What's a good card for gaming nowadays?

[Pace]

Hi all,

Just wondering what's the best on the market, if we look beyond just the framerates. I'd ideally like a Sapphire-based ATI board, but it looks like the 8800 GeForces wipe the floor with 2900XTs. I'll be getting a DVI-D panel, so the DAC sharpness won't affect me any more - are there any reasons not to go to the NVIDIA dark side?

Edit: Also, I'm ok with my PCs current volume - will these beasts be noisier than the last couple of generations (I'm on a Radeon 9800-something).

P.

[Tjalfe]

well DirectX 10.1 cards from both sides should be out in the next few months.. worth a wait?
I got an HD2900XT and it plays everything beautifully, but then again, I got a very good deal on it, to the point where I did not even consider Nvidia

[Taz]

Are we talking PCIe or AGP?

[ZokesPro]

From what I've seen for benchmarks, the ATi 2900XT seems to be equivlaent to a GeForce 8800GTS 320MB in FPS all around. But seeing as the 8800 is a few hundred less, I'd go with satan, er I mean nVidia.

Not sure about the noise.

I'm with ATi myself, but I have a laptop, so I can't chagne my graphics chip without changing the whole damn thing.

[The PIT]

Well I've got an ATI 1950xt nice card but lately the drivers have been getting buggier and more back to the bad old days. Dunno how buggy Nvidea side is though.

[Evildead666]

8800GTS-320Mb is the fastest most cost effective card out there.

It will most probably be obsolete in a couple of years anyhoo...
The extra RAM will allow some AntiAliasing, but many games will not allow HDR and AA at the same time, so, moot point.

Some games are happier with 512Mb, but they are pretty few and far between.
Or you can just go for the 640Mb version and be a bit happier, but a bit more out of pocket.

I'm really happy with it, and it makes less noise than my watercooling setup.
I can actually sleep with this PC on...

[TransformX]

I would go for a Radeon 2600, looks like the sensible choice these days.

[Pace]

To clarify, it's going to be in a new system based on a Core 2 Duo / 1333FSB and PCIe is the order of the day! My monitor in all likeliness is going to be the 24" Samsung SM245B, so will hopefully be playing most games at 1920x1200.



Based on the above graph, if it was just down to performance, I think the 8800 would win - does anyone know of driver issues or 2D problems to nudge back towards ATI? Anyone got opinions on or know of reviews based on Vista 64bit?

Finally... which GeForce manufacturer do MURCers trust? I feel like splashing out, so I think the 8800GTX is winning so far

[Admiral]

In Europe I would say Leadtek for the price, Gainward for overclocking. Most of the cards out there are built by Foxcon anyway, sold to partners and rebranded under the "Designed by nvidia" program. From what I take it Gainward still builds its own, I might be wrong.

On the US side there's XFX, BFG and EVGA. XFX has issues with factory overclocked cards, from BFG I haven't heard of too many problems while EVGA seems to be the brand of choice there. Problem with EVGA is support in Europe, while in the US everything is smooth, in Europe the RMA process is a lengthy and unnerving one.

[ZokesPro]

@Pace: Can't go wrong with a GF8800GTX 720mb. My buddy has one and even with a 4800+ X2 he gets great frame rates at high quality. He's got 4gb of ram tough but still, the bottleneck inhis system is the cpu.

[Pace]

Admiral: My supplier (BT!) has a list of 8800GTXs with Gigabyte as the cheapest, then XFX/MSI, Asus/Gainward and at the top BFG/EVGA.

ZokesPro: Is he using Vista 64bit then? I'm either going for 2GB and Vista 32, or 4GB/64bit, and as far as I know, when I buy OEM they are separate packages, so I have to choose before I buy.

[ZokesPro]

He's got Vista 32bit, so obviously the OS only sees 3gb ram.

[Helevitia]

2900XT = hot, slower and loud at the same price point.

I bought the Nvidia 8800GTS 640MB Asus card. Very happy with it. I too didn't want to get Nvidia at first either but facts are facts.

[Mehen]

If you need a card right now I'd go with either version of the 8800gts. The 2900XT is pretty nice, but just a little too expensive, and I haven't been to big of a fan of the catalyst drivers as of late.

Expect some new cards to come out closer to Xmas if you want to wait a bit. It should either drive prices down or just introduce some new options. I think there will be a 8700 and 2900pro.

[Belwarrior]

on a side note sorry if it ends up hijacking this thread...

Just wondering if there are going to be any more AIW cards from ATI/AMD?

currently happy with my system.. this is the longest i haven't upgraded but since i have been gaming(any such term?) less. It is enough for my usage. XP3200+ and GF6800gs 512MB powering Dell 24"

but i am looking to upgrade soon(tm) and liked the convenience of the AIW