New Video Card

[Akritoi]

Since buying broadband I've come across a number of problems with the software I currently have in my computer, namely for Internet gaming. However, it ends not there. I recently got Halo for the PC and looked forward to playing it, little did I realise that I have an On-Board Graphics board that would not be able to play it. After looking into new Video Cards I came across the ATI Radeon 9000 Pro which comes in at a nice price.

Anything similar that is below £150? Your help would be appreciated!

edit - a mistype, after talking to a mate, the ATI Raedon 9600 Pro

[Stu]

A 9000 Have you mistyped?

I consulted a few guys on the Saints official forum as I'm thinking about getting one, and a 9600 or a 9800 is your best bet. Here's the card I'm going to get

http://www.planetmicro.co.uk/product_info....9&source=kelkoo

And at a damn good price. Only thing you might need to check is to do with voltages and AGP slots.

[Raith Against The Machine]

I bought command & conquer generals and needed a direct3D card, my pc's shite and old (1999) but i just left it, sold C&C for a tidy profit last week!

[RiG]

On board graphics are utter pish - for playing games. They are fine for spreadsheets and the like and basic internet surfing but if you are wanting to play games then an upgrade is in order.

The only two card manufacturers still going strong are ATi and NVIDIA. What would your budget be? I have found some (what I am led to believe) decent cards reviewed by Computer Buyer, a magazine I have found useful over the years.

The two cards in their 'Top 50' are

Sapphire Radeon 9800 SE and the MSI FX5600-VTDR128 based on a Radeon 9800 and the nVidia GeForce FX 5600 chipsets respectively. -> Computer Buyer

Reviewed recently were the

Powercolor Radeon 9800 Pro -> Review

and XFX GeForce 5900XT -> Review

The Sapphire Radeon 9800 SE appears to be given the thumbs up as it is a good card at a good price so if that is what you are after, particularly if it is a Radeon 9800 chipset you want then I would go for that.

Hope that is of some use to you.

[Akritoi]

Thanks for that Robson.

[Ric]

My suggestion? Go for a cheap Hercules ATI 9800pro, there have been hundreds of these being sold cheap because the new x800's are due in soon. Probably ATI's top card (accept the 9800xt pro).

DON'T go for the 9800SE it is a 9800 that has had the 8 pixel pipelines disabled. This will mean a drop of at least 50% in performance compared to a normal 9800. You can use softmod or omega drivers to unlock these using software, but it's a hit and miss afair and not worth wasting your money on.

No, definitely the best buy going on is the Hercules 9800 pro (who overclockers.co.uk are flogging at a "steal this" price £99). It will outperform the 9600 (pro or xt) and is a prime candidate for overclocking.

Hercules 9800 pro: (£99)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/her...hics_cards.html

(scroll down to the bottom of the page)

3DConnect 9800 pro: (£112)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/con...hics_cards.html

(about half way down)

[RiG]

Yeah but depending on the budget the Radeon SE may be right up his street. And only over clock if you really know what you are doing other wise you are certain to melt the inside of your computer.

[RWB]

Stuart the Lindsay - 9800 Pro is what you should aim for in your price range. Keep an eye on the prices falling just now. I'm happy enough with my ATI 9600XT which was a good enough buy when my Gainward Ti4200 died a few months ago.

Ricster - overclockers.co.uk follower myself. A colleague at work does too and he's been looking for a good priced 9800Pro and saw their price for the Hercules the other day. Just today he looked again and they were sold out!

[Ric]

RWB, I got one about a month ago when they were being sold at £120 a pop, still a bargain for that sort of power.

Robson, with all due respect, it would be folly to suggest someone go for a SE, unless you could guarantee a s/w overclock. And even then it all depends on the make, memory and data bus pipeline on the card.

The reason I know this shit? I am a 9800SE and a 9800pro owner (both Hercules). The SE was one of the AIW cards that came with TV input/tuner/video editing functionality (so I can fire my PS2 through my computer monitor) which I bought for the grand sum of £170 and them spent about a month trying to find ways of making it match a simple 9800.

As has been mentioned before, if you can pick up one of the 9800pro's going around for cheap (most are OEM cards on the R350 PCB, but they are still worth their money - and even more so if R350 means nothing to you) then go for it.

Stuart, have a look at http://forums.ocfaq.com/ a lot of really useful info in there. And if you do decide to go the SE route then the softmod drivers can be found on the same site.

[RiG]

Robson, with all due respect, it would be folly to suggest someone go for a SE, unless you could guarantee a s/w overclock. And even then it all depends on the make, memory and data bus pipeline on the card.

Aye but I thought I would include it as I wasn't sure what his budget is.