Recommend a good video card value

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 3:15 pm

I think it's time to upgrade. It will replace my 64 MB ATI card. I don't play action games or stress the card much, but want my 3D games to look their best, and after I buy it I don't want to have to think about upgrading again for a couple of years. I prefer not to spend more than $200, if that's realistic. Don't want one that needs too much power or makes a lot of noise. I have a decent 17" CRT.

What card will give me the best bang for the buck?

disarm · Post by **disarm** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 3:45 pm

i highly recommend picking up a Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro - 128MB from Newegg.com. they're going for $209 right now ($210.95 w/ shipping) and are great cards. i've had one for about 10 months now and it still runs anything i throw at it without any trouble...you won't get much better without spending a lot more money. they're temporarily out of stock at Newegg, but they'll probably have more available within the next couple days 8)

if you start looking at 9800 Pro cards, just make sure you get one that is 256-bit. a few companies sell a crippled version that is only 128-bit for less than $200...it's nowhere near as good of a card.

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 4:03 pm

The Nvidia 6600 GT is out now in PCI-Express form, and the AGP versions should be out in the near future (I think in a month or so but maybe someone else can post who has more info on their street date). The 6600 GT should be the best bang for your buck at the $199 point, if you can wait a little bit until the AGP cards come out.

The 9800 pro is still a good card, but at this point I would wait a few more weeks and get in on the current generation of technology with the 6600 GT.

bluefugue · Post by **bluefugue** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 5:39 pm

So I just picked up a 6800 128 mb card... put it in my new box with an Athlon 64 3000+, tested it out on the Doom 3 demo at High quality 1024x768. Definitely runs smoother than my old rig, but there is still chop when I enter a new area or swing the POV around quickly. I'm wondering if this is a RAM issue (I still only have 512 in this box)?

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 6:27 pm

Freezer-TPF- wrote:The Nvidia 6600 GT is out now in PCI-Express form, and the AGP versions should be out in the near future (I think in a month or so but maybe someone else can post who has more info on their street date). The 6600 GT should be the best bang for your buck at the $199 point, if you can wait a little bit until the AGP cards come out.

There was a good write-up on this card in the current issue of either PC Gamer or CGW. They pretty much say the same thing - for $200 you can't go wrong.

disarm · Post by **disarm** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 8:17 pm

bluefugue wrote:So I just picked up a 6800 128 mb card... put it in my new box with an Athlon 64 3000+, tested it out on the Doom 3 demo at High quality 1024x768. Definitely runs smoother than my old rig, but there is still chop when I enter a new area or swing the POV around quickly. I'm wondering if this is a RAM issue (I still only have 512 in this box)?

i'd say you definitely have some issue going on...could very well have to do with the amount of RAM. for comparison, i have a P4-3.0gHz, 128mb 9800 Pro, and 1GB RAM...runs pretty smooth at 1280x1024 on High detail.

has anyone seen an article comparing the performance of a card like the nVidia 6600 series to older generation cards like the 9800Pro? if i were spending the money on an upgrade, i'd definitely go with a 6800GT, but a comparison of the lower-level cards would be interesting...

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Sat Oct 30, 2004 9:46 pm

has anyone seen an article comparing the performance of a card like the nVidia 6600 series to older generation cards like the 9800Pro?

I was looking for one of those and found this 6600 GT preview with some comparisons to ATI's 9800 Pro and the x600:

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6106675/index.html

The second page has some benchmarks:

http://www.gamespot.com/features/6106675/p-2.html

The test system was a rather beefy P4 3.6 GHz, but the 6600 GT pretty much destroys the older 9800 Pro (as it should). The X600 is just a budget card so is not much competition for either one.

EvilHomer3k · Post by **EvilHomer3k** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 12:24 am

Best Buy currently has the 6800 on sale for $250. That is a pretty good deal. The 6600Gt is a great card but is pci-e only. The 9800 isn't bad if you can get it for under $150. Otherwise, it's performance compared to the 6800 is pretty weak, especially in Doom 3.

disarm · Post by **disarm** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 12:39 am

Freezer-TPF- wrote:I was looking for one of those and found this 6600 GT preview with some comparisons to ATI's 9800 Pro and the x600

thanks for the link Freezer...exactly what i was thinking about 8)

pretty impressive improvement...enough difference that i would highly recommend disregarding my previous mention of spending $200 on a 9800Pro now.

