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Cheap vidcard recommendation

U

unpossible

Member
I'm building an E4500 system for my sister to replace her old 500Mhz celeron rig. Right now I'm stuck on what PCI-e video card to get. Preferably I want to keep it under or at $100, but I can go above that if a much better bang for the buck is to be had. The machine will be very light on gaming, but heavy on video playback. Another consideration is that I'd like to buy a quiet vidcard (and ideally relatively low on power draw) and one that works well under Vista.

Any recs? Thanks.
 
ATI 3850 sounds perfect for that. Low noise, low power consumption, fast enough for light (and not so light) gaming, and a bit over $100 I think. Definitely great bang for the buck.
 
An 8600GT would be perfectly fine for that system. If the system was more for gaming I would also suggest the HD3850 but in this case the 8600GT would be fine.
 
Hmmm, $169 for HD3850 (newegg) might be slightly out of my price range. But the 8600GT's look promising. Thanks.

Anyone else with any other suggestions?
 
Originally posted by: unpossible
I'm building an E4500 system for my sister to replace her old 500Mhz celeron rig. Right now I'm stuck on what PCI-e video card to get. Preferably I want to keep it under or at $100, but I can go above that if a much better bang for the buck is to be had. The machine will be very light on gaming, but heavy on video playback. Another consideration is that I'd like to buy a quiet vidcard (and ideally relatively low on power draw) and one that works well under Vista.

Any recs? Thanks.
Click to expand...

honestly if its going to be light on gaming,

and i'm assuming very light if your sister is using a celeron 500 right now, you probably would be OK with most of teh newer integrated video cards.


at most i'd suggest a 8400gs or 2400pro. $50 or so. spend the rest on something else.

dont listen to these guys suggesting a 3850 ati radeon (i believe they dont know how to read your post)
 
I saw a 1950 Pro for about $105 shipped after a $35 rebate at Newegg earlier today.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814241038

Might also consider eBay, too. I checked out the completed auction listings and I was a little sickened by the closing prices for some cards that I might have gone after, 7950 GTs and x1950 Pros. Apparently the new ATI and nVidia cards are pushing the prices down some. I hadn't looked on eBay for a while and I was very surprised.
 
The newer ATI cards (2000 series and above) all have good video decoding. I don't think the same can be said for the nVidia lower end cards. A 2400 would probably be a good buy, but its replacement should be available within 2 months, so it may behoove you to wait until February or so to do this upgrade. The newer lower end nVidia cards will probably be out at that time too, so you will have some good choices on what to buy.
 
Originally posted by: unpossible
I'm building an E4500 system for my sister to replace her old 500Mhz celeron rig. Right now I'm stuck on what PCI-e video card to get. Preferably I want to keep it under or at $100, but I can go above that if a much better bang for the buck is to be had. The machine will be very light on gaming, but heavy on video playback. Another consideration is that I'd like to buy a quiet vidcard (and ideally relatively low on power draw) and one that works well under Vista.

Any recs? Thanks.
Click to expand...


SAPPHIRE 100199L Radeon X1950GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3
$110

or

Leadtek PX8600GT TDH 512MB GeForce 8600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2
$93
 
Originally posted by: heyheybooboo
Originally posted by: unpossible
I'm building an E4500 system for my sister to replace her old 500Mhz celeron rig. Right now I'm stuck on what PCI-e video card to get. Preferably I want to keep it under or at $100, but I can go above that if a much better bang for the buck is to be had. The machine will be very light on gaming, but heavy on video playback. Another consideration is that I'd like to buy a quiet vidcard (and ideally relatively low on power draw) and one that works well under Vista.

Any recs? Thanks.
Click to expand...


SAPPHIRE 100199L Radeon X1950GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3
$110

or

Leadtek PX8600GT TDH 512MB GeForce 8600GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2
$93
Click to expand...

Nah, that 8600GT has GDDR2 memory, you can get GDDR3 for a couple dollars more, and a couple less after rebate. You could try MSI's 8600GT on newegg, or a ATi 2600XT
 
Originally posted by: hans007
dont listen to these guys suggesting a 3850 ati radeon (i believe they dont know how to read your post)
Click to expand...

Typical... Someone asks for "$100 video card" and get a "buy this $200 video card" response. :roll: Don't they teach reading comprehension in schools anymore?

Take a look at Gigabyte and MSI cards using the Nvidia 8500GT/8600GT or ATI 2600Pro/2600XT. Those two brands have passively cooled cards available in those chipsets in the $60-100 range.
 
Originally posted by: Zap
Originally posted by: hans007
dont listen to these guys suggesting a 3850 ati radeon (i believe they dont know how to read your post)
Click to expand...

Typical... Someone asks for "$100 video card" and get a "buy this $200 video card" response. :roll: Don't they teach reading comprehension in schools anymore?

Take a look at Gigabyte and MSI cards using the Nvidia 8500GT/8600GT or ATI 2600Pro/2600XT. Those two brands have passively cooled cards available in those chipsets in the $60-100 range.
Click to expand...

Maybe you missed this part here... "but I can go above that if a much better bang for the buck is to be had"

 
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