best ~$50 PCI-e gaming card

[amheck]

Friend games very occasionally and does not need any of the eye candy turned on. Wants to spend around $50 on a video card upgrade for the Dell onboard video. He tried installing Q4 yesterday and it just hangs. I've seen the 7600GS 3D Fuzion was down around $65 after rebate, although I think the rebate has expired now. Is this 7600GS the best bet for him for a new card?

Aaron

 

[Roguestar]

$50 is not really enough to spend on a card for Q4...

 

[amheck]

what do you suggest then? The Q4 box says the supported chipsets are Radeon x300 and all nVidia Geforece 3/Ti series (on the very low end). Are you saying these will not run the game when the manufacturer says they will?

 

[imhungry]

Of course those cards will run the games. Just don't expect to go past 640x480-800x600 with low graphics settings.

 

[amheck]

I think 800x600 is fine at those settings. Just wants to be able to play the game. I'll just tell him that the $50 won't be buying much. So just basicallly go to Newegg or whatever, search by price in the video card section and choose something that looks good?

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: amheck
I think 800x600 is fine at those settings. Just wants to be able to play the game. I'll just tell him that the $50 won't be buying much. So just basicallly go to Newegg or whatever, search by price in the video card section and choose something that looks good?

If I was on that kind of a budget, I'd hit Ebay or the FS/FT forum here and not Newegg. You can find a either a GeForce 6600GT AGP or 9800 Pro (6600GT is probably better for Quake 4) on Ebay for $50-60 pretty easily. The 6600GT AGP cards at Newegg are about $100. A 6600GT would play Quake 4 much better than the Radeon x300 or any nVidia Geforece 3/Ti series cards.

 

[TStep]

I was able to score a $47 shipped X800XT a few weeks ago and was watching a 6800GT that went for $60ish yesterday on Ebay. Hit the used market.

 

[aka1nas]

Originally posted by: nitromullet

Originally posted by: amheck
I think 800x600 is fine at those settings. Just wants to be able to play the game. I'll just tell him that the $50 won't be buying much. So just basicallly go to Newegg or whatever, search by price in the video card section and choose something that looks good?

If I was on that kind of a budget, I'd hit Ebay or the FS/FT forum here and not Newegg. You can find a either a GeForce 6600GT AGP or 9800 Pro (6600GT is probably better for Quake 4) on Ebay for $50-60 pretty easily. The 6600GT AGP cards at Newegg are about $100. A 6600GT would play Quake 4 much better than the Radeon x300 or any nVidia Geforece 3/Ti series cards.

Geforce 3/Ti cards probalby won't play quake 4 at all, they are only directX 8.

I would grab a 7600 based card over a 6600GT. Honestly, your friend needs to save up more money and spend more like $100 on a budget video card. 800x600 isn't really an acceptable resolution anymore and most modern games UIs look terrible at such low resolutions.

 

[nitromullet]

edit: NM, I didn't realize you were looking for a PCI-E card... You might actually be able to squeeze out a decent card for close to $50 in PCI-E...

 

[Sable]

The specs on the box are absolute rubbish in most cases. They're an indication of the minimum that the game will load on, it has nothing to do with playable frame rates.

 

[Corporate Thug]

you can find A 6600gt In FS/FT or a 6800 in ebay