Which ATI card?Follow

The site reports that search is disabled, so I apologize if someone has posed a similar query.

I week or two ago my new computer finally arrived. Boy was I excited!

The EQ2 graphics looked great and everything ran SO smoothly. Until I played for about an hour. Then all sorts of weird graphical anomalies started happening. I've been troubleshooting ever since and the ONLY conclusion I can draw is that I just can't play EQ2 with this nVidia ULTRA video card that I have. I called the company who put the computer together and they told me that they have had so many complaints about the card that they will accept it back, no questions asked. So, I'm going to get a new ATI card. But which one? It seems that the X800 XT is the best? What's this about a PE (platinum edition)? I don't care what it costs, I just want the best, but I don't want to waste money needlessly on features that are just "fluff". Can anyone provide any suggestions? I'm tired of troubleshooting and I want something that just works.

My rig is as follows:
- AMD Athlon FX-55 Processor
- Asus A8V DDR 33 Motherboard
- 2GB RAM DDR 400
- Windows XP Pro
- (2) Western Digital Raptor 74 GB Hard Drives 10,000 rpm
- Creative Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro Sound Card

Thanks in advance for any help.

Seems like Nvidia cards aren't as compatible as the ATI cards with EQ2 (I don't care what the advertisements say). And yes. The X800 is supposedly "The best" from ATI. It's suppose to run very well with EQ2 also.

And as for the Sapphire, High tech, Asus.. blah blah. All that is, is the manufacturer. It's the same exact card, but it's produced by a different company. With THEIR heatsink , and fans/logos on the card. That's all that is. Go with Sapphire, or the ATI brand, or.. asus. All of those companies are great manufactuers, and Asus is probably more expensive, but they're one of the most reliable companies.

Edit: I haven't heard of the "PE" yet, but the "pro" should be more then enough.



Edited, Fri Dec 31 21:04:45 2004 by Kensi

Radeon 9800 256 Meg here. (Manufactured by Sapphire) and no problems yet. Also no problems on my Radeon 9600 128 meg.

Anyway...... since no one else will answer you, I guess I will. The best card out there, Nvidia included, is the ATI X800 XT Platinum edition. It costs between $525 and $550. It is the fastest and best looking card on the market with the possible (but doubtful)exception of the geforce 6800 ultra extreme, but we obviously don't like Nvidia. Kensi is absolutely right about the different companies, the difference is negligable. Don't forget to overclock when you get everything, got to squeeze every penny. Also remember not to overclock without first researching, and that Godiszed can not in any way be held legally liable for any damages incurred by improper use of said parts.

I am very, very happy to report that, with my brand new ATI X800 XT card, I am having NO PROBLEMS. I can finally concentrate on just playing. No more tweaking. No more messing with settings. I really think that it's "the way the game was meant to be played", despite what SOE may say.