Cheap video card?

[sqguy 0]

Can anyone recommend the best deal on a card right now? I was going to build a PC again but hit one cheap on auction, has a built in 6150 that can't be great. Need a $50-100 PCI 16 card for it.

[coobies5 43]

newegg.com

[sqguy 0]

Been looking, just not up on the numbers right now and wonder if any particular one is better for games. Don't need to play the worst new games perfect, I get games that are older and work my way through them.

How about this GeForce 8600GT OC'ed to 620? For <$70 after rebate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814150229

[sqguy 0]

Lol, went to bid on a couple on epay and they went same/higher than new ones at newegg.

[Jmac 24]

Tom's "Best Graphics Cards For The Money" guide is pretty good ... One of the few things Tom's Hardware is good for ...

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming...cards,1805.html

For under $100, they recommend the HD 2600 XT ... I'd have to say I agree ... The 2600 XT provides performance between the 8600 GT and 8600 GTS while consuming less power, producing less heat and noise, offering superior HD decoding, and HDMI output with sound. Great multimedia card.

The HD 2400 series is a half-decent choice if you're looking for something in the $50 range, although playing modern games will really stretch it thin ...

[sqguy 0]

Man, can't even match up what they say. This 8800gts looks like a great deal except it is 320mb not 512 but has the gddr3, at $115. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16814130082 Not sure I want to go that high though. They say a 512mb 8800gts blows out the 9600gt (is 512mb) that is same $115. I don't know how much the memory affects it. The last game I played on my old PC here is Doom 3 and it worked good for most of it, have Star Wars battlefront and couple of planets kill it but rest plays. But this is an ancient 1700amd with a agp4 slot and I think a radeon 5700 agp8 card. Thanks for the info though, I'll have to look up the XT cards and see...they have some for$ 75 and 60.

I'm at about 2006 in games lol, but need to stay ahead of the game a little so it should play anything but the worst new games I would say. And this machine is vista.

Edited April 26, 2008 by sqguyib

[Jmac 24]

It's $115 after mail-in rebate, $145 before ... I don't take into account MIRs because half the time, you don't get your money back ... plus it takes 2 months to get it if you do ...

There are multiple 8800 GTSs and based on different cores.

The 8800 GTS 320 MB is based on the old G80 core. It has a core clock of 513 MHz, a shader clock of 1188 MHz, and a memory clock of 1584 MHz. It features 96 shader processors, 24 Texture Mapping Units (TMUs), 20 Raster Operation Processors (ROPs), and a 320-bit memory bus. It was also available in a 640 MB version. Later revisions of the 640 MB version increased the number of shader processors to 112.

The new 8800 GTS 512 MB is based on the new G92 core and is much more powerful. It has a core clock of 650 MHz (+27%), a shader clock of 1625 MHz (+37%), and a memory clock of 1940 MHz (+22%). It features 128 shader processors (+33%), 64 TMUs (+167%), 16 ROPs (-20%), and a 256-bit memory bus (-20%).

The 8800 GTS 320 MB you listed there is about on par w/ the cheaper HD 3850 and marginally cheaper than the more powerful 9600 GT. In addition, both cards I listed offer SUBSTANTIAL power savings over a G80-based 8800 GTS, offer HD decoding capabilities, offer HDMI outputs w/ sound (HD 3850), and are cooled by a single-slot cooler, which means it will not impede on other expansion slots in the computer. Also, the odd 320-bit bus does have problems with certain games, though this is usually fixed through a patch (may be an issue if you pirate your games and don't have access to patches).

I, myself, have a G80-based 8800 GTS 640 MB that I purchased in December 2006 and it's a great card, don't get me wrong ... It's just not a good choice now due to technological advances over the past 1.5 years.