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Video cards: generally which are best/worst

bigred

Penultimate Amazing
bigred
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Once I get my new PC I suspect I'll have to upgrade this :mad: Why tf PC makers don't include a good one more often is beyond me, but anyway...

So which are better or worse, generally? Not looking for anything expensive btw, probably lower end. Thx
 
I'm an Nvidia fanboy. They work well with Linux which is very important to me. So my vote is for Nvidia.

The reason that PC makers don't put high end vid cards in is that they are expensive. A high end video card can run as much as a low end PC. That makes them less attractive in the big box stores battle for your $$$. It also gives them a potential add on sale. Just using mobos with built in so-so video keeps the price down enough that Joe Average doesn't choke when he sees the price.

Many of the manufactureres offer a high end 'gaming rig' that do have better video cards.
 
I too like NVidia. My sister recently bought a new PC, it was an excellent spec but had a dreadful shared video card. The same spec but with a decent dedicated card was hundreds more, so she bought the cheaper pc and an NVidia card and saved herself some money in the process.
 
bigred - unless those extra 1 or 2 fps are important go for a mid-range nVidia or ATI card - you aren't then paying a premium for having the bleeding edge and the competition is fierce in that price range so it really keeps the price down and you get exceptional value for money.

I don't know what spec your PC is but if it's an AGP board you need the Radeon X1600 Pro seems to have a good balance of price v performance. (See:http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/06/14/radeon_x1600_pro_uk/)
 
I'm happy with my Nvidia AGP 6800 Ultra. If I were buying one today, I'd go with the SLI setup of a upper-middle Nvidia card and expand to two in the future.
 
I've been buying PCs for gaming (and other stuff) for many years now and over that time have probably bought half a dozen machines. Every time I settled for a mid priced video card as a way to keep the budget tight. I was always after the most bang for the buck.

Each time I regretted, slightly, buying the cheaper card and wished I had thrown a little more cash at a higher end card. Last machine I bought (last November) I got one of the most expensive video cards on the market and it's the happiest I've ever been with my video card choice.

Something to consider.
 
Ok, a subject I know a little about. First, if your bought your computer from one of the major vendors (Dell, HP, Gateway) shame on you! You should always buy all the parts seperately and assemble the whole thing yourself! That way you know there are quality parts in there! Well, that's my opinion on that!

Anyways. What video card is right for you is a very hard question to answer. It depends on a number of factors.
#1 is how much do you want to spend. That's the biggie for most people. You can spend anywhere from $150-$400 bucks on a video card.

#2 What are the rest of the parts in your computer? It's pointless to buy an X1900XTX if you're running on a 2GHz Intel CPU or god fobid one of the "celeron duron" type processors. Do you have enough RAM? 1GB is minimum for a lot of games that are coming out now, and 2GB is MUCH better. You don't want a blazing fast Vid card, only to have a bottleneck elsewhere.

#3 kinda goes with #2, but what PSU is in your system. If you're going to go with anything current gen (X1 series from ATI and the 7XXX series from Nvidia) you're going to want at LEAST a 500W powersupply. And not just any dinky generic 500W PSU, but a solid reliable one. I've had a 550 that was CRAP before. W isn't everything, a solid name like Antec is a good buy.

#4 Finaly what resolution can your monitor handle? Most 19" LCDs are limited to 1280x1024. If this is the max resolution you're going to be playing at, then you can afford to step down a notch or two on the card. If you're going to be playing at or above 1600x1200 you might want to spend a little more.

Anyways, I went through all this misery 2 months ago, so I feel your pain. Picking any good parts for a computer is hard anymore! The parts change every week, and prices fluctuate daily. I'm glad it's over for me. :D

SSR
*edited to add* I'm going to have to agree with jimlintott. The last 2 machine's I've bought (about 3 years apart) I sprung for top of the line cards, and they aged VERY well. The cards before that were mid line, and aged very quickly.
 
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um SSR, I appreciate the advice, but no way am I buying parts and building my own PC, mostly because I'm lazy and/or it's "PITA" but also I won't save all that much anyway. Outta the box is fine. I just aint that hard-core.

