DescentBB

I'm going to get one for my birthday in three months. My current video card is ATI Radeon X1600 pro that sometimes overheats or crashes twice times each day. It's 3-year old. I think it is too old for my wide screen LCD (24\", 1920x1080). Also newer games.

My video card lags those games:
Call of Duty 2 and 4
Half-Life 2 and Episodes
Day of Defeat: Source
Bioshock
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
Company of Heroes

I want:
Call of Duty: World at War

Asking today what video card you would want in March is a bit of a problem. Nvidia is expecting to ship Fermi by then which could greatly complicate the market. If you were shopping for a highend card right now the answer would of course be an ATI Radeon HD 5870 which easily holds the current crown for single card single chip performance but by march Fermi has a solid shot of changing that.

Of course any of the highend cards at the moment may require getting a new power supply to actually use. Fermi is going to be big and fast, but in addition to that it is likely to be the hottest and most power hungry video card yet produced by any manufacturer according to what I have read. 3 Billion transistors in a video chip are going to be power hungry when put to work no matter how you stack it.

So basically right now: Radeon HD 5870.
3 months from now: nobody knows.

No need to make a choice right now. From my experience, it's far better to get a rough list of cards and power supplies that might fit your budget. Then, keep an eye on prices, and jump on the best deal you find.

If you are willing to risk it, you might even keep an eye out for local used cards/supplies. I negotiated with a local guy on Craigslist, and got my most recent card (lightly used 4870x2, a beast!) for a song.

As far as ATI vs. NVidia, they both have strengths & weaknesses. Personally, I'd recommend either one, as I've had almost no problems with both. Don't limit yourself to one or the other.

Thank you for the replying, guys. And one vote.

My games recommended me get a Nvidia. \"The way it's meant to be played\". I was planning to get an 5970HD but I canceled it because I've got recommends of video card is Nvidia. Many players have played games with the green video card that I was told. So, I just know which number of GTX like 260 to 295. May you help me with that? Thanks

Well, green is my color favorite.

Every time I tried ATI I had problems and was very unsatisfied with the their support. I have the GTX260 in my machine now and am very satisfied with it. Even got Far Cry 2 and Call of Duty: World at War with it. from Newegg.

I have the GTX260 as well and I'm happy with it. It handles UT3 with out any problems.

The Radeon HD 5970 will outperform any nVidia card by so much it isn't even funny. If the GTX 295 is faster (and I don't think it is), then two 5970s will probably be cheaper and faster still.

But, if you must pick nVidia, the best you can do for price/performance is probably two GTX 260s in SLI. It'll beat my 285 in most games, and the 295 (which is effectively a pair of 275s on a single board) is too expensive to be worth it.

If you've got plenty of cash, maybe a 295, up from that a pair of 285s in SLI, and up from that, two 295s (quad SLI if I recall). That'll set you back just over $1000 though, and you'll need a pretty big PSU to run them as well.

P.S. The other option for nVidia: wait for March and get a GTX 360 or 380. Those should be pretty fast. They may not outperform ATIs on a purely graphical basis, but they are likely to be very, very good at GPGPU stuff - like physics - on the side.

Sirius wrote:The Radeon HD 5970 will outperform any nVidia card by so much it isn't even funny.

True.

I can give some personal experience with an ATI dual-GPU card: I've been very happy with my 4870x2 (note that a 5970 = a 5870x2). It's a great solution for a motherboard with a single PCIe slot.

It all boils down to what you can afford, when, and what your motherboard will support.

SLI, Crossfire, and dual GPU cards should not be considered serious contenders. First there is the occasional compatibility glitch that disables them so you only get half the performance from them. And second, even if they work, one of the big advantages of a higher framerate in video games is that it makes the computer more responsive and smoother, but AFR rendering mode means the system is only as fast as the slowest video card in it. So if you get 60 FPS using two cards, you are simply getting 30 FPS doubled and you get the same laggy feeling as playing at 30 FPS. Triple / Quad configuration compounds this situation even worse, as the actual system responsiveness will be only one third to one quarter as fast as the framerate. Especially playing older games where a single card can get you locked to 60 FPS, a multi-GPU system would actually end up feeling slow and more laggy by comparison because it doubles the system latency. And last; the dual GPU cards are simply too expensive and power hungry anyway.

Yes, but most games that don't support SLI/Crossfire don't need it to get >= 60 FPS anyway.

I simply turn off VSync in games which utilize both GPUs, to avoid the control lag.

Although, I certainly agree about the power consumption. Man, this card is a beast, draws a ton of power and generates a ton of heat.

Ouch. Okay, I'm going to get a 260 or 275. But 260 is recommended at Newegg.

My games don't run smooth if anti-aliasing is turned on. =/

If you usually prefer to turn anti-aliasing on while gaming, that might lean you toward the ATI cards, which perform better with AA.

