Radeon 9200SE or GeForce 5600XT?

[TSXOmni]

Hey, guys. I'm brand new to this forum...

I've been looking into building myself another computer. The one I've got now certainly holds up to today's standards in computing, but I thought another networked one would be a good idea.

All my info comes from reading sellers' descriptions of products and whatever few reviews I can find. I learn as I go. But I figure if I'm going to toss my money out for a new computer, I should look a little deeper into what I'm getting.

My question is regarding video cards, a topic I know very little about. The one I've got now is a lower model GeForce4(MX 420). I've loved nVidia from all I've heard about it, but I've never really tried ATI's Radeon cards.

So, after some browsing around on newegg.com, I've found two cards that suit my demands quite well:
The ATI Radeon 9200SE and the nVidia GeForce 5600XT.

Both have 128MB DDR with the "effective speed" of 400MHz. Both support AGP 8X(the motherboard I'm getting will be 8X). The only differences newegg cites are
-The GeForce has a DVI connector as well as VGA
-The GeForce supports DirectX 9.0 and OpenGL 1.4 while Radeon is 8.1 and 1.3
-GeForce's chipset speed is 235MHz as compared to Radeon's 200MHz
-The Radeon's max res. is 2048X1536@85Hz while the Geforce is 2048X1536@75Hz
-The GeForce is retail while the Radeon is OEM bulk
-The Geforce costs $93 while the Radeon only costs $49.

Is $44 more really worth it? Any help or suggestions appreciated, I'm really not sure about any of this.

[boyNamedFoo]

Get the GeForce all the way!!!!!!!!!!!!

By the way what is your budget??

For an extra $44 you get more stuff like games or DVD software and/or cables (with OEM you will get just the card) and the performance on the Geforce is soo much better.

Not badmouthing ATI (never had one) but I'll be nVidia 4ever. Wouldn't mind an 9800XT though!!

[TSXOmni]

All right...I'll go for the GeForce...I might be able to afford the extra $44. Mind linking me to a site where I can find the retail with the extra stuff?

[boyNamedFoo]

The reason I ask your budget is that some of the 5600XT's come with 64 bit memory and some with 128 bit (don't confuse with the 128MB of memory they all come with).

Gigabyte are a renowned maker of graphics cards, this one has 128 bit memory:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...alog=48&depa=1

Images from the same site show what you get in the retail bundle (click on the 4th picture):

http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage....125-123-07.JPG

Or you could go for the cheaper card by Ganward (still a quality maker of graphics cards):

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...alog=48&depa=1

This doesn't come with any games (the Gigabyte comes with Rainbow Six and Tomb Raider plus PowerDVD).

You won't see much difference between 64-bit and 128-bit in the real world, but i'd pay the extra $11 and get the Gigabyte.

Hope that helps. boyNamedFoo.

[TSXOmni]

Wow, man...Thanks! I think I'll go with the Gigabyte one and take your advice on it. I have a Gigabyte motherboard at the moment, and I'm satisfied with a lot of their stuff, so I'll give it a try.

Along with that, the Gigabyte's bundled software comes with the game 'Arx Fatalis'. I've been a fan of that game since I got a demo cd of it a year back, but I've never been able to find it anywhere. I guess it's because it's a French game from a lesser-known company. Oh well.

Thanks again.

[robjw]

geforce is falling behind tho, just look at them bench's for half life 2, the ati chipsets were far quicker than the nvidia chipsets. Ati have got their act togheter, people have always gone for nvidia, as they have thought they were safe, as they have always been with them. I bought a radeon 9500, 1 of the ones that could be modded to a 9700, brilliant value for money, in fact the 9500 were so good for this ati stopped produicing them.