Video card question

[vulturesrow]

Ok my plan is to go somewhere like Best Buy and get a computer (desktop) on the cheap and then do some piece by piece upgrades using stuff that I have already or buying certain components. My biggest concern is video cards. How much am I losing if I got with say a Raedon 9600 vs. a Raedon X800. There is a big price gap. However if the X800 is that much better, I will spend the extra money.

Thanks.

[nolanfan34]

Do you play games? If yes, then the video card may be worth spending more money on. If no, then just make sure you buy one that can handle dual monitors if you plan to do that.

I think I have the 9600, if I remember correctly, and it works fine for the gaming I do. Works well for GTA3, which I'm finally getting around to playing!

[vulturesrow]

Shouldve mentioned the obvious. Yes on the video games. Just trying to figure out if the X800 is so far ahead that its worth the extra dough.

[ThaSaltCracka]

I expect some good recomendations from Wacki, otherwise I will vote for Nader tomorrow Wacki!

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
I expect some good recomendations from Wacki, otherwise I will vote for Nader tomorrow Wacki!

[/ QUOTE ]

Aren't you voting for Kerry anyway?

[wacki]

Vulturesrow,

The BFG 6800OC that they're selling for $250 is pretty good. If you are going to be playing video games it seems like the word around the campfire is that the 9800 Pro is about the lowest you want to go. There is a massive performance difference between the 9600 and the x800.

wacki

[Mano]

For a comparison of features between any two ATI cards, try this link.

[vulturesrow]

Wacki,

Just about anything really. I really like roleplaying, my favorite right is the Morrowind series. I like some FPS games, most notably Call of Duty. However the main reason I want to upgrade is so I can play Half Life 2 when it comes out. That game is going to be nothing short of amazing.

[wacki]

[ QUOTE ]
For a comparison of features between any two ATI cards, try this link.

[/ QUOTE ]

That is a decent link, but I think benchmarks would suite him better.

Normally I would be full of valueable information but Astroglide recently informed me that my favorite hardware review sites tomshardare.com and to a much lesser extent anandtech were no good. He said, and I quote:

tomshardware is a piece of advertiser-owned [censored]. trust them for announcements and tech articles, but not for reviews.

Trying to find benchmarks on arstechnica but it's not easy.

[ThaSaltCracka]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I expect some good recomendations from Wacki, otherwise I will vote for Nader tomorrow Wacki!

[/ QUOTE ]

Aren't you voting for Kerry anyway?

[/ QUOTE ]
Maybe