[Unknown Target]

Alright, my old Radeon 9000 in my machine busted, so what should I get? A Radeon 9800 from Amazon.com for 480 bucks? Or a GeforceFX for 280 bucks? I heard that HW2 (which is one of my main concerns) is geared for a Radeon, but that Geforce's price tag is AWEFULLY alluring.

[vyper]

Well seeing as a TV Card blew my G400 up on Tuesday night, I too am in seek of a new card and I am leaning towards a 128MB 5600FX that Creative Computing are selling at £89. However, I may be swayed if anyone has better suggestions.

[Turnsky]

Originally posted by Unknown Target
Alright, my old Radeon 9000 in my machine busted, so what should I get? A Radeon 9800 from Amazon.com for 480 bucks? Or a GeforceFX for 280 bucks? I heard that HW2 (which is one of my main concerns) is geared for a Radeon, but that Geforce's price tag is AWEFULLY alluring.

anything that can run OpenGL competantly should be fine... My 9000 runs HW2 really well...

[Unknown Target]

Ya, but I only got an 800mhz PIII, so I got to get a good vid card to boost it up.
I'm thinking of going for the Radeon 9800 PRO 128 MB. About the same price as the Geforce 128 meg.

[Odyssey]

I'd recommend a Voodoo 3 2000 AGP. Pick it up for a fiver on ebay. It'll run any games (that deserve running) perfectly

[StratComm]

Originally posted by Unknown Target
Alright, my old Radeon 9000 in my machine busted, so what should I get? A Radeon 9800 from Amazon.com for 480 bucks? Or a GeforceFX for 280 bucks? I heard that HW2 (which is one of my main concerns) is geared for a Radeon, but that Geforce's price tag is AWEFULLY alluring.

Homeworld 2, judging by the demo, is still scaled towards lower-end users.  It ran beautifully on my 32Mb GeForce2 MX (well, a little loss in framrate during huge battles but only barely noticable) so I wouldn't be overly concerned about how it will run.  Anything you can buy these days that supports openGL should do the job quite nicely.  The bigger question is how much longer will you be using the 800mhz box for gaming, as you'd be better served to get a cheap card now and just get a good one with a new computer later.

[ZylonBane]

Always buy a generation behind. You're almost guaranteed a product that's cheaper, has had most of  the bugs worked out, and gives 75% of bleeding-edge performance for 50% of the price.

pats new GF4 ti4200

[Ashrak]

i recommend either gf4ti4x00 (replace x with what your mine-is-bigger-than-yours syndrome requires i recommend 2) or a radeon 9500 ... cheap, fast, works.

[Grey Wolf]

Either a Ti4200 or a R9800 non-pro. Not much of a speed difference between pro and non-pro, but the non-pro is about $100 cheaper.

[Rictor]

While you're at it, what do you guys think of the Radeon 9600 Pro. I've already asked this, but in light of the new R35 (or whatever, the new one) chipset comming out, the prices will probably be going down, so that revalues the older cards..

[Grey Wolf]

The 9600 Pro is behind both the Ti4200 and the 9500 Pro. Only get it if you are choosing between bargain cards (9200 and 5200) and the 9600.

[Kosh]

Originally posted by Unknown Target
Ya, but I only got an 800mhz PIII, so I got to get a good vid card to boost it up.
I'm thinking of going for the Radeon 9800 PRO 128 MB. About the same price as the Geforce 128 meg.

A Radeon 9800 is the top dog when it comes to video cards. Processing power really doesn't make THAT big of a difference. I've only got a 1.7 GHz Celeron with a Radeon 9100 and it can run Medal of Honor: Allied Assault without a hitch.

Besides, GeForce FX cards suck.

[vyper]

Originally posted by Kosh

Besides, GeForce FX cards suck.

Why?

[Turnsky]

Originally posted by vyper


Why?

sounds a lot like a value judgemnet to me...

[Admiral LSD]

Originally posted by Kosh
Besides, GeForce FX cards suck.

Only those based around the NV30 core: The FX 5200, 5600 and 5800 (this one was the most disappointing of the lot). The cards based around the NV35 core, the FX 5900 and 5900 Ultra, are much better, better than even the 9800 Pro.

[Unknown Target]

Nvidia cheated a bit more than ATi in some of the tests. When the cheats were removed, the Radeon meeted or exceeded the FX in some areas, besides, the differences were slight.

Anyways, I think I'll go with ATi. There cards render OpenGL better, correct? And HW2 and Doom 3 will both be OpenGL games.

[Grey Wolf]

I thought that nVidia had the lead in OpenGL rendering?

But anyway, here is the approximate order that modern video cards come in and approximate retail prices, as found on newegg (except for the 9800, 9700, and 9700 Pro, which are off GameVE). As a note, the reason for the lack of a GeForce FX 5800 Ultra is because they are quite crappy and hard to find. Also, both the 9800 SE, 9700 Pro, and 9700 are OEM, since that's the only way I could find non All-In-Wonder variants. All cards also have 128MB of memory unless otherwise specified.

1. GeForce FX 5900 Ultra 256MB ($445+)
2. Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB ($445+)
3. Radeon 9800 Pro ($325+)
4. GeForce FX 5900 ($289+) / Radeon 9800 ($259+) / Radeon 9700 Pro ($278+)
5. Radeon 9700 ($219+) / GeForce FX 5800 ($265+)
6. Radeon 9800 SE  ($196+)
7. Radeon 9500 Pro ($205+)
8. GeForce FX 5600 Ultra ($193+)
9. Radeon 9600 Pro ($148)/GeForce 4 Ti4200 ($119)

[Kosh]

Originally posted by Admiral LSD


Only those based around the NV30 core: The FX 5200, 5600 and 5800 (this one was the most disappointing of the lot). The cards based around the NV35 core, the FX 5900 and 5900 Ultra, are much better, better than even the 9800 Pro.

The 5900 Ultra can (barely), but I highly doubt a 5900 can.

The 9600 Pro is behind both the Ti4200 and the 9500 Pro.

You're half right. But how can it be behind a card like the ti4200? Do you have proof?



In my opinion, the GeForce FX is inferior to their Radeon "equivlents", mostly in image quality. In performance, only the high end 5900 Ultra can give you more bang for your buck than a Radeon. A 9600 or 9500 Pro will walk all over a 5600 Ultra.

[Grey Wolf]

I was a bit off. I looked up the 9600 Pro review on Tom's Hardware, and I was right, to a point. The Ti4200 was leading it unless AA or aniso was turned on, which caused it to lag down.

And about the 5600 Ultra, the new card by Gainward managed to beat the 9600 Pro.

[Kosh]

I've got a link here that says that your claim about the 5600 beating a 9600 is bogus. And I've also got a link that says that the Radeon 9800 can beat a FX 5900 Ultra in DX9 games.



http://www.gamersdepot.com/hardware/video_cards/ati_vs_nvidia/dx9_desktop/001.htm

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDU4