Best 200 dollar video card...

B

bobsaget

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jan 24, 2004
Messages
4,403
What is your favorite video card for around 200 bucks (give or take 15 bucks)?
 
my vote is for 9800 pro too, but once i buy it is there anything else i have to do to hook it up besides plug it in the agp port, becomes it comes with some wire that looks like i need to hook it to the mobo or something
 
There is a cable you will need to plug into the power supply, it's nothing hard.
 
I just paid $185 for the MSI FX5900XT-VTD128 8X 128MB RT at newegg. Should be here Tues or Wed :)
 
How about a GF FX 5900 Ultra for $219 being sold in the wrong box? PNY has boxes that say GF FX 5900 SE on the outside but inside it's actually an Asus V9950 GF FX 5900 Ultra card.

Can easily be "softmodded" into a Quadro FX 3000 for professional graphics card for stuff like 3D Studio and Maya and improves OpenGL gameplay considerably. The Quake games, Jedi Knight games and others like Call Of Duty and Return To Castle Wolfenstein are based on OpenGL graphics engines.

br0adband
 
a 5900 only performs as well as a 9600 XT... in other words MUCH worst than the 9800 pro... come on now guys... use your brains. (for the same price too!!)

~Adam
 
Originally posted by CleanSlate
a 5900 only performs as well as a 9600 XT... in other words MUCH worst than the 9800 pro...

~Adam
Click to expand...


Funny, but that just ain't true.

HotHardware reviews the FX 5900SE (and compares it to a 9600XT)

You'll note that in those benchmark tests (and the rest of them in that review) the 5900 SE thoroughly trounced the 9600XT in EVERY BENCHMARK. Not just one, or two or even three, but in all of them.

The main reason: 5900SE cards have 256 bit memory busses, 9600XT cards use a 128 bit memory bus, so the card itself is kneecapped from the factory. The 9800 Pro, however, is a great deal also IF you can find a good price. A 5900SE can run at close to 5900 Ultra and even 5950 Ultra speeds. One hell of a non-crippled card for $220 or so.

br0adband
 
Thanks guys!

9800Pro it is! Do you think it will do good with the system in my sig? BTW, I'll be overclocking that 2500+ to 3200+
 
Originally posted by CleanSlate
a 5900 only performs as well as a 9600 XT... in other words MUCH worst than the 9800 pro... come on now guys... use your brains. (for the same price too!!)

~Adam
Click to expand...

Funny how on every bench mark I read that the 5900 kicks the 9600 butt big time but on some even is right at the 9800 level. I just paid $185 for a 5900XT the slowest of the 5900 and it is ranked in the top for cards on most bench marks. It is always higher then the 9700 and right with the 9800 most times. It even tops the 9800 on some test.

I read a review on the 2 cards tonight at http://techreport.com/reviews/2003q4/geforcefx-5900xt/index.x?pg=1
That show the 5900 beating the 9600 by 50% on just about every thing they ran on them. That is a lot 50% for cards that cost about the same.


So how does it only preform as well as the 9600 XT ?

He asked for the best card he could get for $200 bucks. Sure he could go over $200 a little and get a better card. But for $200 or less it is very hard to find anything that will preform as well as the 5900XT.

I am not saying that one is so much better than the other. It all depends on what games and what you do with them. Both have their strong and weak points. But saying that the 5900 only preforms as well as the 9600 is just wrong. Now the 5700U yes I agree it is right there with the 9600 but the 5900 goes way beyond them.

Myself I am sort of in shock that they are selling the 5900XT for the same price as a 5700XT most places. The 5700 is nothing close to what the 5900 is.

Mine should be here Tues or Wed I am going nuts waiting :)
As you can see I added it to my Sig the day I ordered it lol.

