Video card recommendations

[Mookow]

OK, my friend asked me what video card he should buy, he wants DX9 compliance and best performance at ~$300 price point. I am going to look it up, but I thought I'd let the AT peanut gallery weigh in on this...

 

[modedepe]

9800 pro

 

[Robor]

I'll recommend a 9800 Pro as well. I recently picked one up (actually mine is a 9800 non-Pro) and it's a huge upgrade over my GF4-4200 (with AA/AF enabled). Of course I can't compare it to Nvidia's latest stuff (5900) but if you believe all of the DX9 benchmarks the ATI is doing better right now.

 

[Mookow]

has ATI finally, and for sure, gotten caught up with nVidia in regards to drivers? I bought the "hey, this time we PROMISE good driver support" and bought a Radeon almost when they first came out, and some games still dont look right, and other games, like America's Army, took forever to support the ATI cards.

I'm extremely leary of reccomending ATI, since when/if the card doesnt display a game correctly, I dont want to have to take tech support calls.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Mookow
has ATI finally, and for sure, gotten caught up with nVidia in regards to drivers? I bought the "hey, this time we PROMISE good driver support" and bought a Radeon almost when they first came out, and some games still dont look right, and other games, like America's Army, took forever to support the ATI cards.

I'm extremely leary of reccomending ATI, since when/if the card doesnt display a game correctly, I dont want to have to take tech support calls.

n00b

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: nick1985

Originally posted by: Mookow
has ATI finally, and for sure, gotten caught up with nVidia in regards to drivers? I bought the "hey, this time we PROMISE good driver support" and bought a Radeon almost when they first came out, and some games still dont look right, and other games, like America's Army, took forever to support the ATI cards.

I'm extremely leary of reccomending ATI, since when/if the card doesnt display a game correctly, I dont want to have to take tech support calls.

n00b

<^>


Practically everyone was saying ATI's drivers had improved, blah blah, and I bought it. I fscked up, and I paid for it, and now I dont want to deal with it again, so, can anyone make a reccomendation for an nVidia card? I havent been keeping up on the latest hardware like I used to.

I think I might have gotten a life since then, but let me make a post in OT to ask for confirmation 😉😛

 

[Mem]

Mookow,having gone from Nvidia to ATi I can give you my honest answer,so far in gaming I`ve not had any driver problems with my 9700NP and can say ATi have made big improvements with regards to their drivers .

Make sure he uses Driver Cleaner 2.0 from
here or reformats his HD to remove all possible traces of the old drivers.

 

[Mookow]

come on, someone recommend me the best NV card at the same price point...

 

[ponyo]

If you want Nvidia, get EVGA FX 5900 128MB RETAIL at GameVE.com for $239 shipped. You should be able to overclock that card to or pass Ultra level.

 

[Tab]

You like Nvida = GeForce FX 5900 (Non-Ultra)
You like ATi = Radeon 9800 Pro

 

[1ManArmY]

Gather the data, do some research, then make a decision. If it was wrong try and correct it within the RMA time period and try another product. I was leary with ATI driver's at first but I bought the best card out on the market at the time of my purchase and have never looked back. I am familiar with uninnstalling and installing the driver updates and have used the catalyst 3.2 - 3.6. I have downloaded the cat 3.7's but I havent had the chance to upgrade yet but I will try them out and do some testing to get ready for my LAN party Saturday the 13th to see which driver's will suit me best.


Good luck with whatever decison you make for your friend.