Best Video Card?, for CS:Source Options

[turtlekid75]

What's the best video card for cs source?

[vanish]

If you only play with the Source engine, get an ATI Xseries board. The best one, coming soon, would be the X850 XT Platinum Edition, with an MSRP of 550, i think. if you don't have that high of a budget, get the X800XL, which has great performance for 300 bucks. If you'll be playing Doom 3, however, i would recommend the BFG (nvidia core) 6800GT OC. 400 bucks, but one of the best cards you can buy at this point and a great card overall. will last you a long time.

[mechwarrior1989]

If you only play with the Source engine, get an ATI Xseries board. The best one, coming soon, would be the X850 XT Platinum Edition, with an MSRP of 550, i think. if you don't have that high of a budget, get the X800XL, which has great performance for 300 bucks. If you'll be playing Doom 3, however, i would recommend the BFG (nvidia core) 6800GT OC. 400 bucks, but one of the best cards you can buy at this point and a great card overall. will last you a long time.

You have to also remember that so far the X850 XT PE and the X800XL have only been announced for PCI-e, their AGP counterparts will not be coming out till march, that is if they decide to make them at all. You technically don't really need a 6800GT OC unless you're afraid of voiding your warentee since anyone can overclock by themselves. But it'll only give you a tiny boost in performance. If you want a great card for pretty low budget, the 9800pro will suit you just fine. It's last gen's top dog but for $200 you can't go wrong. Plus you can often get it for less than that so if you don't plan on upgrading too soon and don't want to spend too much then that's a great choice. BUT you could also get the 6800 like i've said before which is better than the 9800pro but costs a little more. The price should come down some more in a few months though with more pressure from other cards.

the expensive one.. the most expensive one

Expensive doesn't necessarily mean the best. Look at the workstation cards, those run at over $1,000 yet they're terrible for gaming. So price doesn't always mean good.

[vanish]

You have to also remember that so far the X850 XT PE and the X800XL have only been announced for PCI-e, their AGP counterparts will not be coming out till march, that is if they decide to make them at all. You technically don't really need a 6800GT OC unless you're afraid of voiding your warentee since anyone can overclock by themselves. But it'll only give you a tiny boost in performance. If you want a great card for pretty low budget, the 9800pro will suit you just fine. It's last gen's top dog but for $200 you can't go wrong. Plus you can often get it for less than that so if you don't plan on upgrading too soon and don't want to spend too much then that's a great choice. BUT you could also get the 6800 like i've said before which is better than the 9800pro but costs a little more. The price should come down some more in a few months though with more pressure from other cards.
Expensive doesn't necessarily mean the best. Look at the workstation cards, those run at over $1,000 yet they're terrible for gaming. So price doesn't always mean good.

9800pro is a bad idea. this generation's midrange cards do much better, and for the same or less price. if you're thinking of going with 9800pro, get a 6600GT or regular 6600 for 200 dollars or less. it has better performance and comes in PCIexpress as well.

btw the 9800 series are still very expensive for their performance.