No idea which video card to get. Need help

[dtechlogic]

Hi guys,
I am not sure what video card to get. I have looked at the geforce 7900 but it is expensive. I am a budgeted person i have 250 to spend or less on a video card. I have CoD2, BF2, Doom 3. Right now i have a 9700 pro ati. Is it best to get an ATI or Nvidia. Is there a difference between the video cards that the companies sales. So far this is the motherboard i have ASUS P4V800D -X Motherboard PCI Express and AGP. I am planning to buy a PCiE card. Let me know guys what video card i should get or you will recommend.

 

[Gary_Busey]

If you can spare $30 more bucks,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127206

If not, the 7900GT and the X1800XT perform about the same.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127218

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102698

 

[177ine177ine]

And the X1900GT.

(Why does everyone overlook that card? It beats the 7900GT in a lot of benchmarks!)

 

[pauldh]

And the X1900GT.

(Why does everyone overlook that card? It beats the 7900GT in a lot of benchmarks!)

The X1800XT is cheaper and faster and as long as they stay priced that way, no need to talk about the X1900GT. In the USA, there's No question for $200 it's the best deal of the three right now.

Where do you see the X1900GT beating out a 7900GT? Very few games I'd say. IMO, the X1800XT edges out the 7900GT and both clearly outperform the X1900GT.


This is the only review I know about pitting the three 256MB cards against each other. I'd say in this review, based on fsaa/af benchies, X1800XT>7900GT>X1900GT.
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=550&p=0

 

[dtechlogic]

okay guys.
I see that also the difference between the video card is the pipelines. How much of an importance is the pipelines on video card. I am looking at the Sapphire X1800XT 256MB 16 pipelines. and the msi geforce 7900GT 256MB 24 pipelines. Is there much of a difference on how the games performance will be on this two video card. Please advise on this part on the performance of games on these two video cards. Thanks.

 

[enforcerfx]

okay guys.
I see that also the difference between the video card is the pipelines. How much of an importance is the pipelines on video card. I am looking at the Sapphire X1800XT 256MB 16 pipelines. and the msi geforce 7900GT 256MB 24 pipelines. Is there much of a difference on how the games performance will be on this two video card. Please advise on this part on the performance of games on these two video cards. Thanks.

You probably would see some difference in the 7900, mostly because it has double the pipes. But nvidia cards DO NOT support HDR or AA, thats the downfall. Either way, either card will give you a bang for your buck. The x1800xt has been slashed again pricewise i see. If you want to save some cash, go with the x1800xt. It really all depends on what games you play though.

 

[dtechlogic]

The games that i play at this moment are HL2,CoD2, BF2, BF vietnam, Doom 3, soon quake, Ghost Recoon Advance Warfighter., elder scroll Oblivion, So that's why i am looking between those two video card. Please again i really appreciate your help those who are posting to my aid.

 

[pauldh]

Number of pipes isn't that important. Sure disable pipes on the 7900GT or X1800XT and it will be slower, but the X1900XTX is still 16-pipes and it demolishes the 7900GT. And dispite the pipe differences, the X1800XT easily matches the 7900GT. Neither card dominates the other; ie both win their share of games.

Check out your games in this review:
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/index.html

I think the 7900GT would take Doom 3 and Quake 4 by a little. The X1800XT would take COD2 and BF2 by a little. HL2 would be pretty equal although both cards handle it with ease.

www.firingsquad.com/hardware/oblivion_high-end_performance/page5.asp
Oblivion favors the X1800XT, and by quite a bit in the most demanding areas of the game. Although I tell ya, with the X1900XT prices dropping, if you consider a 7900GT, you may want to spend a little more on the X1900XT. It is clearly a higher performing card than either of the other two and flexes it's muscles in Oblivion.

 

[dtechlogic]

Since i am a budgeted person i don't have a lot of money to put out and i think i can only afford to buy the x1800xt or the nvidia 7900GT. Please just let me know if i should choose which one over which. Please and thanks to all for the feedback and support.

 

[Slowburn]

x1800xt for the budget.

 

[dtechlogic]

What about the 7900GT nvidia.

 

[pauldh]

Did you look over the performance charts I posted? If you want a 7900GT, buy it. Apart from the (minority of cases) horror stories when overclocked, they are great cards. Seems crazy if you are budget minded though not to buy the X1800XT. Just as fast or a bit faster, better image quality, and alot cheaper without a rebate even. Your games are a split really, so either card will do. I would rahter have the X1800XT for Oblivion. I upgraded from a eVGA 7800GT CO to the X1800XT for Oblivion; huge difference. But I don't think either the 7900GT or the X1800XT will dissapoint you.

