whats the best DX9 graphics card?

Answer 1

What do you want to spend?
Do you have a PCI Express X16 slot?
Do you play games? If not almost any DirectX 9 or 10 video card will be sufficient.

Fastest video card, period.
8800 Ultra ($585 to $800)
HDTV / S-Video Out
DirectX 10
(DirectX 10 cards are backward compatible with DirectX 9)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2000380000+1067928976&Tpk=8800+Ultra
http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=768-P2-N888-AR&family=23
Minimum of a 500 Watt power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 34 Amps. Two available 6-pin Molex hard drive power dongles
My opinion:
It will require a 600-800 Watt supply to get the 34 AMP rating. Card can probably play any game at 120 Frames per second.

Misc. notes 8000 series cards:
All are DirectX 10 compatible.
The 8800 Ultra is twice as fast as the 8600 GTS.
The 8600GTS is about 15% faster than 8600GT
The 8600GTS is 2 1/2 to 3 times the speed of the 8400GS.
The 8400GS ($60) is too slow for gaming but is good enough for most non gaming applications.

Mid Range Video Card
8600GTS From $140
HDTV / S-Video / Composite Out
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=8600GTS&x=25&y=36
http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=256-P2-N761-AR&pwindow=specs&family=23
Minimum of a 400 Watt power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 22 Amp Amps.
My opinion: Will require a 500 Watt supply to get the 22 AMP rating.

For gaming I would want a card similar in performance to the 8800 GTS or faster. For other cards refer to:

Graphics card gaming performance charts:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html
http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=399&type=expert&pid=1
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1595&Itemid=40&limit=1&limitstart=2

Mobile Graphics Cards - Benchmark List
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Mobile-Graphics-Cards-Benchmark-List.844.0.html

How to pick the perfect graphics card
http://www.pcmag.co.uk/personal-computer-world/features/2150316/pick-perfect-graphics-card

DirectX 9 vs 10
http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/pcs/directx-9-vs-directx-10-worth-upgrading-to-vista-for-243099.php


CPU gaming performance charts:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/cpu_2007.html

CPU Benchmarks
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/index.php

Answer 2

In CF/SLI mode, X1950 XTX ddr4 would be unbeatable:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_sli2007.html?modelx=33&model1=820&model2=808&chart=358

Single card basis, the 7950GX2 is right behind X1950 XTX ddr4:
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=723&model2=708&chart=298

Answer 3

http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,110451/article.html