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GJSNeptune

[H]F Junkie
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Mar 31, 2004
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I'm broke, but I have a $100 Best Buy gift card (courtesy of my brothers). I just bought KOTOR II and I don't want to embarrass the game (see sig.). Best Buy online has a horrible selection, but I'm at school and there isn't a Best Buy within probably 45 minutes to an hour.

They have the ATI Radeon 9550, and though most reviews and user ratings are promising, some claim that it isn't a good gamer's card, and that it may overheat after extended use. I've read that ATI cards do run hotter than NVIDIA, but Best Buy online doesn't have a card around $100.

What would you recommend I do?
 
Yeah, you're kinda in a pickle.

Sure you got $100.00 free and clear to use at best buy.

Problem? Best Buy probably charges nearly $100.00 more (give or take, depending on the card) for their video cards than you could find them priced online.

My suggestion: Try to sell that card for like $85-90 and look on the [H] For sale forums for something better than a 9550.
 
Well say I could possibly spend an additonal $75 or so. What would you then recommend?

I would also like to use dual monitors. I wouldn't say I'm a hardcore gamer, but I do enjoy gaming now-and-then, usually Quake III Arena to kill time or something in-depth like KOTOR. Since I'm broke, I won't be playing HL2 or Doom3 for awhile.


Maybe the BFG GeForce 6200?

Actually, I'd really like to have 128-bit.
 
Just like the other guy said, sell that card on ebay for like 85 bux, and with that get urself a new 9600xt or 9700pro off ebay, or even a used 9800 and they will be much much better than the 9550
 
For $175, you have two options:

GeForce 6600 256MB

Radeon x1300 Pro

Both are decent cards (although overpriced by about $50-75 versus online pricing). The 6600 is better at OpenGL games (Doom 3, Quake 4) and flight simulators. The x1300 Pro is better at games like FEAR and Battlefield 2.
 
defaultluser said:
Both are decent cards (although overpriced by about $50-75 versus online pricing). The 6600 is better at OpenGL games (Doom 3, Quake 4) and flight simulators. The x1300 Pro is better at games like FEAR and Battlefield 2.
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Why is that? I like FPSs like Doom and Quake, but I also like Command & Conquer and KOTOR and such.

Right now I have an NVIDIA card, but I'm prepared to wipe its drivers for an ATI. I'm not sure which one I should pick.

With Best Buy's prices, I'm starting to think I shouldn't buy a video card and instead buy something less overpriced.
 
GJSNeptune said:
Why is that? I like FPSs like Doom and Quake, but I also like Command & Conquer and KOTOR and such.

Right now I have an NVIDIA card, but I'm prepared to wipe its drivers for an ATI. I'm not sure which one I should pick.

With Best Buy's prices, I'm starting to think I shouldn't buy a video card and instead buy something less overpriced.
Click to expand...

You could, but you'd actually pay more out of pocket (unless you bought used). These cards are overpriced, but not so overpriced as to make that $100 giftcard worthless.

If you want to buy used though, you can probably find a better deal...but you take more risks going used.

As for the difference in performance, it is not the simplest thing in the world to just draw a line, but let me try:

With the exception of high-end x1800 and x1900 series cards, most ATI cards perform poorly OpenGL games. This includes Doom 3, Quake 4, Chronicles of Riddick, but that's about it. Nvidia cards also perform much better in flight simulators due to their fast Z techniques, but from what I have seen (at Beyond3D) this benefit largely goes away when you turn on AA.

ATI cards are good for shader-intensive games, and also typically have better AA performance (although with these cards, you probably don't care about AA).

Want to see for yourself? Here is an excellent review that pits the two cards head-to-head. You'll notice that, in some games ATI stomps all over Nvidia, and in some games Nvidia stomps all over ATI. Then there are games where they perform about the same. It has to do with a lot of things, both hardware and software, and both the drivers and the game makers...and that is why I can't give you an easy answer.

