Recommended PCI Express Video Cards?

[jgbishop]

What non-SLI, PCI Express video cards are recommended for gaming these days? I see the NVIDIA 7900GT is out ... what do people think of it?

I'm not concerned about the price ... just want to know what's recommended. Thanks!

 

[mad0maxx]

Depends on how much money you wanna spend... but I perfer ATi over Nvidia so I would have to say x1900 XTX...

 

[LOUISSSSS]

2nd on ati 1900xtx

 

[jgbishop]

Any more recommendations? What NVIDIA solutions are decent these days?

 

[kmmatney]

It also depends on what resolution you game at, especially if you have an LCD with a fixed resolution. If you have a 1280 x 1024 monitor, you need a less powerful video card than if you had a 1600 x 1200 monitor, for instance.

 

[Munky]

Get the best card you can reasonably afford. I got a x1900xt, flashed to xtx, and it runs everything smooth at 1280x960. Those can be had for ~$450 these days, and the only disadvantage of that card is it gets noisy under heavy load, but I'm planning to put a Accelero cooler on mine. And no, it's not overkill for that resolution in modern games. If you're looking to spend $300-350, then either the 7900gt or the x1800xt are a good choice. For $200 or less, I'd get the 7600gt.

 

[jgbishop]

I've got a 22" CRT, so I'm not limited resolution-wise (thankfully).

 

[mad0maxx]

Originally posted by: jgbishop
Any more recommendations? What NVIDIA solutions are decent these days?

Well Nvidia offers the 7900 GT and 7900 GTX... I just perfer ATi over Nvidia any day because the picture quality is a tad (not great) bit better and in my opinion they have better driver support because I remember many games running much better on my ATi cards versus my Nvidia cards... just my opinion...

 

[SpeedZealot369]

Budget? how much do you game and do you like everything purrrdy or don't care so much?

 

[jgbishop]

For budget, the sky's the limit.

I game semi-regularly (although not as much as I used to) ... it's mostly action games (Half-Life 2, etc), but I'm looking at getting Elder Scrolls: Oblivion here someday.

 

[Tig Ol Bitties]

Well, any of these suggested cards will run HL2 easy maxed out...for oblivion, a 7900gt or an x1800xt would be good, although a 7900gtx or x1900xt or x1900xtx would be better. I like nVidia and their drivers, Ive had many problems with ATI in the past, not to say they arent good or anything...but ATI also runs HOT and HSF can get loud!!! For cooler and more power efficient cards, go nVidia. For a slight better image quality and HDR+AA, go ATI...toss up really for me since I could care less about HDR right now. I just went nVidia for SLi maturity.

 

[Ika]

if you want cheap, 7900GT. efficiency, get the 7900GTX. power/value, get the x1900XT (not the xtx!). if you want BUDGET budget, the 6800GS is the way to go, if you can find one.

 

[v8envy]

If you dual boot to linux, X1900 is not an option -- x10k cards aren't supported under linux, and ATI linux drivers are utter garbage in general.

If sky is the limit for budget, why not SLI with water cooling? Otherwise, the ATI and NV cards at the same pricepoints are almost identical in modern games (once you get to $300 or so) so pick whichever one is cheaper. ATI has a slight edge in features and image quality, NV has better drivers, smaller power budget, emits less heat and has no .NET requirement for control panel and has better/more mature multicard (SLI) support.

 

[Sunrise089]

$450+ - X1900XT
$300+ - 7900GT if you want to overclock or X1800XT if you don't
$150+ - X850XT if you want pure bang for your buck or 7600GT if you want cheap but fully featured.

IMHO no other cards are as good of a deal as these.

 

[RussianSensation]

Sunrise089 hit the nail on the head.

Choose an appropriate card based on the games and resolution you want to play at.

Most recent cards you can think of compared

Personally I would aim at X1800XT 512mb or 7900GT OC. After that you really need to play beyond 1600x1200 to justify 50%+ price premiums.

You are upgrading from that P4 2.8ghz though right?

 

[imported_killuminati]

well a 256MB version of the x1800xt is for $299 ( Sapphire ) and $349 ( His tech) .

Peace & ciao !!!

 

[Bobthelost]

The X1900XTX and teh 7900GTX are the most powerful cards out at the moment, since money is no (serrious) object these are the two to look at.

The 7900GTX uses much less power and is rather quiet with a very good stock heatsink.
The X1900XTX has better IQ aparently, of course not everyone notices or cares about this, up to you.

I'd be edging towards the X1900XTX if you're not worried about noise and heat. The prices are very competitive and the perfromance is top notch. Of course i like low noise systems, which is why i won't touch the current ATI lineup with a stick

 

[jgbishop]

Originally posted by: RussianSensation
Sunrise089 hit the nail on the head.

Choose an appropriate card based on the games and resolution you want to play at.

Most recent cards you can think of compared

Personally I would aim at X1800XT 512mb or 7900GT OC. After that you really need to play beyond 1600x1200 to justify 50%+ price premiums.

You are upgrading from that P4 2.8ghz though right?

Yes, I currently have a 2.8 GHz P4. I'm looking at going with either an AMD 64 4000+ or possibly even an X2 4400+.

 

[Bobthelost]

The 4000 and 4400X2 are very different beasties, but that's for another topic (unless you've chosen the graphics card that is, in which case why not)

 

[jgbishop]

Originally posted by: Bobthelost
The 4000 and 4400X2 are very different beasties, but that's for another topic (unless you've chosen the graphics card that is, in which case why not)

I've actually posted a question about this very issue in another thread.