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Need Help Selecting a Video Card

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - Need Help Selecting a Video Card

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wheely34   07-24-2008 at 06:11:28 AM

Of course, it's always a constant back and forth between ATI and NVIDIA. I have always owned ATI cards, not because I have anything against NVIDIA, it's just ATI has always been the best for my budgets at the time. Well now I will be building a new rig...somewhat of a budget to moderate gaming rig.

My budget for the card is $100-$180. This is the card I have come up with:

EVGA 512-P3-N801-AR GeForce 8800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130318

Is this a wise choice, or is there a better card for the money. I wouldn't mind spending another 30-40 to get a much better card. Thing is, there's just so so many cards and its frying my brain just to even attempt to come up with the "best" one for me. How does ATI compare to the 8800GT, which is in the $150 price range.

Budget is $100-$180 and the rig is going to be a budget to moderate gaming rig.


Message edited by wheely34 on 07-24-2008 at 06:22:13 AM
------------------------------ Core 2 Quad Q6600 (clocked to 3.0GHz
-Gigabyte GAP35S3G
-ATI HD 4850
-4GB Corsair XMS2 PC6400 DDR2 (4-4-4-12)
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gillagad   07-24-2008 at 06:56:17 AM
- 0 +

Might I suggest taking a look at the 4850, its a tad more powerful than the 8800GT and not all that different in price.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121253

Reply to gillagad
wheely34   07-24-2008 at 05:52:29 PM
- 0 +

I have noticed now, after doing some research, that ATI is probably the better choice in my price range (yet again lol). NVIDIA seems like the choice if I was willing to spend a few hundred dollars on a card. I'll check out the 4850. Any other suggestions?

------------------------------ Core 2 Quad Q6600 (clocked to 3.0GHz
-Gigabyte GAP35S3G
-ATI HD 4850
-4GB Corsair XMS2 PC6400 DDR2 (4-4-4-12)
Reply to wheely34
wheely34   07-24-2008 at 06:00:29 PM
- 0 +

I just looked at the 4850 and noticed it was a PCI Express 2.0 card. I'm pretty sure the motherboard I would be mating it to is standard PCI Express X16:

GIGABYTE GA-P35-S3G LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128084

Would that be an issue?? Would I not be utilizing the cards pull potention if I wasn't running 2.0?

------------------------------ Core 2 Quad Q6600 (clocked to 3.0GHz
-Gigabyte GAP35S3G
-ATI HD 4850
-4GB Corsair XMS2 PC6400 DDR2 (4-4-4-12)
Reply to wheely34
mathiasschnell   07-24-2008 at 06:19:59 PM
- 0 +

I doubt it'll be underutilized. I don't think the 4850 really has enough horsepower to go above and beyond the bandwidth of PCI-E 1.0/1.1. CPU would be more of a limiting factor I think. Either way though, can't go wrong with 4850.

Reply to mathiasschnell
sabot00   07-24-2008 at 06:35:37 PM
- 0 +

yep but before the 4xxx series nvidia was a better choice with 8800GT 9600GT and 8800GTS

Reply to sabot00
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