As the title reads, if you were to have $200(CAD) to spend now, which video card would you get at this time?

My current contenders are the Radeon 4850 and the 8800gtx, as both can be found for these prices on eBay currently...

Not all that familiar with the radeon, but I've heard nothing but good things about the 8800gtx. Just make sure your power supply can handle it.

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Once bread becomes toast, it can never go back to being bread again.

i got a 4850 1GB for $190 not too long ago

The old 8800GTX is obsolete. Grab yourself a 4870 or a 9800GTX+ (note the + on the end...it's better than the standard 9800GT or GTX)

What kind of CPU do you have by the way? If you have anything over 2 years old, it may be worth upgrading that first because the old Pentium D's simply can't handle what the new cards are throwing at them.

Also, make sure you upgrade your current video card drivers in the meantime. That made a world of difference in Bioshock for me

quote:

Originally posted by Capitalizt The old 8800GTX is obsolete. Grab yourself a 4870 or a 9800GTX+ (note the + on the end...it's better than the standard 9800GT or GTX) What kind of CPU do you have by the way? If you have anything over 2 years old, it may be worth upgrading that first because the old Pentium D's simply can't handle what the new cards are throwing at them. Also, make sure you upgrade your current video card drivers in the meantime. That made a world of difference in Bioshock for me

The 8800GTX is far from obsolete - it'll still run everything on the market on max and then some, and the 9800 is pretty much a repackaged 8800, disguised with a new name, but it's essentially the same card.

If you really want to go one notch higher, go for the GTX260 or GTX280, skip the 9000 series altogether.

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Once bread becomes toast, it can never go back to being bread again.

quote:

Originally posted by Cpt.Cocaine The 8800GTX is far from obsolete - it'll still run everything on the market on max and then some, and the 9800 is pretty much a repackaged 8800, disguised with a new name, but it's essentially the same card. If you really want to go one notch higher, go for the GTX260 or GTX280, skip the 9000 series altogether.

The new 512MB 8800/9800GT's replaced the 768MB 8800GTX. The 9800GT is equal or slightly better than the old GTX...and the new 9800GTX+ blows away the old 8800GTX. You can find one for under $200 every day on Newegg. I believe the power rating goes like this..

GTX280 > 4870 > GTX260 > 9800GTX+ > 9800GT

In the $150-200 range, the 9800GTX+ or GTX260 is the sweet spot.

I'm using a 4850 running 1920x1200 with no problems on any current titles. You can go for more expensive if you want but unless you have a 30" monitor you won't need the extra power, but you can always throw in another card and run games just fine at 2560x1600. But if you had the money for a monitor that size you probably wouldn't be asking for advice.

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I've never been able to eat a whole baby.
Kill the women. Eat the children.
It's just one of those days where you want to bend over everyone you know and kiss their ass goodbye with a big sideways boot.

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quote:

Originally posted by Capitalizt The old 8800GTX is obsolete. Grab yourself a 4870 or a 9800GTX+ (note the + on the end...it's better than the standard 9800GT or GTX) What kind of CPU do you have by the way? If you have anything over 2 years old, it may be worth upgrading that first because the old Pentium D's simply can't handle what the new cards are throwing at them. Also, make sure you upgrade your current video card drivers in the meantime. That made a world of difference in Bioshock for me

I am not sure how the 8800gtx is obsolete. Maybe I should have given more detail in the explanation. I am currently running an 8800gtx myself, and run everything maxed out, with the exception of crysis.

The video card is intended for my brothers machine. He is actually running a 3.0Ghz AMD Athlon X2 (dual core), and just got new RAM. His current video card is an ATI 3850, so either the 4850 or the 8800gtx would be a huge improvement over that. I believe going to a GTX 260 or 4870 would be too high of a specd component for his current setup.

Also, neither the 4870 nor the gtx 260 can be had anywhere close to $200 (CAD)

Just grab this and be happy:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...N82E16814143137



If you want to save money or don't have a good enough power supply, any old 9800GT will still be perfectly fast for your processor.

quote:

Originally posted by zokissima I am not sure how the 8800gtx is obsolete. Maybe I should have given more detail in the explanation. I am currently running an 8800gtx myself, and run everything maxed out, with the exception of crysis. The video card is intended for my brothers machine. He is actually running a 3.0Ghz AMD Athlon X2 (dual core), and just got new RAM. His current video card is an ATI 3850, so either the 4850 or the 8800gtx would be a huge improvement over that. I believe going to a GTX 260 or 4870 would be too high of a specd component for his current setup. Also, neither the 4870 nor the gtx 260 can be had anywhere close to $200 (CAD)

That processor will bottleneck his machine way before any of those video cards will. He might not see much of an improvement without upgrading to a current CPU. Basically don't get a super high end card because he won't be able to get everything the card offers without a faster processor.

___________________
I've never been able to eat a whole baby.
Kill the women. Eat the children.
It's just one of those days where you want to bend over everyone you know and kiss their ass goodbye with a big sideways boot.

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quote:

Originally posted by Capitalizt Just grab this and be happy: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...N82E16814143137 If you want to save money or don't have a good enough power supply, any old 9800GT will still be perfectly fast for your processor.

Thank you my friend. This is actually a fantastic alternative. If my current e-bay auction tops $160CAD, your alternative offers a far better bang-for-buck (and its brand new)