Which Video Card for my System?

[flyboy84]

Hi all,

Perhas you can offer me some advice on a video card upgrade. My system is currently:

Athlon XP 2500+ (Barton)
Asus A7N8X r.2
1 GB (512 MB x 2) memory
Geforce Ti 4400

My Ti 4400 has served me quite well over the past few years, but when I tried out some of the newer games (Thief 3, Deus Ex 2, Far Cry) I believe the card was choking on the pixel shader stuff. I would like to be able to play Far Cry, Doom 3, and especially Half-Life 2 on my PC at 1024 x 768 or 1280x1024 with full, or near full detail and perhaps some low level of AA and AF.

I have narrowed down my choices to the Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB, and the Geforce 6800 NU 128 MB. As there is a 100 dollar difference between the two, what do you think will be the better choice? And, if you think of an alternative, please let me know. I would feel comfortable spending $200, and my max is $300.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

P.S. I'm not going to make the upgrade until late August, when I go back to college, so if there is something on the horizon in my pricerange, let me hear it

 

[Regs]

The 6800NU. No reason to explain, just read. This forum is packed with people who have the same question.

 

[flyboy84]

Any other opinions? Or is the 6800 NU going to give me the performance I desire for the extra 100 Bucks?

 

[GeneralGrievous]

Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB. Save the cash for college.

 

[The Green Bean]

6800nu

 

[vshah]

what games do you play / what res/aa/af settings do you usually use?

-Vivan

 

[Marsumane]

Originally posted by: vshah
what games do you play / what res/aa/af settings do you usually use?

-Vivan

Also, what are you looking to spend? Any specific brand of card you are looking at or maybe a perticular vendor?

 

[PowderBB3D]

Doom 3 (what it appears to be shapping up as) since you listed it as one of your games:

Ideal: 6800 U or an OC GT to U levels
Excellent: 6800 GT
Great: x800 XT
Good: x800 pro or 6800 vanilla
Decent: 9800 pro
Playable: 5900U and below, but you'll have to play 10x7 MeQ I'd say.

 

[Triforceofcourage]

voodoo 2 in SLI mode

 

[flyboy84]

Vivian: like I said originally, I play in 1024x768 or 1280x1024, and if I could get some AA or AF that'd be fine, but it's no deal breaker. I just want to be able to play HL2 with high detail at 1280x1024.

Marsumane: see above: $200 - $300. I don't care what vendor really, I was looking at the eVGA 6800 NU cause it comes with Far Cry.

PowerBB3D: Keep in mind I'm not going to be pushing past 1280x1024 for Doom3, and I'm probably not going to be using AA or AF.

 

[flyboy84]

Also: do I need a new PSU? Currently I only have 300W.

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: flyboy84
Vivian: like I said originally, I play in 1024x768 or 1280x1024, and if I could get some AA or AF that'd be fine, but it's no deal breaker. I just want to be able to play HL2 with high detail at 1280x1024.

Marsumane: see above: $200 - $300. I don't care what vendor really, I was looking at the eVGA 6800 NU cause it comes with Far Cry.

PowerBB3D: Keep in mind I'm not going to be pushing past 1280x1024 for Doom3, and I'm probably not going to be using AA or AF.

You may not be able to do that with either card.

My advice is, set aside that 300$.... start mowing lawns or whatever it is you do for the rest of the summer for another 50 - 100 and get a 6800 GT when they are widely availible. Your Ti will carry you until then, and you will have a MUCH better card with much longer longevity by waiting a few weeks and saving a few more dollars.

However if this is impossible, I say get the 9800 pro and save some cash.

 

[Johnbear007]

Originally posted by: flyboy84
Also: do I need a new PSU? Currently I only have 300W.

Depends on your PSU....


It certaintly wouldn't hurt, but you may want to try it and see how it goes with your old one first.

 

[Marsumane]

Originally posted by: flyboy84
Vivian: like I said originally, I play in 1024x768 or 1280x1024, and if I could get some AA or AF that'd be fine, but it's no deal breaker. I just want to be able to play HL2 with high detail at 1280x1024.

Marsumane: see above: $200 - $300. I don't care what vendor really, I was looking at the eVGA 6800 NU cause it comes with Far Cry.

PowerBB3D: Keep in mind I'm not going to be pushing past 1280x1024 for Doom3, and I'm probably not going to be using AA or AF.

The 6800nu is the best card u can buy for the $300 mark. Its questionable if your system will play HL2 at 1280 with this card. It will be close if it doesnt succeed. You may have to turn down some textures and maybe some shadowing/lighting effects is all. Nobody can really say though because HL2 isnt out. Im just guessing that that card's limit is right around what u want to play at.

I know for sure that you wont be able to play above 1024x768 IF you want to max out doom 3 entirely. The 9800xt was pulling like 45-50 frames on high settings on the benchmarks that ID did on their game. Id assume HL2 will play by similar rules.

If you end up getting the 6800GT down the road, your processor may be your next bottleneck to consider. These games at their maxed settings + high res require a good processor to pair with their graphics card. Eventually you will be seeing a wall that you will hit, where when u up/ down the graphics your framerate wont change much. Also id like to mention that if you have multiple optical drives, multiple hard drives, many addin cards, or a generic power supply, that your power supply may not suffice for this card. Ive seen it, along with the rest of the system pull ~275w under full load. This system had 1 dvd drive, one hard drive, an A64 processor, 1gb ram, motherboard, mouse/keyboard. So im saying that you may need to spend even more if you consider this card if your power supply is some generic box.

Summary: 9800pro - Save a lot of money and get decent frames at 1024x768
6800nu - Spend a decent amount and get 1280x1024 with MAYBE a setting or 2 turned down
6800GT - Spend a good amount and definately get 1280x1024 but be bottlenecked on your
system's processor and never get the full power out of this card until you upgrade.

 

[Pete]

A 6800 is definitely faster than a 9800P, but whether it's worth $60 more (factor in Far Cry) is something you'll have to research yourself (is the 6800 30% faster in the games you're interested in?).

If you're waiting until end of August, then you'll have plenty of time to read Doom 3 benchmarks for both cards, and you may even see some early Half-Life 2 (or at least Counter-Strike: Source) benchmarks to help you decide. The price of the 6800 will hopefully drop further below MSRP by then, too.

 

[flyboy84]

Thanks much for all of your replies. I think what I am going to do is OC my 2500+ to a 3200+ with the 333 -> 400 bus thing, get a new PSU (400W or so) and wait till the end of august and see what video cards look appealing. I also want to get a flat panel monitor for sure, probably the samsung 710t. Again thanks alot guys