Planning a video upgrade?..You might want to wait

[Kalean]

Return that second card ASAP as Howling said..the 8600 GTS is not the best choice for gaming. It was scrutinized upon first release along with the 2600 series for not being good midrange performance cards...And now, ATI/AMD have completely re-released their midrange as well...and picking up a second 8600 GTS in this day and age isn't the best idea.

Next time though, when you plan to upgrade, ask around on the forums here since we can help you out on a more informed decision...But as Howling said, wait till next month, the r700 series from ATI should be out towards the end of the month, or early the next. The new cards from Nvidia will be around July....BTW WoW is not a demanding game, so if you played Aion, I'm sorry to say the graphics performance would actually drop by quite a big margin...So just wait for the new r700 series at least before you decide to upgrade, and if waiting for GT200 is too long of a wait for you, you could just pick up a current generation card...Keep in mind that ATI releases a ranged line up most of the time, so it should fall well within multiple budgets, but nvidia's cards will be high end first...so expect to pay a pretty penny for those.

[Rengoku]

i really want to learn how to understand video card specs so i can make an imformed choice on my own.
anyway i need to upgrade my card. its an fx5200 256 meg ram card.
anyway i wont be able to spend more than 150 at the most on a new vid card. any suggestion on which to get. id like to take advantage of my pci-e x16 slot.
also any links to good sources of info would be great.

[Howling]

www.tomshardware.com
HotHardware.com - Technology Tested and Burned In

It's not just about the cards specs though, else there'd be no need for all this benchmarking to determine the cards power.. It's mostly to do with the architecture... A card with a 3423789047389257ghz core but the worse architecture in the world would fail against a 700mhz core with good architecture (for example).
Mostly if you want to be able to make informed choices, you have to regularly keep on top of what archtictures offer good results - and then look at the card specs.

Or just look at one of the above sites and see how well the card does in a benchmark. lol

[Kalean]

In regards to your budget, luckily you said 150...That would be atm the best budget to get the best bang per buck. The 9600 GT would do you great justice. Just stick with EVGA or XFX, lifetime warranties and special programs are always sexy ^_^.

But as howling state, it takes more then just specs, you also need to understand the market and what is coming out in the near future...Such as buying a high end card right now might be pointless considering ATI are releasing their new architecture next month, with nvidia following suite in 3 months....So why spend 600 or so when the new card mights dominate it in terms of performance?...money not well spent...There are a lot of factors to consider. But for your budget and current technology..the 9600 GT would be ideal ^_^.

[Rengoku]

thanks a bunch guys ill be taking a look at those sites as soon as i can.
i just did a bit of searching for the card mentioned and i can only seem to find prices around 179-200 depending on the brand. where do you recomend i purchase it from?

[Kalean]

Unfortunately, the biggest computer component E-tailer newegg marked up the price...As you can see..

Newegg.com - EVGA 512-P3-N861-AR GeForce 9600GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

Newegg.com - XFX PVT94PYDE4 GeForce 9600GT Extreme 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

....They were 149.99 a week or so ago...But you can pick up the EVGA model from tigerdirect for 150 still.

EVGA GeForce 9600 GT Video Card - 512MB GDDR3, PCI Express 2.0, SLI Ready, (Dual Link) Dual DVI, HDTV 512-P3-N861-AR at TigerDirect.com

In regards to the special programs I spoke of...EVGA would suit you the best with their 3 month step up programs. Basically, you have 3 months after you buy the card and register it on their website, if you want, you can trade in your card for something better to EVGA....You just have to pay the difference between the cards. This will allow you to upgrade to something better if you wish as you save up some more cash, or something new comes out. It MIGHT make it in time for Nvidia's new highends coming, but that is if they are not delayed...Might be favorable too you if you want to save up some more cash and step up to their new high ends..although expect to pay a pretty penny =P.

[Rengoku]

k thanks so much. also i found out that bfg also has a step up program no it lasts 100 days.

[Kalean]

Hollllyyyy snap ^_^...BFG has jumped on board ^.^. They didn't use to have it, glad to see that considering BFG makes quality cards. Now if only ATI partners would follow suite -_-...

