Best graphics card?

[SgtStreak]

Alright, I'm saving up to build a gaming PC. I want it to be THE BEST. Not good, not great, THE BEST. So I must know THE BEST graphics card there is? GOT IT?! >:C Anyway, just tell me a really good graphics card and a place to buy it from that ships to the UK

 

[DreamThrall]

First, you must google the term "return on investment".

 

[Asus]

Cards usually come out every 6 months. Are you going to burn more money in 6 months for the next best card? Is there a specific game that you need the best card for?

Performance. (bars on the graph that say SLI or Crossfire are 2 cards)
The 9800GX2 is the best 'single' card. Well it's technically 2 boards 'glued' together and use just 1 slot. Think of it as SLI on a single card. But since it relies on SLI tech, it isn't the quickest in all games. Some games don't use the 2nd core on the card. Also, it has high power requirements and needs a 6pin power and 8pin power plug from your power supply. ~305
GTX 280 is next. ~460
Although for A LOT cheaper you can get a 4870 which is way up there as well. ~170

And depending on what you play different cards will come out on top.

 

[Adabiviak]

First, you must obtain the sweat gland from the Australian Nik Nik bug.

 

[VirusType2]

First, you must obtain the sweat gland from the Australian Nik Nik bug.

Lol, shit that's good


All those Onion videos made you 5x cooler.

*watches*

 

[Saturos]

First, you must google the term "return on investment".

^I LOL'd.

To the OP: ROI meaning that with a 9800GX2, you won't see much of a performance difference in contrast to the cost ratio. In layman's <(idiot's) terms, your just wasting your money. Good for you.

A 8800GT will be ever bit as good as a 9800GX2. Unless of course your just a showoff and like having the most expensive hardware available, so that you can brag to people you don't even know on forums like these how much money you have.

Ever heard of the phrase, "more money than sense"? :|

 

[Krynn72]

The ATI Radeon 9600 is the best card.

 

[CR0M]

TWO 9800GX2's.
Why stop at 2 gpu's when you can have 4 at twice the price?

buynowbuynowbuynow

 

[Qonfused]

the Ati Radeon 9600 Is The Best Card.

I Had One Of Those Omg

 

[CyberPitz]

The ATI Radeon 9600 is the best card.

Oh man, my 9600XT could run EVERY game at maxest settings with a constant 2 billion frames per second. Can't bet the awesome 9600XT!!!!!

The XT stands for Xtra Terrestrial!

 

[Adabiviak]

So, let's pretend for a moment that money's not a concern for him. Say he's got six figures of expendable money annually, so the price isn't an issue. He can drop $200,000 on video cards the way we'd drop 25? into a gumball machine. How many video cards can be run in parallel if space and available slots aren't an issue?

 

[Asus]

2 or 3 cards I think. Not sure if you can go beyond 4 cores, meaning 2 double cards like the 9800GX2 or 3800X2.

Although plain SLI/Crossfire is often faster and in more games than adding all those cards...they just don't work together that well.

 

[Eejit]

If you're that loaded just go for a HP Blackbird with all options maxed or something.

 

[Barney Fife]

If you're that loaded just go for a HP Blackbird with all options maxed or something.

And pay 10-20 thousands dollars? Brilliant!!!

 

[Asus]

^I LOL'd.

To the OP: ROI meaning that with a 9800GX2, you won't see much of a performance difference in contrast to the cost ratio. In layman's <(idiot's) terms, your just wasting your money. Good for you.

A 8800GT will be ever bit as good as a 9800GX2. Unless of course your just a showoff and like having the most expensive hardware available, so that you can brag to people you don't even know on forums like these how much money you have.

Ever heard of the phrase, "more money than sense"? :|

But there is a very tangible difference between a 8800GT and 9800GX2...
Not so much between a GTX260, 9800GX2 and 4870.

 

[Eejit]

And pay 10-20 thousands dollars? Brilliant!!!

It's about as sensible as what he's planning.
I did say, if he's that loaded.

 

[Escaep]

And pay 10-20 thousands dollars? Brilliant!!!

If money isnt an option go for a Mac Pro.

$24,789 will get you:

Two 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (8-core)
32GB (8 x 4GB) RAM
Mac Pro RAID Card
300GB 15,000-rpm SAS (1)
300GB 15,000-rpm SAS (2)
300GB 15,000-rpm SAS (3)
300GB 15,000-rpm SAS (4)
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB (Two dual-link DVI) (exchange for two 9800GX2)
Apple Cinema HD Display (30" flat panel) (1)
Apple Cinema HD Display (30" flat panel) (2)
Two 16x SuperDrives
AirPort Extreme card (Wi-Fi)
Quad Channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express Card
Apple USB Modem
Apple wireless Mighty Mouse
Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) + User's Guide
Mac OS X Server (Unlimited-Client)
Xsan 2 included
iWork '08 preinstalled
Final Cut Express preinstalled
Aperture preinstalled
Logic Express preinstalled
1-year Family Pack subscription
AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro (w/or w/o Display) - Auto-enroll

http://store.apple.com/AppleStore/W...9494006/wo/mF088jNlYAIs3W4S8nP13HjXbKv/1.?p=0

 

[Barney Fife]

If money isnt an option go for a Mac Pro.

