If you had $75 for a PCI-E card, what would you get? (gaming)

[Necrosaro420]

My little brother (15) needs to buy a new video card for his pc since it went out and only has $75 to spend....What would you suggest getting in that price range for a PCIE? He plays counter strike source alot

 

[happy medium]

used 4850 512mb go for 75$ or mabe a used 9800gtx, thats your best bet.

I suggest a Nvidia based card. My 5750 shows all kinds of fog and dust on some maps of counter strike, it definitly is a disavantage for me. Only ATI cards do this as far as I know,my 7800gs,8800gt,9800gtx+,and gtx 260 were fine.

 

[sandorski]

used 4850 512mb go for 75$ or mabe a used 9800gtx, thats your best bet.

I suggest a Nvidia based card. My 5750 shows all kinds of fog and dust on some maps of counter strike, it definitly is a disavantage for me. Only ATI cards do this as far as I know,my 7800gs,8800gt,9800gtx+,and gtx 260 were fine.

 

[kalrith]

used 4850 512mb go for 75$ or mabe a used 9800gtx, thats your best bet.

This. I've been waiting to upgrade my 2900 Pro for a while now, but I'm not pleased with the $100+ new offerings out there, so I'm looking at the used market for a stop-gap card until the next video-card releases come out.

Either of the afore-mentioned cards would be your best bet. You might be able to snag a GTS 250 for that price as well, but it's basically the same thing as a 9800GTX+. AFAIK there's no appreciable performance difference between 512MB and 1GB for these cards, so don't spend extra money for the 1GB version.

 

[v8envy]

A GT240 should be good enough for CS:S at low resolution and no FSAA (you didn't specify, so I'll assume 16x10 or lower). Those can be had for about $80 upfront, with rebates and bing bringing the final price down to ~$35 or so.

AFAIK there are no new 9800GTX+ or GT250s at that price point. You may luck out and find a 4850 for mid 80s AR/abing, but upfront will probably be > $100.

The 1G version of the GT250 is well worth it when buying two to SLI though.

 

[SlowSpyder]

AMD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131343



Nvidia (Rebate involved) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125304


A few ideas.

 

[kalrith]

The 1G version of the GT250 is well worth it when buying two to SLI though.

QFT. I neglected to mention that. If he's going to use two GTS250 or 4850 cards, then 1GB is worth it since they'll only use the RAM from one card.

Also, by "new" I interpreted the OP as meaning "new to him," hence the used recommendations. Just to show the difference between a used card and a new card at $75, here's a 5570 review and GT240 review. It shows the 4850 and 9800GTX/GTS250 giving DOUBLE the frame rates in a lot of the benchmarks.

 

[v8envy]

Seeing as the 5570 is quite a bit slower than a 4670, the GT240 DDR5 at a similar pricepoint will be a much faster solution.

And yes, a $80 budget only gets a basic, entry level cards during this video hardware drought. Even an aging mainstream performer like the 250 and 4850 will walk all over today's extreme budget cards.

 

[happy medium]

What? it's a known fact. If I would have known about it , I would NOT have bought a ATI card. I play CSS everyday.

If this guy plays online, I suggest he NOT get a ATI card.

So please the if the guy says he MOSTLY plays CSS and you suggest him a ATI card, you are giving him the wrong advise, bigtime!

Just try and play the Westwood map and see the guys shooting you from across the map and you can't even see them, it sucks!

OP, get a use 8800gt

Edit: from another forum dated 4-4-10

"If it wasnt for the fog/lighting/dust issues with ati id already have a 5770 bought and put in my computer long ago but i play css at a pretty high level and it seems to do it a bit in mw2 and its annoying so untell a fix i can't justify it. I am in no way a fan boy and usually just go with w/e has the best price/performance ratio."

http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/704313-8800gts-640mb-problems.html


Edit: used 8800gt for 60$ ( the guy is away till 6/8/10)
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2078342&highlight=8800gt

 

[Termie]

Evga 9800gt for $70 after rebate and coupon code:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130435. Code is: EMCYTYP57, good until 6/9/10. Will be much faster than GT240.

The Superclocked version is also available without a code for $80 AR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130450

 

[Creig]

What? it's a known fact. If I would have known about it , I would NOT have bought a ATI card. I play CSS everyday.

If this guy plays online, I suggest he NOT get a ATI card.

So please the if the guy says he MOSTLY plays CSS and you suggest him a ATI card, you are giving him the wrong advise, bigtime!

Just try and play the Westwood map and see the guys shooting you from across the map and you can't even see them, it sucks!

I used to play CS:S with my 4850, then 4890 all the time. I don't recall seeing any fog/lighting/dust issues.

 

[happy medium]

I used to play CS:S with my 4850, then 4890 all the time. I don't recall seeing any fog/lighting/dust issues.

