Best HD-capable gaming card right now?

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jakobkraft

Golden Member
Jan 21, 2002
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I have an ATI X1900 XTX 512MB. Was a really great card for a while, and now that I have a Blu-ray player (and will have blu-ray rom through my job very soon) I need a video card with HD support.
Sadly, the very next model in ATI's 1900 line - the 1950 - did have HD support, I missed it by like a month. If I were to just get that, after selling my X1900xtx, the financial pinch wouldn't be very bad at all and the gaming performance would be almost the same.

But should I go whole hog and just get the newest HD gamers card available? Would there be a significant real-world difference (don't care at all about benchmarks) compared to the speeds the x1900 offered?

Also, should I go SLI with Nvidia? Is there a substantial advantage there over the latest ATI offering?

Any info would be greatly appreciated - thanks in advance:)
 
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Illyan

Member
Jan 23, 2008
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The 4850 was just released this week. It's really a great card for the price, and will easily outperform the x1900XTX.
 
PClark99

PClark99

Diamond Member
Jan 12, 2000
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I just upgraded from an EVGA 8800GTX to a Visiontek HD4850.

It is definitely a bit faster than the 8800GTX and its so much of a deal in cost per performance I don't think it can be beat right now.

Though a $200 9800GTX is appealing also.

 
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DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
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See the main page of AnandTech.com for the ATI/AMD 4850 and how it compares to the nvidia 9800GTX, GTX 260, GTX 280. The ATI/AMD 4870 is also coming out soon.

All of these cards have hardware to decode blu-ray, but you must update to newer versions of the DVD player software.

Prices range from $150 - $650, depending on how much gaming power you want to have.
 
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GoodToGo

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2000
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HD 4850, you can get it pass audio as well through the HDMI cable. That way you can configure your receiver to decode all current audio formats. THe 9800GTX has HDMI as well but cant pass audio.
 
TurtleCrusher

TurtleCrusher

Lifer
Apr 20, 2008
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jakobkraft

Golden Member
Jan 21, 2002
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Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
Originally posted by: jakobkraft
Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
4850. Truly, enough said about HD. ATI makes video processors in most HDTV's.
Click to expand...

I looked on ATI's website - the newest series listed there was the HD3800:

http://ati.amd.com/products/home-office.html

Is that what you meant?
Click to expand...

Nah i'm talking about the cards released this week. Awesome cards. Check it out!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102747
Click to expand...

That's an incredible deal!!
And this card is actually FASTER for games than the X1900 XTX?
 
BurnItDwn

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,349
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The X1900xt was a great card, but a few generations old.
I'm currently running an x1800xt, and I'm looking to upgrade soon.

As of right now, the 8800GT from Nvidia is a great bargain at under $150. it's a good amount faster than an x1900xt and it has hd acceleration. It's not my first choice, but it's still a good option.

If you don't mind spending a bit more, at around $200 the 4850 destroys the x1900xt, it destroys the 8800GT, and it is faster yet than the 8800GTS and 9800GTX. The 4850 is simply an amazing card.

That said, if you play a lot of games, and you have a bigger wallet, the NDA is supposed to be lifted for the 4870 tomorrow (6/25.) I have seen some leaked benchmarks/reviews showing it to perform extremely well and it's supposedly going to be in the $300 price range. Outside of my budget, but it looks like it's going to be faster than the Geforce GTX260.
 
BassBomb

BassBomb

Diamond Member
Nov 25, 2005
8,390
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You may be having a misconception regarding "HD Support"

If you mean Can it output 1080p then 9/10 cards can do that via DVI. Which you can use to DVI-> HDMI

A few cards can use HDMI directly (without sound)
Recent cards just released can do HDMI with sound

If you mean HD decoding then ATI 3xxx / 4xxx are the best cards for that job. The G92 and GT200's also will have HD decoding but not as impressive as ATI solution.

You can't exactly start using the decoding once you have the card, you need proper codecs and program to use the hardware decoding.

X1900XT I am pretty sure has VC1 decoding at least (my 7900GS does) and possibly h264 but not x264
 
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jakobkraft

Golden Member
Jan 21, 2002
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Originally posted by: angry hampster
Originally posted by: jakobkraft
Anybody know is this card runs games faster than my current X1900 XTX? There's no info on ATI's site at all about this card and very little info on Newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814102747

But if this is actually a faster gaming card, and with the HD support, I'll grab it today!!!
Click to expand...

Should be easily 100% faster in most cases.
Click to expand...


Wonderful, I'm sold!

Just can't believe it's so cheap:)
 
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betasub

Platinum Member
Mar 22, 2006
2,677
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Originally posted by: jakobkraft
Just can't believe it's so cheap:)
Click to expand...

It's great that the two opposing teams are taking price competition seriously.

You can still spend many $100s to get the ultra high-end, but in general the price of gfx cards has steadily decreased in real terms (comparing equivalent cards generation to generation).
 
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jakobkraft

Golden Member
Jan 21, 2002
1,011
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0

Crap, just when I thought this issue was resolved - a friend offered me a $50 best buy gift card, and my local BB is selling the HD3870 for $250.

So now I have the opportunity to get the HD4850 from Newegg for $200 or the HD3870 from BB for $200.
I do want good HD performance for my blu-ray movies AND I love to game.

Which would be better for me? Help!
 
C

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
5,660
762
126
The 4850 is faster. If they're the same price, you should definitely get that.
 
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jakobkraft

Golden Member
Jan 21, 2002
1,011
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0
THANK YOU!!

Just want to get this resolved and happily move on - and thanks to all for the generous info:)
 
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