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Cheapest Video Card to Run HL2

Originally posted by: DanDaMan315
Title says it. Friend needs the absolute cheapest card to run HL2 (at like medium settings).
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well a friend of mine is playing it on ti4200, ok game quality


D
 
I used to run HL2 on a ATI Radeon x300SE PCIe. I believe it goes for around $67 out there. I just sold mine for $45. But yeah, it runs HL2. It isn't the best, but it also isn't the worst. It will run HL2 with minimum settings w/ minimal lag.
 
built my new PC now.... but i used to have a Geforce2 MX 400 32mb card.... i could run lowest settings w/640x480 res with 30 fps 🙂 it was playable... so i guess that is the lowest playable... its 25 dollars AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
 
A used 9700 Pro is your best option, maybe consider a used 9500 Pro (IIRC, this performs about the same as the 9600XT) if it's significantly cheaper. But the 9700 Pro is, by far, the best bang for the buck.
 
Gigabyte GeForce FX5700LE Turbo Force Edition for $93.50 at Newegg. I got this card and it's great. It comes out of the box overclocked at 400/500 and I have it running 425/550. Half Life 2 runs and looks great.
 
Originally posted by: JamesDax
Gigabyte GeForce FX5700LE Turbo Force Edition for $93.50 at Newegg. I got this card and it's great. It comes out of the box overclocked at 400/500 and I have it running 425/550. Half Life 2 runs and looks great.
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If he is playing HL2 how in the hell are you going to recommend an NV3x based card. I would look for a 6600GT for 150 which will own all of last gen. If not a used 9800 or a used 9700Pro, or even a 5900XT. If that is still too much than a 9600XT will do fine as well.

-Kevin
 
Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Originally posted by: JamesDax
Gigabyte GeForce FX5700LE Turbo Force Edition for $93.50 at Newegg. I got this card and it's great. It comes out of the box overclocked at 400/500 and I have it running 425/550. Half Life 2 runs and looks great.
Click to expand...

If he is playing HL2 how in the hell are you going to recommend an NV3x based card. I would look for a 6600GT for 150 which will own all of last gen. If not a used 9800 or a used 9700Pro, or even a 5900XT. If that is still too much than a 9600XT will do fine as well.

-Kevin
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I think Anand did an article on HL2. His conclusion is that even a Geforce4 mx could 'Run' the game with reasonable framerates. So I don't see how an FX5700 could be that bad.
 
I'm using a Sapphire 9600xt with a winchester 3200+ @ 2.6GHz and the game runs smooth on high settings at 1024*768 CS:S runs perfect at highest settings also.
 
Radeon 9600 based card will be your best bet. Runs hl2 at 1024X768 at absolute maximum settings in dx9 mode at over 60fps most of the time.
 
Originally posted by: FishTankX
Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Originally posted by: JamesDax
Gigabyte GeForce FX5700LE Turbo Force Edition for $93.50 at Newegg. I got this card and it's great. It comes out of the box overclocked at 400/500 and I have it running 425/550. Half Life 2 runs and looks great.
Click to expand...

If he is playing HL2 how in the hell are you going to recommend an NV3x based card. I would look for a 6600GT for 150 which will own all of last gen. If not a used 9800 or a used 9700Pro, or even a 5900XT. If that is still too much than a 9600XT will do fine as well.

-Kevin
Click to expand...


I think Anand did an article on HL2. His conclusion is that even a Geforce4 mx could 'Run' the game with reasonable framerates. So I don't see how an FX5700 could be that bad.
Click to expand...

You'll be playing it with the DX8.1 path. So there will be noticeable sacrifice in image quality.

Also, last time I checked the 6600GT was 200-250 dollars.

I would recommend a 9600p even though that's a nail biter since the 9700pro can be found for only 20-40 dollars for a lot more performance gain.
 
Originally posted by: Regs
Originally posted by: FishTankX
Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
Originally posted by: JamesDax
Gigabyte GeForce FX5700LE Turbo Force Edition for $93.50 at Newegg. I got this card and it's great. It comes out of the box overclocked at 400/500 and I have it running 425/550. Half Life 2 runs and looks great.
Click to expand...

If he is playing HL2 how in the hell are you going to recommend an NV3x based card. I would look for a 6600GT for 150 which will own all of last gen. If not a used 9800 or a used 9700Pro, or even a 5900XT. If that is still too much than a 9600XT will do fine as well.

-Kevin
Click to expand...


I think Anand did an article on HL2. His conclusion is that even a Geforce4 mx could 'Run' the game with reasonable framerates. So I don't see how an FX5700 could be that bad.
Click to expand...

You'll be playing it with the DX8.1 path. So there will be noticeable sacrifice in image quality.

Also, last time I checked the 6600GT was 200-250 dollars.

I would recommend a 9600p even though that's a nail biter since the 9700pro can be found for only 20-40 dollars for a lot more performance gain.
Click to expand...

You could concievably play it at 1024x768 on the 9600 pro at very high framerates. It'd be fine.
 
I played it at 800*600 ony G4mx420 and tried to jack up as many settings as I could (obviously i couldn't do i to them all cause i used the DX7 pathway) but I can say that I got 80% of the detail that my friend with a 9600XT has. And I didn't drop beloow 40fps~ and was limited to 72 because that is my moniter's refresh rate.

What I l love is that the game runs REALLLY well on low end cards...and if you got a card that pwn the game then instead of making it look different (like MS and their flight simulator..on low settings its just a chrom can flying in the air with a single color sky and just absolute oogliness) it just looks a lot more "tweaked"

This is how games should be graphically
 
For the 9600XT try the tradeup program at the ATI online store. link It's $170 - $50 for sending in any old video card. Price is pretty good when you combine it with a 10% off coupon. You just missed the 20% coupon yesterday.
 
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