Graphics card advice

[spannersatcx]

Just upgraded the kids pc to an amd 2800+, 512mb ram, 120gb sata drive and asus A7N-8XE DELUXE trouble is I'm using an old nvida geforce 256 agp card which is struggling to keep up with some of the more demanding games etc.

Does anyone know of some good (unbiased!!) review sites, or even know of some good cards to recommend.

I have an ATI 9700 pro in my pc which I'm quite pleased with, so maybe looking at 9800 pro or equivalent, I did read somewhere that it was recommended to use an nvidia card with an amd set up, and ati with intel, don't know how true that is.

Budget around £200.

[goates]

I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro on and Abit nForce2 motherbaord with an AthlonXP 2800+. It has worked flawlessly for me so far in everygame I have thrown at it, including Doom 3, Halo, Far Cry, MS Flight SIm 2004 and now Half Life 2.

nVidia based cards probably due run a little faster on nVidia based motherboards, but I haven't seen any evidence yet that it makes a noticeable difference.

For a budget, the 9800 Pros are probably the best value for your money. The new GeForce 6x00 and Radeon Xx00 are much faster, but cost more.

goates

[Engineer]

Agree with Goates go with the Sapphire 9800 Atlantis Pro 128M Retails at about 140GBP for the lite model (ie no added software or extra cables) :ok:

If you want the 256M model you will pay a lot more just for 10% improvemrnt :{

[miss_heard]

Wow - a £200 card for your kids PC - lucky things!

Anyway, loads of graphics card reviews can be found here (http://www.trustedreviews.com/articles.aspx?sec=5) including a round up of the latest GeForce 6800s - tested with a 3.4GHz P4 and AMD Opteron (the ATi/Intel & nvidia/AMD compatibility thing you mentioned sounds a bit dubious IMO). Basically, any half-decent card you buy today is gonna be a WHOLE lot faster than the geforce 256!

[spannersatcx]

Thanks, I'll have a read through the reviews, I must say I am swayed toward the ati 9800, as I'm pretty happy with the 9700 I have in mine. Gotta keep the kids happy!!!!:ok:

[Evo]

Why not buy yourself the 9800 and give the kids the 9700...? :E

[spannersatcx]

Why not buy yourself the 9800 and give the kids the 9700...?

I was just thinking the very same thing! :ok:

[Wee Weasley Welshman]

Sod the kids and buy yourself an ATI X800XT like I've just done. It'll make you drool...

:)

WWW

[ORAC]

I love new gadgets and I would......but I don´t play games. Anyone got a reasonable reason/excuse for splashing out on anything other than a 40 quid card? :O

Graphic cards (http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/index.html)

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Wee Weasley Welshman,

I am running the MSI RX800XT Platinum Edition-VTD256 and I agree it is an incredible Vid Card.

http://www.msi.com.tw/images/product_img/vga_img/8976_RX800XTPE-VTD256.jpg

Was it a Birthday present for you? Btw, Happy 30th Birthday. ;)

spannersatcx,

The best bang for the buck is either the GeForceFX 5900XT 128Mb or the Radeon 9800Pro 128Mb. There are no issues at all running them on the ASUS A7N8X-E Deluxe. Till my recent upgrade to the MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum mobo, I ran the A7N8X-E Deluxe. It is a great mobo and works flawlessly with any modern Vid Card.

Take Care,

Richard

[spannersatcx]

Thanks for all the input, decided to go for the Radeon 9800 pro, best deal really, couldn't strech the budget to the X800, maybe in a year or when it's at a reasonable price, thanks again. :ok:

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

spannersatcx,

I agree with you, the 9800Pro is the card I would buy if I were spending my own money. (The two X800XT PEs were a gift from MSI for the work I do for them, otherwise I make it a rule not to spend more then $200.00 each on Vid Cards and CPUs.) ;)

Take Care,

Richard