• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Nvidia OR ATI ?? Please Help

MitchMan31

New Member
Joined
Jun 8, 2007
Messages
86 (0.01/day)
Location
Hertfordshire, UK
Hi,

I'm about to do my first new build and was wondering which would be the best graphics card for me. My graphics budget is $200 and I will be playing games like COD, Rome Total War, COD 2, Wolfenstein etc... Please help

Thanks guys :roll:
 

Garb3

New Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2006
Messages
398 (0.06/day)
Location
Hartlepool, England
Processor AMD Athlon 5200+ x2 stock
Motherboard Abit KN9-S
Cooling zalman 9500 modded with 120mm fan + 3x120mm front, rear and side fans
Memory OCZ 5GB DDR2 PC2-6400 800MHz Gold GX XTC
Video Card(s) PowerColour Ati Radeon 3850 512Mb
Storage 220 gig
Display(s) LG Flatron L1730S
Case Termaltake VC2000 Mambo (Black)
Audio Device(s) Realtek AC 97 HD
Power Supply EYE-T POWER MAGNA 600W
Software Windows Vista 64bit
for $200 get an ati x1950 pro they a really good card but try and get 1 without the stock cooling and u will be fine :D
 

Sovereign

New Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2007
Messages
789 (0.13/day)
Location
Midwest USA
System Name "The Gateway Donation"
Processor Mobile AMD Turion 64 ML-34, 1975 MHz (9 x 218) (1MB L2)
Motherboard MSI K8N Neo3-FSR (3 PCI, 1 PCI-E x16, 1 AGR, 2 DDR DIMM)
Cooling Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 PRO + Various 80mm Case Fans
Memory 1024 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM, Hynix & Nanya Chips)
Video Card(s) MSI HD2600XT 256MB GDDR4 Diamond OC Edition PCI-E x16
Storage Maxtor 6E040L0 (40 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133)
Display(s) Princeton LCD1950 19" 8ms Digital LCD (1280x1024 @ 75Hz)
Case Gateway (2000) Beige P150 ATX MidTower Case
Audio Device(s) Aureal Vortex 2 SQ2500 "SuperQuad" Audio
Power Supply HEC Orion 500 watt ATX Power Supply
Software Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 w/ SP2
Benchmark Scores SuperPi 1M @ You don't even want to know! ;)
Hi,

I'm about to do my first new build and was wondering which would be the best graphics card for me. My graphics budget is $200 and I will be playing games like COD, Rome Total War, COD 2, Wolfenstein etc... Please help

Thanks guys :roll:

Most people are going to suggest the newer nVIDIA 8 series cards and normaly I would too but since it looks like you are going to be playing somewhat older games, you should be fine with anything in the X1900 series or Geforce 7800 - 7900 series.

If you do plan on playing next gen games that'll require DX10, then get yourself an 8800GTS or an HD2600XT when they become available. I did a froogle search and found a few places that sell 8800GTS video cards for right around $210 USD.
 

hat

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 20, 2006
Messages
21,731 (3.43/day)
Location
Ohio
System Name Starlifter :: Dragonfly
Processor i7 2600k 4.4GHz :: i5 10400
Motherboard ASUS P8P67 Pro :: ASUS Prime H570-Plus
Cooling Cryorig M9 :: Stock
Memory 4x4GB DDR3 2133 :: 2x8GB DDR4 2400
Video Card(s) PNY GTX1070 :: Integrated UHD 630
Storage Crucial MX500 1TB, 2x1TB Seagate RAID 0 :: Mushkin Enhanced 60GB SSD, 3x4TB Seagate HDD RAID5
Display(s) Onn 165hz 1080p :: Acer 1080p
Case Antec SOHO 1030B :: Old White Full Tower
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro - Bose Companion 2 Series III :: None
Power Supply FSP Hydro GE 550w :: EVGA Supernova 550
Software Windows 10 Pro - Plex Server on Dragonfly
Benchmark Scores >9000

