Emergency Graphics Card replacement before Black Friday, need suggestions!

[etcrane]

Hi guys,

My graphics card has been acting up, artifacting and basically making any games unplayable. It's an AMD HD4850 1 GB and my system is an HP Elite D5100t.

Basically, I'm looking for a really cheap replacement card that I can swap in to last me between now and Black Friday, at which point I'll either upgrade or pick up a new system.

Ideally, I'd like to find a card I can buy at Best Buy or Frys, nothing I have to order online and if it can match the 4850 performance wise, that would be great too.

Any and all recommendations are welcome. Just don't want to grab a cutting edge card right now because I'd have to replace the power unit (460 w currently) and eventually the motherboard / processor because it's only an Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 @ 2.83 GHz. Seems like a new system would be cheaper in the long run, so just need a super cheap, older graphics card to get me through the next few weeks.

Thanks!

 

[hotstud19us]

Since your looking in store. You will be paying a bit of a premium. First I'd get online and check the clearance at your local best buy. You might find something there. And you didn't mention price.

But for an AMD card that is comparable to the 4850. I'd go with a 7750. Here is one for $89.99 at best buy

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/xfx-core-edition-radeon-hd-7750-2gb-ddr3-pci-express-3-0-graphics-card/6819866.p?id=1218808240495&skuId=6819866

Or a little better 7770 for $109.99

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/xfx-ultra-overclock-edition-radeon-hd-7770-1gb-ddr5-pci-express-3-0-graphics-card/5619352.p?id=1218677497053&skuId=5619352

 

[etcrane]

Thanks for the recommendations! I think I might go with the 7750 for right now and then look into new systems on Black Friday. I'd love to put in something like a 660 or better, but I have a feeling I'm going to run into issues where I don't get the full effect of the newer cards because of CPU bottle necking. I could be wrong, as I'm not as savvy as I'd like to be when it comes to building and modding PCs.