Good vid card for usual games

[roguerower]

Most of the games i play i don't play at huge resolutions cause i'm more into the game play than i am the eye candy, although i will take the time to ooh and ahh. With the new upcoming games coming out (crysis, hl2:e2, etc) what would be a good vid card to plunk down some money on.

 

[Stumps]

I will assume that the video card is intended for the rig in your sig, you are fairly limited by what you can use because of the lack of PCI-E, you best bet would be just to get hold of a X1950Pro AGP or if you can find one a 7950GT AGP...If your PSU can handle them.

 

[Noema]

Both the X1950Pro and 7950GT AGP should offer decent performance provided you don't go above 1280x1024.

 

[roguerower]

Sorry, i forgot to mention that this is for PCI-Express

 

[theprodigalrebel]

In the ~$150 range, your options are either the X1950Pro/X1950XT or the 8600GTS. The 8600GTS sucks balls (unless recent drivers have worked wonders) and you are likely never going to play any game in DX10 mode with any kind of decent frame rate so the DX10 advantage goes right out the window.

Stay away from the HD 2600 cards. In that price range, previous-gen ATI cards are best.

Next step-up would be the 8800GTS 320MB in the $250-$275 range.

 

[Noema]

Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel
The 8600GTS sucks balls (unless recent drivers have worked wonders)

True that.

I'd recommend the X1950Pro as it offers great bang for the buck.

 

[LordTerrin]

Your best bet is to stay clear of DX10 for now - because first generation cards are always pretty slow compared to things that will come out in a year or two (when there are enough DX10 titles to actually make you WANT to buy a DX10 card.) I bought a 7600GT a while back for $105, after rebate, and that was almost 6 months ago, so I'm sure you can find it for the same price or cheaper now, and the card works GREAT.

I play Half-Life 2, Warcraft 3, World of Warcraft, and a few other games all at 1920x1200 on my Dell 24" monitor, and they run above 30fps for the most part. You don't need 2000fps and a GeForce 9,000,000GTXXXXX to be happy... the direct x 9 engine has pretty much been maxed out, and the 7600gt is a GREAT card to handle the types of games you might throw at it. I recommend buying this card, and then maybe waiting like a year or so, at least until crysis comes out, so you can have more options at the table.

 

[roguerower]

If I do go ahead and build this, I won't be doing so until the end of August. That said, is there anything on the horizon that looks good?

 

[manimal]

By August the 8800 gts may drop to the 200 range. That may be your best bet. The 2400 and 8600 are fail imho.

 

[Gepidae]

Originally posted by: LordTerrin
Your best bet is to stay clear of DX10 for now - because first generation cards are always pretty slow compared to things that will come out in a year or two (when there are enough DX10 titles to actually make you WANT to buy a DX10 card.) I bought a 7600GT a while back for $105, after rebate, and that was almost 6 months ago, so I'm sure you can find it for the same price or cheaper now, and the card works GREAT.

I play Half-Life 2, Warcraft 3, World of Warcraft, and a few other games all at 1920x1200 on my Dell 24" monitor, and they run above 30fps for the most part. You don't need 2000fps and a GeForce 9,000,000GTXXXXX to be happy... the direct x 9 engine has pretty much been maxed out, and the 7600gt is a GREAT card to handle the types of games you might throw at it. I recommend buying this card, and then maybe waiting like a year or so, at least until crysis comes out, so you can have more options at the table.

I own the same card and I play at 1860x1050. WoW works perfectly fine maxed out. I cant say the same for the other games listed since I havent gone back to those since I got my new 22''. IMO if your into the newer games (ex. Overlord) 7600GT will NOT run fine even on Med. settings (it hiccups when u try to look left and right). I know I tried. I dont necessarily agree with you to stay away from the 8800 series. I think a 8800gts 320mb will suit you fine roguerower and you can find various ones around the $250+ range assuming you look hard enough.