so who here keeps up on video cards?

[Grandpa Stu]

my ASUS 9600GT pooped out on me a week or so ago. i sent it back to newegg as an RMA but they no longer carry the card or have one with similar specs. so now i get to pick a card that's around the original price point of $115. part of the reason i got the card in the first place was because i wanted something decent with HDMI out. having used the HDMI only once it's not a "must have" feature anymore but it would still be nice to retain that functionality.

i've heard some good things about the 200 series nvidia cards but i don't know what the overlap is there with the 9000 series. i've tried looking at benchmarks but those things have become such esoteric clusterfucks that i have no idea what im looking for in a card that makes it better than another. should i go for a high end 9000 series or a mid to low range 200 series card? assuming they let me, i am willing to pay the balance for a slightly higher performing card assuming its justified bang/buck.

[AmIdYfReAk]

kind of an odd question, but do you actually use the audio portion of the HDMI?

if not then you can just get a simple DVI-> HDMI connector/adapter.

p.s. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gef ... 172-4.html

Ati 4870 or GTS 250...

[Captain]

GTX 275 = win

[Grandpa Stu]

good point about the dvi to hdmi. hdmi audio would be more of a long term potential use.

a gtx 275 would be nice but a bit out of my price range.

that ati card is pretty impressive looking especially for the price point. decisions decisions.

thanks btw.

[obsidian]

Does your motherboard/soundcard have a digital audio output? That would negate the need for HDMI (since that would just be a pass-through anyway).

I tend to lean towards nVidia (but not exclusively so), but currently ATI has the best bang-for-buck so to speak with the 4870. The GTS 250 is just a rebranded 9800 GTX.

If they let you, I'd step up to a GTX 260 for about $50 more.

[Plan B]

Rule of thumb regarding hardware purchases: don't get the latest, most expensive piece of kit; go with the product one or two generations before it, that has proven itself.
I mean, I've been running a GeForce 8800 GTS 640 for 2 years now, and am still very satisfied with it.
So yeah, I'd go with something in the lower range, overclockable, nvidia 200 Series.
Why nvidia? Because I have never run into compatibility issues with nvidia, as opposed to ati.

[Grandpa Stu]

as tempting as the ati card was i opted out of getting it for compatibility issues. i've had problems with them in the past as well whereas all the nvidia cards i've had ran flawless.

i ended up going with a 250. they wanted me to pay the difference for the 260 but the didn't mind footing the bill for the 250. either way it's still a better card than what i started out with and i didn't have to pay a dime the 250 also had a slightly smaller form factor than the 9800 which is a plus.

[Unisaw]

I just bought a new prebuilt system from Digital Storm with that card and in their forums it was described as "not that powerful". I got the system anyway. It will be a major upgrade from the GeForce 6600GT (128MB).