• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Looking to upgrade Video Card-Cheap

S

sjgmoney

Senior member
I currently have a Nvidia GeForce2 mx/mx400 64mb card (PCI) and I'm looking to upgrade. I don't need anything crazy as I don't play a lot of the heavier duty games out there but I know my card is pretty weak. (and with a better card I'd maybe pick up BF2 or Farcry etc)

Couple of questions:
1. From what I've read here by searching other people's questions I should get at least a 128 MB/128 bit card, is this correct?

2. My current card is a PCI, I have an open AGP slot as well, what is better?

My system is a Pentium 4, 1.9ghz, and I currently have 1gig of ram.

The cheaper the better of course with a cap of about $100 is all I'm looking to spend. Thanks for any input.
 
agp has a lot more bandwith available than pci, that is why there aren't powerful pci cards, get a used 9800pro or 9700pro
 
If you want to wait a month or two and don't mind shopping around, try to get an AGP geforce 6600gt. These are near twice as fast as all other $100 cads at the moment and hopefully should be under $100 soon.

Currently they're $165 new and as low as $135 used/refurbished (look at newegg's refurb site). But with the geforce 7 series comming out/being announced soon, their prices should start to drop.

But if you need one now, a 9800 pro would be nice if you can find one for $100 or less.
 
Id get a 6600 vanilla, or 9700pro/9800pro, or if you wanna be really cheap a 6200 (make sure its 128bit, and not turbocache)
 
How about a 9250 that I see on newegg for real cheap, 128 Megs, 128 bit, for like $40, how big an improvement are those over what I have? how about the 9600, how big an improvement will I see with that?

Thanks for the answers guys, probably very newbie-ish for most of you but I know very little about video cards.
 
A 9250 should be a decent upgrade, a 9600, slightly better. A used 9700P/9800P is the best you can do for under $100, but your CPU will limit almost anything you throw in there (probably even the 9250). BF2 or Far Cry will really appreciate a 9700P/9800P, compared to the other cards.

Check out the many CPU scaling articles at Anandtech (and elsewhere: Firingsquad, THG, Gamespot Hardware) to see how much of a bottleneck a 2GHz P4 will be. You can probably go as far back as Anand's UT2K3 CPU Scaling article and still see your CPU being a considerable bottleneck. Though newer games (and their newer effects) will lean on the video card more, the CPU is still important.
 
Teh Winner

the cpu will limit you like Pete said. However, with Far Cry and BF2, you'll be 90% videocard limited. So a 9800Pro is the perfect fit without being overkill.
 
Originally posted by: RussianSensation
Teh Winner

the cpu will limit you like Pete said. However, with Far Cry and BF2, you'll be 90% videocard limited. So a 9800Pro is the perfect fit without being overkill.
Click to expand...



That looks like a real good deal, thanks.
 
"Lite" typically means no software and possibly no hardware bundle, though it can sometimes mean a crippled card. The "Ultra" in this case seems to be a random superlative added to the card's title, much like Gainward slaps an "Ultra" onto basically of their cards--it's just descriptive bling.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top