What's a good single-slot video card?

[Penth]

I've got 3 monitors, 2 20" 1600x1200 monitors and one 30" 2560x1600 monitor. Right now I'm running the 30" and one 20" off of a 7900GTO and the other off of a 6600GT. The 6600GT just died (I won't buy MSI cards anymore, I bought like 5 of these video cards and every one of them had a fan go bad, two of them had the fan go bad more than once.)

Anyway, I'm looking to replace it and possibly the 7900GTO with new cards. I don't game very often but I might if I had an SLI setup good enough for the 30" monitor. The problem is I can't fit dual-slot cards in my case/motherboard and also I don't game at all right now, so spending $500-600 on a couple of video cards isn't gonna happen. I'll just stick to my xbox if there's nothing that fits the bill right now.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Oh yeah, I prefer nvidia but if ATI has a card that is a way better deal I might go that way. I also plan on upgrading my X2 to a Core i7 sometime this year so hopefully these video cards would move to a new system without holding it back too much.

I found this 9800GT on newegg. Is this a decent card or should I keep looking?

 

[toyota]

well if the rest of you system is anywhere near as old that 6600gt then you are unlikely to see many benefits of good card. as usual its best to list ALL your specs when asking a hardware question. I know you said you will be upgrading to an i7 system but you didnt exactly make that look like it was a concrete plan.

 

[edplayer]

Originally posted by: Penth
I found this 9800GT on newegg. Is this a decent card or should I keep looking?

Yes that is a decent card. Price is decent also


4830 seem to be the best bang 4 the buck right now though. Newegg has a Powercolor for $80 and a Sapphire for $75 right now (both w rebate and the sapphire also has free shipping)

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Edplayer, i absolutely agree with your sig.

And yes, I just put in a good 12-16 hours figuring out which video card would be the best for my needs and my pocketbook, and it was clear all along. The 4830 is the absolute best bang for your buck out there. At $75 it trounces even those $45 8800gs's of this past holiday season. The 4830 is almost up there with the 9800GTX, and soundly beats the 9800gt.

 

[error8]

4830 it's equal with 9800 GT and doesn't "soundly beats" it.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Originally posted by: error8
4830 it's equal with 9800 GT and doesn't "soundly beats" it.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardwa...radeon-hd-4830-512mb/1

Always 5-20% better then the 8800GT and trading punches with the 9800GTX, i'd say so.

 

[error8]

Judging by this review http://www.guru3d.com/article/...eview-his-technology/9 , they looked pretty equal to me, wining in some benchmarks and loosing in others. But both of these reviews are old and I can't seem to find a more recent one. Since drivers have improved in both camps, the situation might be different today. I still feel that these cards are quite equal, the only thing that makes you choose one over the other should be the price.

 

[Penth]

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
Edplayer, i absolutely agree with your sig.

And yes, I just put in a good 12-16 hours figuring out which video card would be the best for my needs and my pocketbook, and it was clear all along. The 4830 is the absolute best bang for your buck out there. At $75 it trounces even those $45 8800gs's of this past holiday season. The 4830 is almost up there with the 9800GTX, and soundly beats the 9800gt.

Thanks for the tip. I'll check out the 4830. You gotta balance that time spent researching though. If I was gonna spend 16 hours on something I'd just work and buy one that was 3x as much.

Anyway, I used to be an upgrade nut but when I got my X2 and 30" monitor a few years ago the upgrade bug went away and is just now starting to come back. I'm actually fine to wait a few more months for the full system upgrade but a secondary computer that also had a 6600GT in it is the one that died and I figure if I'm gonna replace a video card it might as well be the one in my computer.

Specs are:

X2 3800+
2GB RAM
DFI LanParty NF4 UT
74GB Raptor
2x250GB Seagates
7900GTO
6600GT
30" 3007WFP
2 x 20" 2007FP
Windows 7

Also, one other question. Would I be better off to just get one card and wait for DX11 cards? I'm pretty sure when I upgrade to a Core i7 I'll have it for a few years again without upgrading.

 

[toyota]

Originally posted by: Penth

Originally posted by: Scholzpdx
Edplayer, i absolutely agree with your sig.

And yes, I just put in a good 12-16 hours figuring out which video card would be the best for my needs and my pocketbook, and it was clear all along. The 4830 is the absolute best bang for your buck out there. At $75 it trounces even those $45 8800gs's of this past holiday season. The 4830 is almost up there with the 9800GTX, and soundly beats the 9800gt.

Thanks for the tip. I'll check out the 4830. You gotta balance that time spent researching though. If I was gonna spend 16 hours on something I'd just work and buy one that was 3x as much.

Anyway, I used to be an upgrade nut but when I got my X2 and 30" monitor a few years ago the upgrade bug went away and is just now starting to come back. I'm actually fine to wait a few more months for the full system upgrade but a secondary computer that also had a 6600GT in it is the one that died and I figure if I'm gonna replace a video card it might as well be the one in my computer.

Specs are:

X2 3800+
2GB RAM
DFI LanParty NF4 UT
74GB Raptor
2x250GB Seagates
7900GTO
6600GT
30" 3007WFP
2 x 20" 2007FP
Windows 7

Also, one other question. Would I be better off to just get one card and wait for DX11 cards? I'm pretty sure when I upgrade to a Core i7 I'll have it for a few years again without upgrading.

the 4830 is a great card for the money but you arent going to get all the performance it is capable of with your current cpu especially in newer titles. I would still get it but just be prepared that you are not going to match the reviewers gaming benchmarks and your minimum framerates will be quite low in newer more demanding games.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: Penth
Thanks for the tip. I'll check out the 4830. You gotta balance that time spent researching though. If I was gonna spend 16 hours on something I'd just work and buy one that was 3x as much.

If you are just replacing the 6600GT, then you'll need to stay with NVIDIA. If you are replacing both 7900GTO and 6600GT, then you could pick up two ATI cards.

Windows Vista (thus Windows 7) does not support mixed display adapters using WDDM. Both display adapters must use the same driver.