Best budget video card?

[mmganga]

Hi, I think it's time to upgrade the video card in my system -- I have an AMD Barton 2500 which is overclocked to 3200+ levels (2.4 GHz I think)...

The video card in the system is very old, ATI Radeon 7500!!! However I haven't really needed anymore video capabilities...

I'd like to upgrade the video card to allow me to play the latest games such as Far Cry, or Half Life 2...The monitor I have is 1600x1200 but I do not mind playing at lower resolutions!!!

What's the best video card for me to look for (price vs. performance)???

THANK YOU!!!

 

[mwmorph]

TRUE budget X300(can oc to 540 core!)(about $100-120)
6600gt agp(about $200)
6800GT agp (about $400)

 

[mmganga]

Thanks, the X300 is the budget I am talking about...

I would like to spend at most $100 and the card can be used...

I also see Radeon 9700's (mostly non-pro but some pro as well) around this price, and FX5900's

How do these stack up against the X300's???

THANKS!!!

 

[mwmorph]

9700pro is best bet.

entire fx line sucks(cant run source engine[for half-life 2, vampires] on dx9 tech. noly dx8.1). their image quality is subpar.

x300 if you need pci-e or this gen hardware.

9700pro would be fastes tthing out there.

 

[mmganga]

I have no PCI-E support, that should be a feature of the motherboard, right? Is it a hardware change or software (ie. mobo driver)??

My motherboard has AGP 8X and regular PCI, no PCI-E...

THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP!!

 

[mwmorph]

yeah. 9700pro then.

 

[Todd33]

Look for a 9700 Pro, the FS/FT forums here or eBay.

 

[genghislegacy]

I wonder whether 9700Pro is powerful enough for those new games

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

Originally posted by: genghislegacy
I wonder whether 9700Pro is powerful enough for those new games

I'm still running one of the old modded 9500 non pros (mods to 9700 speeds) and I can play Far Cry at 1280x1024 (think that's what I was playing at, haven't touched the game in a while) with pretty high settings with no problems at all. A 9700 Pro should do him just fine.

 

[SneakyStuff]

Originally posted by: genghislegacy
I wonder whether 9700Pro is powerful enough for those new games

I play Rome Total war, World of Warcraft, Doom III, FarCry, Painkiller, Unreal 2K4, etc... And in no instance, have I not been able to run a game at at least 1024 x 768, with mid-high level settings, and recieve bad framerates. In fact, My usual FPS for any of those games is about 40-50 (with the exception of UT which notches 85 FPS due to a vsync.) I just got my 9700 Pro not too long ago to replace my old 5700 Ultra. It overclocks well with the VGA silencer on it, and it's very quiet. I'm sure i'll be keeping this card for at least another year. If I were you, i'd definately be looking for a used 9700 Pro, or 9800 Pro.

EDIT: score of 2540 on 3DMARK05 @1024x768 if that is of any interest to you

 

[mwmorph]

9700pro plays hl-2 and all the newer games. it's only slightly slower than the 9800pro128mb. full dx9 support too.

 

[Boobers]

Be very careful buying a used 9700Pro. Many of them (especially Sapphire) were made with bad RAM. That may be one reason why most places don't sell them anymore...

I'd suggest a 9800Pro (for a few bucks more). They seem to have less problems, I think because they have a higher quality RAM...YMMV

And IMHO, there is nothing wrong with a FX5900.

Either one is about $200 new, but maybe you can get a used one for ~$100...

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Todd33
Look for a 9700 Pro, the FS/FT forums here or eBay.

 

[mwmorph]

9800pros cost double what he is willing to pay.
fx5900 is implementing a bunch of stuff that speeds it up but screws up image quality.
http://graphics.tomshardware.c...4/geforce_6800-44.html (fx5950U has only 8x and the filtering is screwed up. look at bloom shape compared to other cards.)
http://graphics.tomshardware.c...4/geforce_6800-43.html (light poles above the concrete barrier. the fx5950u obviously has mess up anti alising)
http://graphics.tomshardware.c...4/geforce_6800-46.html (shader quality. obviously the shaders on the fx are blcoky while the 9800 are smoothly shaded. hell, in the 3rd picture it isnt even shaded right at all and the fourth picture is unreconizable from the rest.)

edit: 9700pro has none of these problems.

 

[fibes]

9600Pro

 

[2Xtreme21]

No to the 9600 line.

Yes to the 9700. The 9600pro is srangled by its 4 pixel pipelines and 128-bit memory bandwidth. The 9700pro, for only a few bucks more, is basically a full-fledged 9800pro with slower clock speeds (that is, 8 pixel pipelines, and 256-bit bandwidth). Definitely your best buy.

 

[mwmorph]

esactly. espically since 9600 cant run newer games like hl-2 at playable speeds at good resolutions.

 

[jdixon]

I wanna pay 1/2 of what op is willing to pay ($50 max, used okay). I also think people who've recently bought low-end PCs with integrated graphics would appreciate effective video upgrade advice that still keeps total system price rock-bottom. I would appreciate you posting any card recommendations here.

Edit: to correct a typo.