Video card advice
 

I'm shopping around for an affordable, yet blazing, video card in anticipation of Doom3. Anyone have advice? Through looking around so far, the best deal I can find is a GeForceFx5600 Ultra 256meg card for about $150. Is this a good enough card to get me through the next year/two? Any viable alternatives in the same price range?

Also, is there really any difference between the original card and the one in the link below? The video card at the link seems to be a generic or knock-off .. but does it really make a difference in performance/quality?


http://store.yahoo.com/ajumpinc/frshabsige56.html

First off, how much money do you want to spend?

Secondly, there are cards out there that will do great in Doom 3 due to DirectX 9 support, but won't do much elsewhere. Are you concentrating on Doom 3, or do you want to play other games too?

Thirdly, there are MUCH better cards than that FX 5600 for about $50 cheaper. If ya can give me a price range, I'll give you my opinion on which card you should get. If you want JUST Doom 3 support, then it changes everything, however.

-Lasereth

I'm very intrigued by the possibility of trying Doom3 with a card that will support it well.. however, I'm also into lots of different games, too. Medal of Honor, XIII, Call of Duty, etc etc. What is it about Doom3 that's going to require such a specialized card? Just the directx9 compatibility?

I'm willing to spend up to $200 or so. My main goal is to have something that will be effective for all games/watching DVD's and that will hopefully keep up with emerging technology for a little while.

You got it. The FX 5600 will do better than a lot of cards on Doom 3, but if you play ANYTHING else on the market right now, a simple GeForce 4 TI4200 will kick its ass six ways to Sunday. I'm talking a 30% increase in power at least from the TI4200 in today's games. Now, if you use both cards in Doom 3, then the FX 5600 pulls ahead of the TI4200 by about 20%, simply because of Doom 3 relying HEAVILY on DirectX 9 special effects.

So..basically, if you want to play today's games and many games of the future that don't rely on DirectX 9, then I wouldn't get an FX 5600 Ultra. If you want to play Doom 3 better than a lot of cards, then get the FX 5600 Ultra, but be prepared to be embarrassed when you play current games (Battlefield 1942, UT2k3, Medal of Honor, etc.).

To solve both problems and still have a decent card, I'd get a GeForce FX 5900 non-Ultra. They're not as powerful as the Ultras, but they are still very good cards. FX 5900's have DirectX 9 support (Doom 3!) and will play today's games very well. If you're interested, make sure to get the FX 5900, not the FX 5900SE. If you really want to spend $200, this is the card I would get.

If ya have any more questions, let me know!

-Lasereth

Lasereth
I too am in the market for a new card for the coming years with of games. I was already looking at the 5900 but there are so many of them: Gainward, EVGA, Albratron all make an FX 5900. Is there any difference in the different makes or are they simply throwing on a new label. Do you have a particular favorite and what are running with right at the moment. Just curious. Thanks for your help

I'd go with a Radeon 9600 Pro or XT. Or, for around $225 you can get a 9700 Pro. That's a lot of vid card for $225.
Link to cheapest I found on Price Watch:
http://www.unitedmicro.com/partw.cgi?VCA009++10

Too much of a debate on the ATI vs nVIDIA cards. I'll say this then. I've owned a geforce FX5900 ultra since release (payed hefty for it too), and this christmas I'll be trading a friend (who's not all that worried about games) the 5900 for a 9800XT plus 50$. The only thing that made me change cards is the image quality on the ATI cards are FAR superior than the current FX's. That's the only statement I can make.

Now for what I think i'm trading for, i'm going for better image quality with stable FPS in upcoming games (hl2, doom3, eq2, WoW etc etc...). Even though the nvidia cards might pull past the XT's frames, the image quality will always be superior until nvidia comes out with a new chipset.

Any of them will do fine except for PowerColor and eVGA. eVGA is usually good, but a ton of bad FX 5900 and 5900 Ultras were shipped that were specifically eVGA. The rest are fine!

The FX 5900 is more powerful than the Radeon 9700 Pro and much more powerful than the Radeon 9600 Pro or XT. The FX 5900 is even cheaper than a Radeon 9700 Pro as well and features DirectX 9 support.

Yes, each card as certain advantages over each other in different games. Overall, each card is about the same in performance. The FX 5950 Ultra does better in some games, and the 9800 XT does better in some games. Neither one is simply better in every aspect.

-Lasereth

Maybe u can help me solve a problem, I just upgraded from a ti 4200 to a 5700 ultra. It runs Halo and NFSU great, but I cant even play jedi academy or any games under steam, they either stay blank or they go to the main menu and stay there even tho I actually go farther, it doesnt display. Please help, I know its old, but I still like cs.

Thanks for the input, everyone.

I've never heard of that problem. :( I can give ya some advice though: put that TI4200 back in for now. It's more powerful than the FX 5700 in most games, unfortunately. It's your decision, but that's what I'd do.

-Lasereth