The Short List: the Best Gaming Videocards for the money - Page 17

8800 GT for a sub 200 dollar card

I dissagree with that the 8600GTS is a good buy.I think that 3650 should be on that list too.And 3850 is better ,,bang for buck,, in DDR3 256MB mode.

Hey question for cleeve,Heh looked at your sig and simular vid cards. I just pulled the trigger on a Zotac 8800 gtx for $209. already have a 2900 pro also.At that price couldnt resist for my quad core build. whats your opinion?
http://fxvideocards.com/ZOTAC-ZT-8 [...] 16277.html

Thanks cleeve,by the way your doing a great job here.well respected in many forums.Along with G.G.A.
Yeah the funny thing is I have with ATI since the glory days of the 9800 pro.AHH what have I done?!Heh.

1. SLI doesn't fuinctionally have twice as much memory, because each GPU uses half of it.

2. A 9800 GTX is a mite faster than an 8800 GTS 512MB, which is much, much cheaper. The 8800 GT 512MB is also almost as fast, also for much cheaper.

Basically, if you're playing at 1920x1200 or above, get the SLI setup. If you're playing below 1920x1200, a single 8800 GT or 8800 GTS is great. The 9800 GTX is a waste of money, for the most part.

I was looking at the same thing, sub 200 card that will perform well. When the 8-series from nVidia was first coming out I snatched up an 8600GTS. Now, I'm not getting the performance I want out of it.

I was looking at two different cards, as I can't find a sub 200 8800GTS (btw, as far as preference goes I'd like to stick with nVidia, I've been having better luck with than as opposed to ATI/AMD)

Here's what I've found that's peaked my interest in short time I spent perusing on newegg.com

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121233

Or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150280

I keep wanting to give ATI another chance, any thoughts? Mind you, I'm not playing on super high resolutions which is why I'm not saving up for a much nicer card.

EDIT:
Sorry if this is the wrong place, but all in all I'm just looking for the best sub-200 dollar card. I would assume an 8800GTS if you can find one but I can't find one on newegg? Maybe my searching skills suck...

The 2600 PRO will always kill the X1650 PRO.

What article are you talking about? Nobody would write an article saying the X1650 PRO is better than a 2600 PRO.

22" LCDs would cap out at 1650x1080 or so. Any of those cards would work fine, the more expensive you go the more AA you can add though.

I'm sorry if this was mentioned already... but I disagree on the ~$100 PCIe.

Both the 9600GSO and the 8800GS would be substantially more powerful than a 8600GT... both should perform similarly to a 8800GTS 320MB, which is easily more powerful than the 8600GT. The 8800GS is down to $89 after rebate on newegg, and the weird 9600GSO is just over $100 (I have a topic asking if there is any difference between these 2, all signs point to no)...

So, if this was stickied, I'd recommend changing the card for the 100 dollar price point to a 8800GS 384MB, probably linking to the eVGA model on newegg, since it uses superior RAM compared to the XFX models.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130332

Just a suggestion, if someone hasn't already said this.

They released a low profile 8600GT for PCI-Express.

You have a PCI-e and AGP category, can you please add a low profile PCI-e category?

Low profile is an expanding market, I'd certain like to see tom's hardware supporting it.

I'm guessing it would look like:

$40~ - TIE
8400GS
HD3450

$80~
8600GT GDDR2

$160~
2x 8600GT in SLI (maybe not... the low profile SLI 8600 GT on Newegg have no SLI bridge)

You know?

it seems like the (ATI-based) price went down quite a bit in stores in Israel and Moscow..

Ever thought about updating or removing the links to the page\hierarchy? They're both broke.

Otherwise, thanks for the updating

can u tell me difference between AGP & PCIe graphic cards??

i have Abit IP-35 E Pro MotherBoard with Intel C2D E6600 Procrssor with 2GB RAM Can u tell me which Graphic Card will be best for me my Budget is 100~125$.

Technically, at the quaint 1024x768 x4 AA that I usually stick to, I should be able to get playable framerates on "low" graphics settings with my X800XT AGP. Of course, with my weak-end single-core Athlon64 CPU... I ain't even gonna bother tryin'. I'd cry too hard. I'll wait until my next build, hopefully later this year with something more like an E8400.

