a suitable graphics card?

[leatherface1974]

Hi,

I am building a new pc in the next few weeks. I plan to use it mainly as a gaming system and I've been doing a lot of research on different graphics cards. One game I really want to try (even though I've heard bad things) is Star Wars Galaxies.

I've currently got my eye on about 3 different cards:

1)Asus V8420 Geforce Ti 4200
2)EVGA Geforce FX 5200
3)Sapphire Raedon 9600pro

If anyone here currently plays SW:G or any other "high end" games, could you offer some advise as to which of those cards would be suitable for serious gaming?

I appreciate it!

[Deagle]

If you want serious gaming, look into getting at least a Radeon 9700 Non-pro. If you can't then get that R9600Pro since its better than the other 2 in benchmark and in real life gaimng.
:p

[iisbob]

No# 1 if you can get it for less than ~$80, if not then no#3, stay away from the vanilla 5200's-if you want a 5200 get an Ultra, otherwise you're better off with a Geforce 2MX 400.

[saphalline]

I tend to agree with iisbob - it depends on the prices. If they're all reasonably priced (as per their performance) then your budget is the only limiting factor. The GF4 Ti 4200's are very cheap and very powerful - less than $100 for a video card that rivals the GF FX 5600 in most games.

Deagle has a good point with the Radeon 9700 non-Pro, that's a killer gaming card and pretty cheap these days since the 9800's came out. For a nice mid-range card, try to find a Radeon 9500 Pro. Scarce and in high demand, but it performs better than the 9600 Pro in almost all games - pick it up for $150 or less if you can.

I guess to a certain extent it also depends on how much you want to see in the Galaxies game. Minimum is a 32MB 3D card with hardware T&L, which means a regular GeForce 256 would fit the bill. But the website recommends a 64MB card with vertex & pixel shaders, which means GeForce3 or Radeon 8500 caliber (or higher depending on which pixel shader version they're talking about). Granted any of the video cards you listed would probably meet the recommended requirements, a more powerful card means more details and special effects can be enabled.

And for a true PC gamer, nothing but the best will do! :D Oh sure, you can go on and on about how you can't spend more than X amount of money because you're whining about your car payment or not having any food in the fridge, but a true PC gamer pays for upgrades first, then food and cars and other such external stuff. :p :rolleyes:

[squarenuts]

Also that online Star Wars game will depend alot on the type of internet connection you have. I hope you have a broadband connection of some type.

I have a Ti 4200 (128MB) ram running in this machine now. I got it a year ago when this was the card to have. Its a good card but with the ramping up of DX9, this aims to be the new water mark of your video card being either kickass or halfass. Its not the current powerhouse by can handle most current games.

I would stay away from the 5200 - 5800 video cards from nvidia. This was spruce goose of video cards. And I bet they both we're as loud too. LOL If you have the big bucks go for a 5900 or the ATI 9800. Thas will cover you for a while.

Last is the 9600 from Ati. This seem to be the card to have is you want something that is a middle of the road card. Also it seem to be the choice for overclockers. I did have access to a 9500 which was a big set up from the Ti 4200 that I did have. The main diffrence between the two is the 9500 has 8 pipelines vs 4 foe the 9600. But the 9600 is made by a smaller process that allows it to be overclocking friendly. Unlike the 9500 which didn't take to overclocking.

Overall it will depend on your budget. Also do you have a fast cpu and plenty of ram? These two other parts form a core triangle of your gaming power. All three side have to be somewhat balanced or you end up with something giving you it full performance.

[welshboy]

I am also in the market for a new graphics card and I have been diggin up just about every review/article I can find in the UK IT press to give me a better idea of what to replace my Radeon 9000Pro with.

Its interesting that saphalline mentioned the radeon8500 series cards. In actual fact my 9000Pro is a descendent of the R200 core that powered the 8500 and I would imagine you could pick one of them up for less than the cost of a Ti4200. It is SLIGHTLY less powerful than the nVidia card but the difference is not much. I have just bought Unreal II and it runs fine on my radeon, OK I have had to turn the quality settings down but it is still pretty impressive.

As for the newer cards IMO its turning into a bit of a minefield. In "ye olden days" it was fairly easy to identify which were the cards worth looking at but with so many manufacturers offering a multitude of different chipsets its difficult to know which are the ones worth considering.

If you have any intention of trying to play Doom III or Half-Life 2 DO NOT buy an older gfx card as they are only compatible with Microsofts Direct X 8.1 (e.g the rad9000, GF4 series card). The new GF Fx range and the radeon 9200/9600/9800 cards are all DX9 compatible and will cope with these games a hell of a lot better than the older stuff.

At the end of the day it comes down to what you can afford. If you can stretch yourself to the Sapphire 9600Pro (which I found for $170 on ebuyer.com) you might want to have a look at the FX5600 Ultra, the best of these being the Gainward Ultra/760XP "Golden Sample" which is overclocked straight out of the box and blows any 5600Ultra card out of the water. It is likely to be a little bit more expensive than the radeon but if you cant go any higher than $170 then the rad9600Pro is the one to get.

[leatherface1974]

After doing all of my homework, it looks like I'm going with the Radeon 9600Pro. BestBuy has a sale on them at the moment- somewhere around $160 after rebates. I'm building this rig from the ground up and I'm trying to keep the budget less than $700. I think I can do it... =)