Best PCI-E video card for ~$50?

[StevenMara]

So I'm getting my mom a computer, and I think I'm getting a used Dell Dimension 4700, which has a PCI-E slot. Someone PM'd me selling their 256MB Visiontek X300SE PCI-E card for $50, but I really don't know anything about PCI-E cards, so what do you think?

EDIT: And how does it compare to a 128MB AGP 9800 Pro?

 

[mwmorph]

it's closer to 1/3 or 1/4 as fast. a x700pro compares nicely with a 9800pro and a 6600gt or x800gt will be slightly faster. a 9800 pro has held up well, it's still a $90-$100 card used.

a x800gto will be somewhat of a perfromace jump and a x850xt or 6800ultra/gt will be about 2x as fast as a 9800pro. a 7800gt or 7800gtx as well as the x1800xl or x1800xt will be around 3x as fast as a 9800pro.

a x300se will not play games at any decent settings.

 

[fire400]

x300 is basically a generic geforce fx 5200/5500 class card, but with slightly faster architecture capabilities

you're not going to get awesome framerates with this card, but it does work well for a mainstream PC. dell overly uses this card. personally, I do not like low end products of a graphics card generation if you are looking into building a decent computer for discreet graphics computing.

 

[ShadowBlade]

what will your mom use this for? if she does gaming at all, you'll want a 6600gt min.
if she's like most moms and just does internet/email/office/solitaire, the x300 will be fine, just make sure its not the one that shares system memory

 

[StevenMara]

It's mostly for my sisters to play crappy games like Harry Potter and Zoo Tycoon. Hers has lasted 5-6 years, but now those games require more. So she wants this one to play crappy games for about 5 years.

 

[noitammusui]

Supposedely the Xpress 200m on my laptop is about comparible to the X300SE, and I found I can play CS 1.6 and Warcraft3 on high settings at 1024x768 (no AA or anything like that, of course) on my laptop, if it helps.

Of course neither are cutting edge games by any stretch of the imagination....

 

[Slowlearner]

X300 is a minimal graphics card, if any one is going to be gaming you shpuld invest in the cheapest 6600 at least.

 

[StevenMara]

I can't spend over like $60. No matter what I get, it will be a HUGE improvement over the onboard video she has been using for the past 5 years.

 

[fire400]

Originally posted by: noitammusui
Supposedely the Xpress 200m on my laptop is about comparible to the X300SE, and I found I can play CS 1.6 and Warcraft3 on high settings at 1024x768 (no AA or anything like that, of course) on my laptop, if it helps.

Of course neither are cutting edge games by any stretch of the imagination....

Personally I think Warcraft 3 has visually stunning graphics, even if it does not require the latest graphics card to have the game run very smoothly. Besides, Warcraft 3 is cutting edge if you're an RTS gamer where outstanding sound FX and fast paced, flashy graphics excites you. I like RTS games, but Warcraft 3 for some reason is very boring to me. Isn't that ironic, all the good things I've said about Warcraft 3?