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 12:43 am

And as EvilHomer pointed out, Best Buy current has the BFG 6800 on sale for $250. Damn, I should get one of those....

/edit since it looks like the rebate on the PNY 6800 at CompUSA ends 10/30.

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 10:44 am

Bah, the BFG 6800 OC at Best Buy is back up to $300 today.

CompUSA still has the PNY 6800 for $280.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sun Oct 31, 2004 3:41 pm

Freezer-TPF- wrote:The Nvidia 6600 GT is out now in PCI-Express form, and the AGP versions should be out in the near future (I think in a month or so but maybe someone else can post who has more info on their street date). The 6600 GT should be the best bang for your buck at the $199 point, if you can wait a little bit until the AGP cards come out.

The 9800 pro is still a good card, but at this point I would wait a few more weeks and get in on the current generation of technology with the 6600 GT.

I'm in no hurry, so this is probably the way I'll go. I want to buy some RAM, too, and will likely wait until the xmas shopping is all done before I treat myself to an upgrade.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 3:50 pm

I'm shopping for the Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT AGP graphics card. I'm finding them available from multiple manufacturers. The most expensive, from XFX, is out of stock everywhere...so naturally it's the one I want. It seems to get the best customer reviews. Anybody here have an opinion about that? I don't know whether to wait for Buy.com and Newegg to come back into stock, or whether to buy a "lesser" version of the same card.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 080&depa=0

Also, will the latest games like HL2 and Doom 3 look good on this card? I'm upgrading from a 64 MB card.

JSHAW · Post by **JSHAW** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 4:05 pm

Question - How much of a performance difference is there in a Radeon 9700 Pro & a Radeon 9800 Pro?

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 7:46 pm

Ironrod wrote: The most expensive, from XFX, is out of stock everywhere...so naturally it's the one I want. I don't know whether to wait for Buy.com and Newegg to come back into stock,

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?s ... c=101&sp=1

O.DOGG · Post by **O.DOGG** » Sat Dec 11, 2004 11:00 pm

Does anyone know if these 6600 AGP cards are backwards-compatible with 4X AGP slots? I read somewhere that they might not be. I'm considering an upgrade to my Geforce 4600 (although it's still holding up amazingly well), and a 6600 is one of the options I'm considering. I just don't want to upgrade my motherboard just for a videocard - and I see no point in doing it for other reason - yet.

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 2:40 am

Ironrod wrote:I'm shopping for the Nvidia GeForce 6600 GT AGP graphics card. I'm finding them available from multiple manufacturers. The most expensive, from XFX, is out of stock everywhere...so naturally it's the one I want. It seems to get the best customer reviews. Anybody here have an opinion about that? I don't know whether to wait for Buy.com and Newegg to come back into stock, or whether to buy a "lesser" version of the same card.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDe ... 080&depa=0

Also, will the latest games like HL2 and Doom 3 look good on this card? I'm upgrading from a 64 MB card.

Ironrod, you may be interested in this thread from ConsoleGold with impressions from someone who got the XFX 6600GT

http://www.consolegold.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3386

I had an XFX GF4-ti4200 and it was perfect, so I would trust buying something from them again. It seems to be getting raves on newegg, so I'd probably wait for it. HOWEVER, starting this Sunday 12/12-12/18 CompUSA has the PNY 6800 128MB for sale at $229.99 - additional $30 mail-in rebate = $199.99. If you can find that in stock (or try ordering online), that's a very nice deal! Cheaper than the XFX 6600GT and a better card. If you want that, I'd jump on that deal quickly:

http://www.compusa.com/products/product ... tabtype=rb

O.DOGG, the 6600 AGPs should be compatible with AGP4x slots. The 6600 PCI-express versions use the new PCI-e slot, which may have been what you remember reading.

Hamsterball_Z · Post by **Hamsterball_Z** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 4:17 am

JSHAW wrote:Question - How much of a performance difference is there in a Radeon 9700 Pro & a Radeon 9800 Pro?

About 10%. The differences were a bump in clockspeed and some fine tuning that improved antialiasing performance if I remember correctly.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 11:59 am

Freezer-TPF- wrote: If you can find that in stock (or try ordering online), that's a very nice deal! Cheaper than the XFX 6600GT and a better card. If you want that, I'd jump on that deal quickly:

http://www.compusa.com/products/product ... tabtype=rb

Gahh! This is too complicated. What makes the 6800 a better card than the 6600GT? And does anyone reading this have experience with PNY hardware? I was just getting comfortable with my XFX decision.

