Best Video Card under $200

[Guytalbot]

Hi, I am looking to upgrade my video card and haven't kept up on hardware like I used to, looking to spend $200 max not a dime over so whats the best card I can get for that price?

Thanks

 

[nick1985]

9800pro

 

[Confused]

Originally posted by: nick1985
9800pro

 

[jim1976]

Originally posted by: Confused

Originally posted by: nick1985
9800pro

Third that

 

[FluxCap]

Originally posted by: nick1985
9800pro

 

[James3shin]

what those guys said

 

[Yanagi]

9800PRO would suit your budget the best

 

[kyparrish]

9800pro w/o doubt

 

[Gamingphreek]

Either 9800Pro or 5900XT. 9800Pro is for the most part a more consistent performer however the 5900XT is a bit cheaper and has VIVO.

-Kevin

 

[zodder]

9800 Pro

 

[nitromullet]

http://www.anandtech.com/guides/showdoc.aspx?i=2109&p=2

For those of us on a decent budget, the Radeon 9800 Pro still takes the cake for its priceerformance ratio. Most vendors are handing out these GPUs for around $200, depending on where you look, and they are able to handle pretty much every game currently available on the market.

this question has been asked and answered over a dozen times within the last month and Anandtech does buyers guides regularly. Please try the search function.

 

[Guytalbot]

actually the question hasnt been asked for 2 month, I did use the search function, and this is why i hardly ever go to these boards anymore because of the rude posters, if you dont like my topic dont reply instead of being a jerk.

 

[Marsumane]

Originally posted by: zodder
9800 Pro

 

[MiniDoom]

A friend gave me his old Geforce fx5600, would I be better off with a 9800 even though it has half the memory?

 

[Lonyo]

MSI RX9800Pro from Newegg.

rdubbz420, the amount of memory on the 5600 is worthless, 256MB isn't worth sh!t on that card.
It has 4 pipes, compared to the 8 of a 9800Pro, it has a 128-bit memory bus compared to 256-bit on a 9800Pro.
The 9800Pro also has higher clocks, and most games don't use more than 128MB of VRAM anyway, except Doom3, and a 9800Pro will ALWAYS perform better than a 5600.

 

[Concillian]

Originally posted by: rdubbz420
A friend gave me his old Geforce fx5600, would I be better off with a 9800 even though it has half the memory?

YES

 

[Corporate Thug]

i'm gonna disagree with the rest of the pack and say 9800 pro

 

[OMG1Penguin]

Originally posted by: nick1985
9800pro

 

[Gurck]

Originally posted by: Concillian

Originally posted by: rdubbz420
A friend gave me his old Geforce fx5600, would I be better off with a 9800 even though it has half the memory?

YES

Absolutely. 256mb on a 5600 is an underhanded marketing gimmick. A card that crippled can't make use of all that ram - and they don't stop there; they use cheaper, lower-speed ram on those, making them even slower than the 128mb versions of the same card. My 2 year old ti4600 will beat that 5600. The 9800 will blow its doors off. The amount of ram on a video card is one of the last factors in its speed.

 

[railer]

Agree with everybody.....except, if you could get a 9700 pro or np for a lot less than a 9800 pro, I'd do that. I got a 9700 NP off of ebay for $112 shipped, and clocked to pro speeds it's probably 90% or more as fast as a 9800 pro. for only 56% the $$$$. Not sure how cheap you could find a new 9700 pro/np tho.

 

[Blastman]

Originally posted by: rdubbz420
A friend gave me his old Geforce fx5600, would I be better off with a 9800 even though it has half the memory?

Yes. The 9800 will be 2x faster or more.

 

[josepavento]

In the last 6 months I have had:

fx5200
fx5900se (PNY)

9600pro AIW
9600xt
9800pro (BBA)

9800pro performed the best, with the 5900 right behind. I couldn't really tell the difference during game play. Sure, the 9800pro's fps were a little higher than the 5900's, but overall gameplay was about the same. The 9600pro/xt gets the job done for me though (not a huge gamer, currently have the 9600pro AIW in the machine right now).

You can't go wrong with a 5900 or 9800pro.

JOse.