What's the best PCI-E video card for less than $200?

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FM 3370

Gawd
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Jun 29, 2002
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Currently I have a Radeon X800XT and as part of my upgrade I'll need a PCI-E video card go with it that's powerful enough to run Flight Simulator 2004 and current games with ease. Also with the minimal research I've done it seems like the Geforce 8800GT 512MB is the best bet out there within this price range. Is there any other type of card I should consider or is this the best one for less than $200? This will be most likely coupled with a Core 2 E8500 with 2GB of RAM and more as I price things.
 
HD4850s, which would beat the 8800GT by a healthy margin, and is neck-to-neck with 9800GTXs, can be had for under $200 easily, about $150 after rebates as well. That would by far be your best option for a video card well under $200. :)
 
Ditto on the 4850... if I was to upgrade I'd be getting one of those at this time.
 
HD4850. My friend has one, it kicks the living crap out of my 8800GT even when mine is heavily overclocked.
 
Thanks for the replies. I was just reading the review on the HD 4850 and HD 4870 and I can say the HD 4850 is very impressive for the price.

Would it make much of a difference to overclock the HD 4850? I usually cannot tell the difference when I've overclocked video cards in the past. Also what manufacture makes the best HD 4850 or does it really not matter? I noticed Asus makes a card.
 
The HD4850s at the moment are all reference, so the main differences really lie in their warranty policies, which you should choose carefully on the ATI side. For Nvidia, their third-party vendors such as EVGA and XFX have been generally very good, though I can't say that the ATI side has many warranties as generous or friendly as Nvidia vendors'.

As for overclocking, the HD4850 runs pretty hot with its single slot cooler, and combined with the low reference fan speed (20%), overclocking is going to be tough as the temperature on those HD4850s are pretty high. :eek:

Once you get a good aftermarket cooler slapped on it, like an Accelero S1 (or if you turn up the fan speed settings manually, though I doubt your ears would kindly appreciate that move :eek:), you can then start the serious overclocking, though I doubt you'll notice much difference without tools such as FRAPS, as is with most overclocking. It's mainly done because you can. :)
 
Absolutely the 4850. They're all reference boards, so just pick by price and warranty. I've seen them as low as $140 shipped...
 
iBP_James said:
The HD4850s at the moment are all reference, so the main differences really lie in their warranty policies, which you should choose carefully on the ATI side. For Nvidia, their third-party vendors such as EVGA and XFX have been generally very good, though I can't say that the ATI side has many warranties as generous or friendly as Nvidia vendors'.

As for overclocking, the HD4850 runs pretty hot with its single slot cooler, and combined with the low reference fan speed (20%), overclocking is going to be tough as the temperature on those HD4850s are pretty high. :eek:

Once you get a good aftermarket cooler slapped on it, like an Accelero S1 (or if you turn up the fan speed settings manually, though I doubt your ears would kindly appreciate that move :eek:), you can then start the serious overclocking, though I doubt you'll notice much difference without tools such as FRAPS, as is with most overclocking. It's mainly done because you can. :)
Click to expand...


Cool, I'll look out for the good warranties. I probably wouldn't worry about overclocking the card. Just slap it in and go.

Every post in this thread mentions the 4850 so it looks like that's what I'll get for my next video card if I purchase one in the next month.
 
something else to consider. The last time I checked the fs series is very cpu dependent, and not so much gpu dependent. The cpu you have is probably the issue here. Check out this

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-gpu-upgrade,1928-10.html

if you look at the performance for each cpu with different gpu's the fps is almost the same regardless of gpu.

Discuss....... oops I just saw that you are working on a cpu upgrade. :p
 
I would have to say hd 4850, specially it really handles the 9800 gtx with AA and eye candy on, and I just got a gtx 280, so I am not biased by any means, what's true is true.
 
adlep said:
I have to agree - the HD 4850 Hands Down

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102747
Click to expand...

definitely the 4850, and if you want some free memory (after MIRs of course) get this one, I received this combo deal on Tuesday and just slapped the video card and memory in and everything worked fine...

■Sapphire HD 4850 + 2GBs OCZ PC2 6400 = $155 shipped after rebates...

if you get the 4850, just check out the 4850 BIOS flash thread on page two, it helps a lot with fan speeds/noise...
 
Apparently the Asus one comes with a utility that will allow you to change the fan speed but I don't know how well it works. Can someone with that card comment on that as I to am considering getting a 4850?
 
I have it and its easy as hell to use and very effective. The CC Suite offers an easy oc suite as well.
I whole heartedly recommend it.
 
I've had the Asus 4850 for about a month. [21CW]killerofall, "Smart Doctor" is the name of the utility you mentioned. It lets you set up fan profiles and overclock the card if you don't like CCC. I like it because it's way less clunky that CCC and lets you change fan speeds quickly. You can adjust fan speed manually (set %), or set temperature thresholds where different fan speeds will kick in. I usually run it at 50 or 55%.

Not sure if all 4850s do this, but the fan on mine will switch to full speed when I open a game or 3D app.
 
iBP_James said:
The HD4850s at the moment are all reference, so the main differences really lie in their warranty policies, which you should choose carefully on the ATI side. For Nvidia, their third-party vendors such as EVGA and XFX have been generally very good, though I can't say that the ATI side has many warranties as generous or friendly as Nvidia vendors'.

As for overclocking, the HD4850 runs pretty hot with its single slot cooler, and combined with the low reference fan speed (20%), overclocking is going to be tough as the temperature on those HD4850s are pretty high. :eek:

Once you get a good aftermarket cooler slapped on it, like an Accelero S1 (or if you turn up the fan speed settings manually, though I doubt your ears would kindly appreciate that move :eek:), you can then start the serious overclocking, though I doubt you'll notice much difference without tools such as FRAPS, as is with most overclocking. It's mainly done because you can. :)
Click to expand...


by the time you buy an accelero and slap it on a 4850 you would be better off just spending the money on a 4870 which already has a very good cooler that only needs to have the fan speed adjusted to get great temps.
 
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