Graphics card recommendations under $100

[RFGandalf]

I am not an expert, but am looking to install my first 3D graphics card. Have an 3 year old HP Pavillion with a 667 Celeron, upgraded to 310 RAM. Wanting to play new Age of Mythology alpha test and later the actual game, not interested in FPS or RPS type games, dont need dual monitor or TV support.

Have been reading here and elsewhere for a short time to learn a bit about what I need, looking for relatively inexpensive solution! Any good suggestions for a PCI type card???

 

[RFGandalf]

bump

 

[laugh]

radeon LE 32M DDR. $30 on ebay or less.

 

[bishbrand]

I think Radeon LE's are AGP cards. You might want to try to look for a PCI radeon, Radeon VE PCI, or maybe a geforce 2 mx. Shouldn't be more than $30-35.

 

[aswedc]

Get a new proc first, the Celeron 667 is going to be performing like an Athlon clocked at 400hmz, which means you're gonna be under minimum spec for most games.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

you can get a radeon 7000VE 32MB-ddr pci card for about $55, this is probably the fastest your gonna get with pci-tech it offers directx 7.0 and 8.0 so you shouldn't have any problems with fps on AoM, and this card scales pretty well on slower cpus so you won't have a big performance hit using your Celeron. The best prices for new video cards that I find are at newegg.com, but you might find others. I've always have good luck with them, but any reputable vendor will do. I agree with the faster proc, but to save money you might see what options you have at overclocking that Celeron, I got my 633 to scale to 750 with stock fan, you should be able to get to 100Mhz fsb without much problems if your system board will let you.

 

[RFGandalf]

Thanks all.

I have seen some PCI GeForce4 MX420 cards with 64 MB memory - these seem to run $80-100 (Verto, Visiontek, others). Would the performance of these justify the increase in cost?

 

[AdvancedRobotics]

Originally posted by: RFGandalf
Thanks all.

I have seen some PCI GeForce4 MX420 cards with 64 MB memory - these seem to run $80-100 (Verto, Visiontek, others). Would the performance of these justify the increase in cost?

Yes.

But forget about video cards for a second.

What motherboard does this system have? And what is the fastest processor it can use? As long as you answer the first question, I can solve the rest, if you don't know what processors it can use.

For a video card, I would have to (also) reccomend the Radeon VE. It is a solid PCI card, and will leave you money for a processor upgrade.

 

[SickBeast]

Radeon 8500 or 8500LE or 9000 pro

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: aswedc
Get a new proc first, the Celeron 667 is going to be performing like an Athlon clocked at 400hmz, which means you're gonna be under minimum spec for most games.

This is true. The Celeron 667 has only a 66 MHz bus, which is a dog for games. If it was a pentium III 667, I'd recommend a Radeon DDR or GF2, but a celeron 667 is really not acceptible for most games. The bus and RAM are just too slow...

 

[RFGandalf]

Thanks again for all the responses

As I said in my opening - I am new at upgrading.
How do I identify my motherboard? And if possible, what is the best I can hope to improve the processor (and cost)?

 

[Blain]

RFGandalf,
If you're going to hang around here very much, just figure on junking your old rig and building a new one from scratch. Save yourself the time and effort of one little upgrade then another. It will end up costing you too much time and $$ to do it that way, in the long run.

But if you choose to ignore the above advice...
A 3 year old HP probably doesn't have a lot more to give up for you. You might be able to upgrade it to some type of P3 and add some RAM. As for new video cards, I'd say buy a GeForce3 Ti-200. You can either get one new from a GOOD vendor or find one for sale over in the For Sale/Trade forum. The 200's should be selling pretty cheap, since people are running after the GF4's now.

The best way I know of to find out what MB you have is to crack that baby open and look for some manufacturer markings. Your case may be a little tricky to get apart, but look here for some help.

 

[aswedc]

You can run Celeron procs up to the non-A 1.1ghz, or 1.4ghz with a PowerLeap adaptor. A totally new motherboard and processor would probably be a better choice though.