Best budget used card for $50 or less?

[2timer]

What's the best budget used GPU I can pick up to tide me over until I can get a 7750?I'm looking to mainly play SC2 and Skyrim.

'preciate it.

 

[futurefields]

So you want to buy a $50 card now to hold you over until you can get the $100 card?

I say pocket the $50, and then when it would be time to get the 7750, you can get a 7770 with money to spare for some Steam games.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202011

 

[-Slacker-]

For $50, you could probably find a hd 5770/6770, which is only slightly slower than a 7750, but you're much better off just getting a new $75 7750 AR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131481

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I'm not so sure a 7750 would be enough to play SC2 and Skyrim happily anyway.

 

[kalrith]

Is it possible to increase your budget slightly? A 7770 with Far Cry 3 was recently $78 AR: http://slickdeals.net/f/5957402-MSI...-Game-Coupon-78-After-25-Rebate-Free-shipping. Selling the game should make it slightly less than that. I'm not sure you'd do much better than that, even buying used, unless you increase your budget.

Obviously it's not on sale right now, but you could set up a deal alert for a 7770 and save up some more funds for it. A 7770 is over 20% faster than a 7750 in Skyrim. There's not much of a difference in Starcraft: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/536?vs=535

If you're on a completely fixed budget, I have a 4870 512MB that I'd sell you for $50 shipped. You could probably resell it for $50 after you upgrade, so you'd only lose out on the shipping cost.

 

[BeauCharles]

Just a quick perusal of eBay makes me think you're going to need another $25-30 added to your budget to get anything worthwhile from there. I agree with kalrith - keep an eye on sales for decent current cards. They do drop below $100 occasionally (although with the recent rise in memory prices thats probably not going to happen often).

 

[2timer]

I'm not sure if I want to go 7750 or 7770. 7770 requires more power and an auxiliary 6 pin connector. I just don't know. Is there a really big difference between Skyrim in 1900*1200 and 1680*1050?

 

[kalrith]

Listing your specs would be helpful, including your monitor's native resolution. There's only about a $10 price difference between the 7750 and 7770 when they go on sale. Unless you have to buy a new psu, then the 7770 is the better buy.

 

[2timer]

Listing your specs would be helpful, including your monitor's native resolution. There's only about a $10 price difference between the 7750 and 7770 when they go on sale. Unless you have to buy a new psu, then the 7770 is the better buy.

Still gathering the parts, slowly. I have currently an i3-2120 on a Gigabyte H61N ITX. I'm using a 10 year old 240W PSU because it works, no aux 6 pin. Monitor is a CRT salvage, but my goal is 720p LCD, 14".

I like the idea of the extra value in the 7770 since the prices are so close

 

[Jimzz]

Is it possible to increase your budget slightly? A 7770 with Far Cry 3 was recently $78 AR: http://slickdeals.net/f/5957402-MSI...-Game-Coupon-78-After-25-Rebate-Free-shipping. Selling the game should make it slightly less than that. I'm not sure you'd do much better than that, even buying used, unless you increase your budget.

Obviously it's not on sale right now, but you could set up a deal alert for a 7770 and save up some more funds for it. A 7770 is over 20% faster than a 7750 in Skyrim. There's not much of a difference in Starcraft: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/536?vs=535

If you're on a completely fixed budget, I have a 4870 512MB that I'd sell you for $50 shipped. You could probably resell it for $50 after you upgrade, so you'd only lose out on the shipping cost.

Yep I bought that 7770 card and sold the FC3. End result was a new 7770 for $60 AR. Makes a good HTPC/Light gamer card.

 

[kalrith]

I'd keep an eye on psu prices and pick up the Corsair CX430 when it's $20 or less. I wouldn't trust that power supply. From your desired components, I'm guessing your budget is very low. The risk of that psu dying and taking all the components down with it is greater than the $20 cost of the CX430 IMO.

Why is a 720p 14" monitor your goal? 23" 1080p monitors are about $100 (http://www.pcm.com/p/product~dpno~9077086~pdp.hbfacbh), but that might be out of your price range.

At 720p, the 7770 should do fairly well. If you're going to upgrade the psu anyways (which I very much recommend), then the 7770 for about $80 is a good choice.

 

[2timer]

I'd keep an eye on psu prices and pick up the Corsair CX430 when it's $20 or less. I wouldn't trust that power supply. From your desired components, I'm guessing your budget is very low. The risk of that psu dying and taking all the components down with it is greater than the $20 cost of the CX430 IMO.

Why is a 720p 14" monitor your goal? 23" 1080p monitors are about $100 (http://www.pcm.com/p/product~dpno~9077086~pdp.hbfacbh), but that might be out of your price range.

At 720p, the 7770 should do fairly well. If you're going to upgrade the psu anyways (which I very much recommend), then the 7770 for about $80 is a good choice.

Great thanks! I will look out for a 7770 when it goes on sale.

One last question : are there any smaller PSUs that have a 6 pin auxiliary connector? I'm looking to keep the case size minimal.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I have a Gigabyte WindForce GTX460 1GB OC card for $50 + shipping in my FS thread. One of the fans reports low RPMs, but the temps have only gone up 1-2C, and it still very much works fine. Still has some warranty left too.

Downside is that it takes not just one, but two 6-pin PCI-E power connectors, so you would need a new PSU. (Something more beefy than a CX430, as it only has a single 6-pin.)

 

[tweakboy]

The card wont handle HD resolutions......... ur gonna have to play @ 1680x1024.. so it will do much better... gl

 

[winston9t4]

SC2 is very CPU-dependent, so you should be fine with almost any decent video card. I can play at medium settings on my i-2100 with a radeon 6450, which is really low-end.

As many have said, you need a beefier power supply. I bet a CX430 would even be good enough for Larry's GTX460, you just need an adapter for the 2nd power plug.