Best Card out there for under $200?

tinymonkey

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Well...what do you think?

i was looking at the 9600 xt? any otehr good deals out there i should know about?

thanks,
tiny
 
9800pro's are generally under $200 @ the moment...
 
man great deal, free 2nd day air as well...it seems like this is what everyone is pointing at...any thing else?

also, how easy are these to install? im decent with computers...but not too good with repairs...seems simple enough tho,..is it?
 
Why not get a GFX 5900se 256bit for $189. Just asking cause im currently look for a card under $200 and the fx 5900se was my first choice, hopefully Ill order it in a few weeks. LINK
 
As I keep pointing out...

SE on the end of a name stands for Substandard Edition. They cripple the cards (cut pipelines, slow clocks, etc.). LE is usually also the kiss of death.

Stick with the 9800 PRO.
 
ah thanks for that Lee, thats good to know...im pretty sure im gonna go with the 9800...i just gotta find the money now :D
 
Go for the 9800Pro easy t0 install and u may even gat a card with vivo options at this price point...
 
that 9800 pro isn't VIVO but you can get an asus 9600XT with vivo for like 175? if you don't won't VIVO get the 9800 pro tho
 
Just spotted a articile on guru3D.com which says ATI are producing a version of the 9800pro with 128meg of 128 bit RAM instead of 128 of 256 bit RAM, which means memory bandwidth is cut in half which will have a serious effect on performance. So if you go one make sure you get one with 256 bit RAM to get full 9800pro performance.

http://www.guru3d.com/newsitem.php?id=1539
 
I read the article and followed the links. The second rate (i.e. lowest priced) sellers are pulling that stnt but at least clearly show 128bit in the spec's.

The cards at newegg are $206-216 this week and all say 256 bit memory or clearly state SE.

I'd love to see how they benchmark out against the 256 bit wide version.

Edit - WTF, I sent Tom's Hardware an email asking them to benchmark the brain dead versions.
 
uhh yeah that card in the link (zipzoomfly one, for 170 or something) is NOT good to get.
One, it is the SE edition with 128-bit interface for the memory (memory bandwidth is like the interface * "some form of mhz - maybe inverse, I forget :p") as opposed to 256-bit found on REGULAR 9800 / 9800PRO / 9700 / 9700PRO / 9800XT / AIW variations.
Two, it has half the pipelines for rendering shaders. (4 as opposed to 8 found on the forementioned cards.) Although there exist a software mod to "enable" the extra 4, it is still a risk. Check out ocfaq.com...
Three, it uses the TSOP memory. Most of high-end video cards (actually, all that I know of :p but I could be wrong any time, any day..) use BBA packaging for memory... (the small square type memory...) They allow for higher freq and thus more bandwidth, resulting in more performance...

AND, the variations that use TSOP memory seem to have even lower clocks for core... (well memory, I already covered :p)

This card will perform much worse than a 9600PRO imo. It's definitely worth getting 9800pro for 30 extra bucks on that... or a Nvidia 5900xt (se) for around 180 or so. (From newegg..)

Conclusion: dont get that 9800se :p :confused: :confused: :confused:
 

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