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Video Card Recommendation?Follow

#1 Aug 04 2004 at 7:47 AM Rating: Decent
I've recently been looking into finally playing FFXI on my own rather than bumming off my boyfriend and his ps2. Needless to say, I have to upgrade a few things on my computer to be able to. I've done a bit of research(only 8 or so hours x_x;), and I have a small budget. Only around $130. I've narrowed it down to 2 or 2 graphics cards that rate DECENTLY on benchmark tests on other games such as UT2k3.

GeForce 4 TI 4600 256 MB (VisionTek: $100)
GeForce FX 5800 256 MB (Gainward: $129)
Radeon 9600 Pro 256 MB (Sapphire: $119)

I've heard multiple things, most of which say that Radeon works better with FFXI.. however, I'm much more used to NVidea drivers, and I believe they're most stable and less of a hassle to install(especially GForce 3 and 4 cards). But I'll sacrifice my GeForce faith if it means that FFXI will run well. ^-^

My computer specs are fairly decent, able to support all those cards.

Has anybody ever run these cards, or have knowledge about them?

Benchmark test I found: http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/vga-charts-03.html#unreal_tournament_2003
#2 Aug 04 2004 at 8:06 AM Rating: Decent
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862 posts
I myself run the Radeon 9600 Pro 256mb, and it works great for me. FFXI looked incredible. I would recommend checking pricewatch.com before you buy it though, $120 sounds like a bit more than I paid for it.

Never used Nvidia, but I have had 2 Radeons, and great experience with it.
#3 Aug 04 2004 at 8:41 AM Rating: Decent
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729 posts
Hold off for another $80 dollars and pickup a GeForceFX 5900XT 128MB graphics card at NewEgg. Trust me, its worth the extra money. Actually, just found out that the one I bought (Gigabyte GeForce FX 5900XT 128MB) is now $185 dollars at NewEgg. Your just one or two steps from the top, which is a good place to be for games like Doom3 and Half Life. My only problem is my motherboard and ram, as my motherboard only have a 4x AGP slot and not the 8x.
#4 Aug 04 2004 at 9:28 PM Rating: Decent
Actually, that is price watch. I'm just a little iffy about buying from brands that I don't know(specially Nvidea), so I just scroll until I find a manufactor I like. Its almost always still cheaper by $40-60 in store price.

So now I'ved knocked out the GeForce 4, merely because I've heard iffy things out their longevity.. Replacing a card every 6 months, not something I want to have to deal with...

Thanks for the feedback!
#5 Aug 05 2004 at 10:58 PM Rating: Decent
in my opinion i think AMD and Nvidia are "Generic" ive had my Radeon 7500 for over a year (yes its old and i need a new one just waiting for HL2 then i will buy the x800) and ive done some ok gaming with it and am glad nothing has gone wrong with it, so yea i would say ATi is a good brand of video cards
#6 Aug 06 2004 at 9:25 AM Rating: Good
I bit the bullet and bought the Radion 9800XT 256mb. This card totaly rocks! Nothing fazes this card. Its a little expensive was about $500 when I bought it, but its sooooooooooo worth it. It came with a voucher for Half Life 2 as well.
#7 Aug 06 2004 at 1:29 PM Rating: Decent
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480 posts
I've used both ATI and NVIDIA. Right now I'm using a Gainward GeForce 5900 FX 128BM Golden Sample and It's Fantastic. I've always been and Nvidia fan although I have fluctuated between the 2 companies products. I got Doom3 the other day and the first thing I did was set the Video Settings to Ultra Quality on 1600x1200 resolution and I was very Impressed. It was very playable at those settings but there although there was some loss of frame rates. I knew I wasnt going to be playing it at this setting so I obvioulsy set it to where it was the smoothest for me. Last night I was playing Doom3 and SWG in serperate windows with no Issue.

Like I said before, I've used both companies products and my heart is set towards Nvidia. ATI might seem to have an edge at times, but they take shortcuts in their Texture Filtering. That and I sometimes I think their Driver writers are probably on Crack.

If I were to shorten this post to just one think I would simply say this:

Go Gainward

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040603/ati_optimized-06.html
#8 Aug 06 2004 at 3:23 PM Rating: Decent
Short answer first ^_^:

ATI provides the better value for your particular purchase. Furthermore, for the generation of cards you listed, ATI dominates that architecture span to such an extent that I woudn't even consider the NVidia products.

