If you had...

[joule]

If you had $250 to spend on a video card, kinda like me right now, which video card would you buy in preparation for Half-Life 2? Why?

 

[ShinRa]

I'd buy a 9800 pro.

edit - cuz i said so.

 

[OmegaX]

Go for the Radeon 9800 All in Wonder, i saw it for $258

 

[Lil' Timmy]

i wouldn't get the aiw unless you actually wanted the aiw features. 9800 pro is a good call.

 

[joule]

Is this the biggest bang for my buck I can get? It seems to be the most powerful and fastest 9800 Pro I can find.

 

[DiSTuRbEd]

FX5800!!!! it r0x0rs!

 

[ATI4EVER!]

umm wrong!!!! FX series suck!

9800pro

AIW series sometimes have problems, i don't know why, with games. Just go 9800pro

yeah. 9800pro is good. 9600XT IS COOL TOO!!! YAY!!!! (^))XT!!!!! (^))XT!!!!!


edit: 9600XT IS COOL TOO!!! YAY!!!! 9600XT!!!!! 9600XT!!!!!

 

[Sharasment panda]

9800 pro

 

[poseyjmac]

you can get a regular geforce 6800 for $266 on pricewatch. this card is faster than a 9800xt let alone a 9800pro, and of course has dx9 support. its really a no-brainer.

 

[joule]

you can get a regular geforce 6800 for $266 on pricewatch. this card is faster than a 9800xt let alone a 9800pro, and of course has dx9 support. its really a no-brainer.

Eh...

I want a video card that will give me the biggest bang for my buck and is $250 or cheaper.
I suppose that this will be my buy.
I've heard nothing but great things about it, and everyone I know recommends the 9800 Pro.
Also, Half-Life 2 tends to have better performance with ATI cards over NVIDIA.
Thanx guys! :cheers:

 

[blackeye]

Ya if you have 250 to spend get the 6800, but if you want to save a little money and only spend aroun 210-220 then get the 9800 pro.

Both perform similar, 6800 is a bit faster in some bencmarks and probably a bit more overclockable.

Both cards have their pros and cons. If you go the the hardforum they seem to know a lot about the 6800 series of cards then any other forum out there.

The card you linked to would be a great choice though

 

[poseyjmac]

your loss. $16 bucks more for beyond 9800xt performance. :/

asus could back me up on this one.

 

[poseyjmac]

Also, Half-Life 2 tends to have better performance with ATI cards over NVIDIA.

you haven't seen the benchmarks at x-bit labs have you? they are pretty much neck n neck. don't let valve and ati's propaganda influence your buying decision.

 

[joule]

you haven't seen the benchmarks at x-bit labs have you? they are pretty much neck n neck. don't let valve and ati's propaganda influence your buying decision.

Okay then. I'll think it over again and do some more research.

 

[poseyjmac]

damnit, their article is down at the moment or else you could see for yourself.

its supposed to be here:

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/counterstrike-source.html

 

[joule]

asus could back me up on this one.

Well, I have been talking to Asus about this. He recommends the 9800 Pro hands down. :O

 

[blackeye]

Ya I have been tryin to link to that article for the last half hours and no luck.

Just my opinion though is that ATI and NVIDIA are getting really competitve as far as driver releases go this round. Im very happy because I didint expect nvidia to catch up to ATI when the 6800 ultra was released a couple months ago. Now both cards are neck and neck. And I dont think anyone has the right to say anymore the the x800 xt pawns the 6800 ultra or the 6800 ultra pawn the x800 xt.

ATI is catching up to nvidia in doom 3
nvidia is catching up to ATI in half life 2

Cant go wrong now can you.

 

[VeZ]

i second the 6800, even tho it ATi has an advantage, that advantage doesnt beat out the 6800. Either way each will own

 

[poseyjmac]

Well, I have been talking to Asus about this. He recommends the 9800 Pro hands down. :O

well asus is drunk, because the 6800 is better. :dork:

 

[joule]

well asus is drunk, because the 6800 is better. :dork:

Better than this?

 

[poseyjmac]

Better than this?

i can't find a decent benchmark thats actually up to show you. 9800pro is still good, if you are pressed for time then just get it. who knows when xbitlabs article is going back up. it was nice though because they benched a few CS:S levels and it was very good info.

