Members Detonator Posted July 20, 2009 Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 My old x1800 is dying, so it's time for a new GPU. Can't afford to go all out this time, so I need a good bang for the buck card. $100-130ish. What should I buy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members cmercein8 Posted July 20, 2009 Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 I have an EXCELLENT Nvidia 9800 GTX GeForce made by ASUS that I got for only 200 on newegg. I think if you want a high end graphics card that is the top of the line, if your willing to spend that much, its a good buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blargh Posted July 20, 2009 Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150337 i haven't been keeping up with the latest and greatest since im not upgrading anytime soon, but something like this would probably serve you just fine this generation of games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Detonator Posted July 20, 2009 Author Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150337i haven't been keeping up with the latest and greatest since im not upgrading anytime soon, but something like this would probably serve you just fine this generation of games. I'll check it out. I'm in the same boat as far as keeping up with the technology trends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members blargh Posted July 20, 2009 Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 and if you want to extend the lifespan of your video card and improve stability, it might be a good idea to get a better aftermarket heatsink. my last 2 video cards both operated at around 90 degrees C under load at the stock fan speed settings, which seems ridiculously hot to me, and i had stability issues with both of them. Increasing the fan speed on those little tiny stock fans results in awful noise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members the_bleeding Posted July 20, 2009 Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 wait until october. All card prices will have a huge drop. The gtx 260 will probably be around 150$ then (its 250 right now) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Detonator Posted July 20, 2009 Author Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 wait until october. All card prices will have a huge drop. The gtx 260 will probably be around 150$ then (its 250 right now) Can't afford to wait. My current graphics card is causing serious stability issues with my system right now, and is probably about to kick the bucket all together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LaXu Posted July 20, 2009 Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 and if you want to extend the lifespan of your video card and improve stability, it might be a good idea to get a better aftermarket heatsink. my last 2 video cards both operated at around 90 degrees C under load at the stock fan speed settings, which seems ridiculously hot to me, and i had stability issues with both of them. Increasing the fan speed on those little tiny stock fans results in awful noise. The better choice would be to simply buy a graphics card that doesn't use the reference heatsink but a custom part. They usually don't cost any more than the cards with the reference cooling. I know at least Gainward does cards with dual fans, heatpipes and whatnot. Seems to keep the cards nice and cool without too much noise. I would not bother with the Nvidia 8xxx or 9xxx series at the moment. I used to have a 8800GT (which is pretty close to the performance of the 8800GTS/9800GTX) and it was starting to struggle with many games in the high resolutions I use (1920x1200 and 2560x1600). If you want Nvidia, the GTX260 is the way to go. For ATI/AMD you'd get the 4870. Preferably the 896 MB (Nvidia) or 1GB (ATI) models. They're the best bang for the buck at the moment IMO. I went with the GTX260 because it would work with my current GPU watercooling block and would work better in OSX and driver updates seem more frequent. With the GTX260 you have to check that the card actually fits in your case though. I had to cut a piece of my Antec P150 case out because the card was about 1 cm too long. In performance the GTX260 was a big jump from the 8800GT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members extollo Posted July 20, 2009 Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 4850 for your price rangeEdit: take that back, 4870 is at the upper end now... do that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Detonator Posted July 20, 2009 Author Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 As far as cooling goes, I can add a water block into the bloodstream later if heat becomes an issue. I know it's probably not a good idea, but I'm gonna see if I can snag a GTX260 used off the bay, and cross my fingers that I doesn't have problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Detonator Posted July 20, 2009 Author Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 4850 for your price range Edit: take that back, 4870 is at the upper end now... do that. I'll keep that in mind, though I Kinda wanted to go with nvidia this time around. Too many options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members big_aug Posted July 20, 2009 Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 I'd go with a used card if I were you. You can find lots of great deals in the classified forums at Hardforums and Anandtech. Also look into overclocking your components. Its so easy, and you can quite a bit of performance with just a little bit of extra effort. You can often get those bang for the buck cards to near top of the line performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Detonator Posted July 20, 2009 Author Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 I'd go with a used card if I were you. You can find lots of great deals in the classified forums at Hardforums and Anandtech. Also look into overclocking your components. Its so easy, and you can quite a bit of performance with just a little bit of extra effort. You can often get those bang for the buck cards to near top of the line performance. Thanks for the links. