What card upgrade from 7900GT?

[mlk3454]

Well I have been enjoying my 7900 for games like counter strike but it now crashes whenever I load it so it is time to replace it. I was limited with that card for pretty much all of the newer games and I want to putt less than $200 into a card that will work well with my system and also be better with some of the newer games. Any and all suggestions are welcomed. My rig specs are in my sig.

 

[MarcVenice]

What resolution you playing at? 9800gt for $100 won't break the bank, nor will it break performance records, but still blows away your old 7900 ... For a little more you could get a HD4850, pretty good for 1680*1050 and lower. If you want a little more performance, you're looking at a HD4870 for $220 or so, or a gtx260 216sp. With some hots deals, those last 2 can sometimes be had for less then $200.

 

[mlk3454]

I like to play at 1280x1024. My old 20" Dell LCD will be replaced this black friday so I may move into the wide screen sizes then. But until then I am looking for a new vid card so I can get back to my games!

I am unsure what is what now and who has better cards out. Should I lean more towards NVIDIA as my mobo has designed for it or is ATI taking the cake for the newer cards?

 

[Denithor]

Motherboard makes no difference.

EVGA 9800GT $110AR (55nm, single-slot cooler)
Asus 9800GT $110AR (quiet aftermarket cooler)

HIS 4830 $120AR

Powercolor 4850 $140AR (DVI - Display Port - HDMI)
Sapphire 4850 $140AR

All of these cards have free shipping.

EDIT: Anything much higher than 4850 will be crippled by your rather slow cpu. Get a newer card, maybe look at overclocking your cpu and expect for the next "upgrade" to be a full rebuild.

 

[MarcVenice]

I'd get a 4850, especially if you're looking into buying a new monitor, or your new videocard might become obsolete very fast

 

[mlk3454]

Thanks for the help guys! The Powercolor 4850 is looking like the winner!

 

[MarcVenice]

Btw, a HD4850 is going to play most games just fine at 1600*1200, which is the resolution of your monitor, right? So do play at 1600*1200, it'll look so much better then 1280*1024 ...

 

[mlk3454]

Yes, the monitor I have now is native at 1600/1200 but didn't play the best before so I never did play at that setting. I am looking at a 22" wide screen for its replacement.

 

[mlk3454]

Another question, if a video card doesn't accept any drivers other than what was provided on the original install disk, is that an issue with the video card or something else?

 

[GundamSonicZeroX]

Originally posted by: mlk3454
Another question, if a video card doesn't accept any drivers other than what was provided on the original install disk, is that an issue with the video card or something else?

Did you use Driver Cleaner (or an equivalent program) before installing the new video crad driver?

 

[mlk3454]

I recently reformatted and had previously downloaded the newest driver on the EVGA website. It went through the install just fine (no previous forceware installed) and when I rebooted as prompted it noted that it was installed but I didn't have any nvidia options when right clicking the screen, I didn't have the nvidia tray icon with options, and when looking at the devide in properties the card was not found.

However when I uninstalled those drivers (witout driver cleaner) and installed the old forceware from the install disc it works fine. I then tried update the drivers to another new set of forceware but different from those I got from the evga site and got the same issue of the card not being found....when re-installing the disc forceware we are back in business. I dont get it.