good card for non-gaming?

Mar 13, 2007
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hey guys. im upgrading my whole system. i currently have a radeon 9600 AGP card. need to upgrade to PCI express. i only occasionally game so i dont need some uber vid card. i'd prefer something under $150.

i will be running an intel e6300 core2 duo with an asus p5b deluxe mobo on a 500w PSU and 2 gigs ddr2 ram. any recommendations would be great.
 

lopri

Elite Member
Jul 27, 2002
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You don't have to spend $150 if you don't game at all. 6200 TC costs just above $20 on eBay. If you're thinking of upgrading to Vista, a $50 card will still suffice. (something like 6600, 7300, X1300)
 

liquid51

Senior member
Oct 14, 2005
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You can find some decent NV 7900gs or x1950pro in that price range (well, right around $150 after mail-in rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductLi...609641+4017&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=48)

The link shows what your looking for in the $100-$200 range. If your a very casual gamer I'm sure you'd be happy with any one of those cards (tweeked to your liking/price range of course). I wouldn't neccessarily wait for a DX10 part at that price range. I don't think you'd get much better DX9 performance and the DX10 performance would be dismal at best. But who am I to speak, I haven't the foggiest about DX10 parts :p.
 

liquid51

Senior member
Oct 14, 2005
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on second thought: http://www.guru3d.com/newsitem.php?id=4834

Looks like these cards will offer pretty decent performance for the price as well as DX10 support. The only reason I wouldn't recommend one now is, well, they're not available yet and who knows when they will be. If you don't mind waiting a few months, it may be the route to take. But, if it's too much for you to be bothered with, you'd be very pleased with the cards that have been recommneded above :).
 

nitromullet

Diamond Member
Jan 7, 2004
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This article covers most of the cards available in the $150 range.

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2858

Personally, I would look into the Radeon X1950GT, Radeon X1950Pro, or the GeForce 7900GT if I was in your shoes. If you are going to get anything less, you really might as well commit to being a 'non-gamer' and just going with an X1300 or 6200TC, as lopri mentioned.

The other option if course is to wait a bit for the NVIDIA 8600 series or AMD(ATI) X2600 series, which should offer some nice performance for the money. However, that entails a wait and it is yet unknown how well these cards will actually perform.