I need a new card...

[Blax Payne]

Alright, I'm not a huge tech guy when it comes to video cards...At the moment, I have a GeForce4 MX 420. From what I've been told, thats a pretty low card. It did run Final Fantasy XI though when I was a beta tester...but it could've looked sooo better. And now, I want to buy the Retail version of FFXI, plus, I also want to be ready for future games like Unreal Tourny 2004, and Condition Zero, and so forth... So my question is...I'm trying to stick with Nvidia...so I need a new video card, but I dont wanna drain out my bank account to get one...can anyone give me any suggestions on a good, affordable video card? (theres a oxy moron for ya) thanks.

[originel]

well if you want to stick with nvidia, i would recommend the 5600 ultra. They run around $170 on newegg and they're a pretty good performer. I'm going through some reviews over at x-bit and they seem to be pretty much on par with the radeon 9600 pro. If you can afford it tho, a regular fx5900 would give you more performance, they run around $220.

EDIT: If money is really of concern the standard 5600 would be a good buy for around $120. i would recommend staying away from the 5200 series...while better than the gf4mx series, they still are the same thing, a low end video card. And really the 5600 isn't that much more anyways IMO if you'r inversting in a new video card.

Also a good company to buy from is gainward, they make a pretty good card and they're inexpensive compared to others

[MitaDC]

{cough}ATI{cough} lol. I don't know much about the Nvidia cards but I do know that they didn't do too good against the ATI cards. If Origenel says that the 9600pro is close to the FX5600 Ultra then heck go with that but in my opinion go with ATI.

[slinky]

Best bang for the buck ATM is that 128MB XFX GeForce FX 5900 that's going for $199 (free shipping) at newegg.

[tgxiii]

There's another 5900, made by Albatron also going for $200 shipped. Its memory is 150MHz faster than the XFX.

[slinky]

even cheaper: $192 with shipping

(no VIVO though)

[Blax Payne]

Alright and, and one more thing...how can I tell if I will need a AGP card or a PCI card???? I told, I'm not crafty with video cards!

[originel]

all of these cards are agp...pci vid cards have gone the way of the dodo. no decent card is pci anymore

[tgxiii]

What computer or motherboard do you have? I'm not too familiar with store-bought computers, but some Dells come with no AGP slot, so you're forced to get PCI. But most likely you have an AGP slot, so go for that.

[Swordfishfarmer]

OK, I HAVE NO AGP SLOT BECUZ DELL IS STUPID...BUT I NEED TO KNOW THE BEST PCI CARD THAT WILL RUN FINAL FANTASY XI THE BEST. PLEASE REPLY OR EMAIL ME AT SWORDFISHFARMER@POL.COM