Decent 3D Video Card under $50?

[RushWilliams]

Can anyone recommend a decent 3D video card? I'm not a power-gamer, but occassionally like to play a few 3D Games (Dark Age of Camelot, Hitman, Halflife, etc). I'm looking for a decent cheap card.

I noticed most of the posts in this area are about GeForce 3 or Radeons or the like...all outside my price range. Any suggestions for something simpler/cheaper?

 

[Tominator]

Try a V4 4500. Great 2D and very compatible. Around $40....

 

[Rand]

Below $50?
There are a couple cards, but honestly I really wouldnt feel very good about recommending them to you. Their usable but that's about it, and definitely wouldnt last you for very long.
Honestly, I would strongly suggest you wait a bit and save a few extra bucks until you can afford about $65-70... at that point you could look into a Radeon LE/GF2 MX400/Kyro 2... all of which would come in at around $60-70 after shipping and would be far better options then anything you will find below $50.

 

[Jeff7]

A Geforce2 MX or MX400 would probably fit the bill just fine, or maybe a Radeon LE card.

 

[RushWilliams]

Thanks for the info.

BTW, what's the difference (performance & price) between the MX400 & Radeon LE?

 

[Rand]

<< Thanks for the info.

BTW, what's the difference (performance & price) between the MX400 & Radeon LE? >>


The MX400 is priced about $5 cheaper then the Radeon LE... but the Radeon LE is undoubtedly the clearly superior card.

 

[BaDNaN0TH0N]

try to get a geforce 256 sdr, i have one that i might be selling for less than $50.
the geforce256 is a good card, it can handle halflife and stuff really easily, its just a tad slower then the gf2 mx, but can be had for cheaper

 

[RushWilliams]

Anyone got any info about any of these two card? 128MB seems like an awful lot of RAM for a $50 card. I've yet to see any reviews on these cards, and everyone seems to rave about Radeons and such. Do these cards suck?

PowerColor Revenger II
SIS 315 128MB SDRAM 4x/2x AGP Video Card w/ TV-Out

Apollo 3D Thrill
375Mhz RAMDAC 2048x1536 True Color@60 Hz. dual head vga,w/ TV-OUT 128MB SGram(sdram),AGP Interface, SIS 315 w/ultra-fast inclu.3Deagle eye game

 

[nemesismk2]

<< try to get a geforce 256 sdr, i have one that i might be selling for less than $50.
the geforce256 is a good card, it can handle halflife and stuff really easily, its just a tad slower then the gf2 mx, but can be had for cheaper >>



Talking about Geforce video cards, I recently bought a load of them from a bankrupt stock sale in the US. All brand new mercury geforce256 32mb video cards, only cost me $9 each, a bargain or what and they are fine for putting in budget pc's!

Anyway I'll get back on topic, IMO and from owning both video cards. The geforce2mx is faster for low resolution but the Geforce256 is faster for higher resolutions. The Geforce256 can also be given a nice performance increase when using the latest detonator drivers, my Geforce2 mx showed no performance increase at all (might be different for other brands however).

 

[nemesismk2]

<< Anyone got any info about any of these two card? 128MB seems like an awful lot of RAM for a $50 card. I've yet to see any reviews on these cards, and everyone seems to rave about Radeons and such. Do these cards suck?

PowerColor Revenger II
SIS 315 128MB SDRAM 4x/2x AGP Video Card w/ TV-Out

Apollo 3D Thrill
375Mhz RAMDAC 2048x1536 True Color@60 Hz. dual head vga,w/ TV-OUT 128MB SGram(sdram),AGP Interface, SIS 315 w/ultra-fast inclu.3Deagle eye game >>



I've actually heard some good things about the SIS 315, it's not a fantastic performer by any means but
the performance is very good all the same. The only problem is that SIS are well known for their poor drivers, if they can get that right then SIS 315 video cards will be ok. It runs Max Payne very well,

ezboard review
tweakmax review
techreport review

I'd take the techreport article with a pinch of salt, imo they are a bunch of lamers who wouldn't know a decent video card if it hit them in the head. Their benchmarking is also very suspect, the kyro used in the review wouldn't work at 640x480 but did at 1024x768? If it didn't work at 640x480 then it ain't gonna mysteriously work at 1024x768 now is it unless they have one hell of a serious problem?