I figured that I would put this in the gaming section so I could get the opinion for gamers. Which brand of video cards is best and could you name the model please?

ATI

INVIDEA

OTHER

Right now the best card (the fastest one and DX10 ready) is the Nvidia Geforce 8800GTX.

And the best bang for ur buck card is the Geforce 8800GTS 320MB.

Now if only ATI would release the R600 right now....

I personally like ATI more then nVidia, ATI's cards are cheap in price but are very powerful

The R600 is going to be way stronger then the 8800 anyways

Also wolf the 8800GTS 320mb isnt that good, get the 8800GTX 768mb ;)

But the 8800GTX is very expensive, and the 8800GTS is way cheaper, and still offers excellent performance (faster than a X1950XTX) ;)

Also, you need to have an extremely powerful CPU to use its potential.

If you are asking which company makes the fastest graphics card, TimeParadoX and wolfram have already addressed that. Both companies make good cards in various price ranges, however. If you are asking about a card in a lower-than-top-of-the-line category, name your budget and we can give you some recommendations for good cards. Perhaps that is what you are really asking.

Do your own research for your own specs and what meets your budget and preference. 8800GTX SLI seems to be the most expensive and i think you do pay for what you buy. NVIDIA especially that they support stuff for intel now core 2 duo and not just ATI for AMD processors, i would prefer!

Hey yeah, I am thinking about setting my budget around $200 for an awesome card.

HERE (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102067) is an awesome card :)

I run a AGP Geforce FX5200, cheap $90 card. It runs F.E.A.R., Battlefield 2 all expansions, Half Life 2, Counterstrike:Source, Quake 4, and World of Warcraft all smoothly.

I've always been a fan of Nvidia. I suggest you go with it.

The one WolfRam linked is probably the best card in DX9, I got Cross-Fire of them with 3gig RAM and run ALL games maxed with 90-100fps! Muahahah! :evil:

www.tomshardware.com just posted their new recommendations on video cards. It has some very good advice and reviews.

I need a card that willl be able to run Company of Heroes and Flight Simulator X.

Thanks People! keep making suggestions!

The X1950XT will play them very well, no doubt about that :)

The X1950XT will play them very well, no doubt about that :)

Yeah, for how much?

and also what CATALYST does it have?

Yeah, for how much?
Umm, the price for the X1950XT is in the link in wolfram's post, post #8.
and also what CATALYST does it have?
Eh? What do you mean by that?

Eh? What do you mean by that?

He probably means what Catalyst ( CCC.exe ) it has, it's the current version since it's a pretty new card, Think it came out last year or so...

I'd go with Nvidia because:
a) I have an ATI and it sucks. Games freeze and run slowly, and many games published after 2003 or 04 won't run at all, saying the video card is the culprit.
b) Nvidia actually collaborates with game developers (or so I'm told)
c) Nvidia has a cooler name :D.

The majority of people subscribed to this forum prefer nVidia about 75 percent of the time.
But there is about a 15 percent failure rate in both ATI and nVidia cards within the first year, in our experience. We do not find that the ATI fails earlier or more frequently than the NVidia.
The NVidia "gamer" video graphics cards do seem to hold up better.
Interesting to me, the failure rate is higher on the expensive video graphics cards we see in our shop, than to those under $60. Also, certain models fail much more often... perhaps due to defects in manufacturing or components.

We do not find that the ATI fails earlier or more frequently than the NVidia.

By "fail", do you mean the hardware fails to function, or to do its job properly?
Oh, and who's "we"?

Raybay you should definitely be more specific. Especially when addressing hardware specifically th models not the price range. Statements that are general are more likely to be disregarded, regardless of who makes them. PC videocards is something I am not experienced with but through research and talking to plenty of people who have experience, Nvidia seems to be the current champ in Video cards as far as graphics and compatability is concerned. Also when you purchase hardware, Warranty's help protect investmets as long as you dont overclock components which will void manufactures warrantys. Other than that Nvidia has great reviews for their products.

Well nVidia is good, I used them alot in my machines but ATI is more cheaper and still has the same power as the other cards ;)

Plus the R600 ( as I said befor ) is going to kick the 8800 in the balls lol

Forget all this, since intel is going to release a better CPU-Quad core 3Ghz, http://www.techspot.com/news/24962-intel-to-give-quad-core-cpus-1333mhz-fsb.html you know a supreme card is going to be made for this machine. The R600 price is up there with Nvidia's cards but i do believe that quality has its price. That of course my own opinion. If your budget is not supporting anything special then just buy a cheap Nvidia or ATI card that will play most PC games.

Like a FX5200! $90, runs most anything. This is AGP though, dunno if this model comes as PCI.

