best video card for games on a budget

[Os]

I'm in the process of building my system (AMD 64bit with a socket 754
mothercard) and my final sticking point is the Graphics card.

Originally I intended to go for the Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9800 PRO 128
MB, but recentaly I've heard there may be better cards for the price.

Which card is best for a budget of £150 (I'm guessing about £200 dollars,
but take into account you guys in the USA get your stuff cheaper!)

 

[Marcin Nowak]

Originally I intended to go for the Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9800 PRO 128

Isn't it the one where they halved the memory bus width and tried to
mislead people with the "pro" name? My friend almost fell for the
trick.
I have heard that the mid-budget card will be the GF6600: ~$200. I
would probably wait for this one if I was buing now. But I have
recently got a Hercules Radeon 9800 pro on eBay from US. That was the
best deal I could find.

Marcin

 

[Rich]

I think the standard ATi Radeon 9800 PRO w/ 128 is the sweet spot right now.
Runs Doom 3 fine, and is a far sight cheaper than the X800 or
6800GT(nvidia). I bought this card (the ATi ver) for $180US after $30
rebate from CompUSA a couple weeks ago. Thrilled.

 

[Os]

Isn't it the one where they halved the memory bus width and tried to
mislead people with the "pro" name? My friend almost fell for the
trick.
I have heard that the mid-budget card will be the GF6600: ~$200. I
would probably wait for this one if I was buing now. But I have
recently got a Hercules Radeon 9800 pro on eBay from US. That was the
best deal I could find.

Marcin

Thanks for the reply Marcin. I remember hearing along those lines also.
Does anyone know if there is a way to tell if its the slower version from
the specs.

For example:
http://www.savastore.com/products/p...me=Savastore&product_id=10266215&pid=45&tid=3

The above mentions that is has a 256-bit memory interface. Is this relevant
to the memory bus width which was allegedly halved in newer versions?

 

[Marcin Nowak]

Thanks for the reply Marcin. I remember hearing along those lines also.
Does anyone know if there is a way to tell if its the slower version from
the specs.

For example:
http://www.savastore.com/products/p...me=Savastore&product_id=10266215&pid=45&tid=3

The above mentions that is has a 256-bit memory interface. Is this relevant
to the memory bus width which was allegedly halved in newer versions?

It looks like this card here is the real Radeon 9800 PRO - at least where
memory bus width is concerned. I think Sapphire was forced to rename
the slower version to something else and now they sell the correct
version.
I could not see clock speeds mentioned anywhere, but I guess they
should be OK. I don't think Sapphire would want to be caught cheating
twice...

Marcin

 

[chrisv]

I think the standard ATi Radeon 9800 PRO w/ 128 is the sweet spot right now.
Runs Doom 3 fine, and is a far sight cheaper than the X800 or
6800GT(nvidia). I bought this card (the ATi ver) for $180US after $30
rebate from CompUSA a couple weeks ago. Thrilled.

$180, huh? May have to pick one of those up. (Got a 9500 Pro now).
256b data buses are the way to go 8).

I see ATI new "midrange" X700 reverts to 128b bus. Lame.