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LaXu Posted July 20, 2009 Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 As far as cooling goes, I can add a water block into the bloodstream later if heat becomes an issue. I know it's probably not a good idea, but I'm gonna see if I can snag a GTX260 used off the bay, and cross my fingers that I doesn't have problems. Just make sure you get the newer 216 core version and not the 192 core model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jimijam Posted July 20, 2009 Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 Just make sure you get the newer 216 core version and not the 192 core model. What I have and I had yet to find a game my system cannot handle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BeëlzeM Posted July 20, 2009 Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 An 4870 is the way to go. Beats nVidia cards in the same range and way above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members JKD Posted July 20, 2009 Members Share Posted July 20, 2009 ATI 1GB 4850 for Cheap...4870 for more $. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TruSlice Posted July 21, 2009 Members Share Posted July 21, 2009 The 8800 GT (Nvidia camp) is and excellent card and is still powerful enough to run 98% of PC games out there at the highest settings. Extremely popular card about 2 years ago and nothing has really topped its' price-performance value even today. You can manage one under $200 easily. The bleeding edge graphics card out right now is only a hair faster than this and costs $350 more. /thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TornadoOfSouls Posted July 21, 2009 Members Share Posted July 21, 2009 An 4870 is the way to go. Beats nVidia cards in the same range and way above. Nothing ATI makes comes close to the nVidia GTX295 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Slaymoar Posted July 21, 2009 Members Share Posted July 21, 2009 The better choice would be to simply buy a graphics card that doesn't use the reference heatsink but a custom part. They usually don't cost any more than the cards with the reference cooling. I know at least Gainward does cards with dual fans, heatpipes and whatnot. Seems to keep the cards nice and cool without too much noise.I would not bother with the Nvidia 8xxx or 9xxx series at the moment. I used to have a 8800GT (which is pretty close to the performance of the 8800GTS/9800GTX) and it was starting to struggle with many games in the high resolutions I use (1920x1200 and 2560x1600).If you want Nvidia, the GTX260 is the way to go. For ATI/AMD you'd get the 4870. Preferably the 896 MB (Nvidia) or 1GB (ATI) models. They're the best bang for the buck at the moment IMO. I went with the GTX260 because it would work with my current GPU watercooling block and would work better in OSX and driver updates seem more frequent. With the GTX260 you have to check that the card actually fits in your case though. I had to cut a piece of my Antec P150 case out because the card was about 1 cm too long. In performance the GTX260 was a big jump from the 8800GT. :poke: Misinformation. The GTX260/4870 is not a big improvement over the 8xxx/9xxx series. You can get an 8800GTS for cheap and it would be just fine. Here is a good website comparing the bang/buck equivalent for current graphics market. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2362-2.html Thank me later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LaXu Posted July 21, 2009 Members Share Posted July 21, 2009 :poke:Misinformation.The GTX260/4870 is not a big improvement over the 8xxx/9xxx series. You can get an 8800GTS for cheap and it would be just fine. Here is a good website comparing the bang/buck equivalent for current graphics market.http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-graphics-card,2362-2.htmlThank me later. I got noticeable speed gains over the 8800GT in many games and the GTS is only a bit faster than the 8800GT I had, which I had already overclocked to GTS levels. Of course, if you're running in lower resolutions you will not see as big a difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NixerX Posted July 21, 2009 Members Share Posted July 21, 2009 pretty good bargain here: http://www.slickdeals.net/permadeal/22757/PNY-GeForce-9500-GT-512MB-128-bit-GDDR2-PCI-Express-Video-Card---AMD-Athlon-64-X2-5050e-Brisbane-2-6GHz-Socket-AM2-45W-Dual-Core-Processor-70-after-30-MIR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Detonator Posted July 23, 2009 Author Members Share Posted July 23, 2009 Ok, so after taking all your suggestions into consideration, and doing some research, I'm going with this. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434 Any last thoughts/warnings? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Brandenburg Posted July 23, 2009 Members Share Posted July 23, 2009 I have an EXCELLENT Nvidia 9800 GTX GeForce made by ASUS that I got for only 200 on newegg. I think if you want a high end graphics card that is the top of the line, if your willing to spend that much, its a good buy. I bought my 9800gt for like 130...like 6+ months ago.. did have to replace the fan with a aftermarket fan such as zalfan(sp?) though....original lasted 3 months but i never turn my pc off ever....just reboot it ever 2 to 3 days... lol great card and can playmost games i have with it without any difficulty.. much better than my 6600gt i had.. irony is i took the aftermarket fan off it and put it on the 9800..compatibility of some of these fans kicks ass. works great.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members LaXu Posted July 23, 2009 Members Share Posted July 23, 2009 Ok, so after taking all your suggestions into consideration, and doing some research, I'm going with this.http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434Any last thoughts/warnings? Stock cooler, but if you can live with that there should be no problem. Just check that it fits in your case first though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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