Alright, my 8800GT crapped out on me last night. So I am now in the market for a new card.

I am looking for something with as good of performance as the 8800GT at around $150, though I could spring for $200 if the card is awesome enough.

I heard the ATI's were good this generation?

 

Stick with nVIDIA: IMHO, they're the best brand.

 

Nvidia's definitely. I bought a 460 for 135 pound from a local computer shop. What are you wanting to do? Play games, watch dvds, etc.?

 

A lot of gaming, maybe a couple of DVD's every now and then

*edit*
I have been hearing about a lot of overheating issues with the new NVIDIA line

 

I had to buy a new PSU with the 460 card which cost me 50 pounds. Wasn't too much considering I'd just bought the card. I've had no problems with it so far. So I recommend that card.

 

I currently have a 550w

 

What are the other specs on your computer?

 

I think that I bought a 750 w.

 

Mobo: XFX 680i LT
Processer: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz
Memory: (4) Kingston DDR2 667

2 SATA hard drives
1 SATA DVD/CD Burner

550W power supply

 

I can't seem to find that many good deals, but I would wait for a couple of days though, because gfx cards go on sale all the time, and some sales are a lot better than others.

This is the best deal I could find, but it would probably be bottle necked by your CPU.
http://www.centralcomputers.com/commerce/catalog/product.jsp?product_id=76990&czuid=1281641965203
^ This is a major improvement over the 8800gt. It is DX11 compatible.

 

Quick update, just learned that my card has a lifetime warranty from EVGA. Going to see about getting the 8800gt RMA'd

Anyone had any luck with this? I remember Middy having a hell of a time with it a while back.

 

Best cards under 200 dollars IMO is the gtx 260 and the ATI 4890.

I currently have the 275 gtx with a 600 watt PSU for perspective and both of the above cards can approach the 275 in performance if you OC. I can play any game with maxed settings and 1080p except for Crysis and Metro 2033 (Ridiculous).

EDIT: Most lifetime warranties require you to register within 30 days of purchase as i sadly never remembered to do.

 

Aye, that was the first thing I did when I received my card.

I was thinking about purchasing a cheaper EVGA card now, and do their step up program in a month or two. That's how I rediscovered the registered lifetime warranty.

 

I actually have a lot of experience with EVGA's RMA process, and they're really on the ball with customer service.

My 8800GT crapped out like yours a couple months ago, and when I returned it to them, they didn't have any 8800GTs left to refurbish, so they gave me a 9800GTX+ instead. It took them a while though, since they had to confirm they had no 8800GTs in stock. But as soon as they realized they won't get any for a while, they shipped my replacement 9800GTX+ immediately and even bumped it to 2 day air shipping.

I love EVGA.

Anyways, if you're looking for a budget midrange card around the $200 range, I'd recommend getting a GTX 460. Pretty much the biggest bang for your buck. That new Fermi architecture is really effective and it overclocks well. EVGA also released a new Free Performance Boost for it for both of their models that raises the stock speed and fan speed. It's basically overclocking...except they do it for you.

Anyway, I fully endorse getting the GTX 460. That shit is great.

 

^.^ just bought new components last week for a cheapo build
Got myself a nice gtx 460, so far so good

 

I'd say buy a GTS250 or higher. My GTS250 is pretty decent for a graphics card. It plays all of my old games twice as better as my old 8800GTS ever did.

 

I 'inherited' an ATI for my birthday, back on the fourth of July. I've got an Radeon HD4650, now.
Replaced my old...shit, I think it was an nVIDIA 8 series card...8600? Anyhoot, It's good, but one of the nVIDIA 9 series looks allot better, so I'd personally stick with one of those.