Red_Scare

For the past five months, I have been using an MSI 8500GT for light gaming and general use. It has served me quite well with absolutely no issues. However, I'm now getting into more serious gaming, and my 8500GT simply is not sufficient. I can not currently afford a high-end card, but I would like to reap as much quality and performance as possible from the money I have.

Now, that brings me to a tough decision. I could simply add another 8500GT and go SLI, but I have the impression that a higher quality card would be more beneficial in this situation. As a result, I have been looking around on Newegg for a decent, yet cheap card that would be a significant improvement over two 8500GTs. I came across the Sapphire X1950XTX, which I understand is a rather powerful card for its time. Now, my motherboard supports SLI but not Crossfire, so I would not have any expandability with this route. Would the ATI card be a better buy than another 8500GT, or should I go SLI? Should I instead get a Radeon 2000, or perhaps an 8600GTS? I have a limited budget and would not like to spend much more than one hundred dollars. Keep in mind that I couldn't care less whether I have DX10 or not. Thank you very much.

Tricky

X1950XTX will be the better choice. It will outperform two 8500GT's by a longshot.


EDIT: You could get yourself a 9600GT That would be great too.

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tehmaggot

I just upgraded from an ATi Radeon x1950XTX.. It is a great card, and will play pretty much anything with respectable settings on most resolutions (I've tested on 1680x1050). Although, after seeing the gap between my 1950xtx and this 8800gt, I'd definitely suggest saving up some extra cash and going for the long haul.

If the 9600GT fits your budget, I'd recommend that for sure

Lemondrips

EVGA 9600GT - $150 (Free Shipping + $10 Mail in Rebate = $140) This would be WELL worth a extra $40 by far.

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Red_Scare

Thanks for the suggestions; I'll keep it in mind. That would be good because I could go SLI with another 9600GT later. Is the X1950XTX good as far as drivers are concerned?

tehmaggot

Drivers are absolutely matured for that card, I had no issues whatsoever.

TnB= Gir

Yep, I had an x1950xt and that thing was a damn workhorse. My favorite gpu I've ever owned.

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Red_Scare

That's good. I've heard that ATI cards generally aren't as good as nvidia's.

tehmaggot

That's neither here nor there, the 1950xtx is a card from roughly three years ago, and it's still a champ by today's standards. It's a competition with these cards, one takes the top over the other and eventually it switches.

Penicilyn

Many people will disagree with you on that, I would be one of them.


However, the 9600GT would be a great card for you.


GIGABYTE GV-NX96T512H-B GeForce 9600GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125090
$124.99

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