what kind of card should i get?

997 Views 24 Replies 9 Participants Last post by tanderson, Dec 13, 2009

tanderson

Discussion Starter · Dec 3, 2009

i have a gigabyte mobo and a q8200 processor plan on getting new ram here soon as well.
but right now i desperately need a new graphix card. anyone wanna recommend a really good one for about $100-$150?
and the HDMI ports on the cards... can you run your monitor just from the port im guessing or do you also need VGA plugged in to?

Thanks!

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youra6

· #2 · Dec 3, 2009

any preference on ATI or Nvidia?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102864

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133266

The ATI is a better card

That depends if your monitor is digital or analog. If its a fairly new LCD, it will have DVI, HDMI, or

both. You will need a HDMI to HDMI or a HDMI to DVI cable depending on which output your TV has.

Older LCD's only have VGA so you will have to buy HMDI to DVI then buy a DVI-VGA converter...

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Phaedrus2129

· #3 · Dec 3, 2009

Yeah, a Radeon 5750 or 5770, or a GTS250. That's about the best you'll do for $150.

Gizmo

· #4 · Dec 3, 2009

HDMI will work fine with an ATi card. Nvidia will require a SPDIF jumper from mobo to video card.

KloroFormd

· #5 · Dec 3, 2009

You won't need to run a VGA cable if using HDMI or DVI.

If you get a card with HDMI and your monitor is DVI, your card will probably come with an adapter that will not degrade image quality at all. The video portion of DVI and HDMI is identical.

tanderson

Discussion Starter · #6 · Dec 3, 2009

hey guys, thanks for the quick replies. i have a 22'' LCD TV which i will use as my monitor. so it does have HDMI and i have the HDMI cable already.
Thanks for the responses again. i will look into both the cards!
And also do you know if my board will support it? i believe its SLI and Crossfire ready but not positive, do ya'll happen to know?

tanderson

Discussion Starter · #7 · Dec 3, 2009

and also, when i search that in google to compare prices i get all kinds of different cards (the SAPPHIRE Radeon card, that is) so whats the difference in them all and why are they all the same name but different company it seems?
Thanks!

youra6

· #8 · Dec 3, 2009

no your card does not support crossfire

Those are just vendors. Simply put, Nvidia, ATI designs the chips and companies like EVGA and Sapphire sell them to the consumer or sometime to corporate companies.

The cost depends on the brand, some are better than others, i prefer sapphire as one of the better ATI vendors

Vendors can also "tweak" the clocks and specification, ie: a sapphire 4870 may have lower clock speeds then vendor X, etc

Or they may superclock the card by increasing factory clocks thanks to different card layout, different chip coolers, and different RAM chips

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D3FiN3 SiN

· #9 · Dec 3, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by youra6

View Post

any preference on ATI or Nvidia?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102864

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133266

The ATI is a better card

That depends if your monitor is digital or analog. If its a fairly new LCD, it will have DVI, HDMI, or

both. You will need a HDMI to HDMI or a HDMI to DVI cable depending on which output your TV has.

Older LCD's only have VGA so you will have to buy HMDI to DVI then buy a DVI-VGA converter...

Oh no, not the revision 2 5770 cooler! That thing is a death trap!

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youra6

· #10 · Dec 3, 2009

2

Quote:

Originally Posted by firestormcomputers

View Post

Oh no, not the revision 2 5770 cooler! That thing is a death trap!

lol I dont know anything about it. My point was to show him a 5770, not specifically that one

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tanderson

Discussion Starter · #11 · Dec 3, 2009

well from the looks of it that sapphire looks good and i am interested in it but you're saying my Motherboard wont support it? so i shouldnt bother looking more into it eh?

youra6

· #12 · Dec 3, 2009

no your mobo will support the card, it just wont support another one in Crossfire

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tanderson

Discussion Starter · #13 · Dec 3, 2009

oh okay, great! yeah i just want one, not 2. haha maybe in a couple years ill begin really upgrading a lot. thanks for the help though, appreciate it!

tanderson

Discussion Starter · #14 · Dec 4, 2009

okay cool understand what you mean by the vendors putting their names on it, so does it mean one vendor is better than another or roughly their all the same just some more trusted than the others? and so if i were to get the hd 5770 i wouldnt want revision 2 id want the first edition?

tanderson

Discussion Starter · #15 · Dec 7, 2009

bump

jdawg34520

· #16 · Dec 9, 2009

u should check out the 9800 gtx+ i got it for 60$ on ebay and its a great card

tanderson

Discussion Starter · #17 · Dec 9, 2009

well from what ive been reading around the forums i think i may go with the 4890 since the difference in performance over that and the 5770 isnt much and i heard the 4890 performs better what do ya'll think?

tanderson

Discussion Starter · #18 · Dec 11, 2009

bump

sting_rayz

· #19 · Dec 11, 2009

4890 is a great card, I actually just went back down to one after I sold my 5870 crossfire setup. I picked up this Sapphire Vapor-x 4890 on eBay for $150. That according to your OP is in your budget and with a little luck and patience you can find one in that price range. Check around the for sale threads here and other places of choice for a used one. I'm just using it until I know for sure what/when Fermi is going to be or I can't fight the urge to get a 5950, whichever comes first.

tanderson

Discussion Starter · #20 · Dec 11, 2009

yeah im thinking of either the 4890 or 5770, ive read that if you crossfire 5770's they're absolutely great. but id have to wait for another 3 months to get a new mobo to support crossfire, and ive heard the 5770 is less heat so runs cooler and uses less voltage. which isnt too much of a problem. but just seems like a better card for me at the moment and if i do decide to go crossfire march will be when it happens. thanks for the input ill still be looking at deals to see which one i can snag cheaper when the time comes!

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