Video Card Upgrade Recommendations

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[cataclysm]

n00b
Joined
Nov 18, 2003
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I currently have a geforce2 GTS. I play most of the popular games, i.e. counter-strike, warcraft 3, call of duty, need for speed underground. Anyways, the games run fine, and i get pretty good fps, but at certain times i get horrible fps. For example, smoke grenades in counter-strike, or big battle scenes in warcraft 3. To get to the point, Im on a low budget ($100-$200), but I would like to upgrade. Any recommendations?..Thanks
 
if you can spare 30 bucks more, you can get a Radeon 9800 PRO from newegg for around 217 to 230 depending on the brand.

if Nvidia is more your cup of tea you can get an EVGA FX5900SE for 188 or a 5900 Ultra for a little more.

both good cards, check reviews from tomshardware.com or anandtech.com to help you decide on what to get.
 
i would suggest you get a 9600xt or if you could shell out a bit more go for a 9800pro 128mb. if you want to look on reviews look here in hard[OCP], i dont think tomshardware is a reliable source
 
I just ordered the MSI FX5900XT-VTD128 8X 128MB RT (Already added it to my Sig) Yesterday. I paid $185 at newegg for it. From the reviews and stuff I have read on this card it will easily pass the 5950 in speed. That would be the top of your budget. If you wanted to go lower maybe try the 5700U or the 9600XT. Both of they you can pick up for around $150 or so.
All 3 cards would run any game you want very nice.
 
yes that saphire 9800 pro is your best bet. it will exceed in your expectations for that cheap. the 5900 is good i have that card it sells for about 200 but i would go for the 9800 pro
 
depends kinda on what your system specs are and what games you play the most..

Example...if you have a 1ghz system, it is absolutley pointless to get a 9800 or alike because you wont even get half the performance you could out the card cause your system would be such a bottleneck for the card.


Example... If you play quake engine based games(Half life and mods) the most you would want to go nvidia over ATI, since nvidia cards do run quake based games much better.
 
Originally posted by Headbust
depends kinda on what your system specs are and what games you play the most..

Example...if you have a 1ghz system, it is absolutley pointless to get a 9800 or alike because you wont even get half the performance you could out the card cause your system would be such a bottleneck for the card.


Example... If you play quake engine based games(Half life and mods) the most you would want to go nvidia over ATI, since nvidia cards do run quake based games much better.
Click to expand...

I dunno about that last part... My 8500 and 9500 never had any trouble with Half-Life, or any of its derivitives.
 
Its a known fact that ati cards run better on certain engines and nvidia cards run better on others. Sometimes its even. As for me quake based games were 10x smoother on nvidia cards opposed to ati cards even though i had 99fps on both cards. I have tried this with about 10 different cards.
 
I am glad to see someone else saying that it depends on what games you play the most on what brand of graphic card to get. I have told people also that ATI works best with some games and on different games NVIDIA works best. Sometimes they want to argue about it and other times they tell me I am nuts. But the fact is it is really like that. Same with bench marks. Some work better with one card than the other. That is why when you see reviews most times they will list sometimes 4 or 5 different games and bench marks and such.

I have even see in the past where games would not even run on one but would the other. But now days they make them so at least they will run on both even if one still runs better than the other.

Unlike some people I never tell people that one brand is better than the other. Just give it a month and that can change what with new chips always coming out and such. I do most times tell them that I am a Gforce person but I do not put down ATI.
I even almost went with the ATI 9600XT when I ordered my new card yesterday. If I had not found the 5900XT that I found I was thinking about going with ATI as that 9600XT card is a great buy for the price. But if I have to choose ATI to Gforce I will go with Gforce 9 out of 10 times. It is just because that is what I have used for a long time and well I like to be a loyal customer :)

Anyway glad to see someone else telling it like it is :) Some of us do not jump on the band wagon like a lot of them do now days. What is funny not to long ago most of them would have said ATI sucks and GF is the only way to go. And chances are some time in the future they will go back to GF cards and then ATI will suck to them.

Now days both brands will be close for the money on what performance you get in games. It is true that ATI has a small edge right now but it is not that much. With todays top of the line cards it is just mainly about bragging rights anyway :) It always has been that way and chances always will.

Oh well longest post I ever made on these forums and did not mean for it to be long when I started :) Some of you know me from other forums that I make long ones all the time lol.
 
Nothing beat's it price vs performance fullstop;)

Sapphire RADEON 9800PRO 128mb

99% ATI [H]ard user's v's 1%Nvidia [H]ard users should tell you something;)
 
I recently bought a Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro from NewEgg and I can tell you, this card is fast! I upgraded from a Nvidia GeForce 2 and the performance boost is huge. I also play those games you listed and with the Radeon, they all look better and smoother. So my recommendation is save up a few bucks and go for the Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro. You won't be dissapointed.
 
I think a mod needs to make a sticky stating if you have 180 bucks + you need to save some more and get a 9800pro.

It has to be the best deal around.

9600xt is way underpowered I think. it has a 500mhz core but its limited by pipelines and all that jazz.
 
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