Best All around video card out there? [message #80368] |
Thu, 15 April 2004 14:20 |
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amid_tha_rubble
Messages: 97 Registered: November 2003 Location: Canada
Karma: 0
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Recruit |
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I'd like to hear your opinions. What do YOU think is the best all around Video card out on the market so far. Remember to think about bang for buck value! A few of my buds were having this chat the other day and i thought it might be interesting to bring up in the forum. (On a side note, what video card is everyone here running?)
Go Nutz!
Down with the Liberal Thieves in Ottawa!
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Best All around video card out there? [message #80535] |
Thu, 15 April 2004 18:22 |
flyingfox
Messages: 1612 Registered: February 2003 Location: scotland, uk
Karma: 0
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General (1 Star) |
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The 9800XT is too expensive. He is asking for the best all round card, not the "best" card.
If you want bang for buck value, might you be looking for a card
under $50? The 9200 SE is a good card at 49 pounds (in Scotland,
anyway). I have it. Gets the job done, even in a standard game
at 1024 * 768 / 32 bit. The only time it slows down is when you're
close to intense flames or smoke. Seems to have trouble rendering
them without a performance drop under 20 fps.
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Best All around video card out there? [message #80650] |
Fri, 16 April 2004 05:29 |
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DarkDemin, never go to that Best Buy again.
Anyway, I just have an ATI Radeon 7500. I'm not sure how "all around good" it is now. I do remember it was $175 when I got it two years ago. Personally I'd say most of the ATI cards are "all round good." They're not too expensive, but they last a long time, even with high-end games. The only game I had problems with was Brood (or was it Breed?).
God is the "0wnage". Plain and Simple.
Visit http://www.theoriginalmrbob.com
"If there's one freak to be, it's a Jesus freak"
All your base are belong to us.
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Best All around video card out there? [message #80682] |
Fri, 16 April 2004 07:12 |
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mrpirate
Messages: 1262 Registered: March 2003 Location: Ontario
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General (1 Star) |
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First off, the Radeon 9200SE is total shit. 64-bit memory bus, non-DX9, etc.
The GeForce 6800 (Kudos to Nvidia for dropping the "FX" rubbish) is currently the fastest video card out there by far, with 16 pipelines. At 11000+ marks in 3DMark 2003, it's twice as fast as the "current" top-of-the-line cards. The R420 or Radeon X800 Pro looks like it will be an absolute beast of a card when it comes out (supposedly April 26th). It is rumoured to have a 600 MHz core, with 16 pipelines as well (The NV40 or GeForce 6800 is only 400 MHz, with 1100 MHz memory). Both new cards have 6 vertex engines. The NV40 contains about 220 million transistors, and the R420 is rumoured to have between 160-180 million transistors.
The best card ever made, considering value and performance, was the Radeon 9500/Radeon 9500 Pro. Built on the same R300 core as the Radeon 9700 Pro, someone who knew what they were doing could easily mod one of them to 9700 speeds.
Ultimately, core speeds cannot entirely compensate for the fact that the 9600XT is just a Radeon 8500 in disguise.
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Best All around video card out there? [message #80732] |
Fri, 16 April 2004 10:53 |
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liberator
Messages: 246 Registered: May 2003 Location: Classified, Level Phi cle...
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Okay, firstly ATI names their cards thusly:
DX version, rev number
So the 9200 does support DX9, but it is a low power card compared to the 9600 of which the Pro variant is probably the best deal. The XT is slightly(less than 5%) faster and has the same memory.
So, all things considered, for the absolute best value I'd go for a 9600 Pro w/ 128 MB ram. IF I had to buy today, I personally would tough it out and wait for the new ATI offering, after which the current generation of cards will come down.
If you've got the cash for it, I'd lean toward a 6800 variant, but they won't be available retail till the end of May.
There was a time when people were impressed that I have the firepower to decimate a planet in under 10 minutes.
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