Im going insane, help choosing GPU please...

[staereo]

Im planning on getting a computer, brand new, in the next 2 weeks.

It will be a p4 3ghz computer.

I am looking to make it a gaming machine, and I want a video card that will handle half life 2 and doom 3, and others with their engines, as well as something to last through other games coming up.

I have no idea what to choose, because every review basically says that they are equal.

Money is an object, however, I would rather pay more now so as not to have to buy ANOTHER gpu in a few months because Im unsatisfied with the one I've got.

Ill be happy to answer any questions that will help, I'm desperate for some people's input.

Thanks,
Bruce

 

[VIAN]

OK, then here it is. Don't buy one 2 weeks from now and wait till April. There will be brand new GPU's coming out that will rip another ass in existing ones. This is your best bet. And you never purchase GPUs for games that are not out yet. And get an AMD CPU because they are better at gaming and general applications compared to Intel which is better at encoding and decoding and stuff like that.

 

[staereo]

Yeah, I've heard that the cycle for GPUs is coming about. I've done so much reading my eyes are red.

Hours and hours in front of this pc. My problem is, I'm DYING to get a new PC, and though april is only 2 months away, that seems like forever to wait for a new PC. I'd hate to seem impatient, but I really am.

I've also read all about how you shouldn't buy a video card for whats coming out, but with those games right around the corner, and my new PC purchasing so near, I was hoping to avoid buying 2 video cards this time around.

In addition, I know NOTHING about AMD, I've always used intel. I have heard all about AMD running faster, etc.. And they are much cheaper, but I want top of the line, and I have no idea what the top shelf AMD processors are.

I'll be happy to hear advice on that as well.

Bruce

 

[modedepe]

How much are you looking to spend? And what games are you out NOW that you will be playing. It could be quite a wait still for hl2, and the same could happen with d3.

If you really want a top of the line cpu, you should get an A64 fx51, however given their price that's unrealistic. The A64 3000+ gives good bang for the buck and performs as well or better than the 3.0C in most apps. If you really want a p4 though, it's far from a bad choice. They still give good performance in games and are a better value now with the recent price cuts.

 

[Alptraum]

Depending on your budget and wants I would recommend ATI (9800pro, 9800pro AIW, or 9800xt in order of price). I am not as familiar with the current NVidia cards since they generally do not perform as well at the moment. But their top level models are generally not terribly far behind performance wise and should work well also.

 

[videoclone]

The Pentium 3Ghz CPU gets blown to hell by the Athlon64 3000+ in games dont wast your money on a Pentium 4 32bit old tech CPU the Athlon64 will last u heaps longer and at the same price as the Pentium4 3.0 its easy the better CPU

As for Videocard get a Geforce FX5900XT SE or standard for $180 .. or if u can find a ATI9700 Pro or 9800nu for $200 get one of those ... the Geforce FX5950 and ATI9800XT are only a little bit faster about 10-15% then the 5900 and 9800 but the cost twice as much .. you should use the money u save by getting these 15% slower card and in 1 years time use that same money to upgrade to a better card its better then what your planning on doing. not to mention the FX5900nu SE or XT will run games just fine and so will the 9800nu and 9700 Pro you cant go wrong with any 1 of these really good cards.

Spending big now and hoping with fingers crossed it will last is silly you should buy wisly and with the savings upgrad when absolutly required. ... Athlon 64 3000+ will last u a long time that CPU will be playing games for many years to come even after those games are only coded in 64bit .. where the Pentium 3Ghz wont be able to run them.

 

[Rage187]

Get the A64 3200 or 3400.


OMG intel sucks...

 

[videoclone]

They dont suck they just suck for games.~ when compared with AMD's Athlon 64 CPU's

 

[Corporate Thug]

Originally posted by: Rage187
Get the A64 3200 or 3400.


OMG intel sucks...

let the wars begin!!!

 

[VIAN]

Funny, a CPU battle in the Video forums.

I really would wait for that new computer. I know it feels like forever, but you will be kicking yourself in the ass so much if you don't wait these small months.

As for AMD, Athlon64 is what to get. And from that chip architecture get the biggest number. The 3400 is the highest out now, but in 2 months there might be a 3700, something to get excited about.

FYI: There are three AMD chips on the market right now. Athlon XP; Athlon 64; Athlon FX.

Athlon XP doesn't support 64-bit and has no on-die memory controller. Last generation and costs as much as a Celeron, but performs way beyond. On par with P4B chips of equal speed.

Athlon 64 supports 64-bit and has an on-die memory controller. This chip is speedy. Costs are nice around 250. Performs better than P4C with equal speed.

Athlon FX supports 64-bit and has an on-die memory controller with support for dual channel RAM. This baby costs some 200 less than P4EE 3.2. Very expensive and gets similar performance as Athlon 64 3400, which is 400 dollars cheaper.

These Outperformings are only in the sections that AMD excels the most which are the most important to us - general applications and gaming.

 

[Pete]

If you can't wait, I think a $220 Sapphire 9800 Pro OEM @ NewEgg is a good compromise between being fast and future-proof. It's among the fastest cards available now, and most tests indicate it will be among the fastest cards of this generation in DX9-heavy games (because of generally 2x faster DX9 pixel shaders). Very preliminary benchmarks (each will be over six months old before the game is available for sale) indicate nVidia is better for Doom 3 and ATi for Half-Life 2, but the performance gap between the two may shrink by the time both games are finally released.

BTW, I'd go with an Athlon 64 for games, definitely. Not to mention it can clock itself down to 800MHz when it's not doing anything intensive, thus saving energy and reducing noise and heat. There are plenty of reviews to compare A64 vs. P4 performance. Try AcesHardware, TechReport, and Anandtech, for starters.

 

[BenSkywalker]

If you get a R9800Pro, make sure you have some good case cooling, the things runs hot, even when on the desktop. It throws a lot of heat out, my current ambient temp monitor next to my AGP slot is +/- 1 degree Celsius from my under processor probe(this is on the desktop). When gaming you can expect it with any card, but the ATi parts are boilers even on the desktop unfortunately. Not saying it's a bad card at all, but between a 3GHZ P4 and a R350 based card you are going to need some excellent cooling.

I'd agree with the sentiment to go Athlon64. The ~$220 A64 3000+ is faster then the P4 3GHZ more often then not in gaming, and costs a lot less. The 3400+ can be had for ~$450 and bests the P4 3GHZ by a considerable margin, usually bests the P4 EE parts decently for that matter(for less then half the price). If gaming is your top concern, A64 is the way to go hands down(even if it cost the same or slightly more it would still be the better choice, at a decent amount less it is so hands down).

I was in pretty much the same situation as you, trying to wait and gave up and just went and bought a bunch of new parts due to impatience. Can't say that I regret it either. I had every intention of getting a GeForce FX5900 and ended up picking up a Radeon9800Pro and I can't say I'm disappointed with it(few glitches bother me). Some of my games are utterly stunning with it, far better then on a FX(Mafia- everything cranked 1600x1200x32 w/4x AA + 16x AF and smooth.... sooooo sweet ), others favor nVidia by a decent amount(JediKnightIII for example), either way though you will likely be most pleased with whichever board you go with.

For shader related performance- I haven't seen sh!t yet that indicates that DX9 shaders are going to be worth major consideration any time close in the future. Overwhelmingly you would have to have the DX8 and DX9 level shaders running side by side and pay close attention and that's looking at the games that aren't even out yet, today it is almost completely a non factor. For a general guideline- DooM3 faster on nV, HL2 faster on ATi. You like AA more ATi, texture filtering is your bag nV.

 

[oldfart]

Rumor has it the 9800P will be dropping to $199 SOON. They are ~ $220 already.

 

[VIAN]

If you really can't wait.

A nice Athlon 64 3000+ - 220. Asus k8t800 K8V Deluxe - 150 i think. 2x 512 DDR400 Corsair XMS - 220. 9800 XT - 400.

prices from newegg.

 

[Keysplayr]

Originally posted by: videoclone
They dont suck they just suck for games.~ when compared with AMD's Athlon 64 CPU's

Ok, both intel and AMD perform perfectly fine in any games. There isn't a game out that either processor cant handle extremely well.
Dont know why you said intel sucks for games. Makes no sense. You can go either way and be fine.

As for you GPU. I would take the advice to wait for the next gen cards. But if you must buy now and have the most future proof card, 9800XT.

 

[videoclone]

keysplayr2003 Did you read my post i said they suck in GAMES only when they are compared with how AMD Athlon64 CPU's run games.

The Athlon 64's run Every single game ever made in the history of videogames. better then any Pentium 4 ..even the P4EE cant stand up to the Athlon64?s in running videogames.

READ some reviews buddy you will find out this for yourself because everyone else in these forums already know's this.
It would help if u open your eyes and realise that at the moment if your a gamer the only reason you would get an Intel CPU is because your a intel fanboy. and no other reason.

