Geforce or Radeon?

[RoSs_bg2_rox]

so does anyone have links for cheap but good cards?

[Felix The Assassin]

Cheap cards are always a mystery. I sure wish I knew where I could get one.
Here is where I dream:
http://www.pricewatch.com/
Here is where I validate information that is available:
http://www.tomshardware.com/

I want the new Radeon with 256Mb also, but I to have a limited budget. If I had the budget for it, here is where I could get it:
http://www.krex.com/Ppmain.asp?sg=1&gr=1&it=33&si=4

If you are talking about heat and system resources, then it's time to upgrade. Learn and move into the world of case nodification also, it is way easy and allows your creative side to come out. Just be cautious when you are running the jig saw, and dremel tools.

Felix

[RoSs_bg2_rox]

that is what im looking for aswell. the new radeon 9800 256mb.
edit: i just checked out the link........ way to expensive for me

[ 07-27-2003, 08:42 AM: Message edited by: RoSs_bg2_rox ]

[Father Bronze]

Add resellerratings.com to your list of online price hunting stops. I usually start with Pricewatch and then I check the store's rating to see if it looks like a store I would do business with. I often find that shopping with a reliable merchant and paying the extra $1 or two is worth it compared to the nightmarish reviews I read from some of the cheaper places.

One thing to note, I know that the Radeon cards had problems displaying "shiny" water in NWN. I don't know if that issue has been fixed yet or not. On the other hand, I have a Radeon 9000 and I can't complain. It isn't a high end gaming card, but it works for me.

[ 07-27-2003, 10:29 AM: Message edited by: Father Bronze ]

[TheCrimsomBlade]

Not tring to brag but, I have at least 5 different 3-D accellerater cards. and for the money $149.00 I would get the ATI Radeon all-in-wonder 7500 it is all around the best buy for the money and will work great with all of the newest games as well as all the old. If you want to learn more about Radeon go to:

http://www.ati.com

From the ATI site about the 7500:
With Powerful TV, video capture & editing, and 2D/3D graphics performance the ALL-IN-WONDER® RADEON™ 7500 GPU 64MB DDR memory
Stereo TV-tuner
TV-ON-DEMAND™ Time shifting
Integrated Interactive Program Guide 1
Easily capture and edit MPEG-2 video into your own creations
Wireless radio-frequency remote control
DVD video playback
Featuring CATALYST™ - ATI's industry-leading software suite with frequently scheduled free updates providing additional features and performance over the products lifetime.

As long as you get the updates when you remember to, this 3-D accellerator will do everything you will need for the next 5 years. I use this 3-D card in 3 of 7 computers that I own and have never had one second of trouble with any of the more than 300 PC games that I own.


My son has an Alienware Extreme AREA 51/W
Intel Pentium 4, 3.2GHz 800MHz FSB
2GB DDR SDRAM PC-3200
2/120GB Seagate Barracuda 8MB Cache Hard drives
DVD/RW and DVD/CDROM
-ATI Radeon 9800 PRO 256MB AGP 3-D accellerator
It has 5 cooling fans plus the monster fan and heat sink on the Ati 3-D card. It sounds like a small jet when its running so, we built a cupboard to keep it in. IT sets over one of the AC vents along the floor next to the wall by his desk to help keep it cool and at the same time cut down the sound of air blowing, plus I put a double Pain plexi-Glass window in the front of the Cupboard so everyone can see his CPU.

This is more power than most people will ever need and in most cases he has to tune the ATI down so that games will be able to keep up with it.
But if you are running the High end of the computer world then go all the way and get the high power everything.

But for the money the ATI Radeon 7500 or, the ATI Radeon 9000 will do everything you could want and for one quarter the price of all the other high end units, unless you have a job in the T.V and movie industry or are copying DVD's in large quanties get one of these two and you will be very very happy.

[ 07-27-2003, 10:42 AM: Message edited by: TheCrimsomBlade ]

[Bahamut]

wow crimsonblade... how rich are you??? hehehe

nice specs... wow to the RAM... unfortunately here where i live ATI isn't available.. all GeForces... damn.. i wish i knew where to look here.

[Thoran]

Originally posted by Felix The Assassin: quote: Originally posted by RoSs_bg2_rox: What do u guys prefer? Also im thinkin on buyin a new graphics card, does anyone know where to get them cheap apart from on ebay? I was thinkin of a radeon 9800 128mb or 256mb but they cost a bomb so does ne1 know where to get those for cheap prices. I could on the other hand buy a geforce fx 5200 for £80, again what do u think?

If you want the current hands down winner; you will yield the wallet and pay for the Radeon. If you want the current hands down 2nd place card, you will again buy a Radeon. If you want the 3rd place card, you will spend even more for the Nvidia Gforce 5800 whatever that failure card number is.

