So my Video Card is borked, Need suggestions for a New one

[BricknHead]

I did a 9 hour gaming marathon with a friend of mine (he started before me, did 17 total) and my card was completely fine while playing. But the next day, I started up to do a little gaming to have my experience filled with artifacts and texture corruption. I'm not sure why it happened, my card was perfectly fine during the gaming marathon - no artifacts or even any slowdown. But hell, looks like this card is going down the drain.

It's an 8800GTS 320mb. My System is:

Q9450 processor (2.6 quad, 45nm)
2 gigs ram (533 mhz - needs upgrading, bought it for my last motherboard which got fried)
8800GTS 320mb
700Watt PSU
Windows XP, 32bit.

Now, since my card is dying, I'd prefer to upgrade to a better card instead of downgrade. Herein lies the problem: I know [B]nothing[/B] about the new series of cards. I've heard shit like the 9800GTX card is just a re-tooled G92 chipset (what the 8800 architecture is iirc) and I don't know about the relative power of the Nvidia GeForce 200 series.

So, I'm looking for an Nvidia card only. Not into ATi. (bonus points for EVGA, personally my favorite manufacturer, all of my products from them have been excellent)
(Ignore the above statement, looking at ATi cards now.)

Checked around newegg for prices of things, and I'm looking mainly at the GTX 260, GTS 250, and perhaps the 9800 series. So my main query is, what is the relative power of the GTX 260 and similar cards to the 8800GTS? I would assume it's a fairly large step up, but I'm not the type to make an uninformed purchase.

[Thovex]

-snip-

[Reapaninja]

budget

and if you can't leave your fanboyisms at the door, [img]http://imgkk.com/i/tYZFhwG3.gif[/img]

where's my :frogout: gone

[Callius]

[QUOTE=BricknHead;16101546]but I'm not the type to make an uninformed purchase.[/QUOTE]

Then don't discount ATI cards without checking out all the options.

GTS 250 = 9800GTX + just so you know. (9800 GTX + was a revision [slight upgrade iirc] of the 9800 GTX)

[lemongrapes]

Fanboy much? at the level you are looking for, ATI wins, purely through bang/buck, I would recommend a 4870 1GB, the equivalent of a 260 C216.

[Teh_Cheese]

XFX HD-4870 1gb should replace it pretty well
[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150394[/url]
And if you have some money left over, get this memory [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820134582[/url]

BUT if you still wanna be a fanboy the next best thing in the same price range is a GTX 260 which is a little worse but what ever
[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150398[/url]

[editline]12:47PM[/editline]

evga [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130434[/url]

really any of these should outrun your old 8800

[BricknHead]

Budget = 250 (the absolute limit, I'd really rather pay under 200)

And I'm not being a fanboy, I don't hate ATi whatsoever. It's a bloody manufacturer. I've been a user of Nvidia cards and don't know anything about ATi cards. Ere the "not into ATi"

if you can tell me that a certain card a a price point is better I'll grab it

But one question - do the ATi cards have the PhysX software component? And if they don't, is it even a worthwhile investment at this point?

[JohnEdwards]

4870 1gb all you need

[Roast Beast]

[QUOTE=BricknHead;16102067]Budget = 250

And I'm not being a fanboy, I don't hate ATi whatsoever. It's a bloody manufacturer. I've been a user of Nvidia cards and don't know anything about ATi cards. Ere the "not into ATi"

if you can tell me that a certain card a a price point is better I'll grab it

But one question - do the ATi cards have the PhysX software component? And if they don't, is it even a worthwhile investment at this point?[/QUOTE]

PhysX is Nvidia only, but it's not used in a lot of games and not really worth it in the games that do have it.

I also would suggest the 4870 1GB.

[JohnEdwards]

[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130475[/url]

[editline]03:57PM[/editline]

that or a 4850 X2 if you play source games alot ATI cards have tessellation which you can enable with a console comand

[A White Guy]

Or if you want to spend your whole budget GTX 275 superclocked :hurr:

[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130478[/url]

[Zorlok]

[QUOTE=BricknHead;16102067]
But one question - do the ATi cards have the PhysX software component? And if they don't, is it even a worthwhile investment at this point?[/QUOTE]

At this point they do not have PhysX/CUDA support. Although they are capable of running it.

