There's not one. That's the problem. The GeForce GTX 280 is the competitor to it and it is $400+.

You could buy the GTX 260. It's not a bad card, it's just my duty to tell you that the Radeon HD 4870 is a better deal by a good margin.

So basically, you should get the GeForce GTX 260. It is a powerhouse videocard and you won't be disappointed but its price to performance ratio just isn't up to par as the new Radeon HD 4 series.

Updated. The Radeon HD 4850 and 4870 remain the best high performance cards on the market while the GeForce 8800 GT is still bringing home high FPS at high settings for only $110.

I'm going to help one of my coworkers/friends build their first computer, and she is going to try to pick out all the components herself. She is on a fairly tight budget, and I think she's willing to go for about 700$ for the tower and components. What are your thoughts on the Radeon HD 4670 that just came out? I read some of the reviews, and for $80 is should be beating the 3850 that you currently have the list (although I have the feeling it is going to be bumped off due to this particular card)

(mild gaming, surfing the net and office tasks, nothing to crazy. more interested in putting components together and getting it to work.)

I haven't seen any reviews of the 4670 yet. I will update my list as soon as I read them though (been on vacation and super busy at work!).

Updated!! Added the Radeon HD 4670 to the list which offers incredible performance at $80.


Also added the new nvidia GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 video card at $275 which offers performance comparable to the Radeon HD 4870. Prices across the board updated as usual.

Added the new Radeon HD 4870 1 GB to the list.

I don't see the GeForce 9800 GT anywhere on the list. Is it just a trashy throwaway sidegrade with a new sticker and a higher number? Are you better off going cheaper with the 9600 or going more expensive to the 9800 GX if you bother with the 9000 series?

Edit: Something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130380

That is a good card. The reason it's not on my list is because quite frankly it is an 8800 GT with a new name. Everything is the same except the name. It is totally worth it but like I said in your other thread with your budget I would be buying an even better card.

Lasereth,

I was about to pull the trigger on a card off your list...would you happen to know off the top which card runs the quietest? I currently have a 7800GT and its like theres a helicopter in the room, so I'd like my new card to be as quiet as possible. $200 budget. Thanks man.

Most ones that look like this:

Customer Reviews Of EVGA 512-P3-N871-AR GeForce 9800 GTX(G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail)

Will be quiet. Dual slot coolers have less backpressure to deal with, and usually a larger diameter fan. That loosely translates to quieter operation. In fact on this card several of the reviewers said specifically that it was quiet.

I just bought a pair of these

Newegg.com - ASUS EN9800GT ULTIMATE/HTDP/512M GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

$129.99 MIR

it's pretty quiet...

I also got this PSU with 2GB RAM combo $88 -$50 MIR for $48. PSU is alot quieter than the one I originally had.
Newegg.com - OCZ StealthXStream OCZ500SXS 500W ATX12V / EPS12V Active PFC Power Supply - Power Supplies

OCZ SLI-Ready 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Im leaning towards the 9800 series based upon your guys experience with it...a good price too. Cool power supply Cynthetiq, I'm looking for something either modular or with all the cables sheathed together like the one you have. Surprised to see how inexpensive memory has gotten, it was triple that on my last build.

Yeah you need to just read the reviews for each card to see if it's quiet. The loudness can even change between brands so a specific model may not be quiet across the board.

BTW yeah it is great how cheap memory is. I bought my 2 GB of DDR2 800 memory for $250 2 years ago and I thought it was a great deal. Now it's $25 at some places.

I went with your advice Lasereth and got the ATI HD 4870 512mb card with my new computer. I got a crossfire ready motherboard and PSU so I'll be able to buy another 4870 in the near future if I get a little extra cash.