$24,789 will get you:

Two 3.2GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon (8-core)
32GB (8 x 4GB) RAM
Mac Pro RAID Card
300GB 15,000-rpm SAS (1)
300GB 15,000-rpm SAS (2)
300GB 15,000-rpm SAS (3)
300GB 15,000-rpm SAS (4)
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB (Two dual-link DVI) (exchange for two 9800GX2)
Apple Cinema HD Display (30" flat panel) (1)
Apple Cinema HD Display (30" flat panel) (2)
Two 16x SuperDrives
AirPort Extreme card (Wi-Fi)
Quad Channel 4Gb Fibre Channel PCI Express Card
Apple USB Modem
Apple wireless Mighty Mouse
Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) + User's Guide
Mac OS X Server (Unlimited-Client)
Xsan 2 included
iWork '08 preinstalled
Final Cut Express preinstalled
Aperture preinstalled
Logic Express preinstalled
1-year Family Pack subscription
AppleCare Protection Plan for Mac Pro (w/or w/o Display) - Auto-enroll

http://store.apple.com/AppleStore/W...9494006/wo/mF088jNlYAIs3W4S8nP13HjXbKv/1.?p=0

lol. Lemme ask the old lady where she hid my check book.

FYI ... The link expired ya mole.

 

[Saturos]

But... problem.

It's a Mac.

Ouch. hardware choices are gonna be fairly stymed if it's a Mac.

Why would anyone need high-end processing hardware for a Mac anyways? (the 8800GT, 32GB RAM, and 3.2Ghz Quad Core) Unless one plans to do lots of video editing and/or gfx design, but even then.

Everyone knows the only reason why anyone would need to buy beefy hardware.

 

[Saturos]

Well, Macs can run Windows, but then you're just paying a premium for a nice white case and monitor. Seems rather silly to me, even if you do make use of OS/X (especially because you can download it and run it on Intel chipsets anyway).

I just don't understand Mac people. :dozey: The premium being the "apple" brand right? Plus, if one plans to use Windows more than OS/X, how well will all that VMware crap work?

 

[Escaep]

I just don't understand Mac people. :dozey: The premium being the "apple" brand right? Plus, if one plans to use Windows more than OS/X, how well will all that VMware crap work?

VMWare sucks. I used it. It is good for everyday applications but can play absolutely no games. Nothing with shaders or post DX8. The one good thing with VMWare is you can switch between OSX and XP seamlessly.

I have an iMac and with Boot Camp i created a partition on my hard drive and loaded XP directly on to it. It works natively just like normal Windows. I only did this to play my games. The bad side is you have to restart to get into OSX. I use OSX for my everyday use and reboot in XP to do some gaming.

You can set your hard drive partition for Windows to almost any size (you cant format your whole drive though) I set mine to 61 GB. It is enough room for all my games.

 

[ourmanritter]

what's the best performance hl2 can get out of a card setup? meaning, what 's the best card that hl2 can actually take advantage of?
will 2 cards do much for hl2? say two 4850's in crossfire?

 

[AiM]

^ A single 4850 is already overkill for HL2, let alone two. I have a single 4850 and it's running on absolute max settings (x16 AA, full HDR, etc.) and the FPS ranges from about 100 - 200 depending if you're outdoor or in.

If you want to be sensible and go for the best bang for your buck, it's basically between ATi's 4850 / 4870 or nVidia's 9800 GTX / GTX +. I think those two cards are neck and neck but you really can't go wrong with either. To give you an idea, I can run Crysis at my native resolution with full Very High settings (no AA though) and I play it at 50+ FPS.

 

[Asus]

FYI
i replaced the stock cooler of the 4850 with my zalmans GPU cooler which I had on my X1900GT. My temps are just over 60C under load (room temp about 75-80F).

 

[Blackthorn]

So the inside of your computer is in Europe, and the outside is in America?

 

[AiM]

So the inside of your computer is in Europe, and the outside is in America?

Exactly what I was thinking.

Anyway, I messed around with the temporary fix and my 4850 idles at ~ 50C. Not ideal but the solution so far is setting the default fan at 70% constantly, better than the bugged default of 2x%h I suppose.

 

[Adabiviak]

what's the best performance hl2 can get out of a card setup? meaning, what 's the best card that hl2 can actually take advantage of?
will 2 cards do much for hl2? say two 4850's in crossfire?

If I'm reading your question as it's written, the best performance HL2 can get out of a [single?] card setup would probably be hundreds of FPS, if you're using a very modern card. In answer to your second question, the best card that can actually play HL2 would be whatever the best card is at this time.

I think you mean, what's the worst card that HL2 can be played on and still look good? I'd suspect it'd play okay on anything from nVidia's 6800 series and up. I've found that the Source engine scales very well, especially given the quality of the graphics. It depends on how you define 'actually play'. Technically it's playable at 800x600 @15FPS, but that would be agonizing.

 

[Asus]

So the inside of your computer is in Europe, and the outside is in America?

hehe funny
Computer temp is usually referred to in C. Even in the USA.

 

[WhiteZero]

4870 or GTX260 are the best value's right now.

 

[Top Secret]

I would argue a 4850 is better value than a 4870.

 

[Asus]

With all the rebates on the 4850...yeah.
I picked one up off newegg for $165. And with the 30 MIR that goes down to $135.

 

[Hobopro]

I had a better compy and Vidcard than my friends but now their compys broke and they got quadcores :`(.