Also wtf w/STARTING at $150......I'm talking $50 range, give or take, if that, and no way am I sniffing $100 or more. Pretty low end. Again I'm not a gamer so don't need much (and you'd be surprised how many games you can play with even a half-ass 64MB card- true somewhat older stuff, but that's fine by me if I get the bug).

So generally speaking an "nvidea" is best, dollar-for-dollar?

EDIT: now this is what I'm talkin 'bout: $30 after rebates, whoo hoooo

http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/EVGA...53130/catOid/-13011/rpem/ccd/productDetail.do


EDIT2: hmmmmm

http://www.compusa.com/products/pro...00105&search_redir=1&Ns=display_price|0#sort1
 
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unless you're playing first person shooters where you *NEED* a high, steady FPS, or you're really pushing your video by doing tons of complex photoshop/video editing stuff, you can get away with a cheap name brand card. in fact, you can probably get by just fine with the onboard video that your system will come with, so the question is, why are you looking to upgrade?
 
cuz I probably will want to do at least a little gaming once in awhile...but don't care about "cutting edge" or newer stuff. Be happy to play somewhat older stuff. Plus I don't think even newer PCs come w/more than what 16MB on board, if that?
 
Onboard graphics nowdays will grab as much RAM as they need. Often it's configurable in the BIOS to reserve System RAM for graphics as well.

As for your expectations, $50 will get you a budget card that's probably not a lot better than your onboard card. For a mid range card you probably want to look at something like the Nvidia 6600GT which comes in at $80-100 unless you look at the "open box" stuff (like these)
 
i'd test the system out first. install the games you want to play, and if the results are satisfactory, you can save your money. if any newer games ever require an upgrade in the future, you'll get more bang for you buck then, as the cards just keep getting better and better.

but yeah, there's a good chance your onboard will perform just fine for your needs, and there's a good chance it won't.
 
Space Invaders is the best computer game ever and you can run that on a 1980's chip shop arcade machine (10p a go).

Just get the normal graphics card that comes with the PC and play retro-games, they are better than the modern ones and you won't have to pay extra for the privilege.
 
hodgy said:
Space Invaders is the best computer game ever and you can run that on a 1980's chip shop arcade machine (10p a go).

Just get the normal graphics card that comes with the PC and play retro-games, they are better than the modern ones and you won't have to pay extra for the privilege.
Click to expand...

That's some of the most unusual advice I've ever heard.

Ooh, AND modern music is rubbish, get yourself a gramophone player and listen to Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree, that's much better than your new-fangled White Stripes.
 
Mongrel said:
Onboard graphics nowdays will grab as much RAM as they need. Often it's configurable in the BIOS to reserve System RAM for graphics as well.

As for your expectations, $50 will get you a budget card that's probably not a lot better than your onboard card. For a mid range card you probably want to look at something like the Nvidia 6600GT which comes in at $80-100 unless you look at the "open box" stuff (like these)
Click to expand...

6600GT is fine for me.
 
Well hell, if I'd known you wanted a POS card I could have shipped you one cheap! :P As for building you own machine, I think everyone should at some point to get a feel for it, and to better understand what exactly is in that box on your desk. It's not that big a PITA, but it does take a few hours.

MX400 are probably 4-5 years old, it's basicly a Gforce2, and I have had one of those in my garage for the last 5-6 years...

What games do you play anyways? I'm guessing you don't play any FPS, maybe Unreal Tournement (The original) Even games Like Civ4 (turn based strat) require fairly decent cards now-a-days. Give us a list of the games you plan on playing. :)

SSR
 
I have a feeling the old games ref. was taking a jab at me, but couldn't say (not that it's a big either way). :cool:

Think I'll buy a PC soon and see how it goes w/whatever comes with. But again I don't get the impresssion they come with more than something like 16MB VRAM in most cases - ? That won't cut it for even a number of older (not ancient) games.

And btw that's another thing that really peeves me is stores that sell systems seemed determined NOT to tell you anything about VRAM (ie what comes w/the system, no specs at all).
 
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