Building a Rig in July, what Video Card Should I get?

[Nightmare225]

I own a 1680x1050 dell monitor and plan to use it for my new rig which I will build in July. What video card do you guys recommend that can run games on very high settings at this resolution and is as cheap as possible? I plan to upgrade to the R600 and G80 as soon as they come out. Also, how much of a leap would this card be over a Radeon 9700?

 

[Gautama]

The x1800xt from Sapphire Tech on Newegg is a great deal right now. Not sure how a 9700 performs, but the x1800xt should get 100+ fps with max settings on HL2

 

[Bateluer]

The X1800XT is a very big jump from a 9700, in both performance and feature set.

 

[Kromis]

That's a huge leap. You see...

The 9700 uses the (I think) R480 core.... R600-R480=120. See the difference? Lol...you should've known it was gnona be a huge ass leap...(9700 was like 2000-2002 era. R600 and G80 will be the sh!t)

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: Kromis
That's a huge leap. You see...

The 9700 uses the (I think) R480 core.... R600-R480=120. See the difference? Lol...you should've known it was gnona be a huge ass leap...(9700 was like 2000-2002 era. R600 and G80 will be the sh!t)

LOL!

The 9700 uses the R300 core.
The X850XT uses the R480 core.

G80 will be a significant leap, because NV will use a new architecture for sure. (NV50 has been in the making for a long time).

 

[Howard]

What games do you plan on playing?

 

[Nightmare225]

Far Cry, Doom 3, Halo, Counter-Strike, some oldies, Age of Empires 3, Battle for Middle-Earth II, Halflife 2, etc. Though I do find myself playing a lot of Source engine games lately, so I'm guessing I should get an ATI card, right?

 

[Elfear]

The new episode of HL2 actually seems to run well on both ATI and Nvidia cards. If you plan on playing the original HL2/CS:S than a high-end card from either company will be fine as they are mostly cpu limited in my experience.

Personally, I'd go with either an X1800XT or a 7900GT depending on pricing at the time. For the same price I'd go with the X1800XT for the feature set and software voltmods. If you don't mind playing with no AA, than you could probably get away with an X800GTO for $100. That's what I have in my work rig and it runs through the games you listed just fine (not sure about AOE3 though, might want to check on that). HL2 and CS:S you would probably be fine with 2AA. Just a thought if you're planning on buying another card ~6 months later.

 

[Exsomnis]

Originally posted by: Kromis
That's a huge leap. You see...

The 9700 uses the (I think) R480 core.... R600-R480=120. See the difference? Lol...you should've known it was gnona be a huge ass leap...(9700 was like 2000-2002 era. R600 and G80 will be the sh!t)

Are you on fvcking drugs? The X850 series uses the R480 core, and the number on the core doesn't make a god damn bit of difference either.

 

[Josh7289]

Originally posted by: Exsomnis

Originally posted by: Kromis
That's a huge leap. You see...

The 9700 uses the (I think) R480 core.... R600-R480=120. See the difference? Lol...you should've known it was gnona be a huge ass leap...(9700 was like 2000-2002 era. R600 and G80 will be the sh!t)

Are you on fvcking drugs? The X850 series uses the R480 core, and the number on the core doesn't make a god damn bit of difference either.

Hence the "Lol..." in his post.

 

[Captante]

Get back to us in the beginning of July.

 

[Polish3d]

Originally posted by: Nightmare225
I own a 1680x1050 dell monitor and plan to use it for my new rig which I will build in July. What video card do you guys recommend that can run games on very high settings at this resolution and is as cheap as possible? I plan to upgrade to the R600 and G80 as soon as they come out. Also, how much of a leap would this card be over a Radeon 9700?

X1900xt if you can and dont look back baby

 

[Polish3d]

Actually I'll be selling my BFG 7800GTX OC which has the NvSilencer 5 installed for 200 bucks in about 2 weeks if you're interested in that too, PM me if so

 

[Nightmare225]

Originally posted by: Captante
Get back to us in the beginning of July.

Something big happening then?
But yeah, you guys are right. I should wait a bit more before deciding, the prices might change a bit, what with the R580+ and 7950GX2...