• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

video card understanding?

U

UrbN

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 6, 2004
Messages
179
hey guys, i just got back into the computer scene and was working on a current upgrade, but ran into some problems. Here are my computer specs, Pentium 4 3.0ghz HT, asus P4P800S motherboard, 512mb ddr pc3200, 480w thermaltake ps. I'm really big into gaming and was wanting to find a card that would settle perfectly with my system. I'm into doom 3, hl2, CS:S, city of heros and whatnot. I know that there are a ton of cards out there, and wanted to know which one would settle well with my system.

I'd like to keep it somewhere around or below $200 - $300 ( i'm always looking to save some money ). I was looking into getting the Radeon 9800XT, but when i went on pricewatch, i saw like 6 different versions of it. What are the differences in the versions ( ex. Abit Radeon 9800XT, Asus Radeon 9800XT, Gecube Radeon 9800XT ). Do they still have the same specs at the ATI Radeon 9800XT or what? All the video card stuff seems to get into a worded mess, especially how many types of cards they have out now. I really appreciate it for your time guys.
 
well.

geforce 6800 GT =329 dollars.. and VERY good
geforce 6800 Ultra = 280 dollars and very good

for a bit less and about a month wait you can get a

geforce 6600 GT AGP version and it will probably run 190-200 bucks to start.
its faster than a 9800xt. and once again... its very good.. it has about 1/2 the power of a 6800.

as far as the differences on the 9800 line, my quickest explanation is here.
http://apps.ati.com/ATIcompare/

just select a few and compare them.

ati does have a bit of an confusing naming scheme b/c from a non-geek point of view (and your probably a geek and know the difference if your here) but from a non geek point of view ati renames old cards a lot and tries to play them off as new or has a 9800 w/ 128 bit and another w/ almost the same name w/ 256 bit. its rather awkward.

if u decide to go ati get a used one off the forums for about 120 but really if you have the cash to spend on a 6800 i would go w/ that, or a 6600. right now they are the fastest and have more featuers like pixel shader 3.0. and SLI thus will stand the test of time better.
 
most of the main difference are just who makes your card and

1. what kind of heatsink /fan they use.
2. what heatsink is make out of .. copper / alumimum (doh! sp)

3. what games come w/ it
4. warrenty.. etc etc.
 
That's cool, i was always wondering about the whole ATI vs GeForce battle. A friend of mine recommended that i get the $190 Radeon 9800XT from pricewatch. It was the Gecube Radeon 9800 Xtreme Edition or something like that. I've always had good reviews about Nvidia stuff, just confusing as hell sometimes. I've got a lot of catching up to do on this stuff. I'll do some searching on here, i'd like to get my system up and running within the new few weeks, so i dont mind at all forking out a little bit. I saw that you recommend if i go with ATI that i should get it used off here, would you recommend getting a GeForce used off here or no?
 
whatever card you get leave room in your budget for another 512 of RAM. otherwise that will become a major bottleneck. Especially if you are not very good at tweaking windows XP and keeping it spyware free.

I would recommend either:

Another 512 of RAM and a Radeon 9800pro 128mb 256bit

OR

Another 256 (or 512 if you can afford it will really help) of RAM and a 6800nu flashed to GT.
 
personally i like nvidia.. thats just my opinion.

ive had better luck w/ them over time and less problems w/ them.
better drivers as well.

in the past i personally had driver problems w/ ati and i worked at a computer lab where they were the plague of our lab, constantly messing up, in the end we ditched them and put in budget nvidia cards.

i know a lot of ati users will say this or that and yes ati has improved and yes they have much better drivers today, but at that period of time their drivers were horrible.


but back to the question.

This generation nvidia is in the lead. Faster cards + more features. If i were you i would get a 6800 or a 6600.. just depending on your budget.

if price is an issue id go w/ an older generation like a 9800 pro. For the older generation i think ati is better than the comparable nvidia line.

as far as buying a card.
you can buy one here but of course you take more risk at the benefit of paying less.
or you can try pricewatch.com or ebay
 
haha, damn you guys amaze me with the knowledge. I usually run my resolution at 1024 x 768, i'm just sooo used to it, so why change. I'll be looking around on the fourms for the deals, if you guys hear anything, dont hesitate to let me know something.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top