Another shot @ ATI, http://www.gamespot.com/features/6169151/index.html?tag=topslot;title;1&om_act=convert&om_clk=topslot for those that dont want to spend next Gen console money on a video card

I didnt know people were still asking this

Nvidia has released its 8600GT based cards and they are priced to sell.

However I have not read any reviews on these cards as of yet, however given the stout performance offered by other nVIDIA x6xx cards I would take a guess that these will please :D

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=nvidia+8600gt

Edit:

Actually it seems that nVIDA has released 2 nice 8600 revisions, the 8600GT and the GTS, the GTS giving better stats.

THE GTS HAS SUPER FAST 2000mhz GDDR3 memory !!! And also is priced to sell at right under or over $200 depending on the company.

Both cards look as if they are dressed to impress, however the GTS looks like one awesome card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=nvidia+8600gts

Even though these cards are priced comparably to ATI offerings that may be just as good, I feel spending the money on the 8600 series would be a wise investment due to the fact that they are DX10 capable.... And please no comments about the R600, it is no place to be found.....We are talking the here and now, not the maybe and could be....Until it is released and respectivley benchmarked and prooven to beat out all others, keep the speculation to a minimum :D

The GeForce 8600 GTS and the GeForce 8600 GT wowed and disappointed us at the same time. Performance in shader intensive games like Oblivion was impressive; however neither of the cards offers performance gains over what you can already purchase in the sub-$200 category. More often than not, the 8600s lag behind the GeForce 7900 GS, the Radeon X1950 Pro, and especially the Radeon X1900 XT. The allure of DirectX 10 support might count for something, but we're not prepared to give Nvidia credit until we see how these cards actually perform with DirectX 10 games. For the moment, we'd pass on the GeForce 8600 GTS and the GeForce 8600 GT in favor of similarly priced higher-performance DirectX 9 cards. If you’re willing to spend a little more, the GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB provides vastly superior performance.

I think I'll try to get the 8800GTS (or even better, the 8900GTS). No 8600's for me :(

I just read that review also, and then I read the review from tom's hardware.

Tom's isnt saying a whole lot better about the 8600 series however it did strongly point out that the drivers that they recieved from nVIDIA where also horrid. I think it said in there that they recieved the test cards a week before nvidia sent them the drivers, via the review it said somthing about the vista and xp dedicated drivers being rushed at the last second to meet the cards release....They said that they would like to wait for better driver support before they totally judge the cards.

However as is right now it isnt looking to good. Maybe better drivers will fix things, but maybe not. Only time will tell.....Going by both reviews, this will be the first time the x6xx series cards will fail to impress.

I concur with both replies. DX 10 cards as of the moment will cause frustration among many people, and develope a hate for which certain people who hate EA for the same reason because of rushed production. Toms hardware has alot of info on all of this which im too lazy too read @ the moment. All though the article clearly shows that Nvidia has the lead in good cards for their price. I would go with a DX 9 card and just wait about 2-4months to see what the deal is on these DX 10 cards and their compatability and drivers.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/04/17/geforce_8600/ -The article shady is talking about which I see why not exact quotes are taken, too Long.

If your running XP go with DX9 video cards, if Vista then DX10 is not a bad idea. What the best support is available for is DX9 and there is a wide range of prices and all the goodstuff. Anything better then the G4 series and you should be good. Heres a great link although long but shows love for both Nvidia and ATI http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/04/09/the_best_gaming_video_cards_for_the_money/ Thats only to help you in your decision making and process of elimination

:)

The article I read on ExtremeTech covering the 8600GT SuperClocked Edition by eVGA and the XFX XXX Edition showed the X1950PRO outperforming the 8600 cards quite easily. But at least they're DX10-compatible, although I suspect that they wouldn't run Crysis too well if they can't match up to the X1950PRO. But I guess the DX10 API will work in a different way from DX9 so we might just see some performance gains in DX10 games with DX10-capable hardware.

Back to the original poster ;). You need to make sure that your computer can handle a new video card. Look at the guide in my signature and tell us, your system specs and specs for your power supply unit. Good Luck :wave: !

All you need to is make sure your mobo supports your GPU. If it does make the PSU much like he said ^^^...Can also support a powerful GPU. I would go with the GTS8800..forget the 8600 series...This card is weel worth it even though its a bit over your desired price expense!

Yeah, Nvidia 5200 is a prefer card for people who wants play call of duty and Counter Strike in motherboard with AGP Slots, for others games i suggest Nvidia 7300 or 7600 and if you want to buy the best, buy 8800 but here is the inconviniet, Are PCI Express.

You need to buy a new computer to support it, if you have an old mobo.

yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 8600gt released a very good card with even better performance to price ratio

Not really. It's a poor performer compared to the X1950PRO in the same price range, although DX10 games may change that. It's too soon to tell.

yes mr rage ONLY TIME WILL TELL

I have an FX5200 and it runs games like COD2 just fine. The only game I have found it wont run well is Gothic 3, which I waited a couple of years for and when it came out my card wouldn't run it worth crap. If I turn the quality on low then it still runs semi choppy.

