ATI or Nvidia?

[walTer]

Lemme toss this one out here and see what everyone here thinks.

I have say, oh, 150.00 to spend, although less is ok.

I have to buy at either Best Buy or Fry's- it is a gift cert issue.

I am currenly running a GF3ti200 on an AMD 2200 processor and I wish to upgrade my card.

Actually every game out there plays well- Doom 3 and HL2 both looked good on my system but  I really just want to upgrade so with that said:

Nvidia or ATI?
Which one?
Why?

Now I have done some looking into ATI and the 9600 and 9800 series but I know very little about Nvidia's cards- well the new ones anyway, but they seem much more affordble.

Any input is very much appreciated.  Thanks!

[unbongwah]

Hmmm...some interesting constraints...

OK, among the budget boards (<$100), it looks like the Radeon 9550 is the best, based on Gamespot's recent review of budget video cards.  Which is not to say it's particularly fast, just that it sucks less than other cards in its price range.   :?   Best Buy has a VisionTek 128MB Radeon 9550 card for $100.

Honestly, though, I would recommend you get at least a Radeon 9600 XT.  At $170, it's a little above your price cap, but it's substantially faster than the 9550.  And maybe you can find a coupon or sale or something on it?

If you could persuade yourself to splurge, I'd say go with the 6600GT.  But at $250 list price, that's probably way more expensive than you're looking for, hunh?

Unfortunately, nVidia and ATI's most recent budget boards (the 6600 and  X600 Pro, respectively) aren't yet available in AGP form - PCI-Express only.  From the benchmarks I've seen, they're pretty respectable performers in the $100 - $125 range.  The 6600, in particular, looks like it would make a great budget AGP card, if/when it comes out.  But I've no idea if you would want to wait for either of these cards to come in AGP form before upgrading.

Some other benchmarks to mull over:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2281 (HL2 comparison)
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041004/index.html (AGP cards)
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20041222/index.html (PCIe cards)

[ChrisGwinn]

GF 6600s are out in AGP.  It's a fairly recent thing, but Newegg has them in stock (at a little more than $150).

[walTer]

Good stuff-- thanks for the information.

Yeah I a pondering the 9600XT but my only trepedation is that it is an "old" card... I realize that my monetary constraints do limit me a bit but frankly I *should* be happy with a 150.00 card.

I have actually had the XT in hand but then put it back--

I am going to review the benchmark links posted- and yeah if I have to wait, well that's fine- so long as it is not too long

And if the 6600's are now out in AGP- well I am off to look at those AND that should help the prices on the older nvidia cards as well.

Good info-- thanks!

edit- one thing that HL 2 comparison does is make me want  to get DX9 running and play HL2 again!!

[unbongwah]

GF 6600s are out in AGP.  It's a fairly recent thing, but Newegg has them in stock (at a little more than $150).

Hunh, so they do - I stand corrected.  All I can say is, they weren't there the last time I looked.  

Of course, if the OP is limited to Fry's or BB, then it does him little good if Newegg carries it.  Besides, between a ~$180 256MB GF 6600 or a ~$200 128MB GF 6600GT, I don't think there's any question the latter is a much better choice.

[unbongwah]

And if the 6600's are now out in AGP- well I am off to look at those AND that should help the prices on the older nvidia cards as well.

You'd like to think so, yet the previous generation of cards hasn't come down in price as much as you might expect.  A 9800 Pro still goes for ~$200, while a GF 5900XT is ~$180 at Newegg.  Sure, that's cheaper than they used to be.  But considering a 6600GT is roughly the same price and appreciably faster, it's a bit surprising they haven't dropped more.

[walTer]

And if the 6600's are now out in AGP- well I am off to look at those AND that should help the prices on the older nvidia cards as well.

You'd like to think so, yet the previous generation of cards hasn't come down in price as much as you might expect.  A 9800 Pro still goes for ~$200, while a GF 5900XT is ~$180 at Newegg.  Sure, that's cheaper than they used to be.  But considering a 6600GT is roughly the same price and appreciably faster, it's a bit surprising they haven't dropped more.

