PC Gaming

[Morfanos]

With the holiday season coming, a lot of good games for PC have recently been(or will be) released. You're looking for a good video card to be able to play those games?

Here's a list of the best deals you can now find at Future Shop:

XFX GeForce 9800GT 512MB PCI-E Video Card

For $159.99, don't let the price fools you into thinking this is not a good video card. It's quite the opposite as this card pack quite a punch, especially for its price. One notable feature is the warranty that comes with this card. XFX offers the best warranty on the market and a excellent customer service. With XFX video cards, you get a double lifetime warranty (you need to register your card online to activate the warranty), meaning if the card has a problem after 20 years, it will still be under warranty. You also can resell this video card and the person buying will be able to register the card online to also receive the lifetime warranty. Not just that but you can change the stock heatsink-fan and it will still be covered by the warranty. This usually gives the card an higher resell value.

A 400W power supply is required.

XFX GeForce 9800GTX+ 512MB PCI-E Video Card

For $199.99, this one offer a little more punch. Still comes with the same amazing warranty. It's a very good card. Not as good as the next one I'm about to suggest but it's well worth its price. This one is the one to get if you don't want to buy ATI video card.

A 450W power supply is required.

ATI Radeon HD4850 512MB PCI-E Video Card

For $200.99, this one is simply the VIDEO CARD to get! There's no other card on the market that can give more bang for you buck. It's faster than GeForce 9800GTX+. It's equipped with a HDMI output that gives you video AND 5.1 audio (audio is really rare on a video card) making it the perfect choice for those who want to use their computer to play on their home theatre. The only real downside to this card compare to the other one is that ATi offers "only" a 1 year warranty. In no way does this means the card is going to break more easily than the one from XFX. It just mean that the warranty is not as good as the GeForce card from XFX. But than again, you do get more "gaming" power for the same price as the XFX GeForce 9800 GTX+.

A 450W power supply is required.

ATI Radeon HD4870 1024MB GDDR5 Video Card - Web Only

For 339.99, this is the bigger brother to the 4850. It has more memory and more computing power. It comes with the same warranty and features. It's a very good card. Is the price difference worth it? Personally, I'd say no. You do get more or less 30% more performance out of this card so the choice is really yours. I can say this, if $339.99 isn't too much for you, this card won't disappoint.

A 500W power supply is required.

ATI Radeon HD 4870X2 2GB GDDR5 PCI-E Video Card - Web Only

For $619.99, this is for now the Holy Grail of gaming. There's not a single card on the market that can outperform this monster. Simply put, it's two HD 4870 on one board. You don't need to have a special motherboard to use this contrary to other dual video configuration types known as SLI or CrossFire. There's not much more to say, same features and warranty as the other 2 Radeon cards. What performance should you expect from this? Well, around 66% more than a single Hd 4870. This mean that you'll be able to play ANY games on the market at with maximum settings... As long as you CPU is not too slow. Believe me, if one game is slow with that card, it will be because of you CPU and not the video card.

A 650W power supply is required.

Now, there's a great deal of chance you'll need to upgrade your power supply. I usually recommend going with a power supply capable of at least 50W more than what's required. Why? Simply because you don't want to ask too much of your power supply. Also, if you have a "low" quality power supply, it's quite possible it won't be able to give you the power needed. For that reason, I prefer to suggest brand I know to usually make great product: Enermax, Antec, Seasonic, PC Power & Cooling, Corsair and FSP.

That's it for now. I'll probably make a new guide IF and WHEN amazing new products are released.

Message Edited by Morfanos on 11-13-2008 11:07 AM

[lilwingman]

Excellent post Morfanos, full of incredibly useful information.  Let's keep this one at the top.  Might be worth posting this somewhere in the Computer Hardware page as well.

[Morfanos · Accepted solution]

Good idea. I'll make a copy in the Hardware section.

EDIT: Hum, I didn't know you could transform your own post as a "solution" !

Message Edited by Morfanos on 11-13-2008 07:07 PM

[John007]

I'd argue that the post is very baised towards ATI cards.

I've been very dissappointed by ATi thus far, I had a terrible experiance with an overheating 1950Pro from them months ago and their Customer service refused to honour the warranty.

When I switched over to the 8800GT from Nvidia, it was an incredible difference for a very similar card to the 1950pro.