As far as not going over 64mb, then stay under the porch. Modern games, and the ones soon to be released all carry two modes. Upon installation setup checks your system, if have a wuss card you get the wuss game, if you have the dominate card, then you will get the superior graphics. The new Nvidia card does in fact take up two slots, has a huge heat sink, and NOISY fan, but fails to unseat even the older 9700 Radeon. And there are two new Radeons out now.

Or, you could wait 6 months and see who is on top then. ATI has had the lead since early Spring, well actually last Fall if you count the pre-release model. I'm sure the folks at Nvidia are working triple time to make a comeback, especially after the new series 5800 fell flat on it's back side.
Check the May and June Maximum PC for exact number bashings.

I myself run Radeon!

As for cheap, I always check Toms Hardware Guide, then Pricewatch, then suck it all up and go down to the local store.

Yes, you could buy that 5200 for 80 whatever, was that Pound or Euro? But then again, the view from under the porch might not be fantastic! [/QUOTE]That was true not too long ago but the 5900 Ultra is a good match for the 9800 Pro and priced comparably. It has no heating problems, a standard sized heat sink and a quiet fan. Until ATI comes out with their new cards (soon now) it's basically a toss up at the high end. If you don't want to spend over 400 beans for top of the line, then ATI is the only game in town... I wouldn't recommend the earlier GeforceFX cards that were NV30 based.

[RoSs_bg2_rox]

Originally posted by TheCrimsomBlade: Not tring to brag but, I have at least 5 different 3-D accellerater cards. and for the money $149.00 I would get the ATI Radeon all-in-wonder 7500 it is all around the best buy for the money and will work great with all of the newest games as well as all the old. If you want to learn more about Radeon go to: http://www.ati.com From the ATI site about the 7500: With Powerful TV, video capture & editing, and 2D/3D graphics performance the ALL-IN-WONDER® RADEON™ 7500 GPU 64MB DDR memory Stereo TV-tuner TV-ON-DEMAND™ Time shifting Integrated Interactive Program Guide 1 Easily capture and edit MPEG-2 video into your own creations Wireless radio-frequency remote control DVD video playback Featuring CATALYST™ - ATI's industry-leading software suite with frequently scheduled free updates providing additional features and performance over the products lifetime. As long as you get the updates when you remember to, this 3-D accellerator will do everything you will need for the next 5 years. I use this 3-D card in 3 of 7 computers that I own and have never had one second of trouble with any of the more than 300 PC games that I own. My son has an Alienware Extreme AREA 51/W Intel Pentium 4, 3.2GHz 800MHz FSB 2GB DDR SDRAM PC-3200 2/120GB Seagate Barracuda 8MB Cache Hard drives DVD/RW and DVD/CDROM -ATI Radeon 9800 PRO 256MB AGP 3-D accellerator It has 5 cooling fans plus the monster fan and heat sink on the Ati 3-D card. It sounds like a small jet when its running so, we built a cupboard to keep it in. IT sets over one of the AC vents along the floor next to the wall by his desk to help keep it cool and at the same time cut down the sound of air blowing, plus I put a double Pain plexi-Glass window in the front of the Cupboard so everyone can see his CPU. This is more power than most people will ever need and in most cases he has to tune the ATI down so that games will be able to keep up with it. But if you are running the High end of the computer world then go all the way and get the high power everything. But for the money the ATI Radeon 7500 or, the ATI Radeon 9000 will do everything you could want and for one quarter the price of all the other high end units, unless you have a job in the T.V and movie industry or are copying DVD's in large quanties get one of these two and you will be very very happy.

how much did that cost ur son? Also do u run a business or something or do u just have 7 computers for playing games on?

[Ziroc]

Well, I'll just say this:

When my GeForce4 4600 died after a year and I got it RMA'ed for a new one, I installed my Radeon 8700 card and EVERY damn game had graphics glitches. Tried everything I could to fix them, but all my games had weird clipping errors, NWN's cursor blinked constantly, and in Arx Fatalis, it would crash.

I would personally stay away from Radeon, since most DirectX Game makers make use of the nVidia chipset more often than not.

BTW, the LATEST GeForce card has left that huge honking fan design, and now is back to normal. (When I saw that, I laughed). When you are looking to buy a video card, look at the cards other features besides just speed. Look at the shader support, the different DirectX plugin's it can use and such..

Radeon says that it supports DirectX 9, but that is such a marketing ploy. NO GAME YET offers fully blown DX9 effects. So it's like buying a car that can fly, but the skyway isn't built yet.

I will stick with whatever card has the best overall speed AND the most compatible with games, and has advanced shaders.

[Xen]

Originally posted by Ziroc: . NO GAME YET offers fully blown DX9 effects. So it's like buying a car that can fly, but the skyway isn't built yet.

Just wait to Half Life 2 and Doom 3.