Need new graphics card.

[Renesis]

[zenon]

Don't even bother upgrading if all you have is a PCI slot (unless it is PCI-Express of course ). Save the money and get a better motherboard.

PCI video cards are absolutely horrible. If you have $150 to buy a video card with, just buy a motherboard with onboard video and wait 'till you have some more money to put a 9800 Pro on it.

[zyran]

I'm using an AGP card (4x) so no worries. I heard that most cards can't even fully utilise the bandwidth of 8x agp. My dell has a 250W power supply if I'm not mistaken. I don't think a 300W PSU would be good enough considering I have 2 hard drives, 2 cd-rom drives, a floppy, and all 4 RDRAM Slots filled (640MB ram).

[cvrefugee]

I also recommend the 9800 Pro. I got this one for $130 directly from ATI after using their $50 Trade-In credit (you send in any old video card and they credit you $50!). If you happen to get a card with a R360 core and Hynix memory, then your card is a 9800XT with a different BIOS. There are tutorials on the web on how to flash your 9800 Pro to an XT, although the advantages are mainly synthetic.

I put an Arctic Cooling ATI Silencer 1 on my video card because the stock fan is too loud for me.

[Viper007Bond]

That Zalman fan f'ing owns, doesn't it? 8) (I have the pure copper one.)

And those Arctic Cooling VGA fans rocks too. I have the older blue style one.

And yeah, the XT mod only unlocks some pixel shading, but it's the overclocking that makes the biggest difference. I have RAM sinks on my card to get a few more Hz outta it. 8)

[zyran]

Man, this is really nostalgic. I was a real computer freak a a 2 years ago before I got into cars. I lost track of the latest processors and graphics cards. Interests change very fast.

[andyhui01]

cvrefugee.. damn you have big fans... I have dual hardisks and a pentium 4 processor that is on a case that is about 9cm wide and I only have 1 fan... I changed the cpu one and made it blow straight out of the case... my hardisks seem to be running fine without extra cooling

[Overheat]

I'd recommend getting yourself a PCI-Express mobo and a nice Sparkle Geforce 6600 GT - best value gfx card out there at the moment.

Also, the FX series use DX9, not 8.1

[zyran]

Again, I'm using a Dell Dimension 8200. Getting a new motherboard would mean getting a new case, PSU, and new parents. Just want a straight forward upgrade to a cheap DirectX9, Pixel Shader, HL2 playable GFX Card.

[bigfoot1942]

Originally Posted by zyran

Again, I'm using a Dell Dimension 8200. Getting a new motherboard would mean getting a new case, PSU, and new parents. Just want a straight forward upgrade to a cheap DirectX9, Pixel Shader, HL2 playable GFX Card.

new parents would actually help quite a lot i think

[Overheat]

I'll have to go with the majority and say 9800 Pro if you want an AGP card. Connect3D make the best versions of this in my op.

[Kip_6666]

I just got a 6800le for the same price as a 9800 pro, it kills 9800xt's and comes pretty close to a 6800gt, do i need to say more.. ?

But it is kinda a gamble, and you have to do some softmodding to open teh masked pixel and vertex units (some are busted, so won't work ), plus some overclocking to get the most out of it.

If your interested in knowing a bit more:
http://forums.tweakers.com.au/showth...threadid=12881

sry for linking to another forum, too lazy to copy paste stuff here, and this is not really a hardware forum.

[Likwid]

Arctic cooling VGA on mine as well.... just modded a bit.



The other system is waiting for a new card... kind of fried the X800XT...lol. Back to the MX440... eww.



Both A64 systems, 754 pin OC'd.

To answer the question. Bang for the buck right now is the 9800 Pro.... if they ever release the 6600GT in AGP it will become the bang for the buck card... Shader 3.0, faster then the 9800XT, as fast as the 6800 for around $200.

[Viper007Bond]

Ooo, water cooling.

[Kip_6666]

9800 is at the end of it's line, new stuff is comeing out, ahem, but 6800le..

[Hazardous]

After a an excruciating month of thinking the exact specs of my new system would have I ended up with a 9800Pro. I was very keen to buy a GeForce 6600 but there just were no PCI-Express mobos arouind. Also gave a thought on getting a 6800le but then my harddrive decided to make a short imitation of a a chainsaw and I had to include a new one in my shopping list.

If I had a bit more money I would get the 6800LE for AGP bus. In standard is as fast as 9800XT. Also, this can also be upgraded. In case you end up with a good card you can get similar speeds than an original 6800.

[bigfoot1942]

Originally Posted by Overheat

Also, the FX series use DX9, not 8.1

not true.
To generate more fps and stuff, the card uses 8.1 for games that require 9.0
If you disable that (in, say, FarCry, cuz you can) and force the FX card to use 9.0, it completely sucks.

or else explain this to me: Why is the highest 3dmark05 score with a Geforce FX 5950 Ultra only 1635, whereas the highest score with and 9800 XT is 3970 (over twice as high).

the links:
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=259659
for the 9800 XT and
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=130007
for the FX 5950.

[Likwid]

The FX line completely blew. Nvidia went from the Ti series (which i loved) to the FX in their usual cockiness and got their rears handed to them. ATI was extremely close with the 8500... but Nvidia didnt think a small company could touch them.... 9500/9800 did =D.

The new 6X00 series is awsome though. The two GT cards are the best IMO.... Ultra isnt enough to justify the extra cash. ATI will be countering Q1 of next year with the R520 core..... from what Im hearing ATI will again have the faster card. Personally I dont care who is faster... the more they fight with each other the better cards we customers get


Air is evil!! Water is just cool That second pic is the Zalman block... if anyone is looking to start with watercooling its an awsome block. $35 from newegg and fits 462/478/A64 and honestly its just as impressive as my $50 Swiftechs.

[ESPNSTI]

I always liked ATI's hardware, but I absolutely hated their drivers and software.
Judging by thing like the stereovision support for ATI card being nearly non-existent, I suspect things aren't quite as they should be yet.
I won't conider switching from NVidea to ATI until I think their software is up to par.

[cvrefugee]

Originally Posted by ESPNSTI

I always liked ATI's hardware, but I absolutely hated their drivers and software.
Judging by thing like the stereovision support for ATI card being nearly non-existent, I suspect things aren't quite as they should be yet.
I won't conider switching from NVidea to ATI until I think their software is up to par.

This may have been the case two years ago, but I would say that ATI puts out better drivers nowadays. Have you seen their new control panel interface?