 

[staereo]

OK, I hope people are still reading this. Because of your advice, I'm changing my plan.

I do still desperately want a pc NOW, so I'm thinking of doing this:

Purchasing a new computer with a 'lesser' video card in it. Perhaps a 9600xt or a 256mb 5200 or something. Then when the next generation video cards come out I can do a little switiching around.

Like put the new next gen card in my new machine, move the 9600/5200 to my p3 550, move the rage fury pro from that machine to my celeron 700 (since that just has like on board video).

Is this an ok comprimise? Do you think it will work out? And what lesser video card should I get if it is an ok idea (any card, not just the ones I mentioned)? Do we assume that the next gen cards will still work in a 8x agp main board? (Ive heard of that pci 2 or whatever coming out in time, so i wasnt sure.)

Thanks for all your help, I hope I still get some replies because I've never had so much good info as I'm getting here.

Bruce

(PS, ive already got approval from the wife to purchase the next gen card later in april when they are released. I assume they will be in the 500-600 dollar range, is this a fair assumption?)

Again, thanks to you all, so much!

 

[modedepe]

The ~$220 A64 3000+ is faster then the P4 3GHZ more often then not in gaming, and costs a lot less.

Actually they're both the same price now with the cuts. Not saying I would take the p4 over the 64 though.

 

[videoclone]

Stereo that sounds like a good idea ?.. but if your going for cheap cards then Try a Radeon 9200 9000 or 9100 any one of these cards should be great they are better then a Geforce4mx card and I would take them over a FX5200 if you want some advice just stay away from the FX5200 all together and the cheaper you find a Radeon 9200 the better ? also 1 thing you may hafta format your machine when you install a new videocard later on when u upgrade cards so keep that in mind. The Radeon 9200 should run any games you will play now just fine but make sure not to get a 9200se 9100se or 9000se those are to be avoided at all costs.
Also make sure your card has at least a 128bit Memory bus some of these cheaper cards have a 64bit bus both Nvidia and ATI 64bit memory bus cards are also to be avoided.

And the next gen cards from Nvidia and ATI that come out in 2 months will both be AGP and PCI express versions of these cards will come a few months after them. good luck with the upgrade and remember AMD 3000+ costs the same as the P4 3Ghz but runs faster then the P4 3Ghz also runs cooler and has a quieter fan.

 

[staereo]

is the 9200(pro?) dx 9 compatible?

Thanks,
Bruce

 

[videoclone]

Nope its only 8.1 but even if it was it wouldnt be running DX9 games very well. neither will an ATI9600 or a FX5200 or 5600
just stick with a cheap card your going to be replacing it soon anyways ! so who cares. if its dx9 or not if it doesnt have enough power to run dx9 games.

 

[nick1985]

get a good card now. dont even mess around with mid-range cards if you want good future performance

i suggest the 5900 or the 9800pro.

 

[videoclone]

Ignore what nick said new cards come out in 2 months the high-end videocard u get now will become half price you will cry ! trust me its happend 2 everyone here at least once.

 

[MegaWorks]

dude relax it's only a vid card, people go insane when they lose there jobs or someone special in there lives not by choosing a video card lol!. Look by 2 weeks you will have plenty of time to choose the right GPU, just make a rechercher on video cards and get the one that will fit your budget fine.

------------------------------------------------------
AMD Athlon XP T-Bred B DLT3C 1700+ @ 2.3GHZ (1.775v) 400FSB = 3200+
Abit NF7-S V.2 (nForce2 U 400)
Corsair TwinX XMS 3200LL 512MB @ 2-3-2-6 (2.6v)
Sapphire Radeon 9500 Pro 128MB
Antec TrueBlue 480W
Thermalright SLK-947U with 92mm Vantec Tornado @2800RPM
Maxtor 91531U3 15GB
2x Western Digital WD400BB 40GB serials
Antec PlusView 1000AMG
Cambridge SoundWorks MegaWorks THX 550 5.1

 

[high]

5 FPS means Intel sucks....come on get real...we all know that this debate would only be any useful if it was someone that wanted to upgrade from 1.6 P4 w/512 pc133 and geforce4 mx440 to a p4/AMD and 9800XT...then we could say "the intel p4 1.6 SUCKS compared to either" but come on, all these debates about a64 vs. p4 are stupid because honestly no one can notice the difference between the 2 in gaming, internet surfing, general apps, etc...