Video Card Price

[IAMTHEEMPEROR]

Hey, I need to upgrade my video card after the longest time. My computer can't handle all of these graphical improvement mods that I've gotten, and it's definately only my card dragging me down, as both my ram and processor meet Oblivion's standards. My game is running at the lowest resolution, texture detail is at medium, and HDR isn't even an available option for me. So I need to replace my crappy Radeon 9550 with a GeForce 8800 GT(what was it, GTX or GTS?).

I can play Oblivion at high with a lower card than that, but I never know what TESV may eventually throw at me.

So I'm pretty much wondering how much the 8800 might cost. I've looked on google and have gotten price ranges from $250 to $1500, so that's not much help. I can afford the $250, but anything above $400 is just too far out of my budget.

[Green @nt1-n00b]

I Have one question for you is your motherboard pci-e or agp as I do not belive the 8800 comes in an agp form. you can get ati's readeon x1900 gt for around $199.99 usd if the 8800 is too much 4 u. its a decent card. i have minor framerate loss problems with my x1800, which is a step below that one, runting oblivion on Psycoticly high (Quarls texturepack) and mmm and like 30 other mods(silgrad).

but the key is your graphics slot iate :goodjob: and ur budget

[Blue Shift]

My suggestion would be for you to buy a nvidia 7950 GT instead of an 8800. One of the big draws for the 8800 is that it's dx10 compatible, however microsoft has stated that dx10.1 (which'll be coming with vista SP1) will not be compatible with any current video cards. This means that directx 10.0 compatibility is no longer so big an asset. The 7950 can run qarl's tp3 at full blast easily, and with the addition of coolbits can support forced full-screen supersampling. (Do you remember those rough edges that remained even with anti-aliasing x8? They no longer exist.)
When I got my 7950 this january, it cost me about $300 USD. Unless I'm mistaken, it should be cheaper now.

If you get a 7950, you'll have 2 major brand options to choose from:
BFG: Compatible with ageia physX engine
XFX: Factory-overclocked, passive cooling, more impressive appearance

Both versions of the card are good; I honestly couldn't recommend one to you over the other. My XFX card looks extremely imposing with its giant assembly of pipes and fins (not to mention the fact that it never runs hot), but sometimes I miss the physics engine.










Edit: sorry, didnt realize this was an old thread

[IAMTHEEMPEROR]

Don't be sorry, I'm actually happy that someone finally replied to it

So the 7950, eh? Sounds cool, I'll look into it.