Video Card Recommendations needed

[Noahtuck]

Hey all

I need some recommendations on a new PCI-E video card.

I am finally building a new quad core system and am working within a budget.

Right now i have roughly about $100.00-$130.00 tops for a vid card.

I want to be able to play games like battlefield bad company 2, COD MW2, Sniper: Ghost Warrior, ect.

I want to stay with Nvidia cards, BFG, PNY, EVGA, etc. and 1gb of onboard memory.

Currently i am running an Nvidia GeForce 9400GT and it plays them alright but not like they should be played.

I was looking at the PNY GeForce GTS 250 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 but i would prefer not to take up 2 PCI slots.
But if need be i will.
Or this BFG GeForce GTS 250 1GB GDDR3,
http://cgi.ebay.com/BFG-GeForce-GTS-250-1GB-GDDR3-New-Rev-D-/200492265262?cmd=ViewItem...item2eae452f2e
I would prefer to stay around $100.00 or less but $130.00 max.

So throw me some card models out there that you use or know are good.

Man, back in the day it was so easy, now there are like 1000 different cards to choose from!!

Thanks

[jagabo]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-radeon-hd-geforce-gtx,2676.html

[Noahtuck]

Cool!
Thanks!

I'll check it out later when i get home.
I see it's a pretty current review also.

[Moontrash]

this is an easy one...w/ rebate this one drops down to $85...+ its 256 bit ta boot

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339

i've been using ati cards for the last 9 years and havent had any issues...specifically sapphire but most companies that rebadge em are pretty solid

here's an ati

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150369

both of these will do whatever u want to the games comin out today...except DX11

[jagabo]

And don't miss Tom's graphics card charts too. For example:
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2010-gaming-graphics-charts-high-quality/Battlefiel...ny-2,2237.html

[Noahtuck]

Well i ended up getting a BFG GeForce GTS 250 1GB GDDR3 for $100.00.

Although i was kind of eye balling that EVGA, but it's pretty much the same except it only had 512mb onboard memory.

And i HATE rebates!!!!!!

Seem's like the last couple of years people are always getting screwed on them!!
(but that's another story, LOL!)

They need somewhere you can rent a vid card for a couple of hours to test them out!!

Anyways, going from a 2.5ghz dual core with a BFG Geforce 9400 GT

Core Clock 550MHz
Shader Clock 1400MHz
Video Memory 1GB
Memory Type DDR2
Memory Interface 128-bit

To a 3.0ghz quad core with a BFG GeForce GTS 250

Core Clock 738MHz
Shader Clock 1782MHz
Effective Memory Clock 2200MHz
Memory Size 1GB
Memory Interface 256-bit
Memory Type GDDR3

Has to be a leap upwards!!
LOL!!

And next month i am still trying to decide on what ramm to upgrade to,
OCZ Reaper Dual Channel PC8500 DDR2 1066MHz or OCZ Dual Channel Platinum PC8500 DDR2 1066MHz ?

I run 4gb now but may up it to 8gb ?

Although i do hear and read good things about Corsair memory.

[johns0]

Going from a 9400gt to a gts 250 is like riding a bike and then getting into a car,get 8 gb for encoding and playing games at the same time.I have 8 gb of corsair and never have any problems with ram.

[Noahtuck]

Going from a 9400gt to a gts 250 is like riding a bike and then getting into a car,

LOL!!!

get 8 gb for encoding and playing games at the same time.I have 8 gb of corsair and never have any problems with ram.

That would be the only benefit of going up to 8gbs of ram ?

I never do anything else taxing when encoding video, maybe surf, or listen to music.

I'll be moving my main dual core PC down to the secondary position for dedicated encoding & my secondary down to third for a backup, friends to use, ect.
My third in line has already been redone to upgrade my daughters old PC.
I may give her my current secondary also as i built the one for her now as a HTPC and have it hooked to her 36" for watching dvd's, xvids, ect.