Around $160 CAD Video Card

[geokilla]

I'm a gamer, but not an intense gamer. I want a good card that will give me good bang for buck. I play games like GUNZ and CS 1.6, but I recently installed F.E.A.R. and I have found out that I have a little lag with everything set to high and with the 2X Anti-Aliasing. Overclocking is not important. I currently have an ATI X800XL 256GDDR3 video card. My system specs are as follows:

AMD X-2 3800+ 2GHZ
ASUS M2N-E
Kingston Value Ram 512MB 667MHZ
ATI X800XL 256GDDR3

 

[BassBomb]

7600GT is probably the best you can do for that price range, it wont be a world of difference but it will be an improvement

 

[sandorski]

How much better is a 7600GT over an X800XL? At this time, after Tax/shipping, an X800XL is within the OP's price range, not sure what the 7600GT comes to.

OP: Don't run everything at max/High. You're not going to find anything for $160 that will run decently with that kind of setting. However, you could use another 512mb of ram, which you'll probably find helps somewhat.

 

[coolpurplefan]

wait a couple of months to see price drops on the X1950 Pro

 

[geokilla]

I see..Thanks for your replys. Since my computer is newly built, I was wondering if I should change the video card now or if I should wait. I have a question even though this is out of topic..How do you set a highlight/quote (??don't know what it's called) like what sandorski and coolpurplefan did at the bottom of the message. Thanks once again.

 

[Skyguy]

Check out the different specs/performance here:

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=50&card2=385


BTW, prices will always come down, that's a constant. You could wait and prices will drop. But then again, you could wait even longer and prices will drop even more. And new-ish stuff will start to drop too.

My point is you gotta jump in at some point, it just depends how long you can wait and how much you can spend. Best suggestion is try to get the best possible you can for your budget, and if a few extra bucks will get you a sizeable performance increase, then that's your best deal right there. A 7600GT is a great deal at good performance right now, it'll do fine on FEAR for what you want. I think if you start looking at going higher than that, either you are paying more or need to be serious about your gaming. It's your call, but just keep it in mind. It's a never-ending thing with gfx cards............

So, bottom line: if you can wait 2-3 months, then you'll get some great performance at a great price. If you can't, you can still get a great bargain and enjoy your gaming NOW. So, how impatient are you? LOL

As for a quote at the bottom of your messages, you need to go into your Account Profile and put something in the Signature box.

 

[geokilla]

Skyguy. I'm VERY patient right now...I can live with this video card since I only lag a bit in F.E.A.R. with everything set at high. Everything other game that I play is fine. =)

 

[pkme2]

Check eBay for deals.

Christmas comes a little earlier this rear.

 

[RussianSensation]

for starters 512mb of ram is not enough.

I dont even know how you perform every day tasks like internet browsing and so forth. I regularly exceed 512mb with windows under normal conditions like running word, excel, some explorer, firefox, windows media player, msn, etc.

I cant see how 512mb can possibly be enough for smooth gaming in games like FEAR.

 

[geokilla]

Ahh...I see...You see I'm on a budget since my parents and I (yes I'm a kid) put money together to get this computer. I could get another 512MB Ram stick for around $60 CAN but 512MB is enough right now...Maybe I should ask my parents for another 512MB Ram...Hmm...Thanks.

 

[imported_Truenofan]

the x800 should be able to play those with high and 2x fsaa....maybe not fear, but everything else i know will, i used to in a x800xl

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: Truenofan
the x800 should be able to play those with high and 2x fsaa....maybe not fear, but everything else i know will, i used to in a x800xl

Ya, I'm using an x800xl with practically the same setup as the OP(got 1gb ram, different mobo) and FEAR runs very well. I just use the settings FEAR chooses though.

 

[coldpower27]

At 160 CAN I don't recommend upgrading your video card at this time since it will be a less then 2x performance boost. A Budget of about 250 CAN would get you a 7900 GT or X1900 GT which are worthwhile enough of an upgrade, though you should up it to 320 CAN or so to get the X1900 XT or 7950 GT to actually hit the 2x or more performance threshold.

 

[geokilla]

Hmm...I see. Maybe I will wait. My mom got pissed at me just now cus I told her that I wanna buy a Kingston 512MB DDR2 RAM. I have only 512MBs then she's like "Why didn't you get 1GB in the first place..." I think I'll wait until maybe Christmas or something, but then I need to find out what to do with the current card if I do get a new card.

I have one question, is 512MB enough for F.E.A.R.? Since if it's the RAM that's limiting my gaming performance then there's no point for me to spend another $60 CAD just to play one game.

 

[happy medium]

Anyone who plays games should have at least 1 gig of ram in there system now.

 

[Captante]

Considering your budget & the fact that you already have an X800XL, its really not worth upgrading to a 7600GT because the performance jump isn't going to be that dramatic ... as has been said already, upgrading to a gb of RAM will help out overall performance a lot & would be a much better investment.

Save your money until you can afford somthing a bit better like an X1950 Pro or 256mb X1900XT instead.