You cant go wrong with 130 dollar 460 768MB or 150 for 460 1GB .. gl
That's some pretty solid advice but....
I want to try to stay under $70.
You cant go wrong with 130 dollar 460 768MB or 150 for 460 1GB .. gl
I want to try to stay under $70.
As far as the power consumption of the card, I plan on buying a new PSU along with the new card. It will probably be a 450W or so, because most cards in the low/mid range recommend you have a 350W-400W.
You cant go wrong with 130 dollar 460 768MB or 150 for 460 1GB .. gl
The 4870 only uses 42W more than the 5770 also recommended in this thread. No rebate and lower price means less $ out of pocket.
Are you sure? My current PSU isn't all that bad I suppose, but a lot of these cards, especially the ATI ones, recommend a ~400W PSU. Of course it would be nice if I could skip the new PSU and save $45, but I don't want my new card to be starved of power from my 305W PSU.OP - you don't need a new PSU
GT 240:
I checked out the Gigabyte GT 240, and it definitely seems more gaming-oriented than the GT 430, for similar price. I have concerns though; in the reviews on Newegg, there are several complaints about how loud the fan is. That's not such a big deal I guess. My other concern is that Gigabyte recommends you have a 450W PSU with this card, and one reviewer said that he experienced sudden shutdowns with a 350W PSU. So despite the assurances here that my 305W PSU is sufficient for a GT 240, I am still skeptical. Why do you think 305W is sufficient?
I also found an EVGA GT 240 on Tiger Direct. The price before rebate for the EVGA makes me wince, and we all know how rebates can be... you may never get it. I don't know what its power consumption is either. What do you all think of the EVGA card?
GT 440:
I looked at the Galaxy GT 440. I like it. Disregarding rebates, the 440 is only $5 more than the Gigabyte 240, and the 440 has a higher core clock speed and shader clock speed than the 240, though the 240 has a little higher memory clock speed. Other than that, the 440 and the 240 that I looked at are about the same. The 440 has almost no reviews on Newegg, but someone posted a review of an Asus 440 with 1gb DDR5, and that reviewer was somewhat unimpressed. The review showed that the 440 has similar noise levels and power consumption to the 240. But I lean towards the 240 because of price.
HD 5670:
In a lot of the reviews that have been posted, the HD 5670 performs better than the GT 240 and the GT 440. I am very interested in this card. I looked at the Sapphire HD 5670 and the XFX HD 5670. Both seem essentially the same. My main concern is that they only have a 1000 MHz effective memory clock, vs. ~3200 MHz on the Nvidia cards. Also, the price is pushing my limit. I also have no experience with ATI cards.
That refurbished 4870 is a monster! I'll take a look at it since it's only $65, but from what I've read about it, it's probably not the type of card I'm looking for.
Thanks for the advice everyone. That HD 4850 looks awesome, but it has a tall fan. So do the GT 240 and the HD 4670 and several others. I never realized until just very recently that I may have some space constraints in my computer case.
That is the motherboard of the E521. My concern is with that square thing with all the little fins, situated right above the end of the PCI-e slot. It sticks out about an inch and is about an inch above the slot, and I am worried it will be in the way of any tall fan on a video card.
Tomorrow I'll see about sending my dead 8600 to XFX. And I'll check out the 4850. It might be too much for my computer, but it seems like such a good deal.
That is the motherboard of the E521. My concern is with that square thing with all the little fins, situated right above the end of the PCI-e slot. It sticks out about an inch and is about an inch above the slot, and I am worried it will be in the way of any tall fan on a video card.
That is the motherboard of the E521. My concern is with that square thing with all the little fins, situated right above the end of the PCI-e slot. It sticks out about an inch and is about an inch above the slot, and I am worried it will be in the way of any tall fan on a video card.