I meant for DX10 games. It still sucks at DX9 games though. So what's the point of shouting?

Waiting to get the 8800GTX...The 8600 i would not recommend it from the review i have seen so far. Time always tells we all know that, this is technology and DX10 games are not out yet neither are patches that upgrade them to DX10 so there is no point. Buy a DX9 card thats good *GTS8800*, http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2900230&CatId=1839

Even though i would prefer anything over 512mb because your going to need that space for C&C 3 and other games that i dont know about to run fairly good.

It sounds like I am going to want Nvidia, that is coolarooni

What card do you want to get? :)

Hi Haaskev000 :)

If you can specify what you want to achieve with the Graphics Card and what type / spec of Computer it is to be installed to (no spec in your profile) i would be happy to give my opinion, but at the moment i cant (sorry if i sound picky)

All I have to say, is get a Direct X Ten compatible card for sure. Because if you don't, your rig is going to go out of date realllly fast.

DX9 for now, then invest in DX 10 when ur ready! 8800GTS...and you should say if u have an old system AGP or PCI-Express slots....?

Why does everyone tell him to get a dx9 card and not a dx10 card ? You people have no outlook for the future or what ?

I imagine he wants a decent card in the $200 range, i dont know about you but $200 is a pretty decent penny for most people and when someone spends $200 on one computer componant they expect it to be usable in future apps for atleast a year or two.

Do you suggest that he buy a dx9 card and if dx10 takes off in a month or two go out and buy another video card ?

Personally, if I plan on playing dx10 games ASAP or not I would still prefer to buy a card that is capable incase I do decide to.

People making any indication that he should buy a card that is not atleast future proof for a 1-2 year period need to re-think their suggestions. Any way you look at it, DX9 cards are close to their end of life.

DX10 cards no matter what anyone says are the future, that being said, will be more future proof no matter what their performance is.

Cost and reliability.

If he wants DX10, he'd have to wait for the mid-range models of the Radeon HD to come out, seeing that the 86xx series are not very good performers compared to their DX9 counterparts in the same price range.

Personally, I would buy a DX9 card. But i would wait, so when the DX10 cards are released i could return it and get the upgrade.

The fact that most games currently do not support DX10 yet, thats my reasoning. The future one cannot predict so why rely on something thats going to be released? Its like saying one should buy a PS3 over a 360, back in Nov because they are going to be the latest technology, even thought hard to get and have a built in Blue ray player. Although i agree with that, this analogy is relevant.

The life span of a card depends on the warranty if you ask me and the manufacturer. If both of them are decent then you could expect your card to last a good time.

I say go with Dx9 for now, not sure about the models and price ranges for Dx10 cards but i would wait about july-august to think about investing in a Dx10 card because when new technology is released there are always all kinds of issues.

I am not trying to be rude but it does seem like you guys are missing the bigger picture....

No, there are not any good alternatives to the 8800 series yet for dx10 gaming. The 8600's may perform better with newer driver support but we have to wait and see...

But I am talking about the fact of buying a video card in the area of $200 just to use now and is only dx9 capable and then 4 months later buying another $200 plus card cause you want to game in DX10. If you are going to spend $400 just wait and save up for a 8800GTS or wait until the R600 decides to finally get around to being released. There is no way to justify making 2 purchases.

Even with evga step up, it isnt really that good of a deal as you dont even get 1/2 of the amount you paid for the trade in card.

As for a warranty making a card future proof ? I have BFG 4200ti's that are still under a life time warranty. Yes if I ever take them off the scrap pile and slap that in a system and it dont work, sure I can get a replacment but as many times as I send it back to the company it isnt going to work like a 8800GTX when I get it back.

When I buy a expensive video card for longevity I take into play how it works for games now, estimate and do research on what game development is going to be like in the next year minimal and then make a choice if the card may hold its own past 1 year or longer. Any way you look at it and I dont care what anyone says, no DX9 card is future proof. It is at its end of life plain and simple. With many notions that DX10 is going to be made avaliable for XP and 2000 I think it is going to push game developers into overdrive with DX10 game production.

Everyone says that all games for the future are going to be made avaliable for DX9 for time to come however I dont agree with that either. Computer gaming needs to compete with consoles hands down. There are a ton of games already that look (OMG NEED I START A DEBATE !!!) just as good or better on 360 and PS3 then on the PC. I dont think the game makers are going to be so kind as to baby us in from DX9 to DX10. I am almost certain that it will be a pretty harsh transition with "Want to play it ? Get DX10 capable." If they dont do that, consoles are going to get the upper hand as far as new eyecandy.