I went with a 9800GTX, happy with it so far. Pretty cool piece of hardware. Much quieter than my 7800GT. The thing is as long as my forearm, luckily I had room in my case for it. Has 2 power outlets on it, bought a Rosewill 500w power supply to power it and everything else. Running FarCry maxed out just fine (if that is saying anything), newer games coming for the holidays. One problem I've been having with it is that on startup sometimes the monitor won't turn on, maybe the card isn't getting a signal from the BIOS? Usually fixed with a hard restart or 3. Great thread, thanks.

Grats on the new cards guys. Those are two good choices.

Updated, added the new Radeon HD 4830 to the guide...finally the GeForce 8800 GT/9800 GT gets a direct competitor!

Updated

Dude, I wanted to thank you for this guide, it helped me out ALOT when I was buying the parts for my new pc. Saved me alot of time and brain cells when it came to buying my video card. Went with the Raedon 4850 which gave me alot of power for the price I was willing to pay. I'd buy you a beer if I lived near you! Thanks.

the PC2700 memory for my system costs more new than via Ebay or similar sources :oogle:
It would be a big change and cheaper on parts going to a PCI-E card and that new-fangled SATA, but not ready to go with a new motherboard yet; I suspect this will be at least an 8 year major upgrade cycle this time.
more ontopic here, my Geforce 7600 GS is working marvously for me - quite happy with it.

Glad I could help!

EVGA 512-P3-N841-AR GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card -
Good deal? If I ever wanted to run two at the same time, what kind of PSU would be needed?

Not a good deal.

Check out the new GTX 295 that just came out. What a beast!

I'm running this Nvidia card at work.. QuadroFX

someone was telling me that a Geforce 9600 or something was just as good for way less.. is this true??

BTW, I'm running that because that's what was recommended to me buy the good people at Avid.

QuadroFX is a professional line of cards while GeForce 9600 is a gaming video card. If you do video editing, 3D rendering (especially CAD), stick with Quadro or FireGL if you like ATi.

Avid doesn't like ATI .. so it's the Quadro.

Thanks for the difference. Now I can tell that other dude he was wrong :lol:

Updated, the new GTX 295 will be added as soon as it's on NewEgg.

:) it's on newegg

Newegg.com - Fast & Furious Nvidia GeForce GTX295 Graphics card

The press release is, but if you click on the "Buy Now" tag, you come up with a null set, unfortunately.

weird...It actually had 6 products from all the vendors just an hour ago. I was amazed that the price wasn't stupid retarded in the $700-800 range, but in the $500 range.
-----Added 9/1/2009 at 12 : 47 : 42-----
even stranger... from IE I can locate it... from FF I can't.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...fiti/265-1.png

It's on the list now; I can access it on NewEgg with FF fine.

Hey Laser:

Why is it that the 9800 GT and GTS cards seem to have lower specs (memory bandwidth, etc) than the 8800GTS? Time for me to replace my 8800 - one of the outputs is dying. I want something equivalent or better in power, and I don't wanna spend $300. Any recommendations?

I don't know much about the 9800 GT/GTS. The 9800 GT is exactly the same as the 8800 GT. I've never even heard about the 9800 GTS or seen it reviewed.

Which 8800 GTS do you have? If it's the 320 MB or 640 MB then the 9800 GT is better. If it's the 512 MB then it's better than the 9800 GT.

If I were you I would get the Radeon HD 4850 if you are on an average budget (it's about $150 and is much better than the GeForce 8 or 9 series).

Thank you for this I was about to make a big mistake! Am now getting the Radeon HD 4850

Well I just picked myself up a GTX 285, the EVGA with standard clock speeds. After taxes and all that fun stuff it cost me $472.49 Canadian, free express shipping. The thing is HUGE!! I have the Antec 1200 case and I had trouble fitting it in, I could not imagine putting this thing in any smaller case. Just about to try it out on some games now.

I now have 2 8800GT cards I plan on selling, one is standard clock speeds on is the superclocked edition, both by EVGA.

Updated. I can't put the GeForce GTX 280 or 285 on the list because the Radeon HD 4870 is just too close to them performance-wise and is $100-$150 cheaper. They are strong cards but a little too pricey right now.

