Recommendation Please

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frodoh
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Frodoh

Hi all

Can somebody recommend a budget card to pair with my 1.53GHZ AMD 1800XP? I
currently have a Geforce 3 Ti200 and I wanted something better to play
Farcry, Doom 3 and Half Life 2 with.

Any suggestions for a Direct X 9.0 compatible card?

I would spend $150 - $170

Thanks!
 
Thanks dude but I don't have a PCI-Express motherboard.

Do they make an AGP version in the same price range?

Thanks again :)
 
Frodoh said:
Hi all

Can somebody recommend a budget card to pair with my 1.53GHZ AMD 1800XP? I
currently have a Geforce 3 Ti200 and I wanted something better to play
Farcry, Doom 3 and Half Life 2 with.

Any suggestions for a Direct X 9.0 compatible card?

I would spend $150 - $170

Thanks!
Click to expand...


Considering your processor, I'd say you should look at a 9600 Pro or 9600XT.
However, you might find a 9700 Pro or 9800 Pro in your price range, and this
would be great as well especially if you plan to upgrade your CPU at some
point. Just be sure you're not buying a Sapphire 9800 Pro with the 128-bit
memory interface. The NV3x series of cards (GeForce FX) are not a good idea
for Half-Life 2 unless you don't plan running in DirectX 9 mode. For
evidence of this, go to the following link:

http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2278&p=14
 
if you could get the MSI in the green PCB version there is a chance of it
installing as a 9800XT..faster and better yet. That is one of the reasons
MSI is hard to find now.
 
Frodoh:
Can somebody recommend a budget card to pair with my 1.53GHZ AMD
1800XP? I currently have a Geforce 3 Ti200 and I wanted something
better to play Farcry, Doom 3 and Half Life 2 with.

Any suggestions for a Direct X 9.0 compatible card?

I would spend $150 - $170
Click to expand...

The FX series (5700, 5900, etc) are poor choices for HL2. The 5900XT is
unplayable in DX9 mode and gets beat by the lower end Radeon cards. The FX
cards are not really ideal for Far Cry either. They work great for Doom3.

There are no good choices for Nvidia in your price range. You can wait a
few weeks for the 6600 AGP card, extend your budget for a 6800LE, or buy a
Radeon 9600XT.
 
Mac Cool said:
Frodoh:


The FX series (5700, 5900, etc) are poor choices for HL2. The 5900XT is
unplayable in DX9 mode and gets beat by the lower end Radeon cards. The FX
cards are not really ideal for Far Cry either. They work great for Doom3.

There are no good choices for Nvidia in your price range. You can wait a
few weeks for the 6600 AGP card, extend your budget for a 6800LE, or buy a
Radeon 9600XT.
Click to expand...

The 6600 and 6800LE require alot of 12v power and the 1.53GHz AMD cpu will
not have enough power to fully utilize the 6600 or 6800LE. The 1.53GHz cpu
will limit the fps to something around an overclocked 9600XT or 5900SE. You
need a 1.7GHz cpu or better to fully utilize the 6600 or 6800LE cards and a
good 400watt PSU (at least 18amps on the 12v line). The drivers for the
Nvidia line of cards are better and the over all performance for the Nvidia
line of cards are better than the ATI line of cards. HL2 has been optimized
for the ATI chip set, which is why it runs better on the ATI cards. Far Cry
runs great on a Nvidia 5900 cards at least on my rig it does (5900SE
@450/880;cpu 1700+ @1900MHz). Haven't tried Doom3 yet. The 5700 is a slow
card in comparison to a 5900 card due to the extra pipes in the 5900 card
(5700Ultra is just about = to a standard 5900SE not OC's). The 5900XT MSI
cards will most likely have Helix 2.5ns memory on them and may have the
2.2ns versions. Most 5900XT's ship with Helix or Samusung 2.8ns memory. I
wouldn't buy any thing under a 5900 Nvidia card. The 9600XT is slower than
the 5900 in most apps and games but due to the optimization will be faster
in HL2. If you go for a ATI try to get a 9800 it has better over all
performance than the 9600. Check out Tom Hardware video card shoot out but
remember that the cpu in the compairson is more powerful than the 1800+.
 
Rusty:
The 6600 and 6800LE require alot of 12v power and the 1.53GHz AMD cpu
will not have enough power to fully utilize the 6600 or 6800LE. The
1.53GHz cpu will limit the fps to something around an overclocked
9600XT or 5900SE. You need a 1.7GHz cpu or better to fully utilize
the 6600 or 6800LE cards and a good 400watt PSU (at least 18amps on
the 12v line). The drivers for the Nvidia line of cards are better
and the over all performance for the Nvidia line of cards are better
than the ATI line of cards.
Click to expand...

None of that matters because he wants a DX9 card to play HL2 and the
6600 or 6800 cards are his only viable choices from Nvidia.
The 9600XT is slower than the 5900 in most apps and games but due to
the optimization will be faster in HL2.
Click to expand...

As you say, the 9600XT will be faster in DX9 mode in HL2, it will be
just as fast as a 5900 in Far Cry and adequate with his system in Doom3.
Personally I would wait for a 6600, but if he can't wait a few weeks
then the 9600XT is his best choice.
 
The spec's on the 9800 ATI chip set is allot better than the 9600XT. In
terms of price / performance the 9600XT would be the way to go in the $120
to $140 range. After Christmas around the end of Feb to mid Mar the price
of higher end video cards will be falling. He might want to wait if he is
on a tight budget. The 5900 are directx 9 cards they just don't have the
3.0 shaders that have been programmed in the newer directx 9c. The nvidia
chip set on the 5900 is a very good directx 9 for the price. He is what you
are looking for to play far cry and HL2 and the 9800 is ok for other games
but the games may require a few patches. The nvidia card is a little slower
for far cry and HL2 but will play most other games a little faster.
See Tom's Hardware
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041110/index.html and
http://www.allstarshop.com/shop/simprod.asp?ad=bz&pid=9161 and
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041004/vga_charts-09.html
 
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