Choosing a Cheapass video card

mcelfour

mcelfour

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Help! I'm looking to upgrade my PC so it can actually play some newer games. I'm not looking to run Crysis or anything, so I really do want a cheapass card. I want it to run pretty much anything on gametap, as that's my major source of PC games, plus perhaps Orange box and Bioshock--I'm considering picking them up. All the talk online about it has worn me down! Overlord, TR:Anniversry, etc I want to run nicely from Gametap.

Current setup (don't laugh, it's mostly for work, not play!!)
P4 3.0 GHz
1 GB RAM
Windows XP
ATI Radeon X300 SE Hypermemory (so anything's an upgrade basically!)

I hope to spend $75 or less. Like I said, I'm not looking for outstanding performance, just adequate. If there's enough cash left, I might upgrade the RAM to 2GB (though I can't off hand recall what type it is, so I can't estimate the cost of that...I'll check when I get home).

Please help. The zillion or so cards out there have me confused...plus the fact that a GeForce 8500GT may or may not be better than a 7900...makes it worse. Advice is greatly appreciated.
 
With a $75 budget you could probably find an X1650 that comes in under that (PCI-E anyway, AGP runs a little more). That would be plenty. My system is a P4 2.53 with an X800 and I can play Orange Box no problem. Bioshock I have no idea though, I played that on the 360.
 
I'd go with the 7600GT. You can find it for $70 after rebates easily and it's probably one of the best bang/buck cards.

I'm pretty sure the 7600GT outperforms it's ATI counterpart (X1650XT?) though I'm not 100% sure on that.

But don't expect to run anything like BioShock with a $75- not at anything above very low resolutions/low settings. You'll be able to run Orange Box games easily though with the 7600GT.
 
This chart shows where processors line up. It's really hard to find out if the best card from a few years ago is better or worse than a midrange card from this year but this chart helps.

The minimum is a 7600GT. It should be right in your price range too.
A 7900GS will get much better performance but the lowest I've ever seen for this card is $85 (which is crazy cheap for this card).

If you check slickdeals.net you can find 2GB (2x 1GB) RAM for about $35-$45 after rebate. Assuming you can use DDR2.
 
[quote name='Vinny']I'd go with the 7600GT. You can find it for $70 after rebates easily and it's probably one of the best bang/buck cards.

I'm pretty sure the 7600GT outperforms it's ATI counterpart (X1650XT?) though I'm not 100% sure on that. [/quote]

I thought the same thing but it looks like he's right.

Also, 25-30 FPS at 1024x768 on high settings is pretty nice. Now the OP doesn't have the same CPU/Ram that Gamespot had, but Bioshock will still play smooth on medium settings.
 
Thanks for that list, that's really helpful! Next question, is it important to have a "name brand" on the card...I mean, should I avoid a PNY card and buy a XFX? Or is the (insert cheap name here) worse than the (insert expensive name here)?

I omitted that I'm looking for a PCI-e card. Sorry about that.

If I recall correctly, I have a 17" LCD at 1280x1024. I don't expect to run Bioshock at max res on high. I would want 1280x1024, and a smooth run. I am used to original Xbox or Wii quality graphics, so Bioshock on minimum settings probably looks quite nice to me.

And I can handle upgrading RAM, so no worries there...I just don't recall what type is in the machine. I just tossed that in, as I wonder if:

(RAM + cheaper video card ) > (better video card)

Thanks again for the suggestions. Another thing, any prefered places to shop for this online? My first look is newegg, followed by tigerdirect, and maybe buy.com. I'm still pissed at buy.com for the headache that was my Twilight princess preorder last christmas (took months and a canceled order to get mine, even though it was in stock!!!)
 
[quote name='SpreadTheWord']I thought the same thing but it looks like he's right.

Also, 25-30 FPS at 1024x768 on high settings is pretty nice. Now the OP doesn't have the same CPU/Ram that Gamespot had, but Bioshock will still play smooth on medium settings.[/QUOTE]

Damn, that is surprising...

About name brands, it usually doesn't matter other than customer support. From what I've heard, PNY has horrible CS where as EVGA and BFG have the best.

As for ram + video card vs a video card- that's a whole different argument. RAM usually helps with load times and some high end games won't even run unless you have sufficient RAM. 1GB seems good for you.
 
[quote name='SpreadTheWord']This chart shows where processors line up. It's really hard to find out if the best card from a few years ago is better or worse than a midrange card from this year but this chart helps.

The minimum is a 7600GT. It should be right in your price range too.
A 7900GS will get much better performance but the lowest I've ever seen for this card is $85 (which is crazy cheap for this card).

If you check slickdeals.net you can find 2GB (2x 1GB) RAM for about $35-$45 after rebate. Assuming you can use DDR2.[/quote]

I just got a 7900 GS for $110 which was the cheapest I could find one for. Most of them seemed priced at $150+. I can run any Source game at maxed settings at 1600x900 and Oblivion with medium settings at about 1024x570 (whatever the widescreen rez is).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133186
 
From the discussion, I am thinking I want a 7900 GS, if I can find a deal. I posted a request in the appropriate forum. It might turn out that I want it sooner rather than later, in which case I probably will end up with the 7600 GT.

Or maybe I'll say screw it, buy XP, and dual boot my Macbook Pro (2.16GHz Core 2 Duo, X1600 128mb, 1GB RAM).
 
An update for those who helped me out. I decided to drop by the PC shop down the street to inquire. They had a 7200 GS, 8400 GS, and a 6600 GT used. I decided to check out benchmarks, and come back later.

The 6600 GT seemed to be a still a nice step up from my Radeon X300 SE HM. He wanted $40, but I haggled him down to $30, which I was happy with. It runs the stuff I wanted to try on Gametap nicely, and I'm going to download some newer demos now. We'll see how they work on LOW. :)

Thanks once more for the links and advice.

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=187&card2=89
Here's a page comparing what I have now (left) to what I had (right).
 
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