Seems the HD 4850 and the HD 4870 are going to get a price cut soon.

DailyTech - Radeon 4870 Gets $50 Price Cut to $149, Radeon 4850 Will Drop to $129

Updated, added the new GeForce GTS 250, updated every single price, deleted a few entries.

I've gotta say, this continues to be one of my favorite threads. Great work, Lasereth!

Now, if only I could convince Steve Jobs to allow OS X on non-Apple computers....

Updated!!!!!!!!!!!! The new GeForce GTX 275 and Radeon HD 4890 are now on the list. They are good choices if you really want to keep a single GPU card. The Radeon HD 4850 X2 is a dual-GPU card, but fits in a single PCI-E slot so it doesn't require an SLI/Crossfire power supply and is better performing in most tests, so if you are up for a single card/dual GPU card then that is the best choice still.

Added the new Radeon HD 4770 at $110 (what a great deal).

Updated, removed a few entries and also added the 2x Radeon HD 4770 in Crossfire mode to the list which is outrageously powerful for only $210.

Updated. Holy cow prices are plummeting again. $500 performance from a year ago is now $200. $400 performance from a year ago is now $150. Gotta love computer hardware......

Wow, that's crazy.

How much life do you think I should get out of my GeForce 8800GT?

I'm still using mine but I don't play a lot of different computer games. It's still fine for new games but I would expect to replace it by the end of this year or next year if you want the best settings.

Yeah, now that I think of it, I believe I'll get at least another year out of it. The dropping prices for viable replacements is a good sign, though.

We'll have to wait and see how demanding that new Star Wars MMO is. ;)

I should probably put my money into upgrading from Vista to Windows 7.

Checking this thread makes me a bit sad... I can't believe I paid $500 for an 8800GTX when they came out. Replaced it with an HD4870 not even a year later for only $250... and now my entire PC is out of date. Sigh... such is the life of an enthusiast :shakehead:

Updated

Wouldn't call the 4870 that outdated..I'd say its what mid-end among gaming standards (4770-->4890/various CF solutions).

Course I say that cuz I have a 4850. Still playing everything maxed though as I'm on 1680x1050 monitor.

Just bought the 4870 myself, got it for $130 plus shipping. I'll let you know how it goes. :thumbsup:

Hey, Lasereth, How much do you think PhysX should play in the decision between Nvidia and ATI? I'm not actually looking for a video card atm but I've run into 3 games in as many days that have used PhysX. Batman: Arkham Asylum, Mirror's Edge and City of Villians are those games. I know City of Villains has shitty ass graphics anyways but I've watched videos of both Batman and Mirrors Edge using PhysX and it seems to add so much to the game.

I don't know anything about PhysX, sorry.

PhysX is a closed source middleware physics engine developed by Ageia that Nvidia bought and is now trying to turn it into a leading brand name.

It's direct competitor is the Havok engine. Havok is the engine you see in Half-Life 2, Red Faction: Guerrilla and lots of other games.

Lots of game use PhysX, but not every game using PhysX supports it's hardware acceleration extras. An example of two of games that use the engine but not the hardware acceleration: Mass Effect(PC) & Rainbow Six Vegas 2(PC). An example of two of games that use the engine and the hardware acceleration: Mirror's Edge (PC) & Sacred II (PC).

Since no current console has a PhysX hardware card you won't see any console games with the added effects. Most likely if the game is being made for any console & a PC your only going to see limited added effects on the PC version anyway (the steam in Batman and the glass breaking in Mirror's Edge).

ATI is working with Intel (they own Havok) to bring hardware acceleration to their own cards. Pretty soon PhysX hardware acceleration maybe a moot point as ATI will be doing the same thing through Havok.

Edit: Personally, if the Nvidia card is comparable to the ATI card AND cheaper I'd buy the Nvidia for the PhysX. However, it's not that big a deal to me that I'd pay even $10 extra just to have PhysX in my games.

