Need a video card...

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

For my dad. He is still stuck on AGP. I want to upgrade him to an Athlon 3700+, my old DFI LP board, 2GB RAM and a new PCIe video card. Problem is, I dont know what one to get. I dont care if its nVIDIA or ATI, but I prefer nVIDIA if possible. Price has to be lower than < $200 US. He will be playing games such as Timeshift, GoW, the new SoF, all the FEAR games, and things of that sort. He is stuck playing the same games all the time because of the dated computer. Struggles to play anything new. Even at absolute low settings.

I was thinking something along the lines of an 8600GT 512MB card or a HD 3850 256MB. Even thought the 3850 shows better performance, wouldnt the lack of VRAM cause problems in the long run?

He has a 19 inch monitor. 1280x1024 screen resolution.

Idea's guys/gals?

Thanks

 

[bryanW1995]

3850 destroys 8600gts 512, no comparison at all. 3850 256 is comparable to 2900 pro, even with its limited vram. also, at 1280x1024 he won't need to worry about vram in any game other than crysis. there is a thread on here with about 20 links for hd38x0 series card reviews.

if you want to wait a month or so you might be able to get an 8800gt 256 for about 200 +-. that card should be significantly faster than 3850, it just depends on how long you can/will wait for it.

do not under any circumstances buy anything other than 8800gt or 38x0 right now with a $200 budget.

edit: link to toms hardware video card comparison guide. if you compare 2900 pro to 8600gts you get...yeah... we are all still in shock at the incredible shift in video card price/perf in the past month.
this is page one: http://www.tomshardware.com/20...06/best_graphics_card/

here's the cool chart: http://www.tomshardware.com/20...ard/page6.html#summary

I personally think that 5 levels is a bit of a stretch, but there is definitely a night and day difference between the 2 cards.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

I will probably end up putting Vista on his machine later on down the line as well.

So I should probably be looking at the HD 38xx series or 8800GT?

Are there any known problems (major) for either of these cards?

 

[bryanW1995]

pci-e 1.1 or greater is desirable, so a relatively new pci-e board is necessary. I've seen a thread from asrock mobo owners complaining of incompatibility with both 8800 and 38x0, though rumor has it that they're actively working on a bios update to fix this. I would wager that within a month or two pretty much any pci-e mobo will be compatible. I can't imagine that a dfi LP board wouldn't already be compatible, but you are better off double-checking their website and/or our motherboard forums.

 

[CrAsHnBuRnXp]

It should just be backwards compatible. I'll search around on DFI's forums.