HellasVagabond

New Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Messages
3,376 (0.54/day)
Location
Athens , GREECE
System Name SECONDARY RIG / PRIMARY RIG / THIRD RIG
Processor i920@3.6GHz / i920@4GHz / AMD Phenom II 955
Motherboard Gigabyte EX58-UD4P / Gigabyte EX58-UD7 / ASRock 890GX3
Cooling CoolIT Domino ALC / Thermalright Silver Arrow / Thermalright VenomousX
Memory 12GB DDR3 @ 1800MHZ / 6GB DDR3 @ 2250MHZ / 4GB DDR3 @ 1600MHZ
Video Card(s) XFX ATI RADEON 5970 / GAINWARD NVIDIA GTX 580 / 2xGEFORCE GTX295
Storage 1550GB / 6TB SAS - SSD / 160GB SSD
Display(s) NEC 26WUXi2 / NEC 3090WQXi / SONY 55A2000 (1080P 55inch)
Case COOLER MASTER HAF 932 / COOLER MASTER ATCS 840 / ANTEC DARKFLEET DF85
Audio Device(s) Soundblaster X-Fi Xtreme Music / SoundBlaster X-Fi Fatal1ty Pro / Realtek Onboard
Power Supply CWT 1200W / Enermax Revolution 85+ 1250W / Ikonik Vulcan 1200W
Software Windows 7 x64 / Windows 7 x64 / Windows 7 x64
8800GTS for 210$ is a nice deal...
 

Kammster

New Member
Joined
Nov 26, 2006
Messages
188 (0.03/day)
Location
Guyana, South America
Processor Sempron 64 2800+ DH-E6 (@2Ghz - bios limit)
Motherboard DFI NF3 250-AL (@250 FSB - 2000 HTT)
Cooling 92mm + 80mm Exhausts / Amd HSF mod:80mm fan + VF700 cuLED [mod to x800 fan control]
Memory 1GB Buffalo DDR 400 @416 3-4-4-8 1T
Video Card(s) Sapphire X800 GTO (broken- sapphire is BAD)--256mb 6200
Storage WD 120 GB Caviar SE + 1GB Flash [80GB 7200.9 offline]
Display(s) 19" Samsung Widesceen LCD
Case Xtech cheapo
Audio Device(s) onboard - Realtek 6Ch
Power Supply Coolermaster eXtreme Power 550W w/ Antec 120mmLED
Software Windows XP SP2 + nforce 76.45 + nforce 5.10
Joined
May 30, 2007
Messages
9,019 (1.47/day)
System Name Black Panther
Processor i9 9900k
Motherboard Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO Wifi 1.0
Cooling NZXT Kraken X72 360mm
Memory 2 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4 3600Mhz
Video Card(s) Palit RTX2080 Ti Dual 11GB DDR6
Storage Samsung EVO 970 500GB SSD M.2 & 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm
Display(s) 32'' Gigabyte G32QC 2560x1440 165Hz
Case NZXT H710i Black
Audio Device(s) Razer Electra V2 & Z5500 Speakers
Power Supply Seasonic Focus GX-850 Gold 80+
Mouse Some Corsair lost the box forgot the model
Keyboard Motospeed
Software Windows 10

TooFast

New Member
Joined
Sep 11, 2005
Messages
391 (0.06/day)
Location
montreal quebec
System Name OVERKILL
Processor INTEL I7 965@ 3.6
Motherboard ASUS RAMPAGE 2
Cooling STOCK
Memory 6GB DDR3 1333
Video Card(s) ATI HD 5970
Storage 4X 60GB SSD RAID 0
Display(s) 30 INCH DELL
Case ANTEC 1200
Audio Device(s) XFI-PCI-E
Power Supply CORSAIR 1000WATT
Software WIN 7
Benchmark Scores netcore.24 COD4 server 76.65.250.134:28960
ati all the way
 

