I'm looking for a good videocard (right now I use the mobo) for my computer, and I'm interested in what people here use.  I've been looking at My budget is ~$180 (USD, if it matters).

I've been hearing great things about the Radeon X800, but it's WAY out of my budget.  So far the one I'm probably going to get is the Radeon 9200.

I have the 9200 and I like it, it runs everything I play (HL2, CS:Source, CoD, CoD:UO, BF1942, etc.) fine, but it is a bit outdated. You should go for a 9600 or 9800.

The 9800 is too expensive, but the 9600 looks good, although I don't need the BEST video card in existance, I too have only a few games I need to play: HL, CS, and BFV, but then HL2, CSL:S, Call of Duty, and COD: Expo if I get a card soon (I'm leaving out others for space, but you get the idea).

you can get a 9800 pro, which is still up to par i believe, for around $180.

I am assuming your interface is agp 8x... While you can find the ati x line and the nvidia 6 lines that run on the agp8x interface, it is a bit less common. These cards are mainly using pci-express. If you have been to the newegg video card store lately you would see that most of the high end cards are on pci-express because it is the newest interface and gets the most bandwidth.

I think you should get an x600 myself. This card will perform up there with your 9800s and 5900s but it is a bit cheaper.

The 9800 is still high end, with the 9700 close behind and the 9600 close behind that. I can play any game on the market right now with my 9700 quite well, and a few of my friends with a 9600 have no problem playing games with it either.

I got a 9200 for my other computer yesterday, $80 canadian, I don't believe it can play any of the new games out there with decent settings, but I haven't tested. If you're getting a video card, I would recommend not getting one that's mid-market right now, it'll be out by next year and you'll have to spent another $180 on a mid-market card. Get a decent card, or get something cheap.

If you can get the 9800 for under $200, I'd say go for it, it'll last you awhile.

I'd go with the 9600, its pretty reasonably priced and will play most games fine.

Be sure never to buy hardware from Best Buy unless it's got crazy rebates on it or it's absolutely unavoidable. They're ridiculously overpriced.

I usually look at Best Buy first  because I've never not found something there that I've not found somewhere else (still get me?).  I'm really leaning towards the 9200 mostly because of the fact that the newest game I'd have to play would be Half-Life 2.  I don't want to buy the highest-end card to play my games (most of which are at least a year old already), because I'm not the most die-hard gamer.

[quote author=Stealth link=topic=10089.msg94212#msg94212 date=1104791130]
Be sure never to buy hardware from Best Buy unless it's got crazy rebates on it or it's absolutely unavoidable. They're ridiculously overpriced.
[/quote] so is circuit city, and comp usa... shopping local is a good was to get ass reamed.

[quote author=R.a.B.B.i.T link=topic=10089.msg94217#msg94217 date=1104792596]
I usually look at Best Buy first  because I've never not found something there that I've not found somewhere else (still get me?).  I'm really leaning towards the 9200 mostly because of the fact that the newest game I'd have to play would be Half-Life 2.  I don't want to buy the highest-end card to play my games (most of which are at least a year old already), because I'm not the most die-hard gamer.
[/quote] well the ati high end cards are actually selling for a lower price then the former high end cards. I mean I can find an x800 with a high ram speed for less then the cost of a 9800 on newegg with the same ram speed. I think a lot of it has to do with weather the x800 is on pci express or not. But this is just something that I have noticed and read an article about on, I think it was hard ocp.

[quote author=R.a.B.B.i.T link=topic=10089.msg94217#msg94217 date=1104792596]
I usually look at Best Buy first because I've never not found something there that I've not found somewhere else (still get me?). I'm really leaning towards the 9200 mostly because of the fact that the newest game I'd have to play would be Half-Life 2. I don't want to buy the highest-end card to play my games (most of which are at least a year old already), because I'm not the most die-hard gamer.
[/quote]

I'd say go for the 9600, I beat HL2 today and the last few large battle sequence chapters got pretty  laggy at times. Also, in some multiplayer games, if a lot of stuff is going on at once (meaning not in CS, but modded CoD:UO servers for example) it gets laggy as well. You'd be safer spending the extra ~$50.

Well, I don't have PCIe so I don't think I'll be getting a PCIe board.  I have PCI and AGP, and I found this card, but I'm not what you'd call very "knowledgable" in the field of hardware.  I've heard a lot about people not liking Radeon SE's and some of the other stuff, just wondering what you guys think (it's now my #1 choice so far).

I would go with that 9800 pro.

It seems to be fairly unanimous that the 9800 is the way to go, or at very least the 9600. The problem with the 9600 is it will be outdated next year, followed swiftly by my 9700, while the 9800 should push past that.

I still think the 9800 is a rip off. You can get the x600 for a bit less and it is going to outperform the 9800 according to test I have seen in various places. Also, I still like the nvidia 6 line, I would not call any of those cards shabby, but I would obviously not get the top of the line one (x600 in the x line instead of x800 for example) because the 6800 is not going to be within the budget. The trick is finding one of these new cards, which a nice ram speed, on agp8x, for a good price.

Also, when looking for a card, please do not just look at the core/core speed... look at the ram speed too... many people tend to overlook that.

im intersted in getting a tv tuner card... the ATI All-in-wonder lookds pretty decent; any comments?

[quote author=tA-Kane link=topic=10089.msg94290#msg94290 date=1104826847]
im intersted in getting a tv tuner card... the ATI All-in-wonder lookds pretty decent; any comments?
[/quote]I bought this and have been running it for about 3 weeks now.  The provided drivers will not work with Win2K3 so you will need to plan ahead and download them before installation.  Some tweaks with DirectX were also necessary.  SuSE had no problem at all detecting and installing correct drivers.  If I can leave WoW alone long enough, I'm going to hook up my camcorder to it and play with that.  I am definitely going to hook it up to my 42" plasma this weekend!

[quote author=Thing link=topic=10089.msg94295#msg94295 date=1104848918]
[quote author=tA-Kane link=topic=10089.msg94290#msg94290 date=1104826847]
im intersted in getting a tv tuner card... the ATI All-in-wonder lookds pretty decent; any comments?
[/quote]I bought this and have been running it for about 3 weeks now.  The provided drivers will not work with Win2K3 so you will need to plan ahead and download them before installation.  Some tweaks with DirectX were also necessary.  SuSE had no problem at all detecting and installing correct drivers.  If I can leave WoW alone long enough, I'm going to hook up my camcorder to it and play with that.  I am definitely going to hook it up to my 42" plasma this weekend!
[/quote] You can run wow on linux? Was it ported to linux or are you using winex?

No I dual boot Win3K and SuSE 9.2  Wireless Keyboard and Mouse are on the way.  No Orc will be safe with me running WoW in Full Screen mode on the plasma!

[quote author=Thing link=topic=10089.msg94320#msg94320 date=1104874799]
No I dual boot Win3K and SuSE 9.2 Wireless Keyboard and Mouse are on the way. No Orc will be safe with me running WoW in Full Screen mode on the plasma!
[/quote]

I hope you got the MX1000! ;)

[quote author=Thing link=topic=10089.msg94320#msg94320 date=1104874799]
No I dual boot Win3K and SuSE 9.2  Wireless Keyboard and Mouse are on the way.  No Orc will be safe with me running WoW in Full Screen mode on the plasma!
[/quote] Oh, for a minute I was thinking "humm". I need to get a copy of wineX. There was a dude at the lan party that ran just mandrake with winex. He was linux user hardcore. He played everygame we played though, his performance was insane.