Recommended Game Card
 

I've narrowed it down to ATI and Geforce 4 series. Which one out weighs the other in terms of performance? I'm building two platforms.

For the next generation of DX9 games (Half-Life 2) the ATI is definitely faster. For the current generation of games both cards run neck to neck. Check out anandtech.com, arstechnica.com, etc.

Thanks Glen, will do.

Glenn summed it up well, I'd look at the ATI 9600pro. Seems to be the best price/performance option going.

www.newegg.com is a great place to buy online, not sure what the shipping to Europe would be or if they sell overseas though.

9600pro at Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...codevalue=4808

Careful though, the first one listed only has 200mHz DDR RAM on it (they call it the EZ version) which isn't to great the real 9600pro has 300mHz DDR RAM.

Cheers,
Huey

I have an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro and it's amazing. I highly recommend it if you're into gaming. I can run BF1942 with all the settings cranked and it runs like butter. I've got an Athlon 2500+ with 1GB of RAM.

Thanks guys. So Huey, there are two versions of the pro then? one is with the 200mhz and the other is 300mhz. Thanks. I'll get the 300mhz. Is there any real significant difference though? Would I be able to see it?This is for the 9600 pro right? ThenI might as well get the 9800pro.

Right, there are two versions of the 9600pro being offered by a company called PowerColor, one is the 'EZ' version running with the memory running at the slower 200mHz speed. I don't know if any other manufacturers are doing this, but it is something to watch out for since it does make a fair amount of difference.

The 9600Pro is around $160-175 at Newegg
The 9800Pro is around $300-350 at Newegg

If you have the money and want the best definitely go with the 9800Pro, I just graduated from college though and don't have a job yet (Cody's plans have been keeping me busy!) so if it were me I would go with the 9600Pro (I actually got a 9500Pro a few months ago that's been working nicely. It was the model before the 9600Pro)

Article from Anandtech on an early comparison of video cards with Halflife 2 (one of the first next gen games as Glenn put it) that shows how the 9600Pro compares with the 9800Pro:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1863

Cheers,
Huey

"(Cody's plans have been keeping me busy!)"

So, you bought his plans. Fantastic. Let me know how it turned out, then I will be wanting some pics too ;)

Thanks for the link too.

Is the ATI 9800 Pro compatible with Vegas?

I'm sure the ATI 9800Pro is compatible with Vegas, I've used the demo on my ATI 9500Pro without a problem. And you can hook up two monitors to the cards.

Charles: I was out playing with the rig a little bit ago, video taping my roomates throwing a frisby. Was getting a bit of side to side banking when turning though, guess I need to increase the drop time a bit, forgot to check it before practicing! Having fun learning though.

Cheers,
Huey

Yi Fong Yu : That article looks awesome. Thanks for the update.


"Charles: I was out playing with the rig a little bit ago, video taping my roomates throwing a frisby. Was getting a bit of side to side banking when turning though, guess I need to increase the drop time a bit, forgot to check it before practicing! Having fun learning though. "

Hey Brian, com'on over the the HBS forum so we can discuss the is
sue you're having with the stabilizer. Don't forget, pics my friend.

no prob. you should check that site @least once a day if you're a computer 'nut' like me =D. they awesome tech news (uptodate stuff) for your gaming pleasures. check out their main page too there's countless other reviews/comparisons (enough to last you your lifetime). if you click on the 'links' on the left hand side (navigation bar) you'll get a list of a community of websites i'm sure you'll NEVER have time to read through. most of them post a variable of the OCP site. some emphasize games some emphasize other stuff. sheck out http://www.bluesnews.com for the latest in nearly everything.