JrRacinFan

Served 5k and counting ...
Joined
Mar 17, 2007
Messages
20,073 (3.23/day)
Location
Youngstown, OH
System Name Dual Build Streamer
Processor Ryzen 7900x3d : Ryzen 4600G
Motherboard AsRock B650E Steel Legend : Giga B450i Aorus
Cooling Custom Water 1x420 : Stock
Memory 32GB T-Force Deltas : 16GB Dominator Platinums
Video Card(s) PowerColor 7900 XTX Liquid Devil: iGPU
Storage 20+ TB
Display(s) Sammy 49" 5k Ultrawide
Case Custom White Painted Phanteks Enthoo Pro 2
Audio Device(s) Onboard : Onboard
Power Supply EVGA 1200W P2
Mouse Corsair M65 RGB Elite White
Keyboard Hyperx Origins 65
Software Windows 10
Mitchman, what are you thinking of pairing with that vid card you have planned?
 

HellasVagabond

New Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Messages
3,376 (0.54/day)
Location
Athens , GREECE
System Name SECONDARY RIG / PRIMARY RIG / THIRD RIG
Processor i920@3.6GHz / i920@4GHz / AMD Phenom II 955
Motherboard Gigabyte EX58-UD4P / Gigabyte EX58-UD7 / ASRock 890GX3
Cooling CoolIT Domino ALC / Thermalright Silver Arrow / Thermalright VenomousX
Memory 12GB DDR3 @ 1800MHZ / 6GB DDR3 @ 2250MHZ / 4GB DDR3 @ 1600MHZ
Video Card(s) XFX ATI RADEON 5970 / GAINWARD NVIDIA GTX 580 / 2xGEFORCE GTX295
Storage 1550GB / 6TB SAS - SSD / 160GB SSD
Display(s) NEC 26WUXi2 / NEC 3090WQXi / SONY 55A2000 (1080P 55inch)
Case COOLER MASTER HAF 932 / COOLER MASTER ATCS 840 / ANTEC DARKFLEET DF85
Audio Device(s) Soundblaster X-Fi Xtreme Music / SoundBlaster X-Fi Fatal1ty Pro / Realtek Onboard
Power Supply CWT 1200W / Enermax Revolution 85+ 1250W / Ikonik Vulcan 1200W
Software Windows 7 x64 / Windows 7 x64 / Windows 7 x64
Joined
Sep 26, 2006
Messages
6,959 (1.09/day)
Location
Australia, Sydney
simply put it this way the only cards worth purchasing are (From slowest to fastest).

-X1650PRO/X1600XT (overclocked models)
-X1650XT/7600GT
-7900GS/X1950PRO
-8800GTS 320
-HD2900XT/8800GTS 640
-8800GTX.

Yep...

In this case I would save up $10 more and get an 8800GTS 320MB
 

hat

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 20, 2006
Messages
21,731 (3.43/day)
Location
Ohio
System Name Starlifter :: Dragonfly
Processor i7 2600k 4.4GHz :: i5 10400
Motherboard ASUS P8P67 Pro :: ASUS Prime H570-Plus
Cooling Cryorig M9 :: Stock
Memory 4x4GB DDR3 2133 :: 2x8GB DDR4 2400
Video Card(s) PNY GTX1070 :: Integrated UHD 630
Storage Crucial MX500 1TB, 2x1TB Seagate RAID 0 :: Mushkin Enhanced 60GB SSD, 3x4TB Seagate HDD RAID5
Display(s) Onn 165hz 1080p :: Acer 1080p
Case Antec SOHO 1030B :: Old White Full Tower
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro - Bose Companion 2 Series III :: None
Power Supply FSP Hydro GE 550w :: EVGA Supernova 550
Software Windows 10 Pro - Plex Server on Dragonfly
Benchmark Scores >9000
Joined
Jul 19, 2006
Messages
43,585 (6.74/day)
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard ASUS TUF x670e
Cooling EK AIO 360. Phantek T30 fans.
Memory 32GB G.Skill 6000Mhz
Video Card(s) Asus RTX 4090
Storage WD m.2
Display(s) LG C2 Evo OLED 42"
Case Lian Li PC 011 Dynamic Evo
Audio Device(s) Topping E70 DAC, SMSL SP200 Headphone Amp.
Power Supply FSP Hydro Ti PRO 1000W
Mouse Razer Basilisk V3 Pro
Keyboard Tester84
Software Windows 11
If you want a card that's going to be able to tear through DX10 games, forget it! Stick with DX9 at least untill full DX10 games come out.... and I'm talkin about Crysis. I'm afraid many of us Dx10 card holders no matter the name of the company or the model number that are adorned upon our cards will be able to run such games at "respectable" framerates. For me, once Crysis is released and is bench'd I will look over the results and go from there. Hopefully both companies will have some sweet high perf. low power cards able to run this stuff.
 