Now I have 2 8800GTs in SLi (dual GPU for those who don't know), and the performance is unbelievable, I have it coupled with a QX6850 CPU which as far as I'm concerned is more speed than I'll ever need. (300-550 FPS on Call of duty 4)

Not to mention, most game publishers are contracted with Nvidia over ATi to streamline support and optimization for Nvidia products, on top of that, SLi if you plan on having more than 1 GPU is far superior to Ati Dual to Quad GPU CrossFire for gaming under nearly every possible circumstance.

The only ATi card I'd consider if I had the money is the 4870X2, but the 9800GTX from Nvidia is my clear choice over the 4850 from ATi any day.

If you have the cash, the Geforce 280, 285 and 295 are the three most powerful Nvidia cards on the market, and arguble most powerful over all other GPUs, the 280 sells for less than the ATi 4870X2.

For Nvidia cards, I'd recommend BFG, EVGA and XFX manufacturers.

Thought some people might appreciate another take on GPUs.

- John

Side Note: OP said XFX offered the best industry warranty, I agree they are great, but EVGA is much better, they offer full replacement with brand new not refurb cards, and when you send your card back for repair, they simultaneously send you a new card before they even get your defective one. They also trade you up on the card if your old one is no longer available. Excellent service from both these manufacturers.

But I'd recommend a service plan on any GPU (ATi or Nvidia) over 250 dollars, hands down, GPUs are the most suspectible device to power surge, inconsistent power, static discharge, faulty motherboard PCI-E slots and damage from heat in the long term. Thats my 2 cents.

[Credible_Chris]

Thanks for the great info Morfanos, but I still get confused with all the names and numbers and symbols and such in the graphics cards.

[Morfanos]

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Credible_Chris wrote:
Thanks for the great info Morfanos, but I still get confused with all the names and numbers and symbols and such in the graphics cards.

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Thanks.

Don't worry, you're not the only one confused by all this, that's why I made this guide in the first place. If you want my opinion, they're confusing people on purpose so people will buy a 8600 GT 1GB thinking it's a much better card than a 7800 with "only" 512MB when in reality, it's the opposite.

[Morfanos]

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John007 wrote:

I'd argue that the post is very baised towards ATI cards.

I've been very dissappointed by ATi thus far, I had a terrible experiance with an overheating 1950Pro from them months ago and their Customer service refused to honour the warranty.

---

You'll excuse me but I think you're the one who's biased here because of your bad experience(which is a shame). I've been buying video cards for more than 10 years and I follow that market very closely.

My video card history:

2 x Voodoo 2 in SLI (SLI was invented by 3dfx which was latter bough by nVIDIA)

GeForce 2 MX

GeForce 2 PRO

Radeon 9700PRO

Radeon 9800PRO

Radeon X800XL

2 x GeForce 8800 GT in SLI

And as far as motherboard go I've owned 2 nForce 2, 1 nForce 3, 1 nForce 6.

As you can probably see right now, I've owned a lot more nVIDIA products than anything else. You can also note that I always go for "high end" hardware so believe me when I say that I do my research before putting my money on hardware.

Even as we speak, the HD 4800 series is still the best choice for your money. The GeForce 2xx series is just an overpriced and power angry monster (and almost every reviewers on the web will agree with me on this). If you really want to best of the best, the new 295 is the one to get but my guide was made before that card was even announced... As for the 9xxx series, it's just marketing from nVIDIA as it's nothing more than a 8800 GT with some tweak here and there(which isn't bad but still very misleading because of the name).

[Credible_Chris]

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Morfanos wrote:

Don't worry, you're not the only one confused by all this, that's why I made this guide in the first place. If you want my opinion, they're confusing people on purpose so people will buy a 8600 GT 1GB thinking it's a much better card than a 7800 with "only" 512MB when in reality, it's the opposite.

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You see, I had no idea.  My logic always goes that higher number = better!

I thought tht 8600 GT was a pretty good graphics card, or is it the 8800, I cant seem to keep things straight...

[Morfanos]

The 8800 GT is a pretty amazing card, got two of them. The 8600 GT is a piece of **** when it comes to gaming experiences. If I remember correctly, my Radeon X800XL, which is two generations older than a GeForce 8600, still perform a lot better.

[G5Evil]

Very nice Post. You Did Good- I agree More ATI designed. but very Nice. ONe Upper end Guide here!