What video cards are considered "average" now?

T

ThePacster

New Member
A long time ago I use to keep on track about 'who's who in video cards' but I'm very much out of the loop, and trying to get on track to build myself a computer, as well as help a friend get things going as well. I'm not sure what his budget will be, but for this card I'm hoping to stay under about $150. My current video card is a Radeon 9600 (got it eons ago) so I'm sure anything would be an improvement. So, if anyone could tell me what cards, nVidia and Radeon, are considered average as well as maybe a few slightly higher end ones I'd greatly appreciate it. :)
 
Well, I know of a great AGP card, It's the one I have:

ATI Radeon X850 Pro, it's really good, getting on, but good!
 
First off I'm assuming you're using AGP for the card interface with your 9600 correct? Now the question is are you just upgrading your video card or the whole system? Most cards are made for PCI-Express now days which would require you to get a new motherboard.

Doing that would mean changing out your ram and cpu too as those have changed sockets as well for you "most likely". What are your current system specs, budget, and what do you want to do with this computer IE play games, what games and at what settings? What resolution will you be running if gaming? Hope that gives you some direction and that way we can give you a faster more concise reponse. :D
 
Silly me ^^; The video cards I'm looking for should be PCI-Express as these two computers are going to be from scratch. Here's the motherboard I will more than likely use

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131041

and I'm sure I'll be posting back again when I get a better idea of what my friends budget for a machine is.

Definitely going to be gaming machines. Going from previous experience, I usually play at 1024 x 768, since any bigger looks a bit odd to me. And I'm not sure how big of a factor, but I'm usually playing different MMORPG's. I don't think most MMO's are too demanding, but I won't underestimate them.

I currently play a game called Phantasy Star Universe, and my Radeon 9600 can play 'so-so' on medium settings, but I'd like to play sort of high. I know my friend wants to be able to run things on the max settings, so I'm scared to see what kind of card he would need, hehe.

Not sure what kind of games he's into, but I'll ask him if that may help at all in what kind of card he should be interested in.

I'm sure budget will be a factor also, so what cards would be considered low-end to possibly higher-end that are $200 and below?
 
There are several decent cards for below $200. The 7900GS is good as is the 7900GT. I don't think the 7950GT is under $200 without a MIR. The X1950Pro is also decent. You can find a X1900GT for $150 on newegg I think. Not a bad card. Any card will do well at that resolution really. Even the $109 7600GT should handle most MMORPG's at 1024x768 on High settings. Especially if powered by a Core 2 Duo.

The rub is DX10 is out and the games are coming. Granted they are not "here" but with DX10 cards being around $300 and they perform very well it's hard to not recommend trimming your budget to fit that card. The 8800 320MB GTS. You can even find a 640MB 8800GTS for $334 after a MIR. Tough call about that. DX10 would be the future proof route and when building a new rig I can't not suggest it even with the cost. Especially for gaming. Just my thoughts though. :P
 
Thanks very much for the info on graphics cards. I'm not sure if I'm asking this right, but could someone explain how DirectX 10 is going to affect video cards and games in the future?

I've still got a long way to go in learning , and all I can really see is that DirectX 10 is obviously going to be an improvement over DirectX 9, but will this mean that games in the future won't be compatible with DirectX 9 at all, or, will a graphics card such as 7900GT be unable to upgrade to DirectX 10?

Hope I'm not being a bother, but thank you very much if you can answer this.
 
ThePacster said:
Thanks very much for the info on graphics cards. I'm not sure if I'm asking this right, but could someone explain how DirectX 10 is going to affect video cards and games in the future?

I've still got a long way to go in learning , and all I can really see is that DirectX 10 is obviously going to be an improvement over DirectX 9, but will this mean that games in the future won't be compatible with DirectX 9 at all, or, will a graphics card such as 7900GT be unable to upgrade to DirectX 10?

Hope I'm not being a bother, but thank you very much if you can answer this.
Click to expand...


You're welcome. DX10 is the new interface games will be designed with and will run on. Windows Vista uses DX10. You can't run it on XP or any 7 series Nvidia cards. So no a 7900GT can't upgrade to run DX10. Right now the 8 series Nvidia cards are the only DX10 capable cards out at the moment.

Not right away but maybe by next year this time games will have moved away from DX9. There is no time table for it really. The first DX10 games are being released around June this year with more to follow. They SHOULD be able to support DX9 and DX10 as most people still have DX9 cards. Hence my suggestion to just get a DX10 card when building a new system. Whats your budget?

Lastly it's no bother to help you. :D
 
My budget is about $1000, but I think I'll stick with the 7xxx series for now. The MMORPG's I currently play have been out and about for some time now, and I'm sure all the MMO lovers around here know you can easily play one for years at a time, so hopping between the three or four that I enjoy will keep me occupied for quite some time. But, if by some chance a game in the future draws my attention, I wouldn't mind saving up money at that point for an upgrade. By then the 8xxx cards may have dropped in price anyway, but only time can tell that. :) Thanks again very much, lots of good information to be found in here.

Now to figure out which 7600GT I want to get ^^; There's like 14 of them on Newegg and I'm not sure what the difference is other than manufacturer (ASUS and EVGA being good ones I think).
 
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My thoughts on the matter at hand.

Total Price 1143.92 all from www.newegg.com

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16827106055
LITE-ON 20X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM write and LightScribe Technology Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model LH-20A1H-185 - OEM
Item #: N82E16827106055
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $35.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16811119068
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC-T05-UW Black Aluminum Bezel, SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail
Item #: N82E16811119068
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $49.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16822136003
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KS 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM
Item #: N82E16822136003
Return Policy: Limited 30-Day Return Policy $89.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130082
EVGA 320-P2-N811-AR GeForce 8800GTS 320MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
Item #: N82E16814130082
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $299.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16817182045
Rosewill RT550-135-BK 550W 135mm Fan SLI Ready - ATX V2.2/EPS12V Power Supply - Retail
Item #: N82E16817182045
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $59.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820134046
Kingston 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR667D2N5K2/2G - Retail
Item #: N82E16820134046
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $169.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16813128012
GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 LGA 775 Intel P965 Express ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
Item #: N82E16813128012
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $132.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16819115005
Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 Conroe 1.86GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80557E6300 - Retail
Item #: N82E16819115005
Return Policy: Processors (CPUs) Return Policy $185.00

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16832116202
Microsoft Windows Vista 32-Bit Home Premium for System Builders Single Pack DVD - OEM
Item #: N82E16832116202
Return Policy: Software Return Policy $119.00

That's 1143.92

I personally would get slightly better ram which might cost $10 more. The corsair value select. You could go cheaper on a motherboard as well. But that also includes a copy of Vista premium and a DX10 card. Thats my quick and dirty suggestion. Just save an extra $143 and you will be playing games on high/max settings at up to 1600x1200 for a while.
 
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Wow :eek: That's quite a masterpiece you've put together, and in such a short time too. Unfortunately I'm still probably going to have to opt for the 7xxx and whatnot. That build is only $143 more, but I also have to buy a monitor, speakers, etc. to go with everything. The Monitor is definitely the clincher. But we'll see ;) going to ask one of my co-workers tonight if he can hook me up with a nice monitor. Also, since you've been such a big help, would it be ok if I PMed you later with the build I'm currently working on? I had all the parts save for the video card and the monitor. This video card thread is slowly derailing into a building a PC thread. ^^;
 
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