best video card for your money?

[Zimbabwe Justice]

I am looking for something that can play FFXI, WoW, TF2, and Left 4 Dead. What would be best for my money? I only have about $106 in the bank. I currently have an Nvidia Geforce 8600 GT and it has worked quite well for me, but it broke on me and no longer works at all.

[Jotaru]

8800GT and never turn back!

[Stromgarde]

8800GT and never turn back!

He said he wants to play FFXI.

If you don't want the possibility of major framerate problems, go with a Radeon. I hear the Radeon HD 4850 is pretty nice.

[Cephius]

8800GT and never turn back!

You're off by about 3 months.

The Radeon HD4850/70 are the best bang for your buck these days. That said, $106 isn't getting you anything good. Save up 200 and get the HD4850.

[Epical]

What Ceph said. If you're really strapped for cash and can only spend what you've outlined, go with a 4830.

[Jotaru]

He said he wants to play FFXI.

Hm? I've never once had an issue with mine

[Stromgarde]

It's not universal to everyone, but I've seen enough accounts of people having problems with nVidia, and the 8800 in particular to issue caution. It seems to be tied to the 8800+Vista, but why take risks when you don't have to?

[theo]

The nVidia 9500GT has been working well for me, and it was sub-$100. No framerate problems in ffxi so far. But, that Radeon HD4850 card looks really nice too.

[Shuemue]

Find an extra $25 and buy this; Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100245L Radeon HD 4850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

[Reality]

4850, 4830 if you can't afford the 4850 (it's physically the same exact card, but with slower clock speeds on the GPU and Memory)

[Isiolia]

You may find a good deal on a 9800GT, which is just an 8800GT under a new name. A 4830 is comparable, and generally in the same price range, though I think the nVidias had more rebates available.
A 4850 or 9800GTX if you can spend a little more, 4870 or 9800GTX+ if more still >.>

That being said, any of those cost more than you mention having, especially if you factor in shipping.

[Khalil]

On a somewhat related note, I bough a 9800 GTX+ about 3 months ago and ever since I formatted my PC and installed it with my ASUS M3N-HT Deluxe Mempipe MOBO, I've been getting hiccups after being in a crowded area for more than 15mins. Now, I had the 8600 GTS with a different MOBO before I upgraded several things in my PC and it worked fine. For the 8600 GTS, I had installed the old drivers of 169.17 for nVidia and everything was fine, no lag issues with Ballad or Firaga III. But, now everything has gone to the shitter.

[Cephius]

On a somewhat related note, I bough a 9800 GTX+ about 3 months ago and ever since I formatted my PC and installed it with my ASUS M3N-HT Deluxe Mempipe MOBO, I've been getting hiccups after being in a crowded area for more than 15mins. Now, I had the 8600 GTS with a different MOBO before I upgraded several things in my PC and it worked fine. For the 8600 GTS, I had installed the old drivers of 169.17 for nVidia and everything was fine, no lag issues with Ballad or Firaga III. But, now everything has gone to the shitter.

What driver version are you using?

[Khalil]

Currently, I'm using the 175.16 for the 9800 GTX+. I've tried most of the beta ones but they have all sucked

[Cephius]

Try 174.74, that's the driver I had the most success with back in the day. I still see it on the Nvidia website.

[Khalil]

Ok. I'll give it a try.

[Khalil]

Yeah, the drivers worked perfectly. Thanks!