Looking for best deal on a Video Card.

S

Steve Dave

CAGiversary!
Looking for a video card since all I have is integrated right now.

Who has the best prices? I have done some newegg searches but don't know if there are better places out there.

The only requirment is that it must be a PCI(at least that is what I have been told), AGP and PCI Express won't work.

Thanks.
 
[quote name='Steve Dave']Looking for a video card since all I have is integrated right now.

Who has the best prices? I have done some newegg searches but don't know if there are better places out there.

The only requirment is that it must be a PCI(at least that is what I have been told), AGP and PCI Express won't work.

Thanks.[/QUOTE]

How much are you looking to spend?

Do you want just a bump up from intergrated or a full bore gaming type card?

More info please.

*edit* And only PCI? Ouch. Time to replace a mobo me thinks. ;)
 
From what I understand there really isn't alot I can do. I was told that even if I wanted to spend $300 I couldn't because there aren't any vidoe cards out that at that price that would work on my PC.

I guess I would be happy with something around $100 bucks. I can spend a few dollars more I and I am fine with spending a few dollars less too.

I don't need anything that is going to run Doom III at a peak level. Right now I am playing Evil Genius and it is a little choppy so I want it to run smooth but I don't want to get a card that will be garbage in 6 months either. I have my eye on Empire at War too.

Thanks for any help.
 
I highly suggest seeing if you can replace your Mobo. PCI is awful. AGP is actually now "older" tech so you are 2 gens behind. Plus, PCI stuff is very limited now and usually very $$$ (for what you get)

Tell me about your PC.

Maker, chip,etc.
 
Uping the Motherboard is not an option. I just bought the PC about 6 months ago.

It is just a Dell something or other. One of their bargain ones. I would have like to have built my own or just bought one that would use AGP or PCI Express but it just wasn't in my budget at the time.
 
Understandable. Even if money were no object, Dells are a pain to upgrade Mobos (as they need a new PSU too)

Um, I honestly dont know what to tell you man. What you ll find out there wont impress you. PCI is so out of date that I dont even know any charts to show where the models stack up. You ll have to find somebody with a better memory of past gear than I.

I wish I could tell you differently but that PC just isnt meant to game. It was a budget thing and as such didnt have upgradabilty in mind.

*Edit* Ok, I checked all my usual places and Im not finding any charts whatsoever. Ill keep looking and post back if I do.
 
Best video cards you're going to find for PCI are going to be ATI Radeon 9200/9250's, Nvidia GeForce MX400's, FX5200's, FX550's and FX5700's . Best of the bunch would be the FX5700, and they tend to be in the $100 or so range. FX5200 seems to do well enough on some games, as does the 9200/9250 ATI cards. They're more like $40-70.

Your system is most likely a Dimenson 2400 or 3000. At the $100 you're looking, the best you're going to find would be a FX5700, such as here:
http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_getprod.php/masterid=4630948

Not having AGP is a real issue with finding halfway decent video cards, though those suggestions above might help.
 
I suggest that you just wait until you have a little more cash. A decent pc gaming rig can be pretty cheap (sub-$1,000). Your best bet right now would be the 5700 as stated above.
 
[quote name='Doof_rj']Check http://www.pricewatch.com/

You might be able to find a better deal - but Newegg is pretty good with the prices.[/QUOTE]

I just used Pricegrabber since I know I'd been there before, and Pricewatch might net out a slightly better deal.

The advice still stands on the 5700 being the best card you're going to find for a PCI-only system.
 
[quote name='Flying PJ']What video card do you have now?[/QUOTE]

Whatever came with the PC. I don't really know.

Where can I go in windows XP to find out?
 
[quote name='Flying PJ']I suggest that you just wait until you have a little more cash. A decent pc gaming rig can be pretty cheap (sub-$1,000). Your best bet right now would be the 5700 as stated above.[/QUOTE]

Unless that Sub $1000 is $100 or less for the new PC then I won't be getting one. Not looking for a gaming rig really just something that will let me play Evil Genius or Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 and not have a choppy screen or slowdown.
 
[quote name='Steve Dave']Whatever came with the PC. I don't really know.

Where can I go in windows XP to find out?[/QUOTE]

most likely it is 64mb intel extreme. At least thats what is on my compaq, and my friend's dell.
 