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 1:01 pm

Ironrod wrote:
Freezer-TPF- wrote: If you can find that in stock (or try ordering online), that's a very nice deal! Cheaper than the XFX 6600GT and a better card. If you want that, I'd jump on that deal quickly:

http://www.compusa.com/products/product ... tabtype=rb
Gahh! This is too complicated. What makes the 6800 a better card than the 6600GT? And does anyone reading this have experience with PNY hardware? I was just getting comfortable with my XFX decision.

Sorry, man.

The 6800 has a 256-bit memory bus and 12-pixel pipelines, while the 6600 GT only has a 128-bit bus and 8 pipelines. The 6600GT makes up for that somewhat with a higher clock speed and faster memory. Physically, the 6600GT is also not as big of a card as the 6800, if case room is a major issue for you.

I put some more of my impressions in that ConsoleGold thread I linked to, but in general the 6600GT and 6800 are close at basic resolutions, but the 6800 will take less of a performance hit once you start cranking the resolution and the AA/AF. The 6600GT is a nice deal for the money and a great card, but the 6800 is a bit better so at the same price or cheaper I would go for the 6800.

Here is a link with comparisons between the 6600GT and the 6800:

http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q4/geforce-6600gtagp/

I don't have any direct experience with PNY hardware, but when I was researching my 6800/GT purchase, PNY seemed to be okay. I recall several folks around here being happy with their PNY 6800/6800GTs.

The Mad Hatter · Post by **The Mad Hatter** » Sun Dec 12, 2004 1:21 pm

Freezer-TPF- wrote:
Sorry, man. The 6800 has a 256-bit memory bus and 12-pixel pipelines, while the 6600 GT only has a 128-bit bus and 8 pipelines. The 6600GT makes up for that somewhat with a higher clock speed and faster memory. Physically, the 6600GT is also not as big of a card as the 6800, if case room is a major issue for you.

It is for me, since the AGP slot is very close to the SIMM slots on my motherboard. That's good to know, I guess I will go with the GT6600 after all.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Dec 13, 2004 1:07 pm

I guess I'd rather have the 6800 if it will fit. I presently have a Radeon 7500 64MB card, which fits just underneath and perpendicular to the memory slots on my Asus P4PE mobo. My Antec case has plenty of lateral room, so as long as the card isn't thicker than the one I have I should be OK. I think I'm going to pull the trigger on the 6800 this week, but will buy it in-store just in case I have to return it.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 5:59 pm

Today I went to get the 6800. Unfortunately, there isn't a store in the region that has one in stock, and it's a pickup item only. They don't give rain checks.

Rather than pay more money for the 6600GT, I decided to wait until after Xmas and see if that 6800 comes back down again. I don't really NEED a new video card at this time and might even wait until the 256 MB cards come down into the $200 range.

In related news, I did get 512 MB PC 3200 DDR RAM from Best Buy today. It was only $80 after rebate -- CompUSA advertised a $60 deal, but they were out of stock on that, too. I haven't installed it yet.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Thu Dec 16, 2004 6:27 pm

not to pour salt on the inevitable wounds, but I just bought a BFG6800 OC (overclocked) card with Far Cry included, as well as HL2 for about $215 at BB (special deal where you had to buy card and HL2 together to get a $105 rebate).

I am sure if you wait a wee bit, you can get a similar deal post Christmas. Compusa in fact had a similar deal, I believe with a PNY verision, but you got Doom 3 instead of HL2...anyhoo, deals abound, and I would not settle for less than a 6800 OR 6600 if you want it to last for 2 years.

I love ATI cards, (my last three were ATI) but at this point in time, Nvidia owns the $200 mark imo.

I considered the 9800 Pro (upgrading from a 9600 Pro), but if you compare that card with either the 6800 (even non overclocked) or the 6600, it's not as good a value considering it costs about the same, but has much less performance/HP.

Good luck, and keep an eye on www.techbargains.com

Freezer-TPF- · Post by **Freezer-TPF-** » Fri Dec 17, 2004 12:13 pm

Bummer on the card, Ironrod. Here's hoping another good deal comes along soon on either the 6800 or 6600GT. Maybe there will be some good post-Xmas deals coming up as retailers try to encourage us to keep spending after the holiday binge.