$200 card for DOOM3?

Denis54

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Sep 7, 2001
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I want to buy a new video card as a birthday gift for my son. His system is as follows: P4 3.0, 512 mb dual channel memory, GF3 Ti 8200, WD SATA 120 GB HD. He says his video card is not powerfull enough to play DOOM3 smoothly.

Which card should I buy? I would like not to exceed $200.

Which card manufacturers are the most thrustworthy?
 

Cawchy87

Diamond Member
Mar 8, 2004
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Well, since your from canada (like myself) it is tough to get a good card under 200. But a 9700pro would be the best you can get for that price. I don't know about manufacturers but i have had 3 built by ATI cards and they have all worked like a champ
 

Marsumane

Golden Member
Mar 9, 2004
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The best card for your money on doom 3 is either a Nvidia 5900XT, or an Ati 9800pro 128mb. You can find any of these cards on www.newegg.com and any of the board makers of the cards that are sold on that site are good. Both of these cards run between $160-$200 and will play doom 3 at 1024x768 on high quality on your son's system. The image quality on the Ati card is a bit higher, but the Nvidia card is somewhat cheaper (~$20 cheaper). Make sure if you do get the 9800pro, that it is a 9800pro and not an "SE" card because they are significantly slower. Also make sure they have a 256 bit memory bus and NOT a 128bit memory bus. Heres a couple links that i would personally choose from to make this easier:
9800pro: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-127-127&depa=0
5900XT: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-183&depa=0
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
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When is your son's birthday? If it's before the end of next month, 9800Pro is the way to go, any brand with the 256 bit memory.

Since you specifically mentioned Doom3, the 6600GT will be a better Doom 3 card, but it won't be available till next month.

You're a good dad buying your son a video card because he says his card isn't running it smoothly- kudos.
 

Denis54

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Sep 7, 2001
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Is the 6600GT only available as PCI Express? If it is, then it is not an option as his ASUS P4P800 MB does not support PCI Express and dad is not buying a new MB
 

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
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alienbabeltech.com
Originally posted by: Denis54
Is the 6600GT only available as PCI Express? If it is, then it is not an option as his ASUS P4P800 MB does not support PCI Express and dad is not buying a new MB
PCI-E is the next new standard . . . not that many new adopters - yet . . . VGA is still the most popular - by far and it'd be suicidal for nVidia to only offer a PCI-E version . . . however, the PCI version will launch FIRST . .. WHEN is your son's B-Day?

anyway, i guess your son has a GF ti4200 . . . a 9800Pro (256bit/128MB) will be a noticeable and significant upgrade for ~$200 . .. you's have to spend nearly $300 to get much more (a 6800), right NOW.


Nvidia 6600 and 6600 GT officially paper launched
looks like oct/nov for the 6600 AGP. :p
 

gururu

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Jul 16, 2002
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that's a nice computer! I've seen Doom3 on a 9800pro and it runs pretty good.
 

Denis54

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Sep 7, 2001
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His birthday is September 3. His present card is a GF3 Ti 8200 which is older than a GF4. Obviously, a new card will be a major improvement.

Would there be a significant improvement if he also increases his memory to 1 GB?
 

apoppin

Lifer
Mar 9, 2000
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Originally posted by: Denis54
His birthday is September 3. His present card is a GF3 Ti 8200 which is older than a GF4. Obviously, a new card will be a major improvement.

Would there be a significant improvement if he also increases his memory to 1 GB?
well . . . now that you asked . . .

:roll:

:D
. . . Sure . . . especially for Doom III and many games . . . you can wait "forever" for a game to load and fps performance will slow with even 512MB RAM . . . 1GB is the solution . . . however, try to get RAM of the same characteristics (if not "identical") to what is already there since your son's rig is Dual Channel.

i have a very similar system (P4@3.2 Ghz/Radeon 9800XT/WD 120GB HD/1GB PC3500 (2x256 is OCZ RAM and 2x256 is Mushkin - BOTH are PC3500 with nearly identical CAS timings) . . . adding 512 MB to my already 512 MB made a SIGNIFICANT difference in games. :)

i forgot about the old GF 3 (my mind read it somehow as '4') . . . yep, the 9800pro will make it much faster . . . what kind of MONITOR does he have and what resolution does he game at?

edit: the BIGGEST difference wil be the 9800p; he will have all the "eye candy" that a DX9 card can provide . . . if not the fastest, it will still be VERY smooth at 1024x768 with HiQuality settings . . . something his current card cannot acheive . .. when i upgraded TWO months ago from an old Radeon 8500 (like a GF4 t4200), the 9800 series was almost mind-blowingly better. ;)

:)
 

thetman

Senior member
Feb 22, 2004
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there is actually a minimal difference in performace between 512mb of ram and 1 gig in doom 3. i read a paper somewhere but I cant find a link right now.
 

railer

Golden Member
Apr 15, 2000
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I just went from 512 to 1 gig of ram. Didn't help framerates by .1%. Stuff does load faster now. I wouldn't make that a priority. A new vid card will be VERY noticable. Stick with the 9700/9800's, or 5900xt's, as everybody else has mentioned. I just got a refurb 5900xt at newegg for $139, so there are deals to be had if you look.
 

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
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Doom 3 Review - Mainstream Cards

"We?d give ATI [for its 9800Pro] the edge over 5900 XT due to its proven performance with DX9 titles. In part 3 of our 3D Performance with Far Cry series of articles, RADEON 9800 PRO consistently came out ahead of GeForce FX 5900 XT, and while it isn?t a DirectX title, we saw the same results today in DOOM 3. In addition, NVIDIA?s GeForce FX architecture isn?t as robust from a features perspective, lacking support for geometry instancing, centroid sampling, and multiple render targets. It?s also doubtful if DX9 games will be able to utilize HDR lighting with GeForce FX as well as displacement mapping." - Firing Squad

In most games 9800Pro will be at least as fast or faster than a 5900xt. However, 5900xts can be found for slightly less at $170. Try to get 9800Pro for less than $200 and you'll have a decent deal. Like others said, make sure it's a 256-bit version. Something like the MSI 9800Pro is really nice as it comes with the 9800xt core.

Pretty much your options are very open if you want a better card for around $200. If you are short on $$$ you can even get him 9700non-pro for $150. Just search Pricewatch.come for a card of your choice and see if you can find it in Canada or whereever you are purchasing it for a similar price. Skip the ram for doom 3. If you are going to spend $100 US+ on extra 512mb of ram just for doom 3, might as well step up to a faster videocard.

EDIT: You can seriously consider a 6800 card due to the significant performance improvement it brings in Doom 3 (basically you can play at 1600x1200 and often its close to X800xts performance): Review The thing is 6800 card is generally much faster than a 9800Pro: Fastest Cards of Summer 2004 This could be a more forward looking long-term investment considering support of PS3.0 and the card's excellent ability to play fast at 1600x1200 or up to 1024x768 with 4AA/8AF settings. Considering it comes with a version of Far Cry if you get the EVGA version for $278, it can be a better deal if you are willing to spend slightly more. You can bet it will play significantly faster than a 9800pro card in shader intensive games like StarWars:KOTOR, Far Cry, Halo, and the upcoming HL2/Counterstrike (as well as future games built on the Doom 3 engine).
 

samgorney101

Member
Oct 7, 2003
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Honestly. If you get him one of those 9800s or the FX 5900 your gonna have to replace it again in about 8 months max. If you got even the low end 6800 that number jumps to a year and half before it starts to lack in performance. Better to spend a extra $100 now then another $300-$400 in about half a year.
 

Avalon

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2001
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Wow @ the 6600GT. That's smoking mainstream performance for Doom 3. I'd suspect one would see large performance gains over the x600 XT in other titles as well. Moving their mainstream cards from a 4 pipeline architecture to an 8 can only mean good things for those on a budget. It's unfortunate that ATI's x600 cards are virtually the same as their last gen equivalents :(
I'd like to see how a 6600GT matches up with a 9800 pro...guess I've got a while to wait.
 

railer

Golden Member
Apr 15, 2000
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Honestly. If you get him one of those 9800s or the FX 5900 your gonna have to replace it again in about 8 months max. If you got even the low end 6800 that number jumps to a year and half before it starts to lack in performance. Better to spend a extra $100 now then another $300-$400 in about half a year.


Now that's just silly. He's using a GF3 now. A GF3. How old is that? 4 years? A 5900/9800 will be playable for a LONG time. Not at 1600/1200 with max AA/AF, but to say that you're going to HAVE to replace such a card in 8 months is beyond ridiculous.

Those 6600's do look nice....
 

fwtong

Senior member
Feb 26, 2002
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Originally posted by: railer
Honestly. If you get him one of those 9800s or the FX 5900 your gonna have to replace it again in about 8 months max. If you got even the low end 6800 that number jumps to a year and half before it starts to lack in performance. Better to spend a extra $100 now then another $300-$400 in about half a year.


Now that's just silly. He's using a GF3 now. A GF3. How old is that? 4 years? A 5900/9800 will be playable for a LONG time. Not at 1600/1200 with max AA/AF, but to say that you're going to HAVE to replace such a card in 8 months is beyond ridiculous.

Those 6600's do look nice....

The 9800Pros are most likely going to play games based on the Doom3, Far Cry and Source engine at 1024x768 pretty well, so I'm sure that it'll hold up for a little longer then 8 months. It can handle Doom3 at high pretty smoothly at 1024x768. Not to mention, that RTS games are as demanding as FPS, so the 9800Pro should be able to handle those decently as well. Besides, in another 8 months, the low end 6800 should be a lot less then $300-$400 because something newer and better will be out for that same $300-$400.
 

nRollo

Banned
Jan 11, 2002
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Originally posted by: Denis54
His birthday is September 3. His present card is a GF3 Ti 8200 which is older than a GF4. Obviously, a new card will be a major improvement.

Would there be a significant improvement if he also increases his memory to 1 GB?

1. The 9800Pro is your best buy for $200 at this time, period. I personally consider the 6800NU with Far Cry a better deal at $280, but for $200 your best buy is the 9800Pro. This will be a HUGE upgrade for you son.

2. Contrary to what Apoppin' says
Sure . . . especially for Doom III and many games . . . you can wait "forever" for a game to load and fps performance will slow with even 512MB RAM . . . 1GB is the solution . . . however, try to get RAM of the same characteristics (if not "identical") to what is already there since your son's rig is Dual Channel.

Anandtech says 512 vs 1GB memory makes no difference at all:
The truth about memory and Doom3 here on AT
It was surprising that there were no real performance differences between 512MB, 1GB, and 2GB of memory in our benchmarks with the built-in Demo1.

If you're thinking about spending more on memory to add on, as well as a 9800Pro, this is a very bad move indeed.

You could add the cost of the memory to your video card budget and get a 6800NU and double your son's Doom3 performance over a 9800Pro. Or you could buy the memory and not see any difference at all.

Trust me on this one: If you're considering the memory, buy the 6800NU instead. Your son will thank you. (and have a free copy of Far Cry to play when he's done with Doom3)
 

nRollo

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Jan 11, 2002
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BTW- my own benchmarking of 768 vs 1GB of RAM on Doom3 and other games showed no difference at all, and I even went from 333MHz to 400MHz RAM with the same CAS 2.5 timings. (I have an A64 3000+)

Back away from the memory idea....put the memory idea down...

;)