Best bang for the buck?

[Fred Pollard]

Alright, I need to build a new PC. I want to play online games again. I was
a avid Rouge Spear series player. (I know, I know...don't flame me) Call of
Duty, Battleground is what I'd like to try now. What's the best bang for the
buck ATI card now? Does anyone know what PCGamer recommends for their middle
system?

 

[Cuzman]

" Alright, I need to build a new PC. I want to play online games again. I
was a avid Rouge Spear series player. (I know, I know...don't flame me) Call
of Duty, Battleground is what I'd like to try now. What's the best bang for
the buck ATI card now? Does anyone know what PCGamer recommends for their
middle system? "


The Radeon 9800 Pros have come right down in price recently, and are
certainly a viable option for mid-range PCs. If you can list your system
(including your current card), then we can offer you better advice, as you
may also benefit from adding more RAM etc.

 

[Fred]

I'm building new, but what I have so far is:
Biostar M7NCD PRO
2500 AMD Barton
WD 80mg 7200 8 mg buffer HD
512 DDR 3200 ram
Powmax 400w case

 

[Inglo]

I'm building new, but what I have so far is:
Biostar M7NCD PRO
2500 AMD Barton
WD 80mg 7200 8 mg buffer HD
512 DDR 3200 ram
Powmax 400w case

I've got similar(3/5) to the above with a 9600 Pro, works great. So a
9600 XT would be a good card to get (@$200). But, a 9800 Pro goes for
only $50 more and is significantly faster.

 

[Cuzman]

" I'm building new, but what I have so far is:
Biostar M7NCD PRO
2500 AMD Barton
WD 80mg 7200 8 mg buffer HD
512 DDR 3200 ram
Powmax 400w case "



A Radeon 9800 Pro would more than do the job for the games you want, and
your PSU should more than hold up to its demands. At the current prices
they seem to be the best high-end bang-for-buck card. However, you may wish
to read some of the past posts on which are the best drivers to use, as some
ATI cards have had problems with Call Of Duty.

Here's a question for you. You are using a Biostar M7NCD PRO, which has a
400Mhz FSB ( http://www.biostar-usa.com/mbdetails.asp?model=M7NCD PRO ).
Your PC3200 RAM can also run to 400Mhz FSB speeds. However, the AMD 2500+
Barton is a 333Mhz FSB CPU, so I take it that you will be over-clocking it
like this forum discusses:
http://www.ocforums.com/archive/thread/218077-1.html

 

[Fred]

I need to get under or around the $100.00 mark for this card. I'm not really
cheap, but, you know, I'm kind of building this under the wife's nose.
Yes, I will OC the 2500. A friend has the same system running at a 3000 and
it's as stable as can be.

 

[Tweek]

I need to get under or around the $100.00 mark for this card. I'm not
really

cheap, but, you know, I'm kind of building this under the wife's nose.
Yes, I will OC the 2500. A friend has the same system running at a 3000 and
it's as stable as can be.

God, I'm never getting married.

 

[Cuzman]

" I need to get under or around the $100.00 mark for this card. I'm not
really cheap, but, you know, I'm kind of building this under the wife's
nose. Yes, I will OC the 2500. A friend has the same system running at a
3000 and it's as stable as can be. "


The lowest price at www.pricewatch.com for the Radeon 9800 Pro is $208.
Unfortunately your $100 limits you quite a bit, so I would recommend
spending a few dollars more on one of the following cards:

Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB ($125)
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra 128MB ($112)
GeForce FX 5700 128MB ($126)

You can compare their performance in the following article:
http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/index.html

 

[Gonzo]

" I need to get under or around the $100.00 mark for this card. I'm not
really cheap, but, you know, I'm kind of building this under the wife's
nose. Yes, I will OC the 2500. A friend has the same system running at a
3000 and it's as stable as can be. "


The lowest price at www.pricewatch.com for the Radeon 9800 Pro is $208.
Unfortunately your $100 limits you quite a bit, so I would recommend
spending a few dollars more on one of the following cards:

Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB ($125)
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra 128MB ($112)
GeForce FX 5700 128MB ($126)

I personally will wait for ATi to release it's next generation stuff.

That SHOULD drive down the prices of the 9700 and 9800 cards that I am
considering.

There is also always the small chance that S3 will have a decent card for
the budget market but Im not holding my breath.

 

[Fred]

hehe.....famous last words......

 

[Wad]

I need to get under or around the $100.00 mark for this card. I'm not really
cheap, but, you know, I'm kind of building this under the wife's nose.
Yes, I will OC the 2500. A friend has the same system running at a 3000 and
it's as stable as can be.

If your going to buy a cheap video card, then why would you need to
overclock you CPU? You won't know the difference in games.

Wad

 

[Fred]

I guess I'll be spending a little more than I thought. No big. I got it
narrowed down to 9600 pro or the 5700 ultra. Toms Hardware and you guys
helped. Thanks.