the big question

[madmike]

I have about 300 dollars. I want to be able to play Doom III.


...I've been hearing everyone tell me to buy faster RAM.
...I've been hearing everyone tell me to buy a faster HDD.
...I've been hearing everyone tell me to get a bigger case.
...I've been hearing everyone tell me to get a more powerful PSU.

But im still thinking if i buy a Radeon 9800 pro or Nvidia GeForce Fx 5800 ultra it would give me the ability to play this game right. I think this because when i read about FPS comparisons for games its between GPU's not the other things people are recommending me. But the time has come to make a decision. I need all of your educated opinions... WHAT DO I BUY?!?!!?!

.... thanks :lips:

[SearanoX]

Video card will definetly make a huge difference. While nVidia cards show faster scores in benchmarks, this is because nVidia organized the benchmarks and released new drivers that "optimized" their cards for it, whereas ATi cards were stuck with bad drivers.

If it's only for DOOM, you could go with nVidia, but if you plan to play other games, especially those that are DX9-specific, then go with ATi. If you must get an FX, get the 5900 Ultra. The others are awful.

[Mista K6]

Well, I wouldnt even think about nVidia right now, as Ati cards just plain smoke them. Get a 9800 Pro and you'll be able to play any new game, even if it is optimized for a nVidia card. Also, if you wanna play Doom 3, you're going to need a new HDD, one that's at least 7200RPM, if not 7200RPM w/ an 8mb cache. That 5400RPM wont handle the data that needs to be swapped back and forth for Doom 3 :( . Anyways, after those two upgrades you should be able to play Doom 3 and w/e other new games VERY nicely. Good luck :thumb:, : peace2: Mista K6

[AsianBatman]

But im still thinking if i buy a Radeon 9800 pro or Nvidia GeForce Fx 5800 ultra ....

.... thanks :lips:

Laff*, the 5800 is the crappest high end card ever!!
Seranox: nvidia cards are not crap. They are fairly good to, but i wish they didn't optimized there quality for performance. I think cards like the ti4200-4600 are greats cards (not for doom 3). For directx9, for people on the budget is the fx5700 ultra which is a excellent budget card, also the r9600pro and the r9600xt. But with your budget, get the 9800 pro. But as Seranox said, if you have to get a fx, go with the 5900. But, as a 9800 owner, i would recommend you get the 9800 pro. :cheers:

[SearanoX]

I didn't say nVidia was crap anywhere. I said that they weren't as good as ATi, and their DX9 performance was moderate.

[amd_man2005]

Get some PC3200 RAM

[SearanoX]

Quick question about RAM, now that you bring it up, and you get to answer it, amd. Don't you feel lucky? ;) Is PC RAM any faster than DDR, and does it cost more/less?

[AsianBatman]

....get the 5900 Ultra. The others are awful...
Aren't you refering to nvidia cards?

Are you refering to rambus? If so, then rambus is higher clocked than ddr and is also more expensive.

[amd_man2005]

Quick question about RAM, now that you bring it up, and you get to answer it, amd. Don't you feel lucky? ;) Is PC RAM any faster than DDR, and does it cost more/less?

It is DDR, the common name for DDR-400 (200FSBX2) is PC3200, its all the same thing

[SearanoX]

Ah, yes, I assumed so.

If a mod wants, they can delete/move these posts, seeing how they don't really pertain to the topic.

[madmike]

ok first off i want to say thank you to everyone who replied :woot:

your input was very well appreciated, but unfortunately it left me with the same dillema i was trying to solve. I know its a hard question though. My two thoughts would be to either get a new HDD and the faster RAM.. OR the ati 9800 pro. Maybe that would be an easier question??

THANKS AGAIN!

[AsianBatman]

I would go with the 9800 pro, but the hdd will be upgrade to 7400 rpm...your ram is fine for now.

[The__tweaker]

Well, I wouldnt even think about nVidia right now, as Ati cards just plain smoke them. Get a 9800 Pro and you'll be able to play any new game, even if it is optimized for a nVidia card. Also, if you wanna play Doom 3, you're going to need a new HDD, one that's at least 7200RPM, if not 7200RPM w/ an 8mb cache. That 5400RPM wont handle the data that needs to be swapped back and forth for Doom 3

First of, the 5900 Ultra wins over ATI in some tests (without beeing optimized) and looses in others, none of em' clearly wins over the other. Get a 5900 Ultra or 9800Pro/XT you can't go wrong with anyone of these, the new detonators are mutch improved and works wonder from what I've heard.

Oh and your statement about 'needing' an 8Mb cache drive to play Doom3 isn't really true.

[SearanoX]

They video card will definetly make the biggest difference, and I'd go with it. Your RAM is fine. However, the HDD could use an upgrade later on. DOOM III won't be out for at least five months, though, so you can get that later.

The_tweaker, I'm not sure which benchmarks you're referring to. The ones I saw (on multiple web sites) showed nVidia clearly beating ATi in nearly every single test. The ATi cards were also forced to use Catalyst 3.4 drivers, whereas nVidia cards got to use the latest ones. Not surprising, considering that nVidia organized the benchmarks. ATi did win some of them, but only the AA and AF tests, but the framerates got so low that I doubt anyone would use them.

Of course, if you're talking about stuff that's more recent, then I could be wrong.

[weta]

madmike: As a graphics card, Nvidia's GeForce FX 5800 Ultra really sucks (or should that be blows).
Joking aside, at this moment in time I would recommend the ATI's Radeon 9800 Pro, it's a superb card and it's in your price range.