Very true- and that price for the 9800 is *if* you can find it that low...maybe I should have said, HOPEFULLY the price will come down.

[Harpua3]

One more thing to consider is if you go from nvidia to nvidia I would assume your chances of running into issues would be less. Just thought I`s toss that out there :wink: .

[walTer]

One more thing to consider is if you go from nvidia to nvidia I would assume your chances of running into issues would be less. Just thought I`s toss that out there :wink: .

Actually that is a really good point- i have gone with nvida for a few years now and it has been pretty painless.....

[PaulBot]

The 6600 GT's ROCK!!!

I have one and I play HL2 at 1600x1200 with all the eye candy dialed up and it's absolutely beautiful!

Toss in a little extra cash with that gift cert and get one!!!

[Harpua3]

I didn`t want to sound like I hate ATI, I certainly don`t. i had a 9800pro before this 6800gt...I liked both. But the switch across from ATI to Nvidia can go smooth and then not so smooth without a reinstall etc. Some people I`m sure would agree with both sides. I`ve seen both happen. Anywho...If you have and like nvidia and you wanna stick with it, that`s one less problem that *could* pop up. That`s all.

[Harpua3]

Plus these geforce 6 cards are nice!!!

[walTer]

ok after all was said and done, I just picked up the GF6600 GT AGP.

I anticpate a smooth install

Question though....does it need to be hooked up to my power  supply?  It seems like the 6800's do but the book is not clear about the 6600 AGP- I have a 420 watt supply so it is no big deal, but I am just not sure if I will need to do that.

Thanks as always.

[Hamsterball_Z]

I don't think the 6600s need it but to be sure, look around for a molex jack.  They're generally on the top right corner of the card, the end closest to the front of your case.  It shouldn't be hard to spot, it's a big one.  The same size plug as the hard drive or CD takes.

[Harpua3]

So hows that card working?

[walTer]

hehe, thanks.. shoulda posted...

anyway, the install when error free.

The 6600 does require a separate power connection.

I then added a bit more ram, and then since I got birthday money, I picked  up a new 19 inch monitor..

WOW, HL2- the most heavy duty game i have right now, and it looks, just fantastic.
In a nutshell tho', a very nice card indeed... and for the price- eh, a bit more than I wanted to spend but basically for a few bucks more than an ATI 9600, i got a much newer card.

[Harpua3]

Nice to hear that, what brand did you get?

[walTer]

PNY.... solid as a rock.

I am very very happy with it.

Thumbs up!

[Harpua3]

PNY.... solid as a rock.

I am very very happy with it.

Thumbs up!

 Good to hear that. I`ve heard good things about PNY stuff. I have a BFG, and I have to say I`m very happy with it as well.

[disarm]

PNY.... solid as a rock.

I am very very happy with it.

Thumbs up!

 Good to hear that. I`ve heard good things about PNY stuff. I have a BFG, and I have to say I`m very happy with it as well.

the best thing about BFG is their lifetime warranty that isn't invalidated when the card becomes outdated.  supposedly, if you have an old card that goes bad, they'll actually replace it with a current card of the same value you initially paid.  i've seen reports of people with cards that are a couple years old getting replaced with shiny new top-of-the-line models.  you can't beat that for customer support.

[Harpua3]

PNY.... solid as a rock.

I am very very happy with it.

Thumbs up!

 Good to hear that. I`ve heard good things about PNY stuff. I have a BFG, and I have to say I`m very happy with it as well.

the best thing about BFG is their lifetime warranty that isn't invalidated when the card becomes outdated.  supposedly, if you have an old card that goes bad, they'll actually replace it with a current card of the same value you initially paid.  i've seen reports of people with cards that are a couple years old getting replaced with shiny new top-of-the-line models.  you can't be that for customer support.

 Yea, I`ve read/heard/saw similar things before too. I had to call them once for something and get this...they seemed to know what they were doing :shock: . That`s a rare thing these days :wink: .