Best GPU b/w $100-150

I know the one is a little over budget, but which of the ATI HD 4850's should i get? MSI Version or the Sapphire Version? or maybe a different brand? Read that the MSI one has better cooling since I hear that card overheats easily.
 
gamerx11 said:
I know the one is a little over budget, but which of the ATI HD 4850's should i get? MSI Version or the Sapphire Version? or maybe a different brand? Read that the MSI one has better cooling since I hear that card overheats easily.
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Another vote for the HD4850.

Sapphire is good and quite a bit cheaper than the MSI version. Although Sapphire has gotten some bad press on these forums for support.

Might be worth checking out the Asus or Gigabyte HD4850 for $140 AR too. I like Asus personally, but its $10 more before rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121272
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125238

Also the HD4830 is a great card if you want to spend less and is selling for ~$100-110 AR.
The 9800GT works too, but I like the internal HDMI audio support of the HD4800 series and DX10.1 support.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102803
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131129

HD4830 ~= 9800GT
HD4850 ~= 9800GTX+
 
Crash250f said:
Not to hyjack but hows the 4850 compete against the 8800gt at 1920x1200?
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it would be better, but not by much. Save for atleast a gtx 260. I just brought a 4870 and I probably am going to take it back, not worth it because no new features and little performance benefit in the games I play (besides Crysis, which I can live with on lower settings)
 
Crash250f said:
Not to hyjack but hows the 4850 compete against the 8800gt at 1920x1200?
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much better, esp if you use AA. . a 4850 is faster then a 8800GTX and trades blows with 9800GTX+ until you turn up the AA. so its comfortably ahead of a 8800GT

you might want a little more horsepower at 2.3mp though, look for some of the deals on the GTX260 (190 something AR has been reported and less has been seen). Also they are starting to cut the prices on some of the 4870 512mb cards that trade blows with the GTX260. if you can find one on the cheap (or even used, lots of people upgraded to a 4870 X2 or a 4870 1gb) they are a good option as well.
 
+1 for 4850. They tend to be cheaper than the 9800GTX+, and they outperform it in many games. Plus they have better image quality.
 
4850 is a no-brainer, especially since AMD/ATI is putting Stream support in the 8.12 driver set. It shouldn't be too long before developers start supporting that in certain applications.
 
the MSI card you link to is the standard first reference version which has inferior cooling(this gpu is hot) to the newer versions. I have an 8800gs with the same cooling as that 4850 and it does a great job and is very quiet. The Asus one I linked you too has free shipping + a free copy of call of duty 4 and has a nice a nice rebate as well.
 
4850 Vision Tek. The PCB boarder is much shorter than most of the other brands. Just received mines from Newegg today and it's sweet. The heat sink is huge and best of all, the video card is quiet. I usually spend an extra $30-$40 and purchase a after market HS/F, but this card has a quality one built in making it a even better value.
 
So your saying the one I linked is cooler or not cooler than the one you chose? I did hear they got rather hot so the best cooling would be a good idea.
 
Definitely the 9800GT
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Best purchase for that price i've ever made
 
No, I was actually looking at that card before but was thinking about paying a little more for a better card. The card you linked a really good bang for the buck tho.
 
gamerx11 said:
So your saying the one I linked is cooler or not cooler than the one you chose? I did hear they got rather hot so the best cooling would be a good idea.
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the asus card he linked is better than the msi card you have in mind.
 
The cooler on the MSI one is junk unless you absolutely can't use a double slotted card. Then it's still junk, but a last resort. The 4850 runs hot enough that it'd ALWAYS be a good idea to get the heat out of your case so it doesn't bask in it's own filth.

The 4850 is better than the 8800/9800 series, so there's no point in suggesting it anymore.
 
Yep, made my decision on the 4850. Glad I asked, will be great for gaming and at a good price. Thanks for the inputs.
 
Yup 4850 for $150 after rebate. Then there is the 4830 for about $125 with no rebates. If your really cheap, I picked up a Geforce 9600GSO for $35 (I actually got my rebate check for it last week...I love EVGA) And Overclocked it to 730mhz/2100mhz and its comparable to a stock 8800GT. If you have an nVidia board SLI 9600GSO may be a good way to go to. Another Avenue may be a 4670 in crossfire.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131122 ----Crossfire that and it'll be quick.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814141076 ----SLI that and OC and it'll prolly be quicker then the 4670 in Crossfire

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102803 ----------If you don't wanna mess with rebates (I wouldn't blame you) then that 4830 would be nice and quick, and should OC quite nice as well. And if you do by some miracle get the rebate check, your looking at a 4850 level (once overclocked) card for a little over $100 this is a very nice choice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127381 -----------The 4830 is a little faster, but this is an amazing price for the 9800GT (which is basically ...no wait...it IS...a renamed 8800GT)
 
How do I SLI or Crossfire? Doesn't that require two pci-e 2.0's and have em both sync'd up? Never did that before.
 
gamerx11 said:
How do I SLI or Crossfire? Doesn't that require two pci-e 2.0's and have em both sync'd up? Never did that before.
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In general, get two cards that are compatible (SLI - Same card, XFire - Same family *48xx*), put them into your PCIe x16 slots, put the connectors on the cards, and enable it in their respective control panels.

~Gooda~
 
So you think it would be better to buy two cheap cards and SLI or XFire them instead of buying like a 4850 or GTX?
 
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