game freaks: which video card to buy???
 

I'm looking around for a new pc, wanna make it fast and very smooth for gaming (halflife2-capable)

What's my best choice for the graphic card? I've been looking at benchmarks and I'm pretty sure I will take an ATI card but not sure which one... I'm kinda doubting between:

ATI Radeon 9800PRO 128MB AGP
ATI Radeon X600XT 256MB PCI-Express

I'm not sure which one will do better tho, the first is AGP but runs 128mb and the second runs 256mb but is PCI.

Any experts wanna help me out???
(recommend another card if it's better)

Go fo X600XT, 256 mbs will definitely work in new games...:ak47:

argh, alienware.com is bad for me

I just configured a PC for $14,516.00

:1orglaugh

:eek7 :Hollering

Nvidia 6800 ULTRA kicks ass on any ATI card right now, fastest video cared EVER

bumpage

Heard good shit about the 9800 PRO


however I never play games myself so I have no clue :glugglug

save your money and just spend $200 on a playstation 2, computers shouldn't be overglorified video game systems

wait for geforce 6800 gt or geforce 6800 ultra pci-express

And in 3 years Wal-Mart will sell a similar computer for $500.

Since you're looking in the mainstream pricerange, there's nothing that even comes close to the 6600GT at the moment for ~$200.

At the highend ($400-$600) the ATI vs Nvidia conflict is basically a tie this round, with small advantages to one or the other depending on what game you're playing.

FYI - the 6800 series all have an unrepairable defect in the hardware video acceleration (fixed in the more recenty released 6600's), so if you're doing video editing go with the x800's instead.

yep. thats what i got now (agp version). its awesome.

Actually they're $150 and now come with the network adapter included. Better yet save that and wait until next year at this time and get a PS3.

on the console advices:
I have the same opinion, that's why I have a PS2 and Xbox already :) shame is some games are still pc exclusive (like halflife2) plus these kind of games are better played with keyboard an mouse IMO.

Thanks for the Nvidia advice, you've convinced me to look into those cards too.

:thumbsup

Geforce 6800 Ultra will last for at least 3 years.

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5900 Ultra ( 256 Mb )
Im having a ball with it.

I'm using the 9800 and I get superb frame rates.