Joined
Jul 19, 2006
Messages
43,585 (6.74/day)
Processor AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D
Motherboard ASUS TUF x670e
Cooling EK AIO 360. Phantek T30 fans.
Memory 32GB G.Skill 6000Mhz
Video Card(s) Asus RTX 4090
Storage WD m.2
Display(s) LG C2 Evo OLED 42"
Case Lian Li PC 011 Dynamic Evo
Audio Device(s) Topping E70 DAC, SMSL SP200 Headphone Amp.
Power Supply FSP Hydro Ti PRO 1000W
Mouse Razer Basilisk V3 Pro
Keyboard Tester84
Software Windows 11
8600's and 2600's are going to be useless DX10 cards.
 

JC316

Knows what makes you tick
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Messages
9,397 (1.42/day)
System Name Budget Gaming
Processor AMD FX6300
Motherboard Gigabyte 880GMA-USB3
Cooling Coolermaster Hyper 212+
Memory 8GB Ripjaws DDR3 1600
Video Card(s) HD7850 1GB
Storage 1TB Sata2
Display(s) Acer 24" LED
Case Generic black
Audio Device(s) Stock onboard
Power Supply FSP Aurum Gold 650W
Software Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
8600's and 2600's are going to be useless DX10 cards.

I wouldn't be so quick to put them down. I think the 8600 and 2600 are going to do at least medium-medium high on DX10 games at lower resolutions.

I am perfectly happy with my 8600GTS right now.

EDIT:

BTW, those $210 8800GTS are euros and the $230 one is an 8600GTS. Cheapest one is $261
 
Joined
Sep 26, 2006
Messages
6,959 (1.09/day)
Location
Australia, Sydney
I wouldn't be so quick to put them down. I think the 8600 and 2600 are going to do at least medium-medium high on DX10 games at lower resolutions.

I am perfectly happy with my 8600GTS right now.

EDIT:

BTW, those $210 8800GTS are euros and the $230 one is an 8600GTS. Cheapest one is $261

8600GT = lemon, 8600GTS = good, easy to overclock

If you plan on getting a 8600GTS, know this:

THE MEMORY CLOCKS MAKE THE CARD POWERFUL

Yeah... the more u overclock the memory the better, but the core is also important.
 

hat

Enthusiast
Joined
Nov 20, 2006
Messages
21,731 (3.43/day)
Location
Ohio
System Name Starlifter :: Dragonfly
Processor i7 2600k 4.4GHz :: i5 10400
Motherboard ASUS P8P67 Pro :: ASUS Prime H570-Plus
Cooling Cryorig M9 :: Stock
Memory 4x4GB DDR3 2133 :: 2x8GB DDR4 2400
Video Card(s) PNY GTX1070 :: Integrated UHD 630
Storage Crucial MX500 1TB, 2x1TB Seagate RAID 0 :: Mushkin Enhanced 60GB SSD, 3x4TB Seagate HDD RAID5
Display(s) Onn 165hz 1080p :: Acer 1080p
Case Antec SOHO 1030B :: Old White Full Tower
Audio Device(s) Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pro - Bose Companion 2 Series III :: None
Power Supply FSP Hydro GE 550w :: EVGA Supernova 550
Software Windows 10 Pro - Plex Server on Dragonfly
Benchmark Scores >9000