[BricknHead]

[QUOTE=JohnEdwards;16102140][url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130475[/url]

[editline]03:57PM[/editline]

that or a 4850 X2 if you play source games alot ATI cards have tessellation which you can enable with a console comand[/QUOTE]

4870 seems to be better than that card, wow

higher core clock + memory clock

Don't know what the difference is between the 256bit / 448bit memory interface though

I'll look for them myself now, but if anyone has a benchmark comparison, post it

[Roast Beast]

[QUOTE=BricknHead;16102253]4870 seems to be better than that card, wow

higher core clock + memory clock

Don't know what the difference is between the 256bit / 448bit memory interface though[/QUOTE]

Clock speeds don't mean anything when comparing ATI to Nvidia, you really have to look at benchmarks. AFAIK GTX 275 > 4870 1GB

[A White Guy]

Lolcharts

[img]http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/ati_radeon_4890_nvidia_geforce_gtx_275/images/far1600.gif[/img]

[Reapaninja]

physx is useless anyway, I can't even think of any games worth playing that have it

[Zorlok]

[QUOTE=BricknHead;16102253]
Don't know what the difference is between the 256bit / 448bit memory interface though
[/QUOTE]

I wouldn't really worry about that stuff. The 4870 is using GDDR5 though, so you're receiving more throughput than you would with GDDR3. So even though the bus width is smaller (lower production costs and whatnot), it's honestly not going to affect anything.

[BricknHead]

only one I know of that I'm remotely interested in is Mirror's edge, but I doubt it would make a huge difference in the overall experience

[Reapaninja]

that chart looks horribly biased, 4870 matches the 260, it's too much of a coincidence that is beats EVERYTHING by nvidia

[A White Guy]

[QUOTE=BricknHead;16102362]only one I know of that I'm remotely interested in is Mirror's edge, but I doubt it would make a huge difference in the overall experience[/QUOTE]

It doesn't, a few flags and sheets of plastic here and there..

[Prismatex]

Not sure what your monitor is, but I'd say go for a GTX 275.
There's an XFX one for $210 w/ free shipping.
[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150387[/url]

[Reapaninja]

also ignore the specifications of a card, benchmarks are [I]far[/I] more useful

[A White Guy]

[QUOTE=reapaninja;16102374]that chart looks horribly biased, 4870 matches the 260, it's too much of a coincidence that is beats EVERYTHING by nvidia[/QUOTE]

But it supports the arguement of ATI's better for price :downs:

[Reapaninja]

fffffff everyone postin' so fast

[BricknHead]

My monitor is 5:4 1280*1024, so I have no need for cards that perform better at higher resolutions

it'd be nice in case of an upgrade but this monitor has served me pretty well, and I don't have any extreme desire to go to widescreen really

I'll wait till I'm forced to when 16:9 is the standard for games

[A White Guy]

Get the 275, heres some more comparison from Tomshardware

[url]http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/charts/gaming-graphics-cards-charts-2009-high-quality/compare,1319.html?prod[/url][2554]=on&prod[2572]=on

[spacedooky]

[QUOTE=BricknHead;16102412]My monitor is 5:4 1280*1024, so I have no need for cards that perform better at higher resolutions

it'd be nice in case of an upgrade but this monitor has served me pretty well, and I don't have any extreme desire to go to widescreen really

I'll wait till I'm forced to when 16:9 is the standard for games[/QUOTE]

In that case you probably won't need anything more powerful than a 4830 or 9800GT. I dunno what the GTS equivalent is, Nvidia has the shittiest naming scheme now.

[BricknHead]

It's not my priority, rather

I'd prefer something that will exceed my expectations than just do "what I need," simply because I may want something more powerful after I'm not satisfied with that.

IE looking for something that can run normal games brilliantly, and something that will run the top of the line games fairly well

so far, that looks like the 4870

[Prismatex]

If I were you, I'd get a 4870 1GB or a GTX 275.

[BricknHead]

+ that lifetime warranty looks like a definite plus (reading on the XFX site now)