good vid card in the 150-200 price range

[serenity]

Ok I am getting quite confused and overwhelmed by the amount of video cards out there and with all the different specs and all that....
So I am wondering if anyone here has some suggestions as to a good video card (for gaming use)
I prefer non-ATI as well as in the 150-200 dollar range.
I guess really my question is what's the best possible video card I can get for $150-$200?? Keeping in mind the non-ATI thing.

[serenity]

Also which brand/make would you recommend?

[Mibs]

Just curious, why do you want to avoid ATI products? Are you looking to go SLI? In that price bracket, after eliminating all ATI choices then the definite choice in my opinion is the GeForce 9800GTX. You should be able to find that for $200 or less now. And the 9800GTX+ should be available soon for about $20 more. I would recommend EVGA for any GeForce cards. But other well respected brands are BFG and XFX.

If you were to consider ATI cards then the HD4850 would be the obvious choice. In most benchmarks and reviews I have seen it beats the 9800GTX. There is a thread here that I started and people posted their opinions about which brand to choose. That is also going for about $200.

[SKYMTL]

I'm actually pretty sure the 9800GTX+ will be going for around $250 here in Canada once it is released. Here is the tough part: there isn't a single Nvidia-based graphics card I would recommend in your price range. Here is why:

- 9800GTX is priced around $215 - $220 right now
- 8800GT is $170 - $180 before MIR but gets destroyed by the HD4850
- 9600GT isn't even in the running fir this price bracket
- 8800GTS 512MB seems to be harder to find than a tick in a pile of hay

So what does that leave us with? Well, you could go with the 9800GTX but the HD4580 is less expensive and performs better in many cases.

[sswilson]

I was going to suggest the 8800 GTS in this price range, but I didn't realise that they're getting hard to find.

[SKYMTL]

I should have rephrased that. I meant that they are hard to find at a fair price. In many cases they are priced ABOVE the 9800GTX:

http://www.ncix.com/search/?categoryid=0&q=8800GTS+512

Versus

http://www.ncix.com/search/?categoryid=0&q=9800GTX

[Mibs]

Check this out, the G92 8800GTS is part of the sponsored deals:

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...0&promoid=1082

But you can get a 9800gtx for the same price. And we have already gone past the budget. Again like SKYMTL I would recommend the HD4850 unless there is a reason you can't have an ATI card.

[SKYMTL]

IMO, $219 is WAY too much for that card...

[Eldonko]

ATI is your friend, 4850 FTW.

[Computergeek]

Originally Posted by Eldonko

ATI is your friend, 4850 FTW.

what brand is the best?