Anyway back to the point of this post. I sure wish people (including myself) would not be so lets say Brand loyal. If we all would switch brands depending on who had the best card for the money when we got them. Then all of the companies would work harder to try to stay in top spot.
Right now the way it is some go with ATI and some go with NVIDIA whatever one they like the best. Both groups can find bench marks showing their brand coming out on top. The trick is to read everything you can find and make your own call on things.
Myself I did not want to spend more than $200 on a new card. I read every thing I could on the subject and said the 5900XT is the best bang for the buck and stay under $200.

Adam and I have had this same chat on another forum lol.
 
i agree with u micah, the 9600xt yes is still a good card, and a 9800 pro is a really good card, and yes a 9800 pro can beat a 5900 but i wouldnt say a 9800 pro would rape a 5900. i say go for a BFG 5900nu. but there VERY hard to come by these days. if u either get a 5900 or a 9800, u will be a very happy man both ways.
 
I didnt read yoru full post Micah, but I said the 5900, not the 5900 se, please read what I said; don't infer.

~Adam

PS and when I say 5900 I mean the non-ultra, please please don't infer things. Show me a review saying the 5900 nu beats the 9600 XT, that's what I am talking about.
 
the 5900 xt/se versions are actually the slower versions of the 5900nu, which is the exact opposite from the ati lines where the xt is the higher-end version.
 
lol ok, I know I saw a review of a 5900 and a 9600XT with all of the AA and AF on and the 5900 got trounced, but I can't find it.

~Adam

PS Micah- all those bencharks from fool's hardware.com have NO AA and AF enabled... that's not realistic. But I do see where you'd think through that non-AAed and AFed benchmark that the 5900 was better, but wait till AA and AF get turned on.
 
Well that is one thing you do have right Adam. If you reat that review in the first link I posted you will see that yup the 9600XT beats the 5900XT in that one thing. I think it is on page 10 if you want to jump right to it. But even then the 5900 wins out at some settings on the same bench mark. But all the rest of the stuff way more than makes up for the difference.

I think we should stop as these people do not want to see us going back and forth like this likke we do on different forums :)

I had just seen you say that 9600 kicked the 5900 butt and wanted to make sure things was set stright :) Remember I just want people to know all of the facts and let them make their own call. I sure wish people would read everything they could find and make up their own minds instead of jumping on band wagons and buying something just because that is what a lot of others have. Some times if you learn the rest of the story you just might go the other way.

But hey I still call myself a newbie in all of this computer stuff. I know I have a LOT to learn :)
 
You know you're right Micah, but I think I had my vocab wrong- I had seen the 5900 and the 9600 XT were "comparable". If you check the video cards forum I started a thread jsut for you Micah ;).

~Adam
 
The 9600XT isn't comparable to the 5900. "Full-stop" :p

The 5900XT is in the ballpark of the $300+ cards -- the same definitely cannot be said of any 9600/5700 card.

I must say that it was a real good move by ATi/Sapphire to bring the 9800 Pro down to compete. Gotta love competition!!!
 
I own a 9800pro and a fx5900 non ultra (GameVe $183.00).
All I can say is in 3dmark 2001se, and 3dmark2003, they are very similar. When I play games I can notice a very small difference, with the 9800pro proving to be a bit faster.
 
so the 5900nu is almsot as fast as the 9800pro? even with AA and AF on? i dont care about which name brand is better, i jsut want the best card in my 200 budget, but if the 9800PRO is ALOT faster than i'd dish out the extra 20 bux to get it.
 
read the sticky called "Average Joe's Buying Decision.. Thread For All Sorts of Buying Decisions"
 
Hey bobsaget, the best price for a 9800 Pro is at www.newegg.com .

The Sapphire 9800 Pro is 215$ I believe. Definately worth it. Just make sure you don't go to Best Buy and spend 300$.
 
If you want to save even more money, look around eBay and on the forums here for a second hand 9700 pro. I saw a used 9700 pro on these forums going for $155 a few days ago.
 
9700 pro is good, but not the best for the $200 price range (give or take $15) 9800pro wins all the time :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top