[Rengoku]

ive never used a radeon card as i had at one point heard bad thing. ive always used gforce not for any technical reason as i know almost nothing about them. i remember hearing they have a much different way of rendering graphics than geforce which can sometimes depending on the aplication be uf poorer quality than geforce. but again i know nothing. that will soon change though.

[Kalean]

ATI > Nvidia

ATI offers better driver support, better video/3d visual quality, and a overall better multi gpu platform. Crossfire is open platform, meaning any chipset can use it, Nvidia, Intel, AMD...The works. It also scales better, Take two 3870's and throw them in a crossfire setup for comparison against a nvidia based dual gpu solution. You'll notice that the ATI solution actually has a larger percentage increase in performance...The only downside with ATI = lack of lifetime warranties/special programs through their partners, as well as the fact that they don't have a very competitive single gpu design solution atm.

I'm surprised you never went ATI...ATI has had the crown for many years, and in the past years, Nvidia's performance/visual quality was laughable (Fx 5xxx days =P). the 9800 pro, x800, x1950...All top crowned winners in performance/visual quality...But it didn't last into this generation for performance unfortunately =(.

[Rengoku]

truthfully i was computer iliterate for most of my life. i didnt get access to a computer in my hoeme until i moved in with my friend back in 2001. after we went our ways i was given a off the shelf hand me down hp something or other. amd athlone 1.3 ghz everything on board with pc 133. i used that for like 6 years before i got my current set up. intel core 2 e4400@1.8 with geforce fx 5200 256 meg card 1 gig ddr2 ram. since i got my first computer i have been learning all i can. never really had the money or interest to buy a video card. the fx was the first one i bought and ive only really had 1 other a geforce 2. hence why i want to learn more about graphics cards. dont get me wrong im no slouch when it comes to some things but as i said im trying to learn. i figure if i can learn how to rebuild an engine i can learn about technical specifications of computers and components. oh and that vid card i got in o7 it wanst anywhere near top of the line but it was all i could afford.

[Duine]

Thanks for the feedback,

The card has been returned and I eagerly await the new architecture to be tested against each other.

I am somewhat worried that upgrading to this vastly superior technology will cause a "chokepoint" to form somewhere in my system. Is there a website with information on identifying chokepoints that you know of? I would like to try and simulate the new architecture (or at least the current best) to determine that I won't need new processors or motherboards for the video card to be happy.

Sorry if this is a stupid question, I just know that sometimes upgrading one piece can lead to forced upgrades of other things to get that one piece to work properly >.<

[Kalean]

Duine, your system will NOT be a choking point, you have a VERY capable system. an E6850 is still considered a top end purchase. ^_^....So rest easy and don't worry about it ^.^

The only upgrade I'd suggest is going for 4gb of ram down the road if you have a 64 bit OS...but it is not needed, games are getting closer or breaking the 2gb barrier, the more ram, the more secure you'll be down the road =P....But I'd say just try it out first and check your ram usage before you decide to upgrade....Considering that we'll have Nehalem in Q1 2009, not point in wasting money if it will get you by without worries.

[Dygit]

New information in the original post.

[Marady]

Updated ATI release dates, price points, etc:
TG Daily - ATI Radeon 4800 launch details: Meet (Terry) Makedon and Trojan (Horse)

"According To AMD’s current introduction schedule, the Radeon 4800 series will launch in week 25, which puts the day of the introduction somewhere between June 15 and June 22. What is significant about this time frame is that ATI will trail Nvidia and their new high-end chip GT200."

"In terms of performance, we heard some interesting claims. A 4870 should perform on par with or better than a dual-chip 3870 X2. Our sources explained to us that using a PCIe Gen1 controller 3870 X2 was a mistake, since the board was hungry for data and didn't sync well with this interface. Don’t expect the ATI team to repeat that mistake with the 4870 X2. However, we admit that we have no idea what kind of connection two RV770 GPUs will have."

"Let’s talk about pricing. AMD decided to remain aggressive in an effort to win back market share. Pricing is actually set to a point where Nvidia is unlikely to be able to compete (that is at least what somebody is hoping for). Pricing guidelines are not finalized at this time, but according to several sources, the Radeon 4850 will succeed the 3850 512MB and should cost about $189-$219 at launch. Our sources indicated that 4870 GDDR5 cards will cost between $249 and $279, but somehow we feel that AMD might aim go for $199 and $249 at launch."