BEST Graphics card for your BUCK!

mlakrid

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I am upgrading the graphics card in my system so that I can use the one in my system as the replacement for the one I think is begginging to die.

What I want is the graphics card (AGP type) that will give me the best graphics for the $$$... and I wanted to know what you all thought....

This is what I was looking at:
ATI RADEON X800 XL 256MB 8X GDDR3 AGP listed on Pricewatch.com for $298 with shipping.

If you can think of a better one for the cost please list it here with a link if you know of one, and your reasoning as to why!

Thanks!

Hannibal
 
Nvidia Geforce 6800GT - reason: ATI 's OpenGL drivers are really crap unless you want me to send you the opengl .dll file from the 4.10 cats :D

Also alot of games are developed on and mainly for nvidia cards even now. Just makes sense after spending a while with a 9800Pro from ATI.
 
I would go with the 6800 GT or Ultra(kinda expensive). Nvidia has the market right now, but I'm sure ATi will do something to change it :s
 
LordOfLA said:
Nvidia Geforce 6800GT - reason: ATI 's OpenGL drivers are really crap unless you want me to send you the opengl .dll file from the 4.10 cats :D

Besides Doom III, though, what else uses openGL as its primary API anymore?

Some of the games on this list even use D3D chiefly, with only token openGL support.

I'd probably lean more toward the ATI myself. Good bang vs. buck potential, especially with the new driver news.


Also alot of games are developed on and mainly for nvidia cards even now.
If by "now" you mean "2001", then yes.
 
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Unwonted said:
Besides Doom III, though, what else uses openGL as its primary API anymore?

Some of the games on this list even use D3D chiefly, with only token openGL support.

I'd probably lean more toward the ATI myself. Good bang vs. buck potential, especially with the new driver news.


If by "now" you mean "2001", then yes.


I would have to agree with both your statements here. D3D is mainly run on most games and I hardly find any games with OpenGL but then again there are THOSE games that require it and ATI doesn't really perform that well. As far as my opinion goes I would lean more towards the ATI side. I am contemplating on purchasing a Vid Card for my latest creation of a computer system I worked on recently. The onboard graphics will not hold for the games I will be playing on it.

This is my bext baby right here.

ATI X700 Pro

I honestly am happy with that medium class performance. I dont see the nessecity to require such power to run games. To me its more of a "if it runs on my computer, then that is all that matters" principle. Dont need all that fancy shmancy flashes and oooh aaahhs to show off with your friends for bragging rights. I mean seriously, so what if your machine pushes 1.4123 more FPS's than my rig. If you are an enthusiast then comes respect but if you dont know what you are doing then dont go with it. Then again it is solely based on the taste of the beholder (eye of the beholder?!?! did that work for you guys lol sorry :lick: ). Thats just my opinion. So yeah :p:p:p
 
mlakrid said:
I am upgrading the graphics card in my system so that I can use the one in my system as the replacement for the one I think is begginging to die.

What I want is the graphics card (AGP type) that will give me the best graphics for the $$$... and I wanted to know what you all thought....

This is what I was looking at:
ATI RADEON X800 XL 256MB 8X GDDR3 AGP listed on Pricewatch.com for $298 with shipping.

If you can think of a better one for the cost please list it here with a link if you know of one, and your reasoning as to why!

Thanks!

Hannibal

That is the best bang/buck card on the market at the moment.

OGL/DX performance on the whole is the same or better in all respects compared to a 6800GT, only in D3 is it worse than on the nv40.
 
I would go with the x800xl or the 6800gt. I say either or because the price is very similar and YOUR preference would have to come in. if you have mainly used one company's card or the other choose that one because you will have some background in the driver settings. That is huge. if someone asked me a question on how to fix something on an ati card's drivers I wouldn't be able to. so either one would be good and then go by preference and background.

If I were thinking of buying one of the cards I would wait a little bit of time til the 7800 from nvidia is released so then you can catch (hopefully) a price drop in the x800xl, or 6800gt. Rumors are that the 7800 could be launched soon. That's why I say wait. if it's longer than "soon" then just buy the card you want.
 
Mlakrid, I forgot to mention you needed to preference this thread with "Sazar" :) He is really into this stuff
 
By going with a 6800xx you get SM 3.0 and other abilities that the ATI range of cards dont have. I would mention something about SLI, but if you want AGP then thats not an option for you.

On a side note, does anyone know if ATI's Crossfire technology is only for PCI-E cards?
 
Well the equivalent card (in terms of performance) would be the 6800 GT. If you want to see how they stack up, just run another search on that, on Pricewatch and see how the prices compare. If you don't care which gfx card company you use, take whichever of the 2 that come up lower...
 
Sazar said:
That is the best bang/buck card on the market at the moment.

OGL/DX performance on the whole is the same or better in all respects compared to a 6800GT, only in D3 is it worse than on the nv40.