HellasVagabond

New Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Messages
3,376 (0.54/day)
Location
Athens , GREECE
System Name SECONDARY RIG / PRIMARY RIG / THIRD RIG
Processor i920@3.6GHz / i920@4GHz / AMD Phenom II 955
Motherboard Gigabyte EX58-UD4P / Gigabyte EX58-UD7 / ASRock 890GX3
Cooling CoolIT Domino ALC / Thermalright Silver Arrow / Thermalright VenomousX
Memory 12GB DDR3 @ 1800MHZ / 6GB DDR3 @ 2250MHZ / 4GB DDR3 @ 1600MHZ
Video Card(s) XFX ATI RADEON 5970 / GAINWARD NVIDIA GTX 580 / 2xGEFORCE GTX295
Storage 1550GB / 6TB SAS - SSD / 160GB SSD
Display(s) NEC 26WUXi2 / NEC 3090WQXi / SONY 55A2000 (1080P 55inch)
Case COOLER MASTER HAF 932 / COOLER MASTER ATCS 840 / ANTEC DARKFLEET DF85
Audio Device(s) Soundblaster X-Fi Xtreme Music / SoundBlaster X-Fi Fatal1ty Pro / Realtek Onboard
Power Supply CWT 1200W / Enermax Revolution 85+ 1250W / Ikonik Vulcan 1200W
Software Windows 7 x64 / Windows 7 x64 / Windows 7 x64
All of them are reference designs.......Whatever he gets he can OC to the same levels.
 
Joined
Apr 8, 2006
Messages
714 (0.11/day)
System Name Xbox 360 Super Elite
Processor 3.2GHz PowerPC Tri-Core Xenon
Memory 512MB 700MHz GDDR3 RAM
Video Card(s) ATI Xenos @ 500 MHz
Storage 250GB
Display(s) 26" Samsung LCD HDTV
Case Super Elite (COD:MW2 Edition)
Audio Device(s) 5.1
Power Supply 120w
Software NXE
the last three cards i've had have been

6800GS
X800PRO
X1950PRO

ATi for image quality every time.
 

HellasVagabond

New Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Messages
3,376 (0.54/day)
Location
Athens , GREECE
System Name SECONDARY RIG / PRIMARY RIG / THIRD RIG
Processor i920@3.6GHz / i920@4GHz / AMD Phenom II 955
Motherboard Gigabyte EX58-UD4P / Gigabyte EX58-UD7 / ASRock 890GX3
Cooling CoolIT Domino ALC / Thermalright Silver Arrow / Thermalright VenomousX
Memory 12GB DDR3 @ 1800MHZ / 6GB DDR3 @ 2250MHZ / 4GB DDR3 @ 1600MHZ
Video Card(s) XFX ATI RADEON 5970 / GAINWARD NVIDIA GTX 580 / 2xGEFORCE GTX295
Storage 1550GB / 6TB SAS - SSD / 160GB SSD
Display(s) NEC 26WUXi2 / NEC 3090WQXi / SONY 55A2000 (1080P 55inch)
Case COOLER MASTER HAF 932 / COOLER MASTER ATCS 840 / ANTEC DARKFLEET DF85
Audio Device(s) Soundblaster X-Fi Xtreme Music / SoundBlaster X-Fi Fatal1ty Pro / Realtek Onboard
Power Supply CWT 1200W / Enermax Revolution 85+ 1250W / Ikonik Vulcan 1200W
Software Windows 7 x64 / Windows 7 x64 / Windows 7 x64
Actually the 8800 has better image quality even from the X19XX series of ATi...Now with the new X2900XT i dont know but i dont think the difference can be noticed.
 