Last comment, MS has been looking into adding physics support into DirectX since 2006, supposedly it'll be in DX 11.


List of games using Havok Engine post 2006.

List of games using Havok Engine pre 2006.

List of games using PhysX

List of PhysX games with/without hardware acceleration

Updated

Updated, added the ridiculously awesome new Radeon HD 5000 series to the guide. These cards nullified half the list.

Lasereth, I saw this list on the new posts list and just wanted to say again, THANK YOU. This list made buying my video card for my system I built at the beginning of the year SO much easier. I recommend looking at this list for any person wanting to buy a video card or build a PC and I often refer to it when I'm helping friends out.

Hats off to you man.

Updated. The Radeon HD 4000 series is pretty much extinct now. Unfortunately this means that the best videocard deals on the market (the 4850 and 4870) are now gone. There are other cards in their price bracket that are decent but both of these cards will be sorely missed. Had to delete a lot of cards due to them being phased completely out and are really hard to find. The Radeon HD 5000 series have also skyrocketed in price by as much as $50+. Even with these prices they are worthy purchases, but nowhere near as good of a deal as they used to be.

I have an 8800GT 512MB still going strong, but I've purchased a larger monitor with a native resolution 1920x1200 so I need a stronger card to support gaming at that resolution.

I don't want to spend more than $200, but from what I've researched, all the cards in that price range would only give me a 10-15 fps advantage over 8800GT. Are there any rumored price drops or new video card models coming out? I'm thinking of waiting another year where $200 will be worth a much larger upgrade.

Thoughts?

For what it's worth, I can't tell you just how much the whole space has changed. I upgraded from an 8800GT to a 9800GTX Ultimate last year, and this year, Ice Crown Citadel just trounced the video cards. The only logical upgrade was a 200 series and the 250 and 260 didn't seem like such a great performance gain.

My research put me at the 275GTX range, which I bought (sorry nvidia fanboy because the ATI drivers and problems with them, killed me early on) which now is choking the mobo bus.

I'm looking at building a whole new machine to get the performance gains I'm looking for.

I just built a pc and am currently using the onboard ATI Radeon HD 4200 graphics. While I have not had any complaints for the uses I have tried it for I might want to upgrade if I start gaming. I was reading about the ATI Hybrid CrossFireX, which is supposed to allow a discrete card to work with the onboard graphics, a poor mans CrossFireX if you will. But it seems the card selection for the Hybrid CrossFireX is pretty minimal. Would I be better off performance wise with a sub $50 Hybrid CrossFireX card paired with the onboard graphics, or saving up for a bit to buy a $100 standalone card be it ATI or NVIDIA and just disabling onboard graphics?

Standalone card would be way better.

---------- Post added at 11:51 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:50 AM ----------

With the recent videocard price increases due to limited availability, I would wait until nvidia releases their newest generation of cards before buying. A GTX 260 Core 216 would be a decent upgrade but they're too expensive right now. They used to be $160ish which was totally worth it, but at over $200, forget it.

Yeah the videocard market is really out of whack right now. ATI has yield issues..and absolutely nothing coming from Nvidia. So there's a real shortage of cards and prices are going up (crazy for high tech!). No one should be buying any cards now if they can help it.

Well, I bought a new (used) computer an IBM Thinkcentre. I have a geforce8400SE in but am thinking about getting a Radeon X1300 Graphics Card off a friend. Is it a better card?

What would be the best choice for better performance?

• ATI Radeon HD 3870
• NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT (x2 via SLI)

I am pretty much asking from a gaming standpoint.

Would there be a huge difference?

There would be a gigantic difference. The 8800 GT alone is more powerful than the 3870 (though not by a lot).

---------- Post added at 03:00 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:58 PM ----------

Bleh I missed this, sorry. They're about the same.

Thanks Lasereth,

A guy from work said he just got a 4770 and had the 3870 sitting there and gave it to me.

Figured since I have 2 8800's i could put them in one of the computers and put the 3870 in the other. I wouldn't notice much if any difference on a 1:1 ratio would I?