I would recommend buying a card from http://www.newegg.com as they are competitive in price, and I haven't ever had a problem when ordering or returning a product from/to them.

Longer answer:

The concerns voiced by various posters (and yourself) concerning ATI drivers may have been relevant five years ago (I can personally attest to this), but not anymore (I can also personally attest to this).

Since their purchase of ArtX in 2000, ATI has arguably produced a superior GPU architecture the past few years. A simple examination of the process migrations (those little 130 nanometer numbers that everyone loves to quote even though they rarely know what the number actually means) shows that ATI has a more mature architecture at this point.

Consider that the three big next generation console manufacturers (Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft) will all be using ATI GPUs, perhaps the largest indictment of NVidia's current architecture.

I'm not going to get very technical here, as I don't think that's what you want. I don't like Tom's Hardware for a few reasons, so if you wanted to do some more research, I would suggest the following sites:

http://www.anandtech.com
http://www.arstechnica.com
http://www.sharkyextreme.com

Specifically, the system guides might give you some useful comparisons for your type of purchase.

If you want to get technical, then I would suggest you read some of the features on AnandTech, then when you're comfortable with those, steer yourself to the following site, which far and away is the best for in-depth technical articles on computer technology.

http://www.aceshardware.com

As to the poster who claimed ATI takes shortcuts in their texture filtering, I doubt very much he understands what texture filtering is in the first place. Second, I would caution you largely to ignore his comments, as not only are they incorrect, they are completely irrelevant to your intended purchase and use.

Finally, you'll be able to play FFXI quite happily with any of those cards. ^_^
#9 Aug 09 2004 at 8:14 PM Rating: Decent
Thank you, Ditiris for you very informantive post. ATI does have the edge on pricing vs. performance, but I had previously been led to think that there was a cost at finicky drivers. If what you say is true(and I believe so), then the drivers should not be any harder to deal with than the NVidea drivers. I will most definately look into my purchase with all your recommendations in mind. ^_^

And newegg.com is definately a good options, as is keeping an eye out for a massive reducation at Fry's Electronics that they occasionally do. My paycheck doesn't come till the 15th anyways... >.> so much to think about.
#10 Aug 10 2004 at 8:16 AM Rating: Decent
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729 posts
Right now, their driver problems have kept me away from ATI. Although, I love their cards, especially their AIW 9800 Pro. Great card for my multimedia machine! I figured that the NVidia card was good for now, that and the MSI 9800 Pro I wanted sold out at NewEgg. I still want to see what is happening with PCI-X before I go buy another video card. Especially, with the new LG775 chipset out. That and I want to see if they are going to do something better than their Pentium4 EE's. I would rather go after a socket 939 Athlon FX-53 than buy one of those expensive and worthless P4EE's.
#11 Aug 10 2004 at 9:06 AM Rating: Decent
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862 posts
Ok, let me give you an example of what my Radeon 9600 256mb can do.

I run Doom 3 on high quality with no slowdown, I run Far Cry on high quality with no slowdown, and I play UT2004 with no problems at all. Also, I play Star Wars:KOTOR and Call of Duty on high setting flawlessly.

Now, I always hate it when I ask computer advice from someone, and they give me an answer, but don't give me background on why they have the opinion that they have. For example, my vid cards works GREAT for me, but stick it in a 3-year old computer, and it will work like crap. So, just so you have all the info, here are my computer specs:

AMD Athlon XP+ 2600
1024mb of PC2700 DDR ram (premium)
Sapphire Radeon 9600 256mb
MSI K7N2-L motherboard

I built this PC for roughly $500, and it is awesome.

Tips for you:

1.Be sure to have a good anti-virus program installed and running at all times. I chose AVG, because it is a free program, and works great. (Google it to find the download.) Do a virus scan regularly.

2. Defrag your system at least once a month.

3. Run Disk Cleanup at least once a month.

4. Download Spybot and run it at least twice a month.

These PC maintenance tips have always kept my PC running at top speed. You have to treat your computer like a car. Maintenance improves its speed and health.
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