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best budget card?

pontifex

pontifex

Lifer
I'm thinking about helping my friend upgrade his system and unfortunately neither of us can spend a lot. he's going to buy the cpu, mobo, memory and i'm probably gonna buy the video card as a b-day/Xmas gift.

I've been so out of the pc components scene for awhile so i'm not up on all the latest cards and stuff.

Right now it appears that he can't play Black Ops, so we need something that can play that. We also want to try to play Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising and his system has trouble with that. I'm sure there will be some newer games down the line and even older games that we still play that will take a nice performance jump with newer hardware.

So what is the best budget card, like in the $100-$150 range?
 
Not sure what resolution you want to play at but my vote would go for a 460 either 768 meg or 1 gig memory if possible. I've seen the 768meg going for around 115 to 130 here lately. Get a sli/crossfire board if possible so you can add another card later if possible. Good luck
 
ShreddedWheat said:
Not sure what resolution you want to play at but my vote would go for a 460 either 768 meg or 1 gig memory if possible. I've seen the 768meg going for around 115 to 130 here lately. Get a sli/crossfire board if possible so you can add another card later if possible. Good luck
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is that with or without rebate? Seems to be about 160+ before mail in rebate
 
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If you can't stand rebates, the Radeon 6850 at $180 is also a great card, in the same neighborhood as a GTX 460 1 GB, but both of those are above your $150 max.

With rebate, the GTX 460 768 is much better than a Radeon 5770 for about the same price.
 
DaveSimmons said:
If you can't stand rebates, the Radeon 6850 at $180 is also a great card, in the same neighborhood as a GTX 460 1 GB, but both of those are above your $150 max.

With rebate, the GTX 460 768 is much better than a Radeon 5770 for about the same price.
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Newegg has gone up $15 to $20 now on all but one 6850...That is somewhat surprising imho, but I guess they are moving in line with the other stores who have had them $190 and up all along.

If nVidia does indeed launch that 460 SE on November 15, it will be interesting to see where it is priced and how well it does against the 460 768 with the extra memory it has at the higher resolutions with AA.
 
Teizo said:
Newegg has gone up $15 to $20 now on all but one 6850...That is somewhat surprising imho, but I guess they are moving in line with the other stores who have had them $190 and up all along.

If nVidia does indeed launch that 460 SE on November 15, it will be interesting to see where it is priced and how well it does against the 460 768 with the extra memory it has at the higher resolutions with AA.
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Two of them are at SEP of $180. Also keep in mind that they are running a 10% discount coupon code EMCZZYR24 (expires 11/12), so if they list something at $200 then it's really $180 after coupon.
 
blastingcap said:
Two of them are at SEP of $180. Also keep in mind that they are running a 10% discount coupon code EMCZZYR24 (expires 11/12), so if they list something at $200 then it's really $180 after coupon.
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Yeah, that is true, I suspect the coupon has some influence, but if they go back down after the coupon runs out on the 12th, that is going to stink rather handily. I just find it interesting that AMD launched the card at $180, and now finding one at $180 is difficult (by that I mean limited brands). I say this because it may be a hint that AMD is letting nVidia dictate pricing atm, and this may affect the 6900 series pricing. Just speculating, but I can't help but wonder with people wondering what the price of the 6900's are going to be.

Anywho, nice thread jack on my part. Sorry about that OP :awe:
 
Teizo said:
Yeah, that is true, I suspect the coupon has some influence, but if they go back down after the coupon runs out on the 12th, that is going to stink rather handily. I just find it interesting that AMD launched the card at $180, and now finding one at $180 is difficult (by that I mean limited brands). I say this because it may be a hint that AMD is letting nVidia dictate pricing atm, and this may affect the 6900 series pricing. Just speculating, but I can't help but wonder with people wondering what the price of the 6900's are going to be.

Anywho, nice thread jack on my part. Sorry about that OP :awe:
Click to expand...

Newegg's antics (e.g., they listed GTX580 at $550 but even if you consider the coupon, what about the shipping? And mwave has discounts already so some people are ordering from them and paying more like $485 or so) make it so that the last card I bought from them was an XFX 6800XT. Ever since then I've got them elsewhere. I recommend Amazon for their friendly return policies, which came into play for me recently after I ordered a GTX460-768 that turned out to have shipping damage to the PCB. Amazon price-gouges a bit at launch (partly because shipping isn't really free.. so they build shipping into the price of the card price) but usually settles down after a few weeks.
 
Right now Nvidia offers the best bang for the buck.

Here is what I got from newegg on my VC upgrade...

GTS450 1gig $90.50 (after rebate shipped)

GTX460 768mg $128 (after rebate shipped)

GTX460 1gig $149 (after rebate shipped, but is out of stock right now)


That is using the rebates and neweggs 10% off VC's until this Friday.
So if not afraid of rebates then that is the best I have found. There are some that cost a little more without rebates.
Also make sure the power supply is a 80%+ and good wattage (think 450 or higher) to run a decent card. If you have a lowwer end PS then look at the GT240. You can get them in the $70-90 range for a good DDR5 version after rebate.

I really wanted to go with AMD/ATI but there is just not enough performance for the price. I was hoping for some rebates on the early 6000 series cards but nothing yet.

Just in case you REALLY have to have amd/ati here is others from my cheat sheet...

5770 $110
5830 $145

There is also some cheap GTX465 but DON'T get them. They are older than the GTX460 and run hotter and use more power.
 
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