Also, my personal opinion is that I'm a tad bit jealous of your "luck."

Pretty much any Intel motherboard that uses LGA 775 is PCI-express. That means anything that can support a Core2, as well as a Pentium D, a Cedar Mill 65nm, and MOST Prescott 90nm cores, if memory serves... Intel, being a chief proponent and developer of PCI-express, was very quick to adopt it across the board around later 2003 or so.

If you checked the LIST of the "best gaming videocards for the money," then you'd find out that they're approximately $125US apiece. Or you can go to NewEgg and check the price for yourself, and find that they are actually even cheaper than that now. (GeForce 9600GSO, Radeon HD 3850) Given the price disparity, even WITHOUT that mail-in-rebate, the 9600GSO's cheaper, so I'd recommend that.

Both cards are the same in performance; that's why they were both listed as a tie in the same price category. Though due to a much lower price, the 9600 GSO would pull ahead. The fact that it has only 384MB doesn't really matter all that much; unless you're going for high resolutions or a few games where you can crank the texture detail really high, (Crysis, or heavily modded Oblivion) even 256MB would be enough for most circumstances.

As for the under-$100US segment... Again, the list has that, and a check of NewEgg shows that the Radeon HD 2600XT is $67US, and that the GeForce 8600GT GDDR3 is $76US. In this case, they are equal in performance, so the 2600XT should be a better buy due to the lower price. Of course, these prices might not be in the same overe where you are... It's just that being an American, my experience really only extends to shopping in the USA. (and a little bit in Australia and Europe)

Thx buddy for helping me.
Also can u tell me What is Better 512MB DDR2 or 256MB DDR3??

You will DEFINITELY want the GDDR3 version instead of the DDR2 version. It will be a LOT faster. While you'd get more total memory with the DDR2 version, the memory will really be too slow for you to take advantage of it in just about any game; as you have more RAM being used, you're going to have more need to read/write from it, and hence you need more bandwidth.

the best bang for the buck card goes to the HD4850.incrediblly higher 8800gtx class performance at a fraction of its cost.on sale at 199,if you find anywhere cheaper,do let us know......

Hi, iam new to this site and was looking at upgrading my computer. I am now on the graphic portion of the upgrade. Can someone please tell me if this is a good buy for the newest games I want to play "Frontlines, Bad company, and many other first person shooter games. I have found this card on newegg, its the EVGA geforce 8800 gts . SPECS OF FALLOWS

Interface = PCI express x16
GPU = Geforce 8800Gts
Core clock = 576Mhz
Memory Clock = 1800 Mhz
Memory Size = 640Mb
Memory Interface = 320 -bit
Memory Type = GDDR3
DirectX = DirectX 10

Those are the main specs of the card, This card is currently going for 199.00 with a 30$ mail in rebate.

Would this be a good buy for all the latest and upcoming games??

Thank you for the fast response. I love forums .. Although I do have a couple of questions, If the GT 512 is better than the GTS 640MB, why does the GTS 640MB beat out the GT 512MB in memory interface and memory size?? Thats one thing I dont quite understand, the GT 512 is running mem interface at 256-bit and memory size is at 512mb, while the GTS 640MB is running at 320-bit and memory size at 640mb.. Sorry if i sound a bit confusing but I was wondering if someone could clear that up for me?

http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce_8800.html

8800GTS 640:
Stream Processors:96
Core Clock (MHz):500
Shader Clock (MHz):1200
Memory Clock (MHz):800
Memory Amount:640
Memory Interface:320bit
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec):64
Texture Fill Rate (billion/sec):24

8800GT 512:
Stream Processors:128
Core Clock (MHz):650
Shader Clock (MHz):1650
Memory Clock (MHz):1000
Memory Amount:512
Memory Interface:256bit
Memory Bandwidth (GB/sec):64
Texture Fill Rate (billion/sec):41.6

As u see the 8800GT has more Stream Processors(which is very important),More Core clock,shader clock,texture fill rate

As i said the diffrence isnt much but when its better why not buy it ? or as i said consider ATI HD 4850 too, its better than both and has a good price

yes but remember for ATI and NVIDIA the stream processors architecture is different

All of those are fine for 1024x1280 but the HD 4850 is the best between those