i have a Abit BE6 motherboard with a PIII 500. I just wanna upgrade my video card cause i do a lot of photoshop and wanna at least increase performance for my games taht i play. I know it won't be able to play most games coming out today, but i figured throwing in $50 wouldn't be that much of a damper on my account and at least give me a significant increase in speed and performance. So what is the best card out there for my system?
Best video card for under $50?
- Thread starter greyhavns
- Start date
current video card is Matrox G400 32Mbs
memory is PC66 or PC33 with 512MBs
system is 4 years old, hehe, so havent' upgraded in a while.
memory is PC66 or PC33 with 512MBs
system is 4 years old, hehe, so havent' upgraded in a while.
The GF4MX may be little more than a beefed up GF2, but there is quite a variance of clock speed, memory bandwidth etc making some of these cards pretty nice for the $50 you wanna spend. My last card was a Radeon, and my next one may be too, but for now I don't mind taking a break from ATI driver issues by getting this littel "minor" video upgrade.
If you could get up to $72-$88 you'd be looking at a Radeon 8500 le maybe, but if you really mean $50, I suggest go to newegg.com and choose "shop by category", then under video cards, do a search of the GF4mx440se chipset cards. The user reviews are very interesting.
On the other hand, I saw a used Radeon 9000 on the for sale forum here for about $50 the other day. Hope you find something you like
If you could get up to $72-$88 you'd be looking at a Radeon 8500 le maybe, but if you really mean $50, I suggest go to newegg.com and choose "shop by category", then under video cards, do a search of the GF4mx440se chipset cards. The user reviews are very interesting.
On the other hand, I saw a used Radeon 9000 on the for sale forum here for about $50 the other day. Hope you find something you like
no worries about my AGP being able to support these new video cards. I was reading something that it could only support 1.5Vs or something like that. I guess the main issue is my MB being able to support the new video cards out there.
Radeon 7500 64mb or Geforce4MX 440SE. Both are under $50 and both offer decent performance. You cpu is really going to limit things.
Yeah well the problem is the $50 budget, really isn't much option when you get into such a range. Really probably isn't any "best" video card for under $50 if you aren't considering getting lucky with some killer deal or auction or buying used...
I just did a quick check on deal time and they have a:-
Aopen GF4 MX440-V64 64mb ddr Graphics Card for only $49
Just make sure you stay away from the GF4 MX which has sdram memory because they are no better than a GF2 MX400 which is rubbish.
Aopen GF4 MX440-V64 64mb ddr Graphics Card for only $49
Just make sure you stay away from the GF4 MX which has sdram memory because they are no better than a GF2 MX400 which is rubbish.
I'm going to go for an unusual choice, and recommend flat out that you stick with your exisiting card if 2-D is what matters to you most. I ran that card myself for 2 years, and I still have fond memories of it for 2-D work. I also have experience with several ATI and Nvidia products, and there are advantages and drawbacks to all of them.
Obviously, for gaming the G400 is pretty bad (I know from experience that the Geforce2MX beats it easily!). In your $50 price range, you would have to go for an entry-level GeForce3 or Radeon 7500 (or maybe a 8500LE if you are lucky). The Geforce3 would probably be the best gaming choice, but the worst for 2-D work.
Although this is very subjective, most people (and my own experience) tells me that generally ATI cards are better for sharper 2-D images, whereas Nvidia cards give a richer color saturation. Richer colors are not necesarily a good thing - most people like it to play games, but I find it makes it harder when doing accurate 2-D work in photoshop. My personal experience with Matrox cards (both the G200 and G400) is that they are superior to both ATI and Nvidia for 2-D work, as they have the best mix of sharpness and color saturation.
Whichever way you upgrade, I think you will find your previous photoshop work will look a little "washed-out", since your Matrox card has a darker adjustment of midtones that the other two cards (i.e. images seem "blacker" on the Matrox cards). This will probably be more noticeable if you switch to an ATI card. If you switch to an Nvidia card, you a likely to find a bit better color match, but at the cost of being a bit "fuzzy", especially at higher resolutions. Again, that's just a general observation over several cards in each product line.
Probably you best choice overall for an upgrade would be the ATI Radeon 8500, as it gives a good balance of quality and gaming performance. But you need to realize that nothing will look like the Matrox.
Obviously, for gaming the G400 is pretty bad (I know from experience that the Geforce2MX beats it easily!). In your $50 price range, you would have to go for an entry-level GeForce3 or Radeon 7500 (or maybe a 8500LE if you are lucky). The Geforce3 would probably be the best gaming choice, but the worst for 2-D work.
Although this is very subjective, most people (and my own experience) tells me that generally ATI cards are better for sharper 2-D images, whereas Nvidia cards give a richer color saturation. Richer colors are not necesarily a good thing - most people like it to play games, but I find it makes it harder when doing accurate 2-D work in photoshop. My personal experience with Matrox cards (both the G200 and G400) is that they are superior to both ATI and Nvidia for 2-D work, as they have the best mix of sharpness and color saturation.
Whichever way you upgrade, I think you will find your previous photoshop work will look a little "washed-out", since your Matrox card has a darker adjustment of midtones that the other two cards (i.e. images seem "blacker" on the Matrox cards). This will probably be more noticeable if you switch to an ATI card. If you switch to an Nvidia card, you a likely to find a bit better color match, but at the cost of being a bit "fuzzy", especially at higher resolutions. Again, that's just a general observation over several cards in each product line.
Probably you best choice overall for an upgrade would be the ATI Radeon 8500, as it gives a good balance of quality and gaming performance. But you need to realize that nothing will look like the Matrox.
The person has a budget of $50 so a ATI Radeon 8500 is obviously out of the question so is the Geforce3 mentioned in a previous message.
Oops, my mistake on the GeForce3 ... I was thinking GeForce2 Ti which you can get for $50US around here (more like $70US or so for the GeForce3 Ti200). However, I saw a RETAIL Radeon 8500LE for about $65US (after rebate) last week, which is why I suggested it (i.e. it's not worth getting a 7200 or 7500 for just a few dollars less).
but it won't have any problems with my MB? might i need a better ps to operate this video card, cause my comp is almost 4 years old.
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