Hello. I currently have a Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB graphics card that I want to upgrade. Is there someplace that I can go that has all the Nvidia cards listed with their specifications? I want to get a decent card but I also want to make sure it will comply with the motherboard I have. I'm going with Nvidia because they have better linux drivers. If anyone has any suggestions for a card that would be awesome too. Thanks.

For a good look at video cards in general I would try http://www.guru3d.com. I use that site almost exclusively for my drivers as well as their great write-ups of new and old cards. It is definately a great site. If you are looking for a site to compare prices between brans and models with full specs I would try http://www.newegg.com. I just like the way they have everything laid out on their site and the way they list specs for everything.

Well I was thinking about the same thing and I have the same card and what I determined was this: The 6800 Line seems to be a worthy upgrade but here is my issue I have with telling you that you should upgrade :-p

First, If you have a 9800 Pro you undoubtly have an AGP slot board which is fine for today. However you may want to hold off on an upgrade after all a 9800 Pro is only slightly slower then a 6600GT and if you wait to do a full system upgrade (say for the next generation of cards) then maybe you can save up enough for an SLI based motherboard. I assume you do play games based on the card and to me the SLI feature is really nifty because if you cannot afford ummmmmmmm the next generation of video cards super card then you go down one step lets say that would be a 7800GT (Out of a line of 7800, 7800GT, 7800Ultra) you get the 7800GT and it will be much faster then your 9800 Pro and of course you will have a PCI Express board with SLI which will be useful in the future. When you find your games are going slow again you could just pop in a another 7800GT to practically double your speed.

So my basic answer is wait until you can afford to upgrade your motherboard to a SLI one and then think about getting a new card IMO the current generation of games just cannot justify a new card yet. I had a GeForce 3 Before I upgraded to a 9800 Pro and that was because I had to run a lot of my games on medium low and I didn't like that :-p

I agree with stabile007 in that I personally would hold off. A 9800Pro is still a good card and even if it is ATI you can still get it to work with Linux. Granted it is a PITA, but it is possible. Along the lines of SLI and PCIE boards. At this point I am not sold on PCIE and haven't noticed any gaming advantage over a good AGP card.

I had a GeForce3 and I just now upgraded to a ATI Radeon 9550. I flashed the BIOS of the card to a 9600 PRO and then OCed it and the card rocks. I really only play one game and it has more than enough juice for everything I need. If you aren't getting what you need out of the 9800PRO as it sits look for somethings you can do to get some life out of it, like modded BIOS or OCing it.

I'm also thinking about a video card upgrade, but ATI is out of the question. Question to the nVidia crowd: Which nVidia card would you personally consider to deliver the best price/performance ratio? I'm not looking for a state-of-the-art, bleeding edge, super expensive card, but instead would be interested in a solid, well-regarded mid-range or upper mid-range nVidia card. I've never use nVidia before, and would prefer to get some real-world input from actual users rather than to just rely on magazine reviews. Any recommendations? I've seen some good things about the 5700. Thanks -- J.W.

In terms of nVidia IMO the best bang for buck depends on a lot of things especially your budget. If you want a sub-$200 card then I think a GeForce 6800 is an excellent contender. First off it is faster then last generations fastest cards and costs less then $200. However if you have a larger budget I would say the ultimate price/performance card goes to the 6800GT available for $300 it offers you performance very close to the 6800 Ultras but $100 or more less. While I don't personally own either of those I do know people who do.

While it does not offer any better performance it is the future of video cards. And by changing over to a PCI-Express sytem later insteading of upgrading to a better AGP card you are getting yourself ready for future upgrades to the video card. After all you don't want to be in the boat that PCI only people are in do you? We are already seeing AGP beign phased out by manufacturers. PCIExpress cards tend to be cheaper and released sooner then the AGP cards are. As for SLI it definitly helps in two ways. Its insanely fast and it is another upgrade path. So like I said if you buy a 6800GT with an SLI board today then down the road you can simply drop another 6800GT card in there which ill probably compete well against the high end cards of the next generation but be far cheaper like the 9800 Pro became.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll see how it goes. Maybe I will just stick with what I have.