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Video card for RTS games?

Z

zodd24

Member
I hate to revive this thread but after googling for more than an hour, I find that video card comparisons for RTS games are very hard to find and that this thread keeps popping up in my search results. 😛 Is it true that any video card will be more than enough for RTS games, or is this an exagerration?

I want a video card mainly to play Blizzard games. (I need a DVI port too.) If Blizzard made the game, I probably like it. Here are my choices:

Conquerer FX 5200 Plus 128MB - $29.99
ATI Radeon 9600SE - $64.99
PNY GeForce FX 5700LE - $79.99
ATI Radeon 9600XT - $99.99
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB - $149.99
PNY GeForce 6800 - $199.99

From what I read so far, this is what I conclude:

5700LE - 20-30% better than 5200
9600SE - 30-40% better than 5200
9600XT - 80-100% better than 5200

9800 - 35-45% better than 9600XT

6800 - 30-40% better than 9800

Which one is a good value for me? Because the games I play are not graphics intensive, I'll probably never notice the performance boost that other people will.

If possible, can someone give me a few pointers on how to find this information in a reasonable amount of time? I feel bad about asking so many questions, but it takes me so long to search for them. (Also, writing this post took about half an hour, so I figure that'd be better spent googling/reading articles. 😛)

Originally posted by: zodd24
Hi all. This is my first post. I just wanted to say that I really like the AT community. Overall, people here are very helpful, and they give good information.

After reading ~10 pages of this forum and looking through two faqs, I still don't know which video card to buy. From what I gather if you have ~$100 you should buy a 9700 Pro from ebay, and if you have ~$200 you should wait two weeks and buy a 6600GT. I'm going to wait for the 6600GT to come out because I think it will drive down prices, but does anyone have any recommendations for the $100-150 budget right now?

The main reason I want a video card right now is that I need a DVI input for my LCD monitor. As long as I'm buying a video card, I thought I might as well get something decent.

I play RTS games like Warcraft III and Starcraft mostly. Recently, I've been playing Civ III. Most of the time my video card works fine. When I play mulitpayer games though, the graphics can get really choppy, and I have to use the lowest settings for the game to be playable. Is this due to lag or having a low grade video card?
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if you can find another $50, compusa will be having a 6800nonpro for $200 AR and a AIW 9600XT for $125 AR on the day after thanksgiving. find the compusa black friday thread in the hot deals forum.

otherwise, outpost.com has a ATI built 9600pro for $100 shipped right now (better in IMO than the $100 sapphire 9600pro at newegg currently).

take a look a the way the cards stack up here and get the best one you can afford.

 
Your idea is a good one, but the trouble is the video card market is constantly changing. It'd have to be almost constantly updated in order for it to be valid.

I know after I do some research on cards/prices...and then come back like 5 months later its an entirely different ballgame.
 
I'd eBay something better than a 9600XT, surely you can find a 9700/9800P for that price used...

hell I almost bought a Radeon 8500 128MB for $52.
 
If you buy something on ebay, what do you do if it breaks after a month? What do you do if they give you the 64bit version instead of the 128bit version? Is buying on ebay a good idea?
 
Originally posted by: zodd24
Thx for all your input everyone! I have a few more random questions.

If you buy something on ebay, what do you do if it breaks after a month?
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Depends on what you bought and who you bought it from. If it was a new card, it's covered under its own warranty. If it was used, and they won't take it back, you're probably SOL.

What do you do if they give you the 64bit version instead of the 128bit version?
Click to expand...

If they sold you something other than what they advertised, and they won't take it back, you can dispute it with EBay and probably get your money back, and get the seller in trouble. But basically it's the honor system.

Is buying on ebay a good idea?
Click to expand...

Depends. I'd be wary of buying used parts unless the seller had very good feedback.

The main reason I want a video card right now is that I need a DVI input for my new LCD monitor. As long as I'm buying a video card, I thought I might as well get something decent.

I play RTS games like Warcraft III and Starcraft mostly. Recently, I've been playing Civ III. Is it worth the money to get an expensive video card? (I almost never play shooter type games.) Most of the time integrated video works just fine. When I play mulitpayer games though, the graphics can get really choppy, and I usually have to use the lowest settings for the game to be playable. Is this due to lag or having a low grade video card?
Click to expand...

Well, neither Starcraft nor CivIII is 3D *at all*, so a newer graphics card won't help you there (unless maybe you're running some awful integrated solution, or a hopelessly outdated card with 8MB of memory or something). Without more information about your current system, there's no way to tell what your problem is.
 
personally, i would say it's nuts to buy a video card on ebay. or a used video card anywhere, unless it's less than $10.

for the games you list, the best card you can get for $75-100 will probably be great. For rts games, the amount of memory, cpu speed, and connection quality are probably more important than your video card.


 
Originally posted by: zodd24
Here is my system:

Dell 400SC
P4 2.8GHz
512MB DDR RAM (ECC)
ATI Rage-XL
20GB WD Hard Drive (2MB, ATA 33 or 66)
Click to expand...

That's a pretty awful video card. Your other specs look OK (although that's an *old* hard drive). The good news is you have an AGP port, so you can actually get a decent video card to replace it with. Even something like a GeForce2 (~$30 used) would be a decent step up, and something like a GeForce4Ti (~50-100 used depending on model) would be plenty. In new cards, you might look for a RADEON 9600 (~$100, not the 9600SE/9600LE). A used 9700Pro or 9800 would be much better in terms of performance (although probably overkill if the most strenuous thing you want to play is WC3), but then you're probably talking ~$130-150, realistically.
 
I agree with Matthias99 about the Radeon 9600 being one of the best options under $100. It is more powerful than you need for today's rts games, but you never know when that will change. I would definately want a Directx 9 compatible card.

 
*chokes when he sees the Rage-XL*

Yeah. That's crap. Get ANY kind of video card to see a nice upgrade in performance.

Sheesh, the SERVER motherboard I bought came with that onboard.

Civ 3 is much more CPU dependant though. Having a video card will allow you to play the animations and stuff without it killing your system, but it won't speed up the wait between turns.
 
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