Unfortunately, I can't find any KOTOR2 benchmarks.
 
So would you say Nvidia cards are better for multipurpose use? As in, they're the best for OpenGL, and where they aren't the best, they're still good?
 
GJSNeptune said:
So would you say Nvidia cards are better for multipurpose use? As in, they're the best for OpenGL, and where they aren't the best, they're still good?
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Usually, but in this case, I would choose the x1300 Pro unless you're a hardcore Quake 4 junkie. Nvidia doesn't have a midrange current-generation card offered in AGP yet, so the best they have to offer is the 6600 series. Although it used to be excellent, the getting old.

ATI juat has the better AGP offerings right now, both the x1300 Pro and the x1600 Pro. Until Nvidia releases a 7600 GS AGP, that will be the case.
 
BB has the x1300 on sale for $130, down from $173 and compared to newegg's $165.

Seems promising. Thumbs up?

Update: I just wanna verify something. This card will work with my Abit NF7-S v2, right?

Also, newegg lists the memory clock speed at 800MHz, while BB lists it at 400. I'm getting confused now.
 
GJSNeptune said:
BB has the x1300 on sale for $130, down from $173 and compared to newegg's $165.

Seems promising. Thumbs up?

Update: I just wanna verify something. This card will work with my Abit NF7-S v2, right?
Click to expand...

So long as it is the x1300 PRO, not just an x1300. There is a significant difference.
 
I've discovered other threads talking about the x1600 and its 512MB. It's like twice the price on BB, but it's cheaper than the x1300 on newegg. Is the x1600 supposed to be better yet cheaper?

Any ideas as to why newegg and BB have different specs for the x1300 pro?
 
Newegg just never got more x1300pro AGP cards so they never lowered the price. The x1300pro sells for ~$80 in PCI-E form. And like other posts say dont waste extra money on midrage video cards with 512mb of ram vs the 256mb of ram.
 
I also read something about many games not being able to use more than 256MB of RAM on a video card anyway, unless maybe newer games can.

About selling the gift card, I'd feel bad 'cause my brothers gave it to me for christmas. Damn ethics and morals.
 
I'm gonna order the x1300 Pro as soon as I sort out why BB and newegg have different specs listed. The newegg one has better specs, of course.

I think newegg lists the memory core clock speed at 800MHz because there are dual RAMDACs, and BB shows 400MHz without indicating that there are two.

Can't make up my mind. The x1300 Pro has 4 pipelines, and the x1600 Pro has 4 overzealous pipelines that consider themselves as "12."
 
The x1300pro is not a very good card for gaming. Its the lowest end ATI card and is basicly glorified onboard video. I would really go with the x1600pro.. It is the midrange offering from ati and is honestly about 3x as powerful..

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=328&card2=350

(look at the benchmarks), also note that they are 2 different benchmark years, the x1600pro spanks the x1300pro.

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=328&card2=80

^^^ heres your current card vs the x1300pro

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=350&card2=80

^^^and heres what the x1600pro could do for you.
 
This is ridiculous. It's almost as hard as finding an mp3 player worth my money. The more I research a device, the more bad things I read about it. I can't make up my mind at all.

I'm willing to spend around $150. Ideally I'd buy a card from BB with my $100 giftcard, except everything is overpriced and I keep wanting to buy a video card elsewhere and use the card to buy something less inflated.

Some games I like to play:
KOTOR II
Quake III Arena
Command & Conquer Generals/Zero:Hour
Farcry
Sims

Some games I want to play eventually:
H-L2
Doom 3
Quake 4
F.E.A.R.
Oblivion

I've no idea what to get now. I'm limited to AGP, so I don't expect to get something amazing. I just want something reliable and worth its price. I'm weary to void the warrant by modding the card, adding a third-party cooler, and/or unlocking pipelines.



Update: I just found this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102609

Much higher rating on newegg, and it's 256-bit.
 
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