What's the best that $200 will buy?

[jgbishop]

I have $200 to spend, and I want the absolute best. Any suggestions?

 

[Whitersx29]

9700 non pro

 

[Tab]

Most likey a 9700, 5600 Ultra, Radeon 9500 Pro. However, I would honestly wait.

 

[Blastman]

9700np.

The 9600pro (400/300) and 5600U (400/400) are very close in performance for the most part, but neither are nearly as fast as a 9700np.

I suspect that the 5600U clocked 400/400 with 2.2ns memory may cost even more than a 9700np when it shows up. 2.2ns memory is very expensive memory to be putting on a mid-range card like a 5600 but I guess NV needs it to be competitive with the 9600pro. You also need to watch out for the 5600?s if you consider that card. They are clocked at several rates and you can pretty well bet the lesser expensive models will have much slower clock rates and much slower memory = much slower performance.

Check this news flash on just a few of the various 5600?s ?

xbit

256MB of memory on a midrange card like the 5600 is also IMHO a complete marketing gimmick. The only time you ?might? need 256MB of memory is at very high resolutions with both AA+AF turned up to the max . Much too high to run a midrange card at and still get decent frame rates.

 

[Toddo97]

Where can you get a 9700 for $200. I've seen it from Powercolor, but I've read some so so reviews about it

 

[FieldMarshal]

Originally posted by: Tabb
Most likey a 9700, 5600 Ultra, Radeon 9500 Pro. However, I would honestly wait.

Why wait?

 

[screw3d]

Originally posted by: FieldMarshal

Originally posted by: Tabb
Most likey a 9700, 5600 Ultra, Radeon 9500 Pro. However, I would honestly wait.

Why wait?

Depending on how desperately you want the card? IMHO there's not much point playing the waiting game. 1-2 weeks is fine, but any longer than that, you won't be buying anything forever!

 

[FieldMarshal]

thats what i was thinking. wait for 1-2 weeks, you'll be waiting forever. if you need the upgrade, then do it, unless Tabb knows something i don't. I was also thinking of getting a 9700np since i'm still running a 32MB nVidia TNT2 M64 but i don't wanna get a new card and end up having to buy a new one when DoomIII and Half-Life 2 comes out

 

[Tab]

Heh, you guys do realise the new R360 Cores arent that far off. I've also heard several rumors relating to the 5xxx. New revision maybe coming out, these cards will be clock 75Mh-105Mhz higher than their predicessors but still 5xxxs.

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: FieldMarshal

Originally posted by: Tabb
Most likey a 9700, 5600 Ultra, Radeon 9500 Pro. However, I would honestly wait.

Why wait?

Because a new generation of video cards is coming this fall... and a new generation of games that will require that new generation of video cards are coming this fall as well. My advice not to buy a video card with the future in mind right now, because all but the $500 cards aren't going to do jack for Doom 3 and HL 2. So buy a card that will allow you to play your current games... this is not a time to buy for the future, this is a time to cherry pick cards that places are going to be trying to get rid of before nobody wants them.

I'm extremely satisfied with my Asus V8420S Ti4200... it uses the Ti4600's 8 layer PCB, and the Ti4400's 3.3ns RAM. It runs at a default speed of 260/550... a Ti4400's default is 275/550, and a Ti4600's default speed is 300/650. My V8420S is running at 325/650. It's a 4X AGP card, not 8X... there's not a single GeForce4 that can take advantage of the increased bandwidth of an 8X AGP bus, so don't even use that in your decision making process.

An ATI alternative would be the 9500 Pro, or 9700 non-pro like people mentioned. However, those are both around $200, and to be honest, I wouldn't spend $200 on a video card today because of the reasons I just mentioned.

 

[FieldMarshal]

Wow. Thanks Jeff. That's extremely helpful. Makes sense to wait when you put it that way. I'm going to look into the Asus V8420S Ti4200 that you mentioned. I might take your advice and go that route. Thanks again

 

[Tom]

"My advice not to buy a video card with the future in mind right now, because all but the $500 cards aren't going to do jack for Doom 3 and HL 2. "

Could you elaborate on this please ? For some reason I thought a Radeon 9700 NP was supposed to be pretty good for those programs in particular. I thought that it was cards slower than the Radeon 9700 np that would be compromised with those games.