Money to burn - Video Card

[TinmanX]

Got a bit of cash handy, figured it's time to upgrade my video card.

I'm currently running a ATI Radeon 9800XT 256mb. Have been cruising around New Egg and saw this .

Now from what little I understand of hardware (I'm a web-designer - insides mean nothing to me) this is a generic brand copy of the ATI XFire, correct?

Or... I have $300 to burn on this, my basic specs are;

System Manufacturer: INTEL_
System Model: D865GLC_
BIOS: BIOS Date: 06/24/03 18:12:36 Ver: 08.00.09
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.60GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 2814MB RAM
Power: Currently 330W but I have a 550W on order.

What would you buy?

[mason22]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130082

[Krusty]

I still say avoid the 8000 series GeForces... By the time they come out with a driver that doesn't cause more problems than it fixes, the 9000 series will be out!

Go Ge 7900/7950 or go ATI x1950.

[Kev367th]

8800 works great for AH2 Krusty.

I prefer BFG over EVGA.
Had one EVGA card, didn't last long.
Last 3 cards all been BFG, never a problem

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143091

[DAVENRINO]

Originally posted by Kev367th
8800 works great for AH2 Krusty.

I prefer BFG over EVGA.
Had one EVGA card, didn't last long.
Last 3 cards all been BFG, never a problem

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143091

Totally agree.  I will never buy an Evga product.  Just ask Jazz1 about their customer service. I have one BFG 6800GT with zero problems.

[Krusty]

I'm sure it does, but the drivers continue to be utter total crap, and will for some time (the current trend shows). One reason I went to GeForce instead of ATI last time I got a card was because the ATI latest drivers were terrible at the time. They might still be, haven't been following up.

Anyways, I agree the 8800s are great, sure, but you're pretty much beta testing them with a hostile dev team, so to speak. Better to wait until the dev team shows the love and puts decent drivers out, and by that time there'll probably be a better card to buy!

[Fulmar]

The 8800 drivers are prefectly fine.  I've played pretty much every new game on the market on it with no driver issues to complain of.  From Oblivion to Flight Sim X to HL2 to AH to CoH etc etc.

Here's a good Video Card chart to benchmark cards against each other (recently updated too)
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/04/24/spring_vga_charts_2007/

Also, this article will help you decide how to spend your money on what video card is best for your budget for May 2007 (they update it every month).
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/05/01/the_best_gaming_video_cards_for_the_money/

As for BFG and eVGA.  I currently own a eVGA 8800 GTS 640mb and I've owned several BFG cards in the past.  I've had no complaints in 4 months with my eVGA card and never had any problems with BFG.  I would have stuck with BFG in my last order but the eVGA has a rebate that convinced me.  Both companies offer a Lifetime warranty on their products which is what I ALWAYS look for.  About 2 years ago my BFG Ti4600's (tried and true) fan began to die.  I called up the company asking if I could get a mere fan replacement (unaway of their warranty at the time) and I was told the fan is under the card warranty and I can RMA the card.  I was expecting my same video card back with a new fan; however, they sent me a brand new 5900XT (I know its 5xxx Nvidia card, but it was free!).  I was thoroughly impressed.  A few months later I began having BSOD while playing games and called their tech support, I was able to talk to an engineer who help me figure out that my PSU was the source of the problem.  Again, I was thoroughly impressed.

BFG cards are also made in America as well, the more I type this thread I feel that I have betrayed BFG.  C'est la vie.

[TinmanX]

Thanks for the input guys! I have ordered the eVGA version as it fit my budget and the eye roll from the wife ack had less circumference when my expense was appropriated to "that bloody game". However, in my line of work I will be able to claim it as a business expense come January.

Rest assured if it fails in any way I shall return here with a super-sized McCrow pie Unhappy Meal and let you all laugh in my general direction

[715]

The 8800GTS is available in a 640MB version and a cheaper 320MB version.  About the only game I play is AH; anyone have thoughts on whether or not the 640MB version would help AH, especially if I want to use the hires textures?  Thanks.

[Fulmar]

Originally posted by 715
The 8800GTS is available in a 640MB version and a cheaper 320MB version.  About the only game I play is AH; anyone have thoughts on whether or not the 640MB version would help AH, especially if I want to use the hires textures?  Thanks.

For AH, the 320mb will produce about near identical FPS to the 640mb.  You'll see a difference in games like Oblivion when you play at max settings and HUGE resolutions.  For your need, stick with the 320mb.

320 to 640 sounds like a big jump, but on this card and in most games, the memory clock speed and core speed is more important.  The 640mb is only going to aid you in games where there are huge texture files, like Oblivion at 1600x1200+.

EXAMPLE: http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=717&model2=716&chart=277
Find the blue bars to see the selected video cards.  Here the 7600GS with the same memory size of 256mb is compared to the 7600GT.  The 7600GT is superior for 3 reasons actually.  1) 560mhz Core speed compared to 400mhz   2) 1400mhz memory speed to 800mhz**  3) the 7600GT uses DDR3 compared to DDR2 of the GS.

** A large jump in memory clock speed because the GT uses DDR3.  If the GT used DDR2 the memory clock speed would be 933mhz.

[TinmanX]

I always though RAM was the determining factor when it came to High-Res Textures. Don't take my word for it though.

[Fulmar]

I use the 1024 texture pack at a resolution of 1600x1024 (widescreen).  As in for the textures, AH is going to use about 120mb or so, the 320mb will be wonderful for you.

And Tinmanx, the video textures are stored on the video memory (correct me if I'm wrong)

[TinmanX]

Originally posted by Fulmar

And Tinmanx, the video textures are stored on the video memory (correct me if I'm wrong)

Video setup says "Preload in system memory" - I always took that to mean something other than video memory.

[Fulmar]

Ctrl + I says Video Memory: XXX Available Video Mem: XXX Used Video Mem:XXX

[TinmanX]

Hehe, I think we're both right!  

"First, many video cards simply do not support texture sizes this large. Secondly, the amount of video memory required to deal with 1024 textures is enormous.
To keep all the textures in memory, either system or video card, currently requires more than 1GB of ram!"

From the download page