I love Price watch but some of the companies are VERY slow to ship..
Newegg is a great place to look also I know MicroCenter is having a big clearance sale..
http://www.microcenter.com/


Here are a few I found on Microcenter's website:

Xtasy RADEON 9250 128MB PCI Video Card $99.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0180941

Stealth S85 RADEON 9250 128MB PCI Video Card $89.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0183672

This is the one I would recommend:
RADEON 9250 256MB PCI Video Card $129.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0180884

They had a few Nvidia Cards but I didn’t see anything in the FX5700
Dominator FX 5500 128MB DDR PCI Video Card $89.90
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0183392

e-GeForce MX 4000 128MB DDR PCI Video Card $73.99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0171217

Another place that has had a lot of deals lately is Monarch Computers
All PCI Video Cards
http://www.monarchcomputer.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=M&Category_Code=VC-PCI
 
Don't buy the most expensive video card either. Don't waste your money on a $100 video card if your cpu is slow and will bottleneck the potential performance gain of a 5700. How fast is your cpu (right-click on my computer and click on properties)?
 
[quote name='bsesb2003']How do you know if your computer has PCI or PCI-E?[/QUOTE]

I was told by the makers.

How do I double check?
 
Don't buy the most expensive video card either. Don't waste your money on a $100 video card if your cpu is slow and will bottleneck the potential performance gain of a 5700
Click to expand...

Indeed. None of the cards (like the 9250 PCI) are really worth $100, they are just taking advantage of the low market. You aren't really getting your extra $80 worth.

Stick with a Radeon 9100/9200 PCI for like $20-30 or maybe a PCI FX5200 for $20-40. You're gonna spend an extra $40-$80 more $ for an extra 20-30% performance. None of these cards cut it for really advanced games anway. Except for maybe the FX5700 if you can really find a PCI one, it's tolerable at some games...

Here's some benchies from Doom 3 using mainstream older cards...

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/doom3_pt3/page3.asp


Here's the Tom's Hardware VGA charts from Dec 2003...good for comparing these lower-end cards. Scroll down to see the different benches.

http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/index.html
 
I really appreciate everyones help and I am much farther along in this process then I would have been if I had tried to find this stuff on my own but I am still totally lost.

I went to http://www.sudhian.com/showdocs.cfm?aid=445

and it had a lot of info and I learned some stuff but I still don't know enough about this stuff to have any idea what is really being said. My ignorance on the subject. Some cards are better on some graphs and others are better on the next and I'm not sure what graph is the more important.

I went to end of the article for the conclusion to just go with what they recommend and either no one has them or I am finding prices that are $100 dollars more than what people on this board are saying it should cost. Which leads me to believe that I am screwing something up in my search.

The FX's and the Radeons seems to be well thought of by those posting but when I look at these benchmarks it seems that it jumps between good and garbage even when it is the same company.

So if anyone has a moment I would just like a little more help in going in the right direction.

I am greatful for any help that I have gotten and will recieve. Thanks.
 
The OpenGL scores only really matter for OpenGL games..Like Doom 3, etc. You're probably better off looking at the DirectX scores.

The best benchmarks to use are probably the Commanche 4 & UT2003 bechmarks.

Radeon 9100 PCIs are very rare. If you notice in the Sudhian page they mention getting one before they are discontinued. I didn't have any luck finding one for sale using either pricegrabber or pricewatch. There was one on ebay back when this thread first started that finished for like $20...if you keep an eye out on ebay another should appear at some point.

Here's an FX5600 PCI:

http://www.amamax.com/ge56pciwddrd1.html

Expensive though @ $150+ shipped. The etailer has good resellerratings...http://www.resellerratings.com/seller2027.html

I'd just get the $55/shipped FX5200 from Newegg...I don't think the 5600 is worth another $100.

Here's a FX5200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130188&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch&ATT=Video+Cards
 
The FX 5200 seems like crap, I have the GeForce 4 MX 440 which was like from the previous generation, and its twice as good, I'd go for the 5700..
 
Dunno how long you want to wait. A 9100 should run you less (the last one went for like $25 or something) but it might take a while before another one shows up on ebay.

Your call, depends on your patience and budget. And what happens if another 9100 PCI shows up on ebay and you can't win the auction?

Personally not a big fan of the Nvidia FX cards myself - but I would buy the current 6600GT or 6800, or a budget ti4200. I've had Radeons since the original Radeon 7000 VIVO, as I've liked the bang for buck on them (Radeon 7000, Radeon 8500, Radeon 9800pro).

Too bad they didn't make the ti cards in PCI, they are great cheap bang/buck cards too.
 
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