I’m in the market for a new video card (hurried along by DooM 3’s imminent release). I’ve been doing a bit of research, but most stuff is pretty tech heavy. I was hoping a few people would give their two cents regarding what they have and what would be a good choice.
At the moment, I’m looking at Radeon 9800 models. Though I’m not looking to spend a fortune.
i have been using radeon 9800’s since christmas now and they have worked really and never given me any trouble at all also as the price range of them goes from about £50 - £250 you should find one at the right price
that doesnt really help much but hey it raises my post level :weird:
i have a 64mb GeForce 2 MX, strange thing is it can run farcry, and my brothers 128mb ATI card makes his game like a slideshow
I’m looking at Radeon 9800 models. Though I’m not looking to spend a fortune.
The Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB is indeed a good choice, but you might want to save up a little more cash for one of the next generation cards such as the NVIDIA 6800 GT or the ATI X800 Pro, both of these cards completely own their predecessors.
Though I’m not looking to spend a fortune.
When buying hardware i’m always trying to find a way to save a little more cash,
however as a gamer i find it very important that my videocard can last a couple of years.
You can ofcourse buy a less expensive card and find yourself at the shop again a year or 2 later, what i’m trying to explain is… these cards are worth the money 
If you find the 6800GT or the X800Pro too expensive, then take a look at the other versions of these cards still to be released, namely the ATI X600 AGP vs NVIDIA’s still to be announced card and compare them against the 9800 Pro model.
Take Care
Radeon 9800 Pro’s are pretty cheap now and will easily run any games on the market. No point spending $500 on an X800 if the only thing that takes advantage of it is the Ruby tech-demo.
no point spending $500 on an X800 if the only thing that takes advantage of it is the Ruby tech-demo
No offense m8 but LOL the only advantage is the Ruby tech-demo?? Don’t get me started on this one buddy 
Let’s keep it real please 
Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB 250 to 350 EURO
Radeon X800 Pro 256MB 400 to 550 EURO
Radeon X600 XT 256MB estimated 250 to 350 EURO
Nvidia 6800 GT 256MB 350 to 450 EURO
What are we seeing in the reviews? the next generation cards are truely blasting their predecessors away, so it would be smart to wait till we know how the X600 XT is performing against the 9800 Pro
But like i said in the first place, if you need to buy a card NOW the Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB is your choice.
Take care
I wouldn’t buy a card lower than 9800 if you plan to play the new generation of games. The 9800 pro probably has the best price/performance ratio of the mid-range cards.
If you want a high-end card, go for the 6800GT. It runs as fast as a 6800Ultra if you overclock it, and overclocking this card is really easy. You could also go for the 6800 non-ultra, but it’s quite a bit slower so actually has a worse price/performance ratio. Don’t go for the X800 Pro, the GT is just a tad faster (especially in openGL games, and I guess those are the games we all like to play ) and cheaper.
If you want the best of the best, X800 XT platinum edition and 6800 Ultra Extreme OC are your choices
Thanks for the advice guys. One of my brother’s friends owns a computer store and hopefully, if he has the card I want, can get me a nice discount.
I assume this 9800 Pro will run DooM 3 satisfactorily with a 2.4ghz and 256RAM? That’s the killer really. I want whatever card I buy to handle the DooM 3 generation of games with whatever I’ve got now. I’m considering going to 512RAM, but the card is the priority.
I’ll check out some of the models you guys have mentioned. Thanks again.
but the card is the priority.
My personal advice would be: Go for the 6800 GT with the discount
My objective advice would be: The 9800Pro 256MB will handle DOOM 3 just fine
In both cases upgrade your memory to 512MB atleast.
Take care m8
I’ll get quotes for both those cards. Once the card is sorted I’ll look at RAM. Cheers dude, have a banana
No offense m8 but LOL the only advantage is the Ruby tech-demo?? Don’t get me started on this one buddy Let’s keep it real please
What are we seeing in the reviews? the next generation cards are truely blasting their predecessors away,
But right now what games use that kind of power? The Ruby demo is honestly the only thing I’ve seen that doesn’t run great on my system. Doom3 would use the extra power but that’s not out yet and I wouldn’t buy a new card for one game, it’ll run great on a 9800 Pro anyway, and apparantly requires a card with at least 512MB to play at the best settings so whatever card you buy can’t achieve that. The PC games scene has kinda dried up this year compared to last, many games are either RTS or ports of console games, with console-level graphics. There isn’t a ton of games about to be released that will need these top range cards, much as ATI and NVidia would like there to be. If you wait a while until some games are released that actually require more than a 9800 Pro, by then the X800 and others will be a lot cheaper, or you’ll be able to get a nice 512MB card.
It will be at least a year before we see 512MB cards, and even then they will be too expensive to buy. Or you could buy 2 256MB cards and put them in SLI, but again that’s at least a year to wait. And even then it won’t run Doom 3 at max quality. Because in 3 years, there will be a card with let’s say 64x FSAA and 128x Anisotropic filtering and whatever they have invented by then to make a game look even better. So there is no point in waiting for that. Even quake 3 isn’t maxed out by now, cause it always looks just a bit better on a new card.
