I need a video card, what should i get

[badbooks]

i'm in the market for a video card. All i have right now is intel graphics and it doesnt cut it.

my emulator is glitchy in sound and graphics and i wouldnt mind the ability to play new computer games.

whats the best value. i dont want to go over the top, just get the job done.

 

[Martin]

Take a look at the Ati Radeon 9600 PRO, they're very inexpensive ($150?) now and I'd say it's the best price vs. performance card right now.

 

[pandamoan]

i'm in the market for a video card. All i have right now is intel graphics and it doesnt cut it.

my emulator is glitchy in sound and graphics and i wouldnt mind the ability to play new computer games.

whats the best value. i dont want to go over the top, just get the job done.

a cheap sound card as well may help your emulation.

none of the audio plugins currently available run that great on the "onboard sound" that it looks like your specs are describing.

that $10 can help alot.

for video, if it's emulation only you're interested in, i'd get a geforce 4 ti (~$79). for the price it will do alot.

if you want to play doom 3 and half life 2 though, i'd get a radeon 9600 (~$145).

however, since those games aren't out yet, justifying that price might be hard.

all prices from:
http://www.pricewatch.com/

 

[Hexidecimal]

My opinion is, get the 9800SE, its about the same price, and you can softmod it to a 9800Pro.

 

[flow``]

personally an nvidia 5700 ultra..

ati catalyst series started out good, but boy have they really went stagnant or gotten worse the past 4-5 releases

on the other hand.. nvidia's have gotten considerably better the past few revisions (coming back to their 'golden' status)

 

[Clements]

I'd go with the nVidia 5700 Ultra too (If I hadn't got my 5600 ), as it would work wonders in emulation (PSX and N64 in particular) if that's 'your bag'. The Radeon 9600 Pro/XT probably beats it in Half-Life 2 so if you liked the original Half-Life and enjoy 'X-TREME' PC gaming more get that.

 

[Tagrineth]

personally an nvidia 5700 ultra..

ati catalyst series started out good, but boy have they really went stagnant or gotten worse the past 4-5 releases

on the other hand.. nvidia's have gotten considerably better the past few revisions (coming back to their 'golden' status)

They've only gotten better in terms of the Cg compiler.

Nothing more.

Their trilinear filtering hacks still exist, btw.

 

[jollyrancher]

I just checked Ebay and you can get a Geforce 4 Ti4200 for $63... you've got 4 hours to bid... and that should get the job done.

 

[cooliscool]

Brand loyalism is a bitch *(hint hint)* :gunman:

My Apollo GF4 mx440 6mb DDR is not a bad card at all. I'm running pj64 @ 1024x768x3 quincunx FSAA with NO slowdown whatsoever. It's not a bad OCer either. It's @ 400/405 (core/mem MHz) from a stock 325/350. The only thing I wouldn't recommend these cards for is EXTREME pc gaming, such as Half Life 2 or Doom 3, which many others here have already stated.

 

[flow``]

They've only gotten better in terms of the Cg compiler.

Nothing more.

Their trilinear filtering hacks still exist, btw.

can i ask you to comment/defend the ati/half life issue? or ati and about any opengl game out there?

recently the call of duty issue.. http://www.ati.com/support/infobase/4291.html , the radeon AIW opengl issues, and the "new improved!" control panel

it's a shame to even read look here ( http://rage3d.com/board/forumdisplay.php?forumid=59 ) at all the issues and complaints

 

[Tagrineth]

I don't have any problems with any of my OpenGL games.

and I was only attacking nVidia's driver, not defending ATi's.

Notice that when I attacked nV's, you didn't even try to defend your statement? All you did was attack back.

 

[AlphaWolf]

I don't have any problems with any of my OpenGL games.

and I was only attacking nVidia's driver, not defending ATi's.

Notice that when I attacked nV's, you didn't even try to defend your statement? All you did was attack back.

Well, at least the nvidia drivers are compatible with EVERYTHING. As an owner of both ATI and nVidia cards, I haven't had any technical problems with nvidia cards...they "just work" perfectly out of the box. My ATI cards' drivers have a few features that don't work right, such as anisotropic filtering without having to enable FSAA, aside from the problems with half life and opengl in general. Hell, don't take my word for it, read the rage3d forums.

 

[Tagrineth]

Well, at least the nvidia drivers are compatible with EVERYTHING. As an owner of both ATI and nVidia cards, I haven't had any technical problems with nvidia cards...they "just work" perfectly out of the box. My ATI cards' drivers have a few features that don't work right, such as anisotropic filtering without having to enable FSAA, aside from the problems with half life and opengl in general. Hell, don't take my word for it, read the rage3d forums.

Eh? I don't have a problem enabling AF without AA. One driver set wouldn't allow me to enable either of them, but anyway...

...3dfx cards also worked right out of the box at the time.

It isn't because their drivers are perfect, it's because the bloody devs are coding the games around the drivers' bugs, hence making nV's drivers SEEM perfect.

 

[flow``]

They've only gotten better in terms of the Cg compiler.

Nothing more.QUOTE]

Sorry, but your wrong - http://download.nvidia.com/Windows/...raphics_drivers_Release_Notes_v0.2.v52.16.pdf

happy now?

 

[AlphaWolf]

It isn't because their drivers are perfect, it's because the bloody devs are coding the games around the drivers' bugs, hence making nV's drivers SEEM perfect.

Then why is it that on blizzards tech support page for WC3, they list 6 issues with ATIs drivers, and nvidias they only listed one minor one? I figure they would "code around" all of these bugs for the first release, wouldn't they?

 

[blizz]

the reality here is that PC's are shit for gaming and that all those companies should only make console games

 

[Eagle]

the reality here is that PC's are shit for gaming and that all those companies should only make console games

The reality is that console games are shit and they should just make PC games.

 

[Tagrineth]

Then why is it that on blizzards tech support page for WC3, they list 6 issues with ATIs drivers, and nvidias they only listed one minor one? I figure they would "code around" all of these bugs for the first release, wouldn't they?

Easy, more nVidia bugs were worked around than ATi ones.

You can't code around absolutely any bugs, though.

For the best example of bug-evasive coding practices, check out C&C: Renegade.

Oh, and by the way, http://www.beyond3d.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8926

 

[blizz]

The reality is that console games are shit and they should just make PC games.

they do! for the X-Box

 

[AlphaWolf]

Easy, more nVidia bugs were worked around than ATi ones.

You can't code around absolutely any bugs, though.

Wait, so which is it? They code around all but one nvidia bug, and leave six ATI bugs intact? Why not just code around every nvidia bug while your at it? And IIRC two of these ATI bugs were showstoppers (e.g. prevented the game from working,) why not code around these bugs? Could it be that the ATI drivers are just buggier?