Shopping for new card...

**houseisland** · May 11th, 2008, 04:57 PM

I bought my 256 Mb eVGA 7900 GS KO because of its price point, about $180. But it doesn't really cut it anymore, largely because of the The Witcher.

I find that it is more bewildering than ever shopping for a video card. Manufacturers seem to have models targeted an every $10 price increment. There is so much to choose from. Too much for reviewers to keep up.

The great thing here, though, is that prices on yesterday's bleeding edge cards seem to be plumeting in advance of new series releases. There are lots of things to choose from in $200 +/- 50 range.

I am looking at this for about $220 CDN.

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInf...01G-P3-N809-AR

http://www.gamepyre.com/hardwared.html?aid=960&p=2

Or perhaps at a slightly cheaper 9600 series 512 Mb card.

Any thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

____________________________________________

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!

**slgrieb** · May 11th, 2008, 05:27 PM

I'm thinking I might stick one of these in the new computer. C'mon Stimulus Incentive check!

**Matridom** · May 11th, 2008, 05:51 PM

Originally Posted by slgrieb

I'm thinking I might stick one of these in the new computer. C'mon Stimulus Incentive check!

agreed, any of the 8800 (512) series is gonna rock, they are currently among the best price/performance ratio out there.

**CCT** · May 11th, 2008, 06:32 PM

http://www.thewitcher.com/forum/index.php?topic=12209.0

**Ferrit** · May 12th, 2008, 12:39 AM

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ture=VISIONTEK
I have a Sapphire 512 model and I love it
Check out all the video cards one against the other here
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards....=548&card2=547

**CeeBee** · May 12th, 2008, 08:35 AM

The 9600 series is priced significantly less than 8800 series... Why? Look at the specs

**slgrieb** · May 12th, 2008, 09:22 PM

9600s are a good buy, but for an additional $40-60 make mine an 88.

**houseisland** · May 19th, 2008, 11:30 AM

Well I bought this one anyway: http://www.evga.com/products/moreInf...01G-P3-N809-AR

I went to listen to some friends' PCs that have a variety of 8800s. And the relative noise level was not attractive. The noise is one of the things I did not like about my old 7900.

The 01G-P3-N809-AR is not quiet but it doesn't sound like a hoover.

I also stuck one of these in the case: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...-2,1782-6.html It was on sale cheap. I am quite pleased with the results in relation to the price.

One thing that stands out with the new video card is how much better and more detailed the sound in the Witcher is. It wasn't bad before but now it is quite spectacular. It could be that the processor has more time to dedicate to the onboard Win-sound card or it could be that with all the noise before I just never noticed how good the sound was.

The are still problems in some areas of the game - the Trade Quarter seems to be problematic for weird short little lags. Overall performance is greatly improved though. The game runs better with everything set to max than it did on the 7900 at middle settings.

____________________________________________

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!

**Ferrit** · May 19th, 2008, 12:32 PM

Welll the link does work, that I can see in either IE 7 or FF2

**houseisland** · May 19th, 2008, 01:39 PM

Originally Posted by Ferrit

Welll the link does [not] work, that I can see in either IE 7 or FF2

Dunno... cut and paste error.... try again here...

http://www.evga.com/products/moreInf...01G-P3-N809-AR

____________________________________________

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!

**houseisland** · May 19th, 2008, 01:46 PM

Originally Posted by Ferrit

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...ture=VISIONTEK
I have a Sapphire 512 model and I love it
Check out all the video cards one against the other here
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards....=548&card2=547

Hey... I considered this...

I used to be an ATI guy all the way, despite the horrors of the Mach32 EISA and Mach64 VLB cards and the first Rage128 drivers. My ATI-ness was a great source of friction between my brother, an confirmed ATI-hater (since the days of 8-bit cards), and me. I still think ATI has much better colour textures and well.... performance is how you measure it. But I suppose I got tired of pulling 7000 series cards with burned out memory chips. And in a weak moment, I let my brother talk me into the 7900, the first non-ATI card I had bought since pre-AGP days.

____________________________________________

It is my pure and virtuous heart that
gives me the strength of ten!