New card for BF2

[Kinghunter]

I have a buddy who has a pci 9250 128mb(he does have an agp slot) apparently it is not supported for the bf2 demo or the official game. He has a little over $100 to spend all he is worried about is playing the game as he doesnt bother with high settings. For around that range you can get a 6200 or a 9800 pro I dont know if these are the best options as price/playability is more important then high performance.

 

[RollWave]

9800 over the 6200 FOR SURE. OR, get 50 bucks more and go with a 6600GT. Make sure its the GT.

 

[cmitchell17]

I just got a 9800 Pro 256MB from ewiz.com for 167$

 

[the cobbler]

If he really only has $100 and the 9800 and 6600s are then out of his range, tell your friend to get the 6200.

Don't laugh yet, you can unlock 4 pipes and these little monsters have been overclocked to DOUBLE their rated clock speed. So basically, you can push it to 6600 vanilla performance or slightly better.

 

[the cobbler]

Check this out at Newegg. Chaintech 6600 AGP 128mb. Granted it's a 64-bit memory interface, but this is a good card in his price range.

 

[Pete]

9800P, provided he has a decent power supply. He should be able to find a used one for that price. Even if not, save up an extra week or three to get the 9800P, it'll be far faster than a 64-bit 6600 (which is a complete rip-off at $120, IMO). Or pony up for a 6600GT, which seem to be around $150.

As for price/performance, I guess it's best to wait for a benchmarking article from Anand or the like, that'll compare a 9800P to a 6600GT, etc.

 

[Inappropriate4AT]

The 9800 pro is the best bang for the buck. I'd say the only reason to get a 6600GT over the 9800 is for Doom 3. You can find them used in his price range, and it'll handle BF2 in 10x7 with ease. I'm runnin 10x7 low shadow and lighting quality, high everything else with 4xAA at 45+ fps. In 10x7 and under there won't be any difference in performance btwn the 6600GT and the 9800 pro, and anything above 10x7 will probably cripple both cards. I'd say go for a used 9800.

 

[Pete]

I'd say that a $150 6600GT is as good a value as a $120 9800P, considering the GT has two good games and component output. It's also slightly faster, on average, according to most of the benchmarks I've read. Then there's SM3 and at least the chance to see HDR effects, if not at amazing framerates. They're both essentially eight pipeline cards, just the GT's core is running 120MHz faster. That has to count for something in games, especially in newer, more shader-intensive ones.

If you don't care for the games or HDTV, then you're looking at a $30 premium for SM3, HDR, and slightly faster performance. I'd just scrimp and save an extra few weeks and go for it.

I'm running a 9800P myself, though, and it's still a nice card. It's bottlenecked by my 2400+ and its anemic 256kB cache and PC2100 bandwidth, actually.

Edit: Hmm, why isn't the 9250 good for BF2? It's PS1.4, and I thought that was the minimum to get in the door? Maybe it's too slow to be worthwhile.

 

[Inappropriate4AT]

If you pay retail, then the 6600GT probably is the better choice at only about $30 more AR. I personally never pay retail if I can get it off the forums cheaper, in the end it's going to have the same resale value regardless of where you bought it. Second hand the difference btwn these two cards is $50 or more. I say milk the 9800 for everything it's worth now, then move to a 6600GT or w/e in a few months when more SM3 games are released and it makes more sense to buy.

 

[Acanthus]

Id go to FS/FT and try to get a 6600GT.

 

[blckgrffn]

9800 Pro on the FS/FT forums, can be had for around $100, which is your sweet spot, evidently Huge performance increase over what you have right now, too...

6600GT will own it in doom3 though, but for BF2 they should be pretty evenly matched, seeing as how ATI is the preferred graphics provider or some shiznit

Good luck, let us know what you decide.

Nat