Best video card for around $200?

[LoneDeranger]

Right now I have a GeForce2 GTS 64 MB. So far I had no problems running any of the latest games. But then again, playing HL2 with it would probably be like playing HL1 on software render.

So which card would you recommend for around $200? Is it really worth spening more?

 

[TrueWeltall]

RADEON 9500 PRO

 

[Morphious]

I think that if you want to go the nVidia way again, that the GeForce FX 5200 ULTRA 128mb is $200. It may be close to your budget, but it's a good card from what I hear (I've not used it, since I have a GF3 Ti200 and don't have the money right now to upgrade)

 

[Murray_H]

Give the 5200 a bypass, you can get one for about $99

Get a 9500 pro if you can

 

[TrueWeltall]

Geforce isnt all that good anymore unless you go 5800.

 

[LoneDeranger]

Thanks .. I'll go for the Radeon 9500 Pro. I'm kind of disillusioned with nVidia right now.

 

[Mr. Redundant]

my brother has the gfx 5200 ultra, stay away from it like the plague, not much performance gain from his old geforce2 mx 200 and thats saying something (well besides the dx9 support and features of course) but still... then again Im sitting pretty with my ati 9800 pro so IM spoiled, everything seems crap once you got the best (I seem so smug, yet... I am not)

 

[SpuD]

The store right next to my house as the FX for $89 and the Radeon 9500 pro for $188, im gonna go with the pro.

 

[StinkyMojo]

Im sitting pretty with my ati 9800 pro so IM spoiled [/B]

Hey mr redundand what processor/ram do you have with that?

 

[Vertigo]

Honestly, the whole FX series (except the upcoming 5900...I hear that's actually pretty good, and a LOT quieter) is a disgrace. It was hurried to compete with the 9700 and 9800, and yet it's huge (takes up two slots), loud (seriously...you should hear one of those beast fans whir. It's disgusting), slow (relatively), and expensive (again, relatively). For now, until the FX 5900 goes down in price, stick with Radeons. Only thing that makes me hesitate is Nvidia has always made better drivers than ATi has.

-Vert

 

[Mr. Redundant]

Originally posted by StinkyMojo
Hey mr redundand what processor/ram do you have with that?

on my gaming rig, with the radeon 9800 pro
I have 512mb ddr pc3200 x2 (1gb total)
and my mobo is an asus p4c8x deluxe (8x agp)

 

[Xelnein]

there is a 'POWERCOLOR ATI RADEON 9700 128MB GOLD DDR CRT+DVI+TV 8X AGP RETAIL' on new egg ( and elsewhere, just cheaper there.) that looks fairly good. 229.00

here is a review in which they compare it to the reg. ati 9700 pro, and the 9500 pro - enjoy.
http://www.beyond3d.com/reviews/powercolor/radeon9700/

but seriously.. if you buy it.. let me know.. i'm considering it.. don't know if i want to dish out the extra 80 for a 9700 pro.. seeing as how there doesn't seem to be an outstanding gap in performance.

"Since the introduction if the 9500 PRO the question that many have had is whether the 9700 is worth getting over the 9500 PRO. Naturally this will all come down to exactly what you are looking for in a board and what price is can be found for. However, in these tests we've clearly demonstrated the strengths of 9700 in comparison to the 9500 PRO -- if high resolution rendering and/or FSAA and in Anisotropic filtering are of importance to you, then clearly the extra bandwidth of the the 9700 is a big boon."

"So, there we have it. The PowerColor Evil Commando 2 Gold Radeon 9700 128MB is a highly capable DirectX9 board with enough bandwidth to push it into high frame rates at high resolutions and with FSAA and/or high quality filtering enabled."



gl.zach