I don't know mabe its just a 5xxx series thing, but I said something to the guys I play with and they said its a ATI thing.

HAve you every played with a Nvidia card? You won't notice it if you haven't.

Its not really a graphics glitch, there is so much dust/fog on some maps that you get your ass kicked unless you stay indoors.

I didn't notice it either, untill I went from a gtx 260 to my current 5750.
If I would have known about it, I would not have bought the card even for the 85$ I paid for it.

 

[brybir]

I used to play CS:S with my 4850, then 4890 all the time. I don't recall seeing any fog/lighting/dust issues.

Same with my 4850. No issues at all. Heck, I cant think of any game that I own except BFBC2 with that loading thing that is now fixed, that I have any issues with.

Maybe Happy just has to buy some dust gloves for his monitor and clean it once in a while?

 

[happy medium]

Same with my 4850. No issues at all. Heck, I cant think of any game that I own except BFBC2 with that loading thing that is now fixed, that I have any issues with.

Maybe Happy just has to buy some dust gloves for his monitor and clean it once in a while?

please read above post. I wouldn't just make up shit.

 

[CurseTheSky]

please read above post. I wouldn't just make up shit.

Maybe it's the ATI card / driver rendering an effect in a different way? Try turning off HDR or similar settings and see if it makes a difference.

In regards to the card, I'd shoot for a used 8800 GT / 9800 GT / 9800 GTX / HD 4850 if possible. If you can't find one of those at that price, a GT 240 or HD 5670 would be a decent fall back. Don't go down to an HD 5570, 9500 GT, or something similar - those aren't gaming cards and the performance will be disappointing.

 

[happy medium]

Maybe it's the ATI card / driver rendering an effect in a different way? Try turning off HDR or similar settings and see if it makes a difference.

In regards to the card, I'd shoot for a used 8800 GT / 9800 GT / 9800 GTX / HD 4850 if possible. If you can't find one of those at that price, a GT 240 or HD 5670 would be a decent fall back. Don't go down to an HD 5570, 9500 GT, or something similar - those aren't gaming cards and the performance will be disappointing.

I tried everything, I turned off all effects.

Believe me, I'm not the only one thats is aware of this.
Like I said you will only notice it if you go from a Nvidia card to a ATI card.
If I started playing on a ATI card I would have thought it was normal.
It really sucks because other then that, the card is great.

 

[manimal]

What? it's a known fact. If I would have known about it , I would NOT have bought a ATI card. I play CSS everyday.

If this guy plays online, I suggest he NOT get a ATI card.

So please the if the guy says he MOSTLY plays CSS and you suggest him a ATI card, you are giving him the wrong advise, bigtime!

Just try and play the Westwood map and see the guys shooting you from across the map and you can't even see them, it sucks!

OP, get a use 8800gt

Edit: from another forum dated 4-4-10

"If it wasnt for the fog/lighting/dust issues with ati id already have a 5770 bought and put in my computer long ago but i play css at a pretty high level and it seems to do it a bit in mw2 and its annoying so untell a fix i can't justify it. I am in no way a fan boy and usually just go with w/e has the best price/performance ratio."

http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/704313-8800gts-640mb-problems.html


Edit: used 8800gt for 60$ ( the guy is away till 6/8/10)
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2078342&highlight=8800gt

Fired up CSS on my rig after reading this post. Looks normal....Fired it up on gtx 285 rig in sig. Looks the same.....

 

[kalrith]

Maybe it's the ATI card / driver rendering an effect in a different way? Try turning off HDR or similar settings and see if it makes a difference.

In regards to the card, I'd shoot for a used 8800 GT / 9800 GT / 9800 GTX / HD 4850 if possible. If you can't find one of those at that price, a GT 240 or HD 5670 would be a decent fall back. Don't go down to an HD 5570, 9500 GT, or something similar - those aren't gaming cards and the performance will be disappointing.

I think it's important to note that the 4850 and 9800GTX/GTS250 are about 30-40% faster than the 8800GT/9800GT. I've seen many used 4850 sell for $60-70 shipped, and a couple 9800GTX/GTS250 sell for that price as well.

 

[railven]

Hey Happy do you run in DX9 or DX8 mode? Did a quick search seems it's a known CS issue that Valve hasn't addressed.

Man this thread dates back to 2007, has Valve still not fixed this?

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=25883

ANd it seems some nVidia users have experienced this.

 

[severus]

4870 here, no fog or grain issues in any source game or 1.6. I say a used 4850. It will even handle bad company 2 mildly

 

[EnzoLT]

i have a 4870x2, gtx260 and hd5770. i dont recall seeing any fogs in CS:S. wtf......

@op, like everyone said, hd4850

 

[f4phantom2500]

+1 for 4850. if you look around and get lucky you might be able to find a good deal on a used 4870. i got a 512MB 4870 from the fs/ft forum a few months back for $85 shipped.