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Best video card deal ~ $200 at a retail chain right now...

T

tigereye

Senior member
Sorry if this doesn't belong in video, but wasn't sure where to put it.

Through a series of unlikely events, I find myself with a comparatively large (for me) window of free time this weekend, in which I'm hoping to get some Half life 2 action. Unfortunately, this is forcing my hand on my well planned and frequently delayed video card upgrade, leaving me at the mercy of the local retailers.

I've looked around today at all of the "usual" suspects (Best Buy, Compusa, etc), and about the only tolerable deal I could find was a 9600xt at Best Buy for $169, but I was hoping to find something in the 9800 range for not much more than $200, rather than the $250-$300 I was quoted.

So, just wondering if anyone out there has seen something that I might be missing, or knows where I might find a decent (for retail) card that's the best bang for my Last minute Half Life 2 buck.

Thx,

Mike
 
I didn't see many retail deals for a 9800 when browsing the Hot Deals.

Unfortunately, I think the 9800 is overpriced at the retail stores (that's not a shock). It's still a great card, but not worth the current $230-$250 prices, especially since Nvidia's faster 6600/6800 cards can be had not much more.

If you can find a 9800 for $200, then jump on it. Otherwise the 9600XT is going to be your best bet.
 
Outpost.com has the 9800 pro for $179 online. The Comp deal is better, but they are probably out of stock before the sale starts. They are bait and switch kings.
 
Thanks for the help guys. I've never followed the NV cards closely, so wasn't aware of the CUSA deal. I'll be heading up there today to check it out.
 
tiger,

you can check their web site for stock in thier stores, the cincy store and the Miamisburg store do not have any in stock.

Unfortunately, most of the newer cards have not fallen under the $200 price tag yet, assuming you dont a PCI-E express slot, then you could get a ATI X700 for 199.

We also dont know what your upgrading from, so its hard to make a recommendation, or what kind of system you have. The 9600XT is probably your best bet under $200 at a local chain if you really wanted to buy a new card before the weekend. If you can hold off, i would wait until some of the 6800, 6600GT, or some of the x800 drop in price closer to your $200 price range.

If your dead set on getting a VC today i would get the BFG 6800 OC from best buy for $299. That will blow the 9600XT away, but if you are going to stay at $200 or less, the 9600XT is the way to go. No since in paying $249 for a 9800 when you can get the BFG 6800 OC for $50 more.

Thats my suggestion.

Chris
 
Chris,

Thx for the advice. It occurred to me last night that more info would probably help as I'm sure the CPU is going to be the bottleneck for me. Right now, I've got an XP 1600 on an KK-266 with 768 MB pc133 and a Radeon 7200. I know it's a little (or a lot) long in the tooth, but I was hoping to avoid a major system overhaul for another few months, as it does everything else I need just fine. The MB won't support any significantly faster processors, so I'm stuck doing a total overhaul and passing this one down to the kids when the time comes.

I don't do a lot of heavy gaming, so have been able to keep myself occupied with bargain bin stuff until HL2 came out. I was thinking that with a decent enough video card, I could probably do HL2 at 800x600 / medium details as I hear it scales down pretty well.

I would think that the 6800 would have been ideal, but they are, indeed OOS. I wasn't sure as I've gotten sketchy results for the cincy store before on stock levels, so called and checked anyway. I like the idea of the 6800 oc from Best Buy, but am not really excited about the concept of a $300 video card for this system, even if I could move it to a newer system later. Sounds like I'll either head out for the XT, or pick another game for tomorrow.. 😉 Maybe I'll just pick up San Andreas and not worry about it right now.

Thanks again,

Mike
 
Mike,

Thats pretty interesting, as i was in just about the same boat you were, and can share my experience with you. My system was simular to yours I have a XP 2200, with only 512 pc 2100 ram, and a ti4200 VC. So are systems were quite similar. You had more ram, i had a little better processor, and my VC was probably a little better than yours, so we were probably in the same boat. My MOBO wouldn't except a better processor either.

So i was in the process of building a new system, when Comp put that 6800 on sale the day after thanksgiving. I wasn't ready to build the system yet, but i got the card anyways. So i have that exact card from compusa.

So i put it into my old system just to use it til i built the new system (i just finished last night so basically for 3 weeks i played with the 6800 in my old system.

1st let me say hl2 played on my old system with the old VC. Not great, way dialed down, but it did play smoothly and flawlessly, i just had to keep it dialed down. So i was interested to see what i difference the VC would make. IT WAS HUGE. Even on the old system i was able to turn just about everything on high, and play pretty smoothly at 1024 by 768. When i started to edge up to the 1600 by 1200, it really didn't play well. But at 1024 by 768, it was REALLY nice, and i have almost all the setting up on high.

So, it did make a BIG difference even in the old system. The advanced processor and memory on the 6800 were such and upgrade over what i had, it really was a big boost. And of course the 6800 will move over to whatever new system you end up getting/building.

Dont know if you ever used the benchmark 01/03/05 programs... but they are the usual programs people use to grade how fast their systems are.... my score went from 1500 to 7500 just by changing the VC. ill be interested to see what my new system gets tonight.

So, to sum up..... HL2 will run in the system you have right now. Just need to dial it way down. the 6800 will make a HUGE difference in your current system.

Since you already have a 7200, though old, and a 9600XT would be a very nice improvement.... if your gonna spend $169, you might as well bite the bullet and get a 6800 if you really want one today.

If it was me, i wouldn't get the 9600XT, i spend the extra for the 6800, or wait til they came down in price.

hope this helped 🙂

CHris
 
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