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My ATI 9800 Pro decided to die on me last night. It suddenly developed a faulty memory chip. This was the same way my 9700 Pro died, interestingly enough.

TAP on it expired last month so my chance to exchange it for another more modern $350 card is gone. :-P

Another new BBA ATI 9800 Pro is $136. That's not too bad. I've also seen some options for 6600GT's in the under $150 range and I'm willing to roll that way, but I have one issue.... I run dual 21" CRT monitors at 1600x1200.

Crap analog filters are the bane of my existance. They make me cry.

I know the BBA ATI will get the job done... As for the random NVIDIA board makers... Well, my experience is that they cut corners.

I figured I'd solicit some opinions before I leap though. What would you recommend at the price range stated ($150 or less, no budge)? I'd prefer feedback from someone whose used the recommended card in question to drive two high res monitors as well.

The analog output varies from each head and the resolution used does matter. Looking good at 1280x1024 doesn't mean it'll still look peachy at 1600x1200.

Meh, the hassle of all this just about makes my decision for me.

P.S. Comments about LCD DVI monitors will result in being pistol whipped by a girl scout in front of your family.

There's this 6600GT by MSI, but it's $158 after MIR, putting it $8.00 above your limit. I own this card personally (I based my choice on recommendations from Lickety and I think JBI, who both recommended MSI for image quality, see thread here) and I can say that its analog output quality is well above the other nVidia card manufacturers that I've seen. I run it at 1600x1200 occasionally (I have a 19" AG CRT) and the quality is good, definitely MUCH better than my old Asus Ti4200 card. However, I've never used the second output, so I can't comment on that.

I replaced a Radeon 9800XT with an AGP X800XL and I love it.

-A-

PS...I still have the 9800xt AGP if you want to buy it (it's sitting in a box). Its an ATI brand, and it has an arctic cooler 3 on it (I also have the stock cooler). I'll sell it cheap.

-A-

Moved to SBA

Locked.

I bought a BBA. Don't have time to waste worrying about NVIDIA's inability to get third party vendors to not cut corners on analog filters.

Thanks for the feedback folks.