Video Card Advice

[mallik]

I got a ready-made system that has a 9800GT card in it, but it seems overkill.

I mainly use the system for video/media, no games.

I was thinking about downgrading to a HD 4850 card but I also noticed the HD 3850 and seems pretty good too. Not sure if the difference is worth the extra price for the 4850.

Which of these would be good, or if there is any other card and advice would be appreciated.

 

[Qbah]

How is going to HD4850 a downgrade? It runs circles around the 9800GT, especially with AA. Obviously, since it's a higher class card.

If you're doing no gaming what so ever and really feel like the 9800GT won't be of any use, get a HD4350 or HD4550? Passive and cheap. Or an nVidia counterpart, 9500GT I think?

 

[zerocool84]

A 4850 is faster than a 9800GT. A 4850 is competition for a 9800GTX+

 

[mallik]

Sorry, I have been out of the loop and I'm not well-versed with all of the cards.

I thought the 3850 was a downgrade and by extension thought the 4850 was a downgrade.

Thanks for the advice, I'll check out a 4350 or 4550. So the 3850 is no good?

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Why not just keep the card in there? Does it make too much noise? Produce too much heat? You would spend extra money for the card that you are downgrading to... It is supposed to be the other way around.

 

[AzN]

How about 2400pro? Only $19 on ebay. Sell your card and spend the rest on beer.

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: BlueAcolyte
Why not just keep the card in there? Does it make too much noise? Produce too much heat? You would spend extra money for the card that you are downgrading to... It is supposed to be the other way around.

Keep the card in there, download Precision Tuner, and underclock the crap out of it.

 

[Jephph]

Originally posted by: mallik
I got a ready-made system that has a 9800GT card in it, but it seems overkill.

I mainly use the system for video/media, no games.

I was thinking about downgrading to a HD 4850 card but I also noticed the HD 3850 and seems pretty good too. Not sure if the difference is worth the extra price for the 4850.

Which of these would be good, or if there is any other card and advice would be appreciated.

If you're getting the card solely to save power, then just get something like an HD4350. Otherwise, no sense in buying a new card.

Seems silly to me... must be for lower power consumption...

 

[mallik]

It isn't about power consumption so much as I don't need a card that good.

I'm basically looking to do what Azn said (btw thanks for the suggestion on the card Azn); sell the card and then get a lower quality card that could still provide what I need.

 

[Jephph]

So it's to make some money. I see then. I would go with something in the HD4000 series, that way you can at least have high def playback capabilities, and if you do any editing, some programs are GPU-accelerated. I would check into that first. You may want to keep your 9800GT.