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midrange card recommendations?

S

Slartibartfast

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Sep 25, 2004
Messages
7,280
Hey everyone, I'm in the market for a new (to me) videocard but was looking for some general opinions. I currently have a GeForce 3 TI-200 64 (175gpu 400 DDR) and can only afford to spend about $150 (college student). Is it worth spending that much to upgrade right now? Should I wait to see if there are any good post-christmas sales? I was thinking something like a Radeon 9600XT (definitely don't want a GeForce5XXX card). Should I wait a bit and get one of those 256-bit 9800's? I mean I know you can wait forever for prices to drop and I really don't want to get too stuck doing that, I just want a card that will be relevent for the next few years without requiring yet another student loan. Also, I remember how PC133 RAM dropped in price quite a bit when DRR became standard, then it went back up once it got scarce. Is there a chance of that with later-generation AGP cards anytime soon? Anyways, any input is appreciated.
 
There is only about $30/$40 between the 9600XT and the 9800PRO but the performce is huge.go for the 9800Pro.
Make sure its the 256bit 8x pixel pipe
 
I agree that a 9800pro (the real 256 bit version) would be a great choice and prices have dropped very close to your $150 point in several sales I have seen over the past several weeks. Fry's even had BBA 9800pro (retail) for $149 a couple of weeks ago. Also, depending on how much patience you have, Thanksgiving is near and there should be some spectacular deals available for brave souls willing to fight the crowds.

As to the pricing, I can't envision these last generation cards getting more expensive in the near future. I think that owners of older systems will still be able to upgrade w/newer cards for some time and not be forced to pay whatever the market will bear for older parts. That's just my opinion though, I don't have a working crystal ball.
 
If you are going to wait, why not wait until the 6600gt gets released AGP, and spring for that?

Dario
 
I ended up getting a used gigabyte 9600XT for $105. I think it was a good deal and it saved me some cash. Thanks for all the input guys.
 
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