Video Card Roundup, Part 4: Budget Shootout

[lifeguard1999]

So what I took away from the benchmarks was that the Ti4200 owns the budget card category. It consistently whipped the 9200SE/9200/9600SE/5200. Never mind its lack of DirectX 9 support. Heck, the 4200 even gives the 9600 and 5600 a run for their money in some benchmarks.

 

[Genx87]

This is true. I was surprised at how well the 5200 and 5200 Ultra did.

 

[deadseasquirrel]

i've been pretty happy with mine for 14 months now. deus ex 2 is the first game that has really made it show its age (but i really blame the game programming more than the card). can't seem to get it to run 1024x768 well, unless all details are low. thats how i usually rate the performance of a card. if it can't run 1024x768, i start thinking about a replacement. but, in this case, i think it has more to do with poor coding than card strength. heck, it runs max payne2 at 16x12 with all details and no problems.

 

[CraigRT]

my 4200 didn't really like ut2003 with higher detail.. but my 9700 pro doesn't mind

overall the 4200 was decent

 

[beatle]

Yup, great card. Even better when overclocked.

 

[Noubourne]

Maybe I don't know the prices of these chips well enough, but isn't the 9800 regular at ~$145 the best performing budget chip out there? It's so close to a 9800 Pro which normally starts at about $220. Price/performance I don't think anything beats 9800 regular right now. Wondered if it's too much to have made it into the review or what. Why is the 9800 ignored so much?

And for the record I have a Ti4600Pro that I bought the month they came out, the last Nvidia card worth buying imo, so I'm not an ATI fanboy.

 

[sasngang]

Are you sure that you're talking about the 9800 vs 9800SE. I cannot find the pricing you've mentioned. I recently purchased a ATI 9600 256mb and tested it against my ti4200. The ti4200 walked all over the ATI card. So the 9600 went back to the store.

I am currently running a GF FX5900 which I'm very happy with so far, but I would definately consider going over to an ATI 9800 if one could be had for under $200. (But not an SE).

Can you send me a link for the 9800 for $144 or 9800 pro for $222?

 

[modedepe]

Originally posted by: Noubourne
Maybe I don't know the prices of these chips well enough, but isn't the 9800 regular at ~$145 the best performing budget chip out there? It's so close to a 9800 Pro which normally starts at about $220. Price/performance I don't think anything beats 9800 regular right now. Wondered if it's too much to have made it into the review or what. Why is the 9800 ignored so much?

And for the record I have a Ti4600Pro that I bought the month they came out, the last Nvidia card worth buying imo, so I'm not an ATI fanboy.

First, the 9800 isn't a "budget chip." It's ati's high end chip. Second, you won't get a 9800 for $145. You're looking at at least $200 for a non pro, more of course for a pro. As was stated you're probably seeing a 9800 SE, which is going to have far less performance than a 9800.