 

[blackeye]

From and Anandtech Review

The GeForce 6800, while not the most impressive performer that we've seen, certainly improves on the performance of the 5950 Ultra and 9800 XT with a much lower cost than both. Unless an application that requires 256MBs of video RAM is key in the decision-making process, the 6800 is a better choice right now than the former top-of-the-line cards, even at their reduced prices. This price point should get even more interesting when ATI's $300 offering hits the streets.

Anandtech
IGN
Hot Hardware

To me it looks like the 6800 clearly beat the competition in most of the bencmarks.

In the hothardware Bencmark they have a win losses thin at the end.
The 6800vs9800xt
wins for 6800 37
losses for 6800 9
Ties for the two cards 5

The 66 and 65 drivers improve performace greatly for the 6800 series of cards. None of the bencmarks above use them instead they use the 61 because they are the most current officials drivers to date. the 65 and 66 are beta.
I do not have an ATI card anymore so I cant tell you about any of the newer drivers from ATI but they sound like they are solid also

Edit:I got more bencmarks
http://www.tbreak.com/reviews/article.php?cat=grfx&id=318&pagenumber=7
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/geforce_6800_performance_and_overclocking/default.asp


Lets please keep this thread cival and everyone back up your arguments!

Well, I have been talking to Asus about this. He recommends the 9800 Pro hands down.

If he told you to jump of a bridge would you?

 

[joule]

ell, I am sort of in a split-decision between the two. But I think I will get this because of its price, Asus said so, ATI cards will most likely perform better with Half-Life 2, all the five-star reviews it has been given by consumers, and I have had better experience with ATI over NVIDIA.

Problem is, they are out of stock, as it seems. Does anyone have any idea how long it takes for them to get a new shipment in?

If he told you to jump of a bridge would you?

Hey. Asus knows his shit about computers.

 

[poseyjmac]

so you're going to disregard all those benchmarks from reputable hardware sites and go with one person's opinion?

 

[joule]

so you're going to disregard all those benchmarks from reputable hardware sites and go with one person's opinion?

No. I never said that.

I've looked at the benchmarks, and yes, the GeForce 6800 Ultra did perform better. But what I am saying is, it would be better for me if I go and buy the 9800 Pro. It delivers the biggest bang for my buck, and many other reasons that I have already listed above.
And it is not because of one person's opinion, it's more than that.

 

[blackeye]

I was talking bout the 6800 not the 6800 ultra.

 

[joule]

I was talking bout the 6800 not the 6800 ultra.

Oh. Sorry.
But it still doesn't change my decision. :|

 

[poseyjmac]

how old are you, user name? curious

 

[Lil' Timmy]

how old are you posey?

 

[Mujuro]

9800 Pro here...

 

[joule]

how old are you, user name? curious

Yes, off-topic:
I sent you a PM. Did you get it?

 

[blackeye]

What does age have to do with anything?

 

[Daegon]

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041004/index.html

- REFERENCE

If I had 250 bucks and needed a new card, hands down I would work my butt of to scrounge up a couple of bucks and get a plain jane 6800.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-122-193&depa=0
or
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-145-096&depa=0

however if you want to spend 180 of that 250 and get a 9800pro and spend 70 bucks on something else, or just save it, that's your call, but there is no need to get some blatantly overpriced 98p, like that card you keep advocating, I wouldn't buy that ever. I'd rather throw on a VGA silencer for 15 bucks extra, not 60. But it's your money and your call. I can only make suggestions.

edit: Concerning the overpriced 9800pro you showed us, yes, the cheapest 6800 non ultra, non gt will beat that marginally overclocked 9800 pro any day. By a large margin.

 

[blackeye]

This is from that xbit labs article I couldnt link to befor

The two performance-mainstream parts, GeForce 6800 and the RADEON 9800 XT, deliver pretty much equal speed in game the former leads in low resolution, the latter wins in high resolution. In the most-popular 1280x1024 these two products produce equal results in Counter Strike: Source. However, keeping in mind higher number of pixel pipelines, the GeForce 6800 manages to outperform the rival in Half-Life 2 video stress test. ATI’s RADEON 9800 PRO (with 256MB of memory) is clearly behind the GeForce 6800 in most of the cases, though, the gap between the 9800 XT and 9800 PRO is not too serious

Even if you still plan on getting a 9800 pro Im just linking to this for people that have the same question.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/counterstrike-source.html

 

[Narcolepsy]

I say wait for the mid-range next-gen cards to come out.

 

[Lil' Timmy]

I say wait for the mid-range next-gen cards to come out.

agreed.