What Video Card to buy

[NeoChick]

I need to buy a new Video Card and don't know what to get.

I can get the Radeon cheaper through my employer (can't get Nvidia) so it will have to be Radeon

I see on the net that there is Radeon 8500 but there are also 9000 etc, would 9000 be better than 8500?

On Deus Ex it says you need a Radeon 8500/9xxx or higher to play it but I cannot see a Radeon that has /9xxx or higher, what does the 9xxx mean, anybody know?

Don't want to buy a card that may be outdated already or soon

[\\Fényx//]

When it says radeon 8500/9xxx it means you need a 8500 as a 'minimum' or any of the 9000 series, thats the 9000, 9500, 9700 and 9800.

Radeons also have the 'pro' range of cards, you can have a 8500 and a 8500 pro for example, Ive never really used radeons myself, always stuck with NVidia.

Radeons may give better results, but NVidia's are more reliable (in my opinion&experience after a year of doing tech support for watford electronics we returned more radeons that failed than nvidias) And also the NVidias are more compatible, and easier to install :)

But yea, afaik the 9800 pr is the top radeon atm, something like the 9000 pro if they can get em still is a damn good card tho.

[Scikar]

The top Radeon is the 9800 XT, I just ordered one for Christmas in fact. :D

Sets you back a good £300 though. Currently I'm using a 9000 Pro which copes fine with just about anything I've been able to throw at it. I expect it to struggle with the latest DX9 games though (HL2, Doom 3). The 9800 Pro on it's own is a fair bit cheaper than the XP though, it all depends on how much money you are willing to spend on it really. The main thing is don't buy something really cheap like a GeForce 2 if you intend to play games like for example Deus Ex 2, HL2, Doom 3 etc because they just won't cope and you'll find yourself upgrading again in 2 or 3 months.

[Blazer12]

Scikar, what kinda fps do u get with ur 9000 in op wars? get like 7-5 with my 9200 its ridiculous. Anyway to make this better? 200 ping and 5 fos is deadly.

[\\Fényx//]

Originally posted by Blazer12
Scikar, what kinda fps do u get with ur 9000 in op wars? get like 7-5 with my 9200 its ridiculous. Anyway to make this better? 200 ping and 5 fos is deadly.

:| wtf

Ive got a FX 5600 ultra, I was getting 140 fps pretty steady in P1/OP wars, nigh on 200 lookin at a wall.

The last couple of patches however must have changed something as its smothe as hell, but my FPS constantly shows as 62, doesent move atall . . .

[IceStorm]

Get a 9500 Pro, 9600 Pro, 9600 XT, 9700, 9700 Pro, 9800, 9800 Pro, or 9800XT. Best bang for the buck these days seems to be the 9800 (non-Pro), which uses a revised core from the one in the 9700/9700 Pro.

If possible, skip the 8500/9100 (same card) and the other 9000/9200 cards. They don't have DX9 hardware support.

[Blazer12]

Well, the holiday season is upon us. i will definatley look into getting a new video card. As for now anyone got any suggestions on how to juice some damn fps outta this thing?

[robinitnow]

Originally posted by NeoChick

I see on the net that there is Radeon 8500 but there are also 9000 etc, would 9000 be better than 8500?

The 8500 is faster than the 9000 if I remeber corectly.

[NeoChick]

This is great info thank you very much.

Strangest thing is that in computer hardware stores, the salespeople are usually so dumb when it comes to gaming they have absolutely no idea what is good for gaming purposes

(well, i am only talking about Australia, don't know how it is elsewhere)

[GT_Rince]

Ahh - it's sad... Doesn't seem that long ago (couple of years) when I got my new GF2 Ultra. Cost me just under £400. I sold it 2 months ago for £20.. lol

[El_MUERkO]

Best grpahics cards at the minute are in order of cheapness

Radeon 9500

Radeon 9600 XT / Nvidia GF FX5700

Radeon 9800

Radeon 9800XT / Nvidia GF FX5950


-----------------------------------------

Now radeons have been kicking nvidias ass for the last while, they're generally more powerfull and cheaper.

But nvidia have fought back with the 5700 and 5950 both of which are vastly supierior to the cards they replace the 5600 and 5800/5900.

I'd say if you have the cash and dont want to spend and insane amount of money you should flip a coin between the 9600XT and 5700.

[Matthew.v.smith]

I recently upgraded my 3d card and ram :)
I used to have a crappy geforce 4 mx 440 which gave reasonable fps(20 to 30 steady and 10 to 11 in p1 )
i upgraded from that to a radeon 9600 Excaliber with 8xAGP
for a damn cheap price 80 quid i think mybae less hehe.
I now get a max fps of like 71 and steady 55 to 65 fps :)
I also upgraded ram from 256 to 640
so everyhting is cool :D
I can play most games with everything bumped to full and dont get much fps lag at all :)
Unreal 2 for example runs steady on 1200/900
the only game i received some lag on was Rainbow 6 raven sheild and that was nly Loading new rooms :)

This card aint bad and is Damn nice :)

Matty.
:angel:

[Scikar]

Originally posted by Blazer12
Scikar, what kinda fps do u get with ur 9000 in op wars? get like 7-5 with my 9200 its ridiculous. Anyway to make this better? 200 ping and 5 fos is deadly.


OP wars I don't usually go much above 15 FPS, that's with Athlon XP 1500+, the Radeon 9000 Pro, and 512MB PC2700 RAM. That's if I don't turn on force fog though. Best trick is to drop the vegetation detail slider all the way back to 0, and at OP wars, turn on force fog but leave the slider all the way to the right. This way you don't cut back too much on your vision while still gaining a decent FPS boost. Leave Object Blend off though.

[Matthew.v.smith]

what does object blend do anyway :P??

Matty.:angel:

[Scikar]

As far as I can tell, it just hides objects which are a certain distance away. Turn it on and set it down quite low, then try to hunt WarBots. ;)

I imagine it could be useful if you're getting low FPS in the inner city areas though, since the furthest distance you can see at any given point is quite low.

[Matthew.v.smith]

Hehe ok well i have it off anyway I think :p
but thanx 4 update :D

Matty:angel: