KABOOM! Time for a new vid card...

[Sllik]

...so I'm soliciting recommendations. Based on all my past experiences and interest in different OS platforms at times, I'm almost certain to stick with Nvidia. But I thought I would gather recommendations from this austere group of gamers on which model/config you prefer/promote. I'm intending to stay in the $150-200 price range if at all possible.

[Isaac]

Check prices on nvidia 8800 gts.

[Krom]

Check prices on nvidia 8800 gts.

Don't, they have pretty much quit selling them online since the entire highend 8000 series was cannibalized by the 9000 series.

$150 will get you a GTX 260 core 216 part pretty easily, and $200 will net you a few hits on GTX 275 parts.

Other that that, the only real difference between most brands is the warranty and service, 99% of the cards out there are manufactured by nVidia following the optimal reference design.

[Sirius]

Either the 260 or 275 are good picks if they're in the price range, yes. Anything else pretty much need not apply any more.

If you had any inclination to consider the ATI side of the fence, the 4870 and 4890 might be in that price range, and both are very good cards as well.

[Admiral LSD]

heh, I didn't want to be the one that brought ATi up but since you opened the door ATi still have some of the best value options out there. Particularly now the 4890 has moved the 4870 down to where the 4850 was a few months ago. If your heart is set on nVidia though then something like the 275 is probably the way to go.

[Gekko71]

It may be outside youre price range (not sure of the $US cost sorry) but I swear by my Nvida GTX 295 - yet to find anything that it can't handle. If your budget will stretch that far, I strongly recommend them.

[Valin Halcyon]

I'd highly recommend jumping off the Nvidia bandwagon and going for the Radeon HD 4800 series, minimum. You can get a 4850 1GB card for $150 or so.

The drivers these days are lighter than Nvidia's, and the cards perform a fair bit better for the price, not to mention use less power, and thus generate less heat.

[Krom]

Nobody will deny the Raedon 4800 series is a darn impressive lot and as far as the hardware goes I would even say they are indeed a better buy than competing Nvidia parts. But Nvidia drivers on pretty much every OS are still more polished and stable according to the very reliable hardware sites I read.

[Grendel]

I'd highly recommend jumping off the Nvidia bandwagon and going for the Radeon HD 4800 series, minimum. You can get a 4850 1GB card for $150 or so.

I would recommend an ATI card only over my dead body nVidia has the better OpenGL drivers and better power management. (It really boils down to your personal preferences in the end tho.)

The drivers these days are lighter than Nvidia's, and the cards perform a fair bit better for the price

Nah, that got pretty much equalized.

not to mention use less power, and thus generate less heat.

Actually 48xx ATI cards do use a wee bit less power but interestingly manage to generate more heat than equivalent nVidia cards (ref. Dig around on that site for some more good info).

[Duper]

imho, if you can swing it, a 9800GTX+ or a GTX 260 (or higher) The 260 starts to step away from what the 9800GTX+ can do and for about the same moneys.

I've been out of the ATI loop for too long. I do know they whole driver thing stablized a number of years back. I ran into a guy at Fry's a couple of days ago that was shelf shopping for a card and all he had to say was that ATI's drivers are crap .. I was thinking.. dude, where you been the last 5 years? Anyways...

Hit a few sites add see what some of these cards can to and how they stack up on each other. Do the research. ... trust me on this one.

As far as companies go, XFX or EVGA have OUTSTANDING customer service. BGF is getting too pricey. Sapphire I'm not familiar with bt I have a friend that has had good luck... *shrug*

[Admiral LSD]

Actually 48xx ATI cards do use a wee bit less power but interestingly manage to generate more heat than equivalent nVidia cards (ref. Dig around on that site for some more good info).

One of the reasons for this, particularly on the 4850, is some of the coolers ATi used on their reference designs were inadequate for the task (I think the one of the reference 4850 dates back to the X1900, possibly earlier) resulting in the cards running hotter and louder than they should be. It's the second major reason I went for a non-reference 4850, the first being I needed something that would fit neatly in my case without major reorganisation (there's a picture of it in the PCs thread).

[Insurrectionist]

I recently bought a XFX GTX 260 core 216. I got Call of Duty World at War and Far Cry 2. It runs really well for a mid priced card. I can play all my games at the highest settings no problem. You can not go wrong with this card.

At NewEgg they are giving a Free Terminator Salvation & COD game w/ purchase, ends 7/31 (I found Farcry in the box with the card.)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814150329