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Video Card Confuse.....

J

jyp

Member
I'm getting AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 939 and ASUS A8V Deluxe. Like games like Farcry, but what video card is enough? I've been trying to find any suggestion, but couldn't find any.
I don't want to spend lot of money for I don't play games all the time. I'm thinking 128mb will do plenty, but there are just so many cards out there. First, you have to decide if you want ATi or Nvidia.
Any advantage of one type over another?
What do you all suggest?
 
I'd say the top echelon chips sets from the earlier generation, i.e. ATI R9800 and GeForce FX59x0 are 'enough' to get almost uncompromised image quality at comfortable playing framerates, in 'Far Cry'.

The gaming/value sweetheart of that generation is R9800pro 256-bit & 128MB. At around or below $200.
nVidia's corresponding goodie is probably the 128MB FX5900XT. Better at OpenGL interfaces than ATI, but probably not quite as fast at DX gaming. The R9800 also *cheats* in a very clever way (insignificant impact on quality, and all the new cards do the same.) on anisotropic filtering, which makes it loose less performance with AF.

Currently, there seem to be some competition from value echelon, of new generation chipsets, at the same price. I'm not fully aware of these, X600, FX6600, FX6800LE etc, and their capabilities and limitations. Sorry. They are probably interesting for you.
I personally intend to do some checking on the performance of the 6800LE, not for my own sake (I'm destined to 6800GTs), but on the behalf of some others. I haven't yet, sorry.

I have played through FC on a 128MB card, with mostly 'very high' settings. But actually, particularly this and perhaps future games, can actually have real use for 256MB. But you'll get along for a while on 128MB. Being conservative with AA and resolution, helps saving video memory, so you can use the richest textures and highest polygon counts, without performance penalties. And any game prior to FC, is no problem at all for 128MB, below 1600X1200.

My past experience is that ATI are useless (bugs) on tool-applications with OpenGL interface, while all GeForce, even the cheapest, are virtually flawless. For that reason, I prefer buying nVidia, since my cards eventually find their way into all kinds of utility PCs where such software is used. Since I haven't tested R9800 OpenGL in ernest, I cannot say if the problems persist with ATI.

But the ATI R9800 was the true gaming gem of its generation. And the 256bit R9800pro 128MB was the best value videocard. The pitfalls are the *false* R9800 cards, "9800SE" and some 128-bit "R9800pro". These are crap. Similar priced 'cheaper' chipsets like 9600xt, FX5700 etc, are actually better.

Edit: Once the GF4 Ti4200 was THE card to get. Then it was R9800pro. My money is on the 6800GT to become the next classic.
 
i've played through farcry on 9600 pro 128 MB and it ran almost perfectly at 1024 x 768 and full details. Would run even better at medium details, and it still looks great
 
Originally posted by: jyp
I'm getting AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 939 and ASUS A8V Deluxe. Like games like Farcry, but what video card is enough? I've been trying to find any suggestion, but couldn't find any.
I don't want to spend lot of money for I don't play games all the time. I'm thinking 128mb will do plenty, but there are just so many cards out there. First, you have to decide if you want ATi or Nvidia.
Any advantage of one type over another?
What do you all suggest?
Click to expand...

I played Far Cry on my rig with a 9800 pro (see my sig) with mostly very high or Ultra (IIRC need Ultra high on environment to see the fish and birds ).:thumbsup:

The card handled it well at these very high settings. I only have 512MB of ram, and FC benefits from more. I assume you're getting a gig, if not reconsider.

Somebody posted yesterday that Newegg.com had a 9800 pro OEM at about $150. If you can go to $250 look for an nVidia 6800.


Fern
 
I just picked up the ATI 9800 pro from Best Buy last week for $200. Not sure if its still at that price or not but I all my games look great on 1024x768 with all or most of the graphic detail turned up.
 
is a 6800GT or any new close to top card out there a waste when using <17, its better to get those cards if using a higher resolution capable monitor ?
 
Originally posted by: SuPrEIVIE
is a 6800GT or any new close to top card out there a waste when using <17, its better to get those cards if using a higher resolution capable monitor ?
Click to expand...

I don't think so. Even at 10 X 7 I couldn't run everything at Ultra High on Far Cry. And Doom 3 same thing. No doubt with a 6800 GT I could've used the higher settings, and got better frame rates too.

Fern
 
On AGP the 9800 Pro is the best card under $200, until an AGP 6600GT is released. All in all, the 6600GT wipes the floor with anything from the last generation, even the 9800XT and 5950 Ultra, so if you can go PCI-express (AMD mobos should be available in 2-3 weeks) that's your best bet. The 9800 Pro is a good buy, and if you need something now, go for it, but you might be kinda pissed when the benches of a similarly priced 6600GT/nForce4 system come out in another few weeks. If you can wait, that's my advice. Besides, as soon as the 6600GT gets more popular, we'll probably see sub-$150 9800 Pros, probably before christmas even.
 
They still have to satisfy those people still on the 32bit platform, there will be an AGP 6600GT.
-I'd wait for it.

My 9800 Pro will play Far Cry 1600x1200 High graphics, but You can tell it's lagging, and with a "next gen" card you'll be able to support newer effects and things, think back to DirectX9. my 2c
 
Very happy with my GeForce 5900XT in the price range you want.

It's possible that ATI has a faster card for that game for that money, but I'm not interested.
 
I'm considering ASUS A8V Deluxe board right now. Should I even wait for new boards to come out?
I did just buy Athlon 64 3000+ 939. Will PCIexpress be the next standard?
 
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