Graphic Card

[Byrug]

I'm try to change my graphic card for some time now. What do you guys think I should go for?? My cash limit is about 150 euros (about 200 $).
Will have more if I wait for Xmas, but then again the prices will be higher.

I has taking a Radeon 9600XT or GeForce 5700 under consideration but... can't make up my mind.

[Smacdevil]

For AO, I would get a nVIDIA based card.. just my own experience with the Radeon 9800 Pro that has left me quite disappointed. Others may not agree

[Freuty]

I would agree, look for nvidia, but also u wanna be looking for the newer generation of cards, the 6800's or 6600 if you have PCI-Express board...

Think there might _just_ be some 6800s available at the budget you're talking... just a case of hunting em down.

The 5xxx cards are still great, but the newer ones will last you longer

[BigSwede]

Why would the prices go up? Usually the prices drop between christmas and newyear, or atleast thats the case in Sweden.

If you want a 6800 card, be sure to check your computers power unit first. It needs to be able to deliver atleast 450 Watts to power the gc. If it doesn't ( and few does ) look for the Ati 800 card instead. very good gc with less hunger for power than the Nvidia card.

If youre going for a cheaper card, try to find a Ati 9800 with atleast 256Mb on it, or a Nvidia 5900/5950 with 256Mb. These are very good and are alot cheaper than the new generation cards.

Tip: if you experience lag in MMO's is to get more RAM for your computer tho. I have a 5950 with 256 in my computer and I experienced lag on it until I upped my memory . I had 512Mb and lag and have now 768 with alot less lag. Going for 1-1.5Gb RAM to reduce it further.
With MMO's the computer needs to cash alot of stuff and it usually makes the system swap memory to disk unless you have loads of RAM.

But I guess thats old news

[Freuty]

Good point that Big, I found EQ2 unplayable until I added another 512Mb to make 1Gb total... now runs smooth... and AO runs better than ever, altho it wasn't bad before... but I noticed the difference so more RAM = Less client lag

[Byrug]

Well, it seems that 5900/5950 cost more or less the same as the new 6600gt with for apg (don't have pci-e). I just might be alble to aford it, if I can find some US resident nice enought to buy it for me. Why you might ask? Well a Gainward GeForce fx 5900 in my country costs 950-1000 pln (~300$), at the same time the same card in US costs about 180-200$...
The same goes for the new 6600gt, us price : 210$, home land price 1200 pln (~375$). I'm not quite sure if there are any additional taxes but a standart mail package shuoldn't cost more then 20$.
Any one for from EU care to comment on price diffreces between US and europ?

[BigSwede]

5900XT 128Mb ca $280
6600 128Mb ca $326
6800LE 128Mb $297

Couldn't find 5900 or 6600 with 256mb at the site I was visiting..