Best Video Card on the Market?

[Cheerios]

I got an 8800 GTS 640 mb and it gets the job done very nicely. Pretty expensive, though :/

[Dexster]

another thing to think about...

my secondary box is nothing special (intel core duo2 2.4 ghz, 2 GB Ram, using a 7900GT OC I can run 2 windows of FFXI with locked FPS in Bazaar land (ya its not to hardcore of a zone to be in but it shows this game doesnt require to much to cap it out.) Yes my settings are optimized (Im running @ 1920x1200)

[Vinen]

Some* cases then, and yes, it does.

I've never seen benchmarks where it outperformed a GTX. 640mb GTS, yes.. GTX no.

[Weltall]

Look harder.

[Jotaru]

I've never seen benchmarks where it outperformed a GTX. 640mb GTS, yes.. GTX no.

FFS, its not even hard to find. Heard of Tom's? Its one of the major benchmark sites, and it will show you more than one occasion where a GT outperforms a GTX.

[Kooldac]

ffxi is known to have problems with 8X00 nvidia cards

Since I kinda quit I don't know if this has changed really, but this was my issue for my 8800 GTS. I would research this some before even considering any nVidia 8X00.

[Izzy]

In case you didn't see the previous warnings:

DO NOT GET AN 8X00 CARD IF YOU INTEND TO PLAY FFXI. I AM DEAD SERIOUS!!!!

I'd go with an ATI if you intend to play FFXI. I never have ANY graphical glitches with any of my 3 ATI cards, but my nVidia 6600 and nVidia 8600 have LOADS of random issues. (probley wouldn't have them if I played FFXI without windower, but fuck that.)

[Grievear]

Nvidia doesn't like FFXI

Back when I used to play my 6800GT would slow down and glitch up whenever a fire spell was cast. The card I had before 9800 Pro was perfect and kept the game maxed even though the 6800GT was supposed to be a better card.

[Skyylya]

while I agree the 8800GTX is probably one of if not the best video card available to the common consumer...

ATI does have a 1500 dollar video card with 1 gig RAM and would have to be the best card on the market.

[Yangsing]

Why would anyone get a new card to play ffxi

[Grievear]

while I agree the 8800GTX is probably one of if not the best video card available to the common consumer...

ATI does have a 1500 dollar video card with 1 gig RAM and would have to be the best card on the market.

They both have high end graphics workstation cards, some of which cost $3,000+

They are made for rendering and AutoCAD applications and suck for gaming. Right now the best GAMING Video card is the 8800Ultra.

[Avanarius]

You're only badass when you're running on the mother fucking Black Pearl

[Dexster]

um... Nvidia sponsored FFXI... They made shirts / posters advertising the products together....

The 8x00s issue should be fixed by now. It was identified a few months back. Be more concerned with Vista than an 8x00 series. Fuck ATI... They haven't made anything that competes with Geforce for years... I think the closest was the 1800s vs the 7800s (forget exact numbers but it was years ago.)

[Amele]

as far as I know. 99% of nVidia issues were resolved with the forceware release in June of 2007.

I don't have an 8X00 (I use a pair of 7900GTX SLI; I don't recommend them btw, one of the ICs is prone to overheating failures, I've had to RMA three cards now.)

most remaining problems are either windower specific or vista specific. if you're moderately technical getting an 8x00 is a fine choice. if you're not technical at all you might do better getting a crossfire setup for a pair of 180$ ATI cards.

you'll need a new motherboard either way

[Skyylya]

while I agree the 8800GTX is probably one of if not the best video card available to the common consumer...

ATI does have a 1500 dollar video card with 1 gig RAM and would have to be the best card on the market.

They both have high end graphics workstation cards, some of which cost $3,000+

They are made for rendering and AutoCAD applications and suck for gaming. Right now the best GAMING Video card is the 8800Ultra.

for the record I run an 8800GTX 768mb card that's absolutely flawless on everything i've tried, including FFXI.

[Lordwafik]

Why would anyone get a new card to play ffxi

Because the card choice still effects how the game is run, despite contrary beleif.

[Yangsing]

New 8800GTS (G92 based) review: http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1234/ ... index.html

Not bad...

[mootsfox]

It basically goes like this:
8800 GTX > HD 3870 > HD 3850 > 8800 GT > other stuff.
$500 > $210 > $180 > $300

You decide.

Agreed.

And FFXI performance is based upon CPU almost completely, a new C2D or C2Q (although the game will only run on one core) would be a good upgrade.

The HD3870 and HD3850 are the same exact core, but have different memory sizes and clock speeds. The 8800GTX, 8800GT and the new 8800GTS512 beat the HD38x0 series, but almost cost $100-300 more, and only net about 1-10% more performance.

[Amele]

I'm tired of people saying 'is based almost completely on cpu'. when what is really accurate would be "Is typically cpu limited".

if you have a core2duo but a TNT2 pci graphics card. your graphics will still suck. both pieces can be the weakest link; it is just more common for the cpu to be the one you need to improve.

and even when the cpu is the one you need to improve - you will still see performance gains going from an older card to a newer one. or going from single to SLI. (one of the previous threads on this sort of topic has a post from me about performance gains between various cpu and gpu upgrades that I have done.)

[Zigma]

I'm am a fan of ATI but not a fanboy. the 3870 is seriously the best bang for the buck right now hands down and I purchased it for only $210 Retail. So what if it is slower than the 8800. Does it really matter when you're already playing at a high frame rate? I don't think so.