intensive game.
 
Valset said:
the only problem I have with this is that it cost about 45 dollars more then it should. you can get a 4850 512mb for 105AR. and it is actually faster then a 9800GTX+(this seems to depend on the driver release, so back and forth might be more actuate) but it kills the 9800GTX in features. it is a good card, I just think they are asking more for it then they should
Click to expand...

Ya, I am wondering if I should have gone with an ATI now since my asus can use 2 of them at some later date when needed, to late now I guess.

But if your also in that situation, grab an ATI now, and later when you feel its to slow, instead of scrapping it and getting a new one, you can pick up a second one for cheap since it will be 'old' by then :)
 
i7 makes no sense to me in this application, where your #1 goal seems to be great gaming performance. Buy a P45 board and an E8500, get a better video card like a 4870 1GB or GTX280.

That being said I have a 22" running 1680x1050 with a 4850 and it runs Crysis good on high settings, and my CPU is only an E2200 slightly overclicked to 2.75 with a stock fan on the CPU even. I'm pretty sure I could get 3.2-3.4 with a good HSF setup. But now I'm threadjacking :D
 
dajet24 said:
shipping is only $7.59 here did you select the ups 3 day ?
Click to expand...

Yes, I did. To St. Louis. (Order still shows up as charged... I was hoping to get it here by Wednesday, because I'll have a couple of days off to play with it.)
 
brons2 said:
i7 makes no sense to me in this application, where your #1 goal seems to be great gaming performance. Buy a P45 board and an E8500, get a better video card like a 4870 1GB or GTX280.
Click to expand...

I want good performance in Lightroom too, and I hope to upgrade my camera this year, perhaps to a 21 or 24 megapixel monster.

Anyway, it's already ordered, so no changing it now. Hopefully developers will learn to squeeze more goodies from the i7 in the future.

I'm tempted by a 4870 1 gig or a gtx 260 (haven't really toyed with the idea of going 280 yet). It depends on how much money I have in a few days... and what I can find locally (any alternatives to Best Buy in St. Louis? CompUSA doesn't seem to have any more locations here).

I was planning to spend $200 for a 1 tb drive, but I see I can get them not much over $100, so I may shift some of that money to the video card.
 
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