whats a good graphics card? (3 Viewers)

[fantasia]

i've never really used my computer for gaming much but lately i've been getting into some games which i havent been able to play due to the fact that i dont have a graphics card.

so what graphics card would u guys recommend? good enough so that i can play games reasonably well? budget is under $200.

 

[jas0nt]

9800 Pro for ~$220

 

[blackbunny]

x850xt ------------- GOD of all the cards

 

[SashatheMan]

x850xt ------------- GOD of all the cards

that be more then 200 wouldnt it?

 

[cyrax83]

i've heard the 6600 is better than the 9800 ?

anyway i really want a new vid card but would be pointless putting it on my AMD 1800 xp + with 256 mb ddr ram ... i'd have to upgrade the whole comp which i dont have teh cash for atm

 

[sunjet]

9800 > 6600 for new games.

I got an x800 XT myself, it's nice.

 

[SashatheMan]

whats a way of knowing that your PC hardware is making yuor graphics card NOT work to its full potential. anyway of knowing?

 

[Templar]

The only way I know is that if you have test systems with the same CPU etc but different GPU by looking at its performance in certain games you can deduce whether the framerate is CPU or GPU (or GPU memory) limited.

And to the original question, what type of games are you going to play? There's a huge difference between the requirements of say, Sims 2 to Doom 3. But then again your budget kind of limits it. I do believe the 9800Pro is a pretty good choice.

 

[SashatheMan]

hmm. couldnt there be a basic guide to what card suits people and making it effective

 

[RCMasterAA]

I got the 6600GT. Nice card in my opinion.

 

[t-i-m-m-y]

I got the 6600GT. Nice card in my opinion.

damm right. Just got my 6600GT (Gigabyte fanless) today. Benched it and got 3229 3dmark05 stock

But fantasia: tell us your specifications of your computer, then perhaps we can recommend a card to u

 

[RUB!X]

i would recommend a 6600gt aswell ...
i have px6600gt extreme, fastest 6600gt card out there ... its been great, i run most games on 1600x1200 i payed 275, but the extra 75 is worth it

 

[Not-That-Bright]

i would recommend a 6600gt aswell ...
i have px6600gt extreme, fastest 6600gt card out there ... its been great, i run most games on 1600x1200 i payed 275, but the extra 75 is worth it

I just put together my new pc, gave it a gigabyte agp 6600 gt, it runs great, i run hl2 in 16x12 and it's fine

 

[SashatheMan]

does your motherboard play a part in making the card run at maximum capacity?

 

[velox]

i would recommend a 6600gt aswell ...
i have px6600gt extreme, fastest 6600gt card out there ... its been great, i run most games on 1600x1200 i payed 275, but the extra 75 is worth it

learn how to spell 'paid'

 

[SashatheMan]

learn how to spell 'paid'

who cares man .

 

[equiski]

damm right. Just got my 6600GT (Gigabyte fanless) today. Benched it and got 3229 3dmark05 stock

But fantasia: tell us your specifications of your computer, then perhaps we can recommend a card to u

I'm getting the same card in a few weeks. Are you happy with it? Have you tried the VIVO functionality yet?

Anyway, the 6600GT is an awesome card, but its a bit out of the $200 budget.

Edit: But like Rubix said, the extra money is well worth it.

 

[jas0nt]

x850xt ------------- GOD of all the cards

for double the price limit, maybe?

and no, the 'god' of all cards is 7900GTX in SLI, which will set you back $1600, at minimum.

the 6600GT is faster than the 9800Pro, and i stand corrected. however, PCI-X is a lot cheaper than the APG counterpart.

 

[Templar]

does your motherboard play a part in making the card run at maximum capacity?

Not really, although poor chipset can somewhat affect overall performance, and in general PCIe cards run faster than AGP, but the motherboard generally has little effect on gaming performance.

X850XT is only good if you're going to have FSAA cranked up all the way, although the new transparency antialiasing on the 7800GTX does yield great results on some games, with minimal hit on performance compared with normal FSAA.

 

[Minai]

Oh I wish I got crank up my FSAA and Anistropic filtering on my little raedon 9550....

Does brand matter with graphics cards that much (ie performance wise). I'm seriously thinking of a 6600GT, but prices can vary..so do cheaper cards generally suck compared to more expensive brands?