Sovereign

New Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2007
Messages
789 (0.13/day)
Location
Midwest USA
System Name "The Gateway Donation"
Processor Mobile AMD Turion 64 ML-34, 1975 MHz (9 x 218) (1MB L2)
Motherboard MSI K8N Neo3-FSR (3 PCI, 1 PCI-E x16, 1 AGR, 2 DDR DIMM)
Cooling Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 PRO + Various 80mm Case Fans
Memory 1024 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM, Hynix & Nanya Chips)
Video Card(s) MSI HD2600XT 256MB GDDR4 Diamond OC Edition PCI-E x16
Storage Maxtor 6E040L0 (40 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133)
Display(s) Princeton LCD1950 19" 8ms Digital LCD (1280x1024 @ 75Hz)
Case Gateway (2000) Beige P150 ATX MidTower Case
Audio Device(s) Aureal Vortex 2 SQ2500 "SuperQuad" Audio
Power Supply HEC Orion 500 watt ATX Power Supply
Software Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 w/ SP2
Benchmark Scores SuperPi 1M @ You don't even want to know! ;)
facts are facts 8800GTS has better image quality...

Compared to... ? I highly doubt we're talking about anything in the HD 2000 series because I would seriously doubt this. You can probably throw in the FireGL series as well, for s**ts and giggles.
 

HellasVagabond

New Member
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Messages
3,376 (0.54/day)
Location
Athens , GREECE
System Name SECONDARY RIG / PRIMARY RIG / THIRD RIG
Processor i920@3.6GHz / i920@4GHz / AMD Phenom II 955
Motherboard Gigabyte EX58-UD4P / Gigabyte EX58-UD7 / ASRock 890GX3
Cooling CoolIT Domino ALC / Thermalright Silver Arrow / Thermalright VenomousX
Memory 12GB DDR3 @ 1800MHZ / 6GB DDR3 @ 2250MHZ / 4GB DDR3 @ 1600MHZ
Video Card(s) XFX ATI RADEON 5970 / GAINWARD NVIDIA GTX 580 / 2xGEFORCE GTX295
Storage 1550GB / 6TB SAS - SSD / 160GB SSD
Display(s) NEC 26WUXi2 / NEC 3090WQXi / SONY 55A2000 (1080P 55inch)
Case COOLER MASTER HAF 932 / COOLER MASTER ATCS 840 / ANTEC DARKFLEET DF85
Audio Device(s) Soundblaster X-Fi Xtreme Music / SoundBlaster X-Fi Fatal1ty Pro / Realtek Onboard
Power Supply CWT 1200W / Enermax Revolution 85+ 1250W / Ikonik Vulcan 1200W
Software Windows 7 x64 / Windows 7 x64 / Windows 7 x64
The new X2XXX series DO have a IQ problem due to some AA settings.......
But i dont think we can expect differences in IQ between the 8800 series and the X2XXX Series...
 

WarEagleAU

Bird of Prey
Joined
Jul 9, 2006
Messages
10,812 (1.67/day)
Location
Gurley, AL
System Name Pandemic 2020
Processor AMD Ryzen 5 "Gen 2" 2600X
Motherboard AsRock X470 Killer Promontory
Cooling CoolerMaster 240 RGB Master Cooler (Newegg Eggxpert)
Memory 32 GB Geil EVO Portenza DDR4 3200 MHz
Video Card(s) ASUS Radeon RX 580 DirectX 12 DUAL-RX580-O8G 8GB 256-Bit GDDR5 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video C
Storage WD 250 M.2, Corsair P500 M.2, OCZ Trion 500, WD Black 1TB, Assorted others.
Display(s) ASUS MG24UQ Gaming Monitor - 23.6" 4K UHD (3840x2160) , IPS, Adaptive Sync, DisplayWidget
Case Fractal Define R6 C
Audio Device(s) Realtek 5.1 Onboard
Power Supply Corsair RMX 850 Platinum PSU (Newegg Eggxpert)
Mouse Razer Death Adder
Keyboard Corsair K95 Mechanical & Corsair K65 Wired, Wireless, Bluetooth)
Software Windows 10 Pro x64
that 8800 card that was referenced for $235 USD is in fact, an 8600 GTS.
 
Top