Best video card for under $60 ???

Hmmm, i just checked pricewatch and the 7500 by radeon would most likely be your best bet.
 

AnAndAustin

Platinum Member
Apr 15, 2002
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;) Rad7500 is pretty decent and the GF4MX420 gives about the same perf, both are very similar really sporting good image quality, dual display, hw DVD playback but the Radeon edges it in the TVout dept. It is well worth raising the budget a bit as the GF4MX440 and Rad9000 cards a well worth the little extra cash. A little more would net you a Rad9000PRO or Rad8500/LE which again are much better considering the small price diff. Also 128MB is well worth it, but these little increases soon mount up LOL! I'd rec you get a Rad9000 personaly but see what the prices for all of these cards are like.
 

Rand

Lifer
Oct 11, 1999
11,071
1
81
Radeon 7500, GF2 Ti and GF4 MX420 are all under $60.

Of those the 'best' would depend on your uses.
As a brief comparsion of the abilities:

3D Performance: GF2 Ti is the fastest, followed by the R7500, and the MX420.
Depending upon the application in question the GF2 Ti/R7500 often flip back and forth between which is faster though.

3D feature set: R7500 is slightly better then the GF2 Ti/GF4 MX.

2D Visual quality: R7500 is generally slightly better, GF2/GF4 MX image quality is highly manufacturer dependent.

FSAA implementation: The GF4 MX's is clearly the fastest, but less flexible and slightly blurrier then the SSAA used on the R7500/GF2 Ti.

Anisotropic filtering implementation: The GF4 MX offers the highest visual quality, while the R7500 is generally the fastest.

TV-Out implementation: R7500 is solidly better then the GF2/GF4 which are both identical on the driver level, and hardware implementation is dependent on external TV chip utilized and so will vary between manufacturers.

Multi-Monitor functionality: GF2 lacks it, and GF4/R7500 are very similar in capabilities.

DVD playback quality/performance: The R7500 is a bit better then the GF4 MX420, and the GF2 Ti is clearly inferior to either.



You may want to look into the typical Radeon 9000 which can be had for $66-67.... it is in most respects clearly preferable to any of the above boards and only marginally more expensive.
 

rogue1979

Diamond Member
Mar 14, 2001
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Rand is right on, I would take his suggestion and spend a couple of extra bucks for the Radeon 9000.
 

Jayczar

Golden Member
Aug 28, 2001
1,628
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If you are willing to drop $10 more I have seen MX 440's lingering
around $70.
 

KIAman

Diamond Member
Mar 7, 2001
3,342
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For about 10 dollars more, you can pick up a refurbished radeon 8500le from newegg. I just got mine 2 weeks ago, clocked it at 305/325 and running 10k in 3dmark2001se. What a deal!
 

AnAndAustin

Platinum Member
Apr 15, 2002
2,112
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:eek: Not to take anything away from Rand's excellent response (not that I agree with it 100%) but I was the first witht he suggestion of paying a little more for Rad9000 rogue1979 (or MX440 too)! In fact I also rec paying a little more for a Rad8500/LE or Rad9000PRO as well as considering the little extra for a 128MB card BUT I did point out that all these little price increases add up though LOL!