Video Card Recommendations ???

Building a new PC to be used for casual use and the occasional gaming session. I'll be playing WoW and hopefully be able to run Diablo III when it comes out w/ this machine(that is what I'm hoping for atleast). Help me pick a decent graphics card that will work well w/ Vista/Games and Linux.

Here are the new components which I've purchased/ordered already from various vendors/Micro-Center. The links don't correspond to where I bought it.

mobo: Foxconn G33M-S LGA 775 Intel G33 mATX

proc : Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz

mem : Crucial Ballistic 4GB (2GB x 2)

I'll be using a old case, 400W psu, hdds and dvdrw drive. Was looking for some assistance as far as a graphics card upgrades will go. Wanting to enjoy my video games at medium/hopefully better graphic settings. I have this same on-board Intel X3100 chipset on my laptop, but am wanting a bit more w/o having to spend too terribly much. My currently eyed item is this Sapphire Radeon HD 4670(Cancel this, just realized it didn't have D-SUB 15 port, any recommendations?). Wanting to try and stay below $100 USD. I've only ran older nVidia and on-board Intel graphics for the past couple of years(been playing 360 more or less) and was wanting to verify this would be a decent graphics card for running games in Vista and work well w/ Ubuntu/Debian. Any thought/recommendations/advice are welcome. =]

Recommending anything with nvidia on it if you want to do serious gaming with less headache and best performance on Linux. (and keep away from intel).

The new 180 nvidia driver (still beta) rocks the socks off.

Both Nvidia and ATI supports OpenGL3.0, intel support OpenGL1-point-something.

of course go for nvidia.what about this ? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127387

binbash said: of course go for nvidia.what about this ? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127387

Bit pricey for what I'm wanting to spend, plus it's lacking the D-SUB 15 port. =] Thanks for the recommendation though. I'm sure I can narrow ti down myself, but was just wanting some additional options from other user's personal experiences w/ said card and it's ability to function in both OSes. Thanks again.

If you're using a single monitor, I would definitely go with nVidia. If you're using dual monitors (especially dual monitors that are different sizes / resolutions), I highly recommend ATI as their driver works exceptionally better than nVidia in that specific situation.

Toss some specific nVidia cards at me w/ links if possible. =] I'll eventually just have them all up and tabbed and prolly pick the best performance for the best price that has the best performance in Linux as hopefully all of those Vista driver issues are no longer a concern. =]

Dude, go for an Nvidia 8800GT! Awesome card for the price.

i got a nvidia 9800gtx for like 160 dollars. its a really sweet deal when you consider how good the card is, i can run crysis on the highest settings and still around 30FPS on windows (of course, i have a 1024x768 monitor, but still!)

Thanks for all the $100+ recommendations, but as stated in my initial post I'm wanting to try and keep the price range around $80-$110. =]

I've always heard that getting Nvidia drivers to work is MUCH harder than getting ATI drivers to work (I have an ATI card and have never had any problems), but that's just what I've heard.

plinydogg said: I've always heard that getting Nvidia drivers to work is MUCH harder than getting ATI drivers to work (I have an ATI card and have never had any problems), but that's just what I've heard.

Been using NVIDIA for several years now and never had a bit of trouble myself, I can say from experience that you've been misinformed.

I know everyone is recommending NVIDIA, but I was curious of ppl's thoughts on this card's specs for it's price?

Palit AE/38700+HD52 Radeon HD 3870 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail * Chipset Manufacturer: ATI * Core clock: 777MHz * Stream Processors: 320 Stream Processing Units * Memory Clock: 1900MHz * DirectX: DirectX 10.1 * OpenGL: OpenGL 2.0 * HDMI: 1 * D-SUB: 1 * Model #: AE/38700+HD52 * Item #: N82E16814261030 * Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

plinydogg said: I've always heard that getting Nvidia drivers to work is MUCH harder than getting ATI drivers to work (I have an ATI card and have never had any problems), but that's just what I've heard.

Not the case, maybe it's been better lately. Most of the trouble comes when playing games. Most video gaming problems are related to ATI and Intel. It's rarely a nvidia card pop up.

Well I'm glad to hear that Nvidia cards aren't too problematic. I'll remember that next time I buy a computer. Thanks folks.

To get things back on track, any one care to share their thoughts on this card? After the Mail-In Rebate this looks to be a pretty good buy for the buck.

MSI N9600GT 512M OC GeForce 9600 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

Model Brand MSI Model N9600GT 512M OC Interface Interface PCI Express 2.0 x16 Chipset Chipset Manufacturer NVIDIA GPU GeForce 9600 GT Core clock 700MHz Stream Processors 64 Memory Memory Clock 1900MHz Memory Size 512MB Memory Interface 256-bit Memory Type GDDR3 3D API DirectX DirectX 10 OpenGL OpenGL 2.0 Ports DVI 2 TV-Out HDTV / S-Video Out General RAMDAC 400 MHz Max Resolution 2560 x 1600 SLI Supported Yes Cooler With Fan Power Connector 6 Pin Dual-Link DVI Supported Yes HDCP Ready Yes Packaging Package Contents N9600GT 512M OC Driver Disk User Manual HDTV Cable S-Video Cable Power Cable DVI to VGA/D-sub Adapter DVI to HDMI Adapter S/PDIF Cable Manufacturer Warranty Parts 1 year limited Labor 1 year limited

I have a 7600GT and it runs WoW wonderfully well. Since details of D3 haven't been released yet, I would imagine your pick of a 9600 would be fine. The recommended card for Left4Dead (released a few weeks ago) is a 7600 or better, so you should be ok with that one.