Video Card Buying Guide

[blade_runner]

Here the price difference between the 9800pro and the 5900XT is 1k only with the former selling for 14.8k while 5900XT for 13.9k. So the price differrence is really less to justify buying a 5900XT unless one is a big fan of Nvidia, wot say ?

[odiN]

yup really good guide

[LordDaemon]

As of a couple of weeks ago, these were the quotations (approx) I got in Bangalore for a few popular cards.:
(MSI? Not sure...) FX 5200 128 Mb Rs. 2700
Gainward FX 5600 Ultra 256 Mb Rs.8000
Gainward FX 5700 256 Mb (second hand, with 1 yr warranty still to go) Rs.9500
Powercolor ATI 9800 Pro 256 mb Rs.12000

Oh, and the Powercolor had some wierd probs with a regular 400Watt SMPS with the display showing heavy noise. A server class 400Watt SMPS cured the problem.

[vinodv]

Powercolor ATI 9800 Pro 256 mb Rs.12000

Please tell me that was a 9600Pro. My faith in India's rather crappy hardware market will be shaken badly if you actually managed to get a 9800Pro (and that too a 256MB one) for 12k.

????
vv

[Aces170]

99 % it would either be SE version or with 128 bit memory bandwith

[LordDaemon]

And sorry 'bout the 12K. Last I check it was down to 10K (yesterday) for Powercolor 9800 Pro 256 Mb. Plus 1.5k for the server SMPS, or so my dealer tells me. Interested? Message me, I'd be happy to put you onto him.

[Chaos]

And sorry 'bout the 12K. Last I check it was down to 10K (yesterday) for Powercolor 9800 Pro 256 Mb. Plus 1.5k for the server SMPS, or so my dealer tells me. Interested? Message me, I'd be happy to put you onto him.

I'm 99.99% sure that its a 9800SE and not a 9800 Pro. I saw that card for 10.7K a few days back.

[LordDaemon]

Will check, anyways I put vinodv onto my dealer so I guess we'll have some solid info, but I clearly remember him saying it was a Pro.

[cngn]

Good guide sir, really helpful, I will refer to it in the near future when I buy my card, though I'm pretty sure it's gonna be an Nvidia

[jaggernaut]

ya really a terrific guide.
just one small clarification. is the geforce4 mx igp shipped with krypton and asus boards with nforce2 chipset same as the gf mx 440 mentioned in the guide.

if its same, integrating into the mobo makes any difference? makes it better or worse
and if its different then how does it compare with gf ti 4200?

[Aces170]

geforce 4 integrated in the nforce 2 IGP is actually very good better then most of the geforce 4mx availabe here.
Geforce 4 ti 4200 is a diff story altogether is much faster with Pixel and Vertex Shader support. Direct X 8.1 compliant.

[vinodv]

Will check, anyways I put vinodv onto my dealer so I guess we'll have some solid info, but I clearly remember him saying it was a Pro.

Here's the deal. Just called up that dealer. He has Powercolor 9600Pro at 10k. No 9600XT. The Radeon 9800Pro he has is called the PowerColor 9800Pro Platinum Edition. Costs 15k. The catch (and a nasty one) is.....

128-bit memory bus. Sigh!

A review of the card is here: http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=684
Their conclusions:
Pros:
+ Fast considering its 128-bit memory architecture
+ RAM heatsinks
+ Free multiplayer game
+ Considerably cheap

Cons:
- Underclocked memory
- Poor overclocking results

Still for 15k, you can get a 9800Pro regular (when they come in stock at Club3D )

[LordDaemon]

Sorry about the wrong prices! A friend of mine who went shopping told me the 9800 was 10k. Obviously he meant the 9600. Sorry about that!

[bf1983]

Check out this link. http://www.pcextreme-fr.com/index.ph...e/VolariV8.php

Ok so the page may be in french, but the look at the fps graphs. The XGI Volari is a bit faster or on par than both the Fx 5700 and the Radeon 9600, and it excels in both Open Gl as well as Dx 9 games. And best of all, it is cheaper than both.

[Aces170]

XGI actually sells the Volari cards... Last I knew they performed so poorly with terrible textures.
Better stick with Nvidia or ATI atleast the co. wont shutdown in near future, plus driver upgrades every month,