It's ridiculous that the 3870 is $99.00 (Tigerdirect) and just 1 8800 GT is $48.00 (newegg) - especially if the 8800 is the better card

Well forget it anyway...for some reason I couldn't get the Radeon to work in my computer...it would work fine til Windows booted then it would lag and flash on and off every few minutes.

And I couldn't get the other computer to recognize that they were in SLI configuration...even though i was trying to follow the steps...

oh well :(

Hello,

How goes it? Hope all is well.

I am looking to build this machine: $1,000 i7 Desktop Computer | Telovation.com

In it, they talk about the video card as: "The included 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® 8400 GS video card is also pretty entry-level. In our case, we replaced it with two GeForce 9500 GT (dual) 1GB video cards (about $55 each from Tiger Direct) to support the four monitors we run on this machine. They both fit in the two available PCI Express 2.0x16 slots on the MSI X58M motherboard, and still leaves one available PCIe 2.0x4 slot and one standard PCI slot."

My question is two-fold:
1) This machine is being built for video-editing -- would you have a preference between either of those two cards?
2) The machine is going to be running Linux as the Operating system -- I have had issues with nVidia cards and Linux before, is there another video card you would recommend that I can put in that works with Linux and still provides the ability to have two monitors (or two cheaper cards I can put in)?

Thanks!

Updated the guide to reflect the current clusterfuck of a market the industry is in right now.

---------- Post added at 03:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:40 PM ----------

I don't know enough outside of the realm of video cards in gaming to help you, sorry.

Las, I was waiting until you answered, just in case there was something I wasn't aware of.

I would not suggest the GeForce series if you are using them for video editing. It isn't optimized for video editing. The Quadro FX line is built just for that reason. If you are going to be doing video editing.

Check out this link as it has the basics for DIY NLE systems.

Videoguys Blog - Videoguys' System Recommendations for Video Editing

Newegg.com - EVGA 015-P3-1482-AR GeForce GTX 480 (Fermi) SuperClocked 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

I just got a pair of these monsters, one for me and one for the wife. My new systems are now 100% complete.

Lucky!!!!!!

I need a new card bad. Bad Company 2 puts my 8800 GT to shame.

Thanks again for having this thread. It's minimized the number of places I need to check when my video cards fry 1 month out of warranty (again).

I went with a Sapphire 5870 Vapor-X

I have no loyalty when it comes to video cards. I wanted something fairly quiet this time around.

Thank you for continuing to update this thread Lasereth, my first stop when da wife ok's an upgrade!

Heh upgraded my melting 4850...artifacting/black screening especially in the last 6 months of it's 12 month life. Went to a 470gtx! Yep the fermi is just as hot as it's made out to be...but daaamn a lot of power behind that card. Running everything on high at 1080p. :) And for 270$ (Cdn) after rebate too!

Just saying thanks to Lasereth for keeping this thread alive and accurate.
I was in here over two years ago and grabbed the 9600 gt, its held up pretty well.
But now, with an i7 processor, I am currently nowhere near my computers potential. Its time to unleash the beast!
I'm going to grab 2x Radeon 4850 cards. :)
I checked this thread a few months ago, and sadly, theres no change in my price range.
I find it kind of amusing that I can do more/better with two $100 cards, than I could with one $300 card. And there's no way I'd spend $300 on a video card. a processor, maybe, but never a video card. (not until I'm rich ^_^ haha)

amen!

I'll be updating this shortly.

Updated

I'm loving my overclocked 5770, Lasereth. 32 fps average in Crysis Warhammer at 1920x1080 and full specs. Thanks for the recommendation!

I bought this last night after finding a 10% off coupon on techbargains.com. The 8800 GT will finally be put to rest!!!!!!!!!

I suggest a viking funeral.

What's a good video card that's just good in general, I don't need a crazy one like the gamers cards.

Looking to upgrade my 8600GT for sub 100 if i can, any suggestions for it?