Everyone turn anti-aliasing on?

I use AA for some things, but if I recall I don't in games like Crysis, because it asks enough of your GPU as-is. After you hit 60 fps, then you can start worrying about it, I think

i dunno about you guys but im about to switch over to 2x GTX 280's 1GB Edition from my crappy 7800 GS 256 AGP


look in the Workstations of 2010 topic for the FINAL Build

SLI/CF means you are compenstating for something...

like what?


Case

Mobo

CPU

RAM <-- 2 of these for 8GB Total

Video

Power

HDD <-- i know small, but thats all i need. oh im getting 2

Optical <-- 2 of these aswell

OS

SATA Cables


tell me what im missing here. and ill rearrange it again

you missed mouse, monitor and stick!


SLI is.. hm. not the best way to spend your money for FPS; depending on what vid cards you get.

I'll side with Flip here, it's more about bragging rights.

I wouldn't want the power drain from 2+ vid cards.

SLI shouldn't be a good option, no, but nVidia overprices its higher-end single-GPU cards something ridiculous...

agreed

My PC...

OS:
Windows XP Professional SP3 32bit

Motherboard:
Asus P5Q-EM

CPU:
Intel Core 2 Quad 2.33ghz (Q8200)

RAM:
Hyper X DDR2 2GB Dual

Mouse:
Logitech G3

Power Supply:
500watt

Keyboard:
Logitech Classic Keyboard 200

Monitor:
Acer 24\" P244W

Case:
Compaq SR1616NX ( I need a fill tower )

Hard Drive:
Seagate SATA/300 500GB 16MB

Joystick:
Saitek X52

CD Drive:
CD-RW/DVD Combo 52X24X52X / 16X

Duper wrote:you missed mouse, monitor and stick!

MX-518 already here, IBM C220P already here and Saitek X52 already here, so no i didnt miss it

wow, I have the same mouse and stick. (mouse for the button config)

Nice monitor,very nice. how much was it new?

whoosh.

hummers are more of the bog standard compensation measurement.

Duper wrote:wow, I have the same mouse and stick. (mouse for the button config)

Nice monitor,very nice. how much was it new?

got it as a donation from my second job as a technician for a E-Recycler. in perfect working condition. its huge and is frigging HEAVY!

Haha, I had a friend a while back with that size & type of monitor who was coming over for a lan party. (This was back before LCD's were cost worthy). As I was on the phone with him I hear SMASH&%!$, he dropped it off the top shelf of his cabinet. (Censored) Come to think of it he never came to another lan after that lol.

EDIT: Oh & I prefer Nvidia. I've had the GTX 260 for 8 months now (before that 8600GTS for a year, 7300GT for a year, Ti4400 for 4 years) & I am more than satisfied. Max out everything. Except ridiculous resource hogs like Cryostasis.

yeah man i almost dropped this thing just trying to get it home! its a 23\" cabinet with a 21.4\" View size. right now its running its native res which is 1600x1200x32@85Hz and its beautiful

Krom and the others have excellent advice. I'll put in my two cents.

I have been a faithful nVidia user for 5 years. For something reasonably current, I would suggest a Geforce 9800 or GTX 260 with 512MB of RAM at most. The GTXs are getting pretty cheap now.

Don't waste your money buying something now, per se. Watch Newegg, Tiger Direct, and other reputable vendors for a kick nose bargain for a PSU and video card. I hope this advice helps.

Zantor wrote:I would suggest a Geforce 9800 or GTX 260 with 512MB of RAM at most. The GTXs are getting pretty cheap now.

the 9800GTX's are about 130$. they stopped selling the GTX+'s though.


http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications ... CatId=3670

TigerDirect still has them though, not the best, but its a pretty potent card for these days

Check EVGA's site. They might still sell them direct.

nope not there..



http://www.evga.com/products/prodlist.a ... ies+Family

The 9800 GTX+ is everywhere, newegg has dozens of them. Only they are called the Geforce GTS 250 now, but it is the same 55nm G92b core.

>> http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3523

Krom wrote:The 9800 GTX+ is everywhere, newegg has dozens of them. Only they are called the Geforce GTS 250 now, but it is the same 55nm G92b core.

>> http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3523

ohh, okay i didnt know that

Krom wrote:The 9800 GTX+ is everywhere, newegg has dozens of them. Only they are called the Geforce GTS 250 now, but it is the same 55nm G92b core.

>> http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3523

LMAO!

another reason I decided to go to ATI this time around.

Duper wrote:LMAO!

another reason I decided to go to ATI this time around.

Let me know if you get any gray screens / visual corruption (even in windows) and lockups... Although it sounds like the issue is mostly limited to the 5000 series ATI cards.

PWNED!

AceCombat wrote:PWNED!

sure.

LOL