 

[177ine177ine]

True. X1800XT is really the best option though. Cheaper and as good if not better.

 

[Track]

Everyone, hes looking for an AGP card.

His motherboard has PCI-E x4 and AGP x8.

Best option is 7800 GS or X850XT.

 

[enforcerfx]

Everyone, hes looking for an AGP card.

His motherboard has PCI-E x4 and AGP x8.

Best option is 7800 GS or X850XT.

Uh, read again buttmunch, he has a Motherboard with a AGP AND PCI-e Slot.

 

[dtechlogic]

Okay guys now i am feel that i am ready to do my buy. I am going to purchase the SAPPHIRE 100154L Radeon X1800XT at newegg on Monday. I just want to say thanks for al your helps and i do really appreciate your help and i did read the reviews from the links you guys provided. Thanks to all and the help was awesome and i did learn a lot from you guys. I am not good at choosing video card but with your helps i think i am going to make a wise decision buying the x1800xt. Thanks.

 

[Dahak]

yes if money is an issue go with the x1800xt and you will be very happy with the performance.i personally like bothe card manufacturers although i currently own 2 7800gt's in sli mode.good luck on your decision,i hope we have helped you some.

Dahak


EVGA NF4-SLI MB
X2 4400+@2.4
2X1GIG DDR400 RAM IN DC MODE
2X7800GT'S IN SLI CONFIG.
520WATT PSU
WD 300GIG HD
EXTREME 19IN.CRT MONITOR

 

[dtechlogic]

Thanks,
Once i get the video card i am going to play some CoD2 and also other games.

 

[pauldh]

Yes, the OP did say PCi-e. Turns out track is onto something though as his mobo has AGP8X and a PCi-e 16x slot that only runs at PCI-e 4X speeds. So it physically fits the 16x cards but actually offers 1/4 the bandwidth. I'd have to think a X1800XT or 7900GT will saturate PCI-e 4X bus in todays games. Not sure how crippled it will be though, enough so to buy a $95 X850XT instead? What does everyone think? Basically we see little difference between AGP 8X and AGP 4X for all the current AGP cards. So are these others that much faster to see a difference? I'd say proabbly yes. PCI-e 8X would be fine, but 4X I'd think it will drop the performance on the X1800Xt and equal cards.

 

[dtechlogic]

Hey guys,
one more thing will i able to run the video car at 16x instead of 4x in pcie with this motherboard ASUS P4V800D -X.

 

[pauldh]

Nope, ASAIK, that mobo runs the PCi-e 16x sized slot at PCI-e 4X speeds. I haven't seen a review as to how bad that hurts performance with high end cards.

They try to be confusing/misleading, but read the PCI-e/agp combo description:
http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?l1=3&l2=12&l3=243&model=942&modelmenu=1

 

[pauldh]

Biostar's PT880 pro A7 and Asus p5vd1-x also run in 4X-pci-e mode. There is a performance hit with the 7800GTX, but overall not completely bad. Note the 6800U/X850Xt caliber card was not really affected much as AGP 8X and PCI-e 4X scored about the same.

Here are some benchies of a 7800GTX in PCI-e 4X:
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2724&p=7

 

[dtechlogic]

F#@$ that really sucks. Well i think i am going to use the agp slot then istead of Pcie. what do you guys thinks.

 

[pauldh]

Here's the problem I see....pricing. For instance, AGP X850XT is about double the price of a PCI-e X850XT. PCI-e X850XT at newegg is $95 after rebate.

But that said, I've been doing some searching and looking at Newegg reader reviews (which sometimes are a joke) it seems a large number of people had issues trying to game with PCI-e on the P5vd1-X (S775).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustRatingReview.asp?Item=N82E16813131566

Anyway, I don't know enough about your mobo to comment if it suffers stability issues, but I would google it if I were you. If there are no stability issues than a PCI-e card would probably offer more bang for the buck and be more useful down the road.


edit: BTW, I found an intersting quote explaining the bandwidth of PCI-e 4X and AGP 8X:

"PCI-E 4x has 2GB/s bandwidth in total, what means 1GB/s per direction. So it can read 1GB/s and write at 1GB/s. Since these stuff are reading most of the time ...
AGP can use it bandwidth in both directions meaning it can read at 2GB/s or write at 2GB/s. But the benchmarks do show that 1GB/s for reading is just not enough for these highend cards."

source: anandtech article discussion - http://www.anandtech.com/talkarticle.aspx?frmResourceID=2724&frmWhere=2

 

[col-p-todd]

for $250 - $280 the best cards to get are the 7900GT and the X1900GT