Please help me deciding which card to buy

[JL]

Hi there,

As you probably have seen in a separate post I was victim of a fraud
on ebay and was sent a modded card instead of a 9700PRO.

Now, I've decided to buy a brand new one and therefore doors have
opened again as I'm not sure which card to buy anymore.

I'm pretty much decided for a 9800PRO 128 as it retails around
230-250. Can you please give me some advice about:

1. Is a generic brand (powercolor, madview, etc) good or should I get
it from a respected manufacturer?

2. Do you think 9800 PRO 128 is the good choice these days? (bftb)

Any advice will be appreciated.

JL

PS: I thinking about taking advantage for changing my CRT for a TFT.
Any good advice for a nice TFT for gaming ? (budget up to $450)

 

[Nil Einne]

1. Is a generic brand (powercolor, madview, etc) good or should I get
it from a respected manufacturer?

PowerColor is not a generic brand. It is a respected manufacturer
Madview may be since I've never heard of them but I don't live in the
US. Although I was on the impression you lived in Europe.

In any case, I personally would trust a PowerColor card then something
like Sapphire but in the end, most respected manufacturers like
Sapphire, Powercolor, Gigabyte etc are fine.

2. Do you think 9800 PRO 128 is the good choice these days? (bftb)

No, it's still too expensive.

PS: I thinking about taking advantage for changing my CRT for a TFT.
Any good advice for a nice TFT for gaming ? (budget up to $450)

I don't think TFTs are really ready for gaming especially not the
cheap ones.

 

[GTX_SlotCar]

As I recall, Sapphire makes at least some of the "Made by ATI" cards, so
they're very good quality. PowerColor is now considered a brand name also. I
personally think the 9800 Pro is an excellent deal as current prices have
dropped so much these past couple months.

Although I'm currently enjoying Call of Duty a lot right now, I'm usually
more into driving sims like GPL and some F1 and Nascar. Once in a while I
still like Quake 2 or 3, Unreal and UT, though. The 9800 Pro is very good
with Call of Duty.

One of my online racing buddies bought an LCD monitor a few months back. I
wish I could remember who it was and which brand. Princeton or KDS, maybe. I
wasn't paying much attention at the time. I think it was 19", it was right
after a price drop and it has some good reviews. He first reported back that
it was good for games, but later, after trying some FPS's, he said it wasn't
as good as a CRT for them, still OK for driving sims though. I suppose it
has something to do with how fast the action is. Although he's happy with
the monitor, in the end he didn't recommend it for gaming in general.
I don't know what you have for a CRT now, but a 21" flat display CRT is
still cheaper than an 18 or 19" LCD, and the picture quality is very good.
I'm using an old Viewsonic 21 (using BNC connectors) that I've had for
years. It's not a flat display, but the thing won't die so I don't have an
excuse for getting a nice new one.
Good luck.

Gary