cheap card needed

[dornick]

what's the cheapest thing that could run HL2 with a decent amount of FPS at medium texture levels (DirectX 8)?

 

[Amplifier]

In terms of quality

Poor- ti4200
Fair- nvidia 5600/ati 9600
Medium- x700/6600
High-6600gt/ati 9800
Very High- 6800/x800 or higher.

From you description you'd probably be happy with a 5600 256mg card from Nvidia.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

You might want to look into used cards. You might be able to pick up a used 9700pro for around $100 or $120 or something in FS/FT forums.

A used geforce4 would be a good budget option to get things running.

What do you have now?
What's your other hardware in the computer?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

example

 

[dornick]

Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
You might want to look into used cards. You might be able to pick up a used 9700pro for around $100 or $120 or something in FS/FT forums.

A used geforce4 would be a good budget option to get things running.

What do you have now?
What's your other hardware in the computer?

No used. Unless it's through some official store. Just don't want to take any chance of getting ripped off.

And for the rest of the comp, I'm thinking of a Sempron, and the cheap Epox nForce 3 board. (No, don't try and talk me into an A64, I'm on a super budget here)

 

[dornick]

what could I do with a 9250?

 

[Munky]

A radeon 9200 would play HL2 at medium settings no problem, without AA/AF. Just make sure you buy one with a 128-bit memory bus, not 64-bit.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: dornick
what could I do with a 9250?

Throw it out the window in frustration?

I have medium settings and run at 1024x768 with a 9800pro and still get some hiccups. From time to time. Once the textures all load it's ok, but HL2 is pretty demanding at times.

Do you think a 9550 is in your budget? You'd get smoother play from it. A 9250 will get the job done though.

 

[MonkeyWrench4000]

I second the 9550 (128-bit version only!) for around $57-67 dollars you will get very playable performance for HL2, in dx8.1

I know for sure you can get away with High settings, in 1024x768, with NO aa, and trilinear. IMO this is very playable and you wont miss out much at all, and the card only cost a bit more then the game itself.

The best thing about Half Life 2 is it's mutiple dx modes, and its great coding. To be honest, most video cards would shock you at how well they run with this game.

EXAMPLE: the fx5200 by nvidia runs 1024x768, High, High, Tri, NO AA, Simple shadows (in DX8) with very respectable framerates. This card is quite a bit slower then the 9550 in the budget spectrum, in fact, its almost Twice as slow when compared to in games such as unreal 2004. Take a look:

http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/955055005200/ut2004.htm

Note this test is using the 64-bit version as well!

So to make a very long story short, if your staying in the budget card spectrum, the 9550 128mb (128-bit) video card is really your best option. You could get away with dx8.1 features, in High quality, 1024x768, tri, high quality shadows, and maybe even 2x aa without a problem. Now if you force dx9, you may have to turn the detail down. (this is all providing your current system is capable as well)

Good luck!

 

[dornick]

indeed, I had changed my mind to the 9550 shortly after posting. the newegg reviewers seem to think it's decent enough so I'll go with it

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Whoops, sorry about linking to a 64-bit version.

The 128-bit is the way to go

 

[hans030390]

just get a 6200 from newegg at $100. you can unlock the pipelines on it and OC it, making it a 6600 ($170 card). It supports DX9c, with Shader Model 3.0. So, not only will it run it great on high settings, it will support all games in the late 2005/2006 range, where as any ATI card currently out wont.

but, if it's just HL2 you wanna play (which i doubt it will be after you see next gen games) just go for whatever...heck, even a 9200/9600se (or a 9600XT if you are really "daring") will play the game on medium settings.

 

[dornick]

this won't be my true gaming computer, i'm just looking for something to get by. Unfortunately, I think $100 is out of my price range.

 

[MisterChief]

If you are willing to search, you can get a 9600XT or a 9700Pro for $60-100. Both cards will run HL2 at 1024x786 High Quality all and reflect world in DX9 mode at around 50-90 FPS! Really amazing detail.

Oh, BTW, HL2 is a VERY old game. It shouldn't come as a suprise that it will run amazingly well on old hardware. That, and years of optimization