Thanks Sazar... I thought so, everything I have on other newsgroups, and here:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2299&p=3
says the same thing. I was looking at benchmarks and don't see paying the extra $$$ for the small increases you get for another few $$$.

You pretty much summed up what I had been thinking all along....

Although I have to admit I did find the 6800GT 256MB DDR3 version for $295 on pricewatch. Maybe after I buy my 2405fpw and my Plasma or LCD TV, then I can revamp my system.

Im spending all the $$$ I made in Iraq.. hehehe I guess it boils down to if you prefer ATI or NVidia....

decisions decisions THANKS ALL for the inputs!!
 
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The 6800GT and the x800xl are both excellent cards. Once you actually start playing games (instead of smashing heads against benches) you will see that there is indeed not a difference between the 2.

I am still upset I spent the money I did to get the ultra because I am disappointed at the lack of overall gaming improvement I got. Is it fast? Hell yeah.

Is it worth me spending so much more while giving up my tivo capabilities? No way. Which is why I keep rotating the cards in my main rig :D

My AIW 9700pro is the best investment I ever made for my computer :)
 
Well the 6800 Ultra is a card for those with more money than sense.

I mentioned OpenGL as reason of not choosing ati as I have an ati card at the moment and the games I play most are OpenGL based. ATI cards offer hideos corruption and mis-rendering of polygons on OpenGL games leading you to hunt specific dll versions to drop into a games woring directory to get any satisfaction.

Also, alot of games ARE developed on, optimized for nvida hardware (this means today and most games in the past). I have very few game boxes that dont say "runs best on p4" or the nvidia "play it like its meant to be played " badge.

ATI cards can be as fast as they want to be. But if they keep turning the games I play into "position the camera so that you can see the game not a mass of incorrectly drawn triangles" then frankly I want nothing more to do with them.
 
Lord what games are you having trouble with. My 9800PRO works fine with openGL ever since the 10.x catalyst came out?

As for the "best played with brand x". That's paid advertising, not technical advice. Any time a brand name shows up on a game someone paid money to have it appear.
 
LeeJend said:
As for the "best played with brand x". That's paid advertising, not technical advice. Any time a brand name shows up on a game someone paid money to have it appear.

Thats true, if you go to Nvidias site, and look at their "How its ment to be played list" and go to ATI's site and look at their list (I dont remember what their catchphrase is) you can see they have the same games on both lists.
 
Aprox said:
Thats true, if you go to Nvidias site, and look at their "How its ment to be played list" and go to ATI's site and look at their list (I dont remember what their catchphrase is) you can see they have the same games on both lists.

I think doom 3 is the only exception :) Its a big fat steamy nVidia turd
 
Man, I'm loving my gigabyte 6800gt 256mb PCI-e gfx card. now i can get 60+ fps in CS Source. the fps varies from 35-231fps on certain maps and on certain areas of the maps.
 
seeing to it that we are on the topic and the fact that it would be a waste for me to have to open another Thread (wasting server room), I happen to come upon a debate in my head. I have stated earlier the following statement:

"This is my bext baby right here.

ATI X700 Pro

I honestly am happy with that medium class performance."

Now after reading this forum i'm noticing alot of good points from both ends (ATI vs Nvidia). I am now leaning towards purchasing an Nvidia 6600. I'm not quite sure about the 6800GT or the ATI x800 those are way up high and I only game on LAN Parties and every now and then at home. So I was wondering what are your guys or chicks view and/or opinions on the 6600.

I read a review on the x700 and it is slower than Nvidia's 6600 so that caused my debate in my head heh heh :lick: :lick: .
 
6800GT or X800XL. Both are very nice and powerful cards, easily overclockable for your money, and hold their own with games. As far as "who's better" Nvidia has the market with dual card setups, ATI has the market with single cards. But ATI is also coming out with a Dual card option only available using their Xpress 200 chipset.
 
I've noticed that a lot of people, TOO many people don't think about the future when buying video cards, and / or other computer equipment at the same time.

Now, it makes a lot more sense to me, to buy a SLI motherboard, a 6600gt or 6800gt, and then, when you're ready, you have the option of upgrading, to two video cards.

How many people have recently upgraded / built their computer? How many did not buy a SLI compatible motherboard? How many of you will not be able to upgrade any further past their CPU and RAM, if that?

The best bang for your buck right now as far as video cards are concerned is like asking what's the best knife to use. It all depends on what you're eating, and what's on your plate. There are so many different scenarios that can be played out, that will result in a different video card each time. What kind of game's you're playing, what kind of motherboard you have, if you are an avid 3D modeler, etc, etc.

I am no expert on video cards, and I too have asked the same questions of what's the best value. I realised though, that a little common sense and research can get you a long, long way.

Oh yeah, and for what it's worth, in 2 months, none of this will matter, because you'll have a greater selection of video cards available for your money. Just wait for the new line of video cards to come out.

Alas, for your particular situation, if you are hellbent on upgrading now, go with the X800XL. Reason: Just check out the benchmarks.
 

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Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
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