Best video qual for $500?

aschmidt

aschmidt

New Member
Hello everyone, I am going to be buying a video card (or 2) very soon, and I was wondering what the best setup would be with a $500 budget. I will be upgrading my mobo and PSU along with it regardless, so don't worry about compatability issues. Actually, now that I think about it...can you tell me the best setup you think I could get for the $500 and then which PSU/mobo you would get along with it? Thank you! :D
 
So...$500 for just a video card, or PSU/mobo as well? And if you want suggestions for the mobo, what processor do you have or plan to get?

If your thinking 500 for a video card, you could get a 7800GTX or a pair of 7600GTs. 7800GTs are closer to $260+, so you'd go over the $500 limit with a pair of those...
 
You would also climb over the $500- mark easily running a pair of higher end ATI X1900 XTX cards but not with the X1800 model seen at http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=AA45060 It just fits into the budget before S+H are added.

For a dual card setup you can start looking at Antec, Enermax, Coolermax, and a few other names for a 500-600w supply to leave room for additional addons for cooling if you are building a gaming case.
 
Oh shoot, sorry! I clicked on the wrong section I guess. Feel free to move this thread.

Anyways, my current processor is an AMD 3200+, which I intend on keeping. I meant just spending the $500 on the video card alone btw, and I noticed you said the 7600gt's are $260 each...that only puts me $20 above my limit, which is fine. Will that be better than one 7900gtx?
 
I was researching a bit and it seems that a single 7900gtx would outperform two 7600gt's...I was planning on going with the 7900gtx in the first place, so should I go this route?

This was the particular 7900gtx I was looking at...looks spiffy:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130279

EDIT: There seems to be a lot of people complaining about that card...could it be that people don't have enough PSU power to back it up? I was looking to upgrade my PSU anyways, so that won't be a problem.
 
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aschmidt said:
AMD Athlon 64 :D

Oops...my bad. So then are 2 7800GT's better than 1 7900GTX?
Click to expand...

Get just one 7900 GTX. That card is a beast. It should handle anything you throw at it, and if you get enough money later you can get a second one.
 
Nobody is disputing that the 7900 GTX isn't a great card. Many will prefer the ATI model for a high end build however with the NVidia applied in the mid range arena. But as usual I always get a second opinion.

"X1900XTX moving but slowly

By Fuad Abazovic: Wednesday 05 April 2006, 09:02

WE spoke with chaps that sell both Nvidia and ATI products and learned some secrets of how the products are sold. It turns out that Nvidia does have a shortage and that it is shipping a limited number of its high end chips.
But, at the same time, it created a massive, unbelievable demand for its products. The chaps explained that the cards are flying off the shelves as Nvidia managed to convince everyone that its product is better.

The same source confirmed that there are huge backorders on the Geforce 7900 GTX cards as it seams that everyone wants them.

At the same time he confirmed that his firm was selling some X1900 XTX cards but not that aggressively. They think that X1900XTX deserves much more attention as it is winning at least half of the benchmarks, has 10 bit colour, features Avivo and can do FSAA and HDR, and Nvidia can't do these things.

So I guess it is up to the ATI sales team to convince everyone to buy its stuff over Nvidia's as the people do believe that Nvidia is superior." http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=30771
 
Hmm...thank you all for the replies. I've always been partial to Nvidia, since a couple of the previous ATI cards I've had gave me some problems with the MMORPG's (main game type I play) I've played in the past. Honestly, I haven't even taken a second glance at the line of video cards ATI have been producing. Now that you brought that one into the light...it seems pretty sexy. For some reason though, I'm still leaning towards the 7900gtx...I guess I'm just ignorant like that. :D

Yet another edit: I did lots of reading of the comments people left for the 7900gtx and it seems very unstable...can anyone tell me what's up with that? I'm hearing a lot about artifacts, crashing, and whatnot.
 
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Don't feel bad. While ATI downloads are readily available to update any model the updates in line become useless after they reach a certain point with different models. The last update for the Radeon 9250 AGP model was the Catalyst 5.5 while the last for the Radeon 9550 used here along with any other with the 9600 chip is the Catalyst 5.12. The last with the control panel and not Catalyst Control Center was the 5.11. It gets annoying at times.
 
Yet another question I thought I'd stick in this thread. On Newegg they have an AMD/ATI special where you save money by buying both parts at the same time. The special doesn't apply to all of those companies that tweak ATI's cards though. So I was wondering if there really is that much of a difference between a SAPPHIRE X1900XT and just a regular ATI X1900XT...
 
Just go with the ATI X1900XT for the best high end gaming card. That will dust the 7900 GTX with ease
Click to expand...
Thats a bit broad, but yes at least from a price/performance ratio - point of view.

So I was wondering if there really is that much of a difference between a SAPPHIRE X1900XT and just a regular ATI X1900XT...
Click to expand...
No there isn't.
 
The main difference between the ATI and Sapphire cards is the name as far as the vpu chip whiich is the exact same. ATI and NVidia essentially are the two largest chip manufacturers. Different companies design their cards around either the ATI or NVidia chip itself.

[quote:] "Thats a bit broad, but yes at least from a price/performance ratio - point of view." Both the X1900XTX and 7900 GTO stand out over the other on various performance evalutions. They both try to out perform the other quite often with different model cards. But ATI decided to go one better then the 7800 GT since the X1800XT didn't quite make it.

Software and driver preference is another item to consider. ATI went all out on the 3D grachics control center seen in the Catalyst Control Center while NVidia goes strong with desktop profiles and some other features. For those on a tighter budget the expense for most average games and media players is just a little over the edge there.
 
SLI'd 7900GTs would be another (more expensive) option, but your CPU is going to be something of a bottleneck anyway.
 
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