best card for 3d?

[stampede]

my video card went the way of the dodo last week. unfortunately i bought it off ebay so no warranty. it was a nvidia quatro4 900, which i really enjoyed, but i dare not chance ebay again, so what card would y'all recommend for doing 3d max work? i play some games and other stuff, but the 3d is my big concern. i want to keep in the $2-300 range, so i'm looking at the 9800, or the 5900, which i know are game cards, but will they run the 3d well enough? and do they run 2 moniters well, as that is what i'm running. thanks!

tys

 

[Corporate Thug]

dollar for dollar the BFG 5900 is a great buy @ ~$160 or a 9700 pro for ~$200

 

[Keysplayr]

If your app uses OpenGL for your 3D work, always go with nvidia Quadro Cards. Not sure which models though.

 

[us3rnotfound]

hrmmm...ATi or Nvidia

 

[Cerb]

Given you're going up from a Quadro4, chances are the game cards will be as good or better (the FXs anyway), without the premium (though the premium could be worth it GF-FX vs. Quadro-FX...Quadro4 vs GF-FX...no chanc).
The big question is, did you use any of the driver presets (from the little options thing it liks to put in the systray) or any other special features? If so, you'll find it a pain to get that stuff the same (or as close as it goes) with a gaming card.
What options the drivers give you is really the biggest difference (not that there aren't a few hardware differences). If you just installed the card, installed the drivers and let it be...no big deal, the gaming cards will do fine.
You might want to see if you can find any info on differing visual quality for the GF-FX cards. If there are differences, then LeadTek would likely be the way to go (here).
However, it also depends a lot on what you are doing:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/print/3dsmax5-quadrofx3000.html