Recommendations for a halfway decent video card?

[Rex Claussen]

After messing around at ultra-low frame rates on games I've finally decided that I'm going to move away from old generation video cards and those with integrated graphics on their system boards.

Any suggestions for a robust, mid-level video card, for around US$100?

[Graf Zahl]

If you are even remotely interested in OpenGL software that would leave out ATI by default. No matter how good their hardware is, their GL drivers have always been pretty shitty and with GZDoom even my lowly ancient Geforce 8600 easily outperforms the latest greatest ATI HD 5xxx cards.

For $100 you should look for a Geforce 9800 based card at least. Anything less would be wasting money.

[Rex Claussen]

For $100 you should look for a Geforce 9800 based card at least. Anything less would be wasting money.

I'm guessing that GEForce 9800 supports Shader Models 4.0? This would allow me to avail of advanced GZDooM features.

Thanks for the recommendation. And yes, I was primarily looking at OpenGL support. [There's another reason - I want to use Windows Movie Maker Live, which is free, but requires a video card with at least SM2 support.]

[Graf Zahl]

Yes, everything beyond Geforce 8xxx is SM4.

[Deathlike2]

Well, I would personally suggest you visit NVNews since they have a listing of NVidia video card prices (there are other places obviously, but this is ideal IMO).

The GTS 250 is essentially like last gens 9800 GTX, but a 9800GT would be cheaper.

If you have PSU/power/heat/case issue concerns, go for the GT240... and make sure you get the GDDR5 memory versions because it's faster and cooler than the GDDR3 versions.

[Rex Claussen]

Well, I would personally suggest you visit NVNews .....

I'm on it.

If you have PSU/power/heat/case issue concerns, go for the GT240... and make sure you get the GDDR5 memory versions because it's faster and cooler than the GDDR3 versions.

I'm not sure if I have any heat issues, but I have a mini-tower that's in a reasonably well-ventilated space. Moreover, I don't believe I'll be using the computer for very heavy-duty applications (including gaming), so I'm not sure if overheating will be an issue.

[Rachael]

No matter how good their hardware is, their GL drivers have always been pretty shitty and with GZDoom even my lowly ancient Geforce 8600 easily outperforms the latest greatest ATI HD 5xxx cards.

[spoiler][/spoiler]
Sorry, it had to be done, considering you're using GZDoom as a benchmark.

That being said, Graf is right about ATI's GL drivers being unoptimized - and it is my biggest gripe about ATI. But despite this, ATI cards are still very decent, and on the whole, have treated me better than any NVidia card has. Everyone has different experiences with both, though - I do remember before nVidia became a giant in the 3D market (before 3Dfx was bought out) ATI made some extremely shitty cards and drivers. I'd say they've improved quite a bit since.

And one thing that hurts GZDoom's performance with ATI, no offense, is GZDoom itself. I'd link some relevant posts with details, but I don't want to see Graf abyss this thread, so I'll leave that stuff out.

Unfortunately, with my ancient NVidia 5500, Software rendering mode still far outperforms GL mode in most cases. The same is not said for my ATI cards, which are about equally as ancient.

[Enjay]

Video cards do seem to polarise opinion about as much as OSs and Browsers don't they?

Personally, I have limited experience of ATI cards. The ones I have used have been OK for what I used them for but did have minor problems.

Most of my graphics cards in recent years have been NVidia ones and I can't recall them giving me any real problems at all. Based on that, they are the brand that I recommend to people.

Also, personally, GZdoom is a very important program for me and the 3D accelerated program that I use more than any other. Given that GZdoom is much better suited to NVidia cards, that is a pretty big deciding factor for me.

[Nash]

Before you start splurging your money on graphics card, you have to remember to make sure your power supply has enough power to power the card AND your other stuff.

There have been many angry posts (on both nvidia and ATI forums), complaining WTF THIS CARD DOESN'T WORK - and when questioned about their power supply, it turns out they're using underpowered stuff.

Never underestimate power supply.

[Graf Zahl]

Unfortunately, with my ancient NVidia 5500, Software rendering mode still far outperforms GL mode in most cases. The same is not said for my ATI cards, which are about equally as ancient.

The Geforce FX 5xxx series was pretty bad, no doubt about that (excluding the 59xx cards that came later) In 2004 I bought a computer with a preinstalled GF 5200 - and this was slower than the (at that point in time) 3 years old system I had before, despite having a CPU that was more than twice as fast.

I'm not really surprised that software mode runs faster on such hardware.

[NeoHippo]

GT240 for $69.99

for the States http://www.ncixus.com/products/?sku=46567&promoid=1146
for Canada http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php? ... omoid=1146

This offer is only good today, April 3
But it's good for the whole 24 hours and there is always the possibility to order it via internet

[Enjay]

The Geforce FX 5xxx series was pretty bad, no doubt about that (excluding the 59xx cards that came later)

I guess I was lucky then because I did have a 5xxx card and didn't know much about the relative merits of them when I bought one. However, I ended up with a 5900 (though I forget the exact model) and it worked pretty well with everything I had the time.

[NeuralStunner]

Before you start splurging your money on graphics card, you have to remember to make sure your power supply has enough power to power the card AND your other stuff.

Most definitely! Once you know the capabilities of your power supply, this power usage calculator should help greatly. You just put in the different components you have, plus the card, and it should give you a good idea how close youll get to maxing out.

I used it myself while deciding whether to order the card I'm using now.

[Rex Claussen]

If you have PSU/power/heat/case issue concerns, go for the GT240... and make sure you get the GDDR5 memory versions because it's faster and cooler than the GDDR3 versions.

The GT240 has generally gotten good reviews (primarily for those manufactured by Palit), but the one issue most cited is that the card takes up 2 expansion slots. I'm not sure if this means that the fan is wide and covers up an adjacent slot, or that the card itself requires 2 slots into which to plug. My computer has 1 free PCI Express x16, 1 free PCI Express x1, and 1 PCI slot free. Any thoughts?

Once you know the capabilities of your power supply, this power usage calculator should help greatly.

That's a handy calculator, for sure. Unfortunately, my spec sheet does not have information on a fan (which usually draws a significant amount of current). Thanks, anyway.

[NeuralStunner]

For some components you may have to actually look at the component - the QuickSpecs for my computer didn't even have the voltage and whatnot for the power supply! I think cooling fans should have their voltage listed on the sticker?