low-end radeon 9x00's

[Fenixgoon]

So i'm looking to upgrade my video card. I don't have a lot of money (HS student). my friend said he'd sell me his 9600pro for $80. i know thats a damn good deal, but $80 is a lot for me. i was looking at newegg last night, and their 9200's seem pretty good, but they say they only support dx8 and opengl 1.4. im looking for a card that does dx9 and ogl2. Comments/suggestions please. My budget for a card won't go above $80. I know the 9600 is a hell of a lot faster than a 9200, but its also another $30

thanks
Fenixgoon

 

[LordPhoenix]

9200's suck. 9100's and 8500's are better than 9200. Don't get 9200. I will sell you my 8500 for 67$ inc/ shipping if you want .

 

[MercenaryForHire]

For a 9600Pro, $80 isn't bad.

- M4H

 

[SneakyStuff]

Friend of mine just got a 9200, combined it with an Athlon XP, and it was great. Runs Unreal 2k4 pretty well! For $60 bucks I don't think it even matters, as long as it's not a 64 bit geforce fx 5200

 

[Fenixgoon]

oh.. i guess maybe it'd help if i gave my system specs?
athlon xp 1700+, 512mb pc2100 ddr, maxtor 20gig 5400 rpm , aopen ak75 mobo, diamond monster mx300 sound card (great $10 card ), radeon 7500, running windows xp

 

[Arcanedeath]

The 9600Pro for $80 seems like your best bet in that price range.

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Arcanedeath
The 9600Pro for $80 seems like your best bet in that price range.

 

[Megatomic]

That card will be a big upgrade from the 7500 you currently use. I'd go for it if I were you.

 

[SneakyStuff]

Yea, the 9200 is fine for like 800 x 600 gaming, but for $20 bucks more, that 9600 pro is a VAST step-up, i'd donate some plasma (in a certain members famous words) and get the extra $20 to get it

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: Arcanedeath
The 9600Pro for $80 seems like your best bet in that price range.

 

[Zimdesign]

Fenixgoon, I had a very similar setup to yours (Athlon XP 1700+, 512mb RAM, Radeon 7500) and I upgraded to a Radeon 9600 Pro last year and saw a big leap in performance in the games I played. Also important is the fact that is does DX9 with decent performance so it should last you until next year.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Have you seen this thread in Hot Deals? It's a GF4 Ti4200-8x AGP, or a Ti4800se, there's some minor confusion about the specs. Anyways, it's $80, 128MB, and the description claims it has 600Mhz memory.

I recently upgraded to a Radeon 9200 (non-SE, full 128-bit memory) 64MB 8x AGP card myself, and it does indeed play UT2K4 pretty well (min 30fps in nearly all areas), on an AMD XP2000 with 768MB of PC2700 DDR. However, it doesn't do so hot on most synthetic benchmarks, and if you enable AA/AF, it slows down so much as to be nearly unplayable on most things. I only game at 1024x768 res, so I don't think it could really handle much higher at playable frame-rates either.

I would personally recommend, if you can at all afford it, to avoid the 9200 and spend the extra $20-30, and get a faster, 128MB card, perhaps like the Ti4200-8x deal above, or a Radeon 9600/9600Pro.

 

[imported_theEman]

For $80, I'd go with something like a 128MB GeForce4 Ti-4600 off of eBay. These were decent cards and they still run games very well. If you're lucky, you might be able to get something with VIVO for around $80, but don't count on it, VIVO gets expensive . $80 for R9600 Pro is still a nice card, but I'd go with the Ti4600 because you might even be able to get one cheaper than $80.

 

[Goi]

If you can't afford the $80, go for a 2nd hand GF4 Ti4200/4400/4600 instead. It doesn't have DX9 or OGL2 support, but it's tons faster than the 9200 and just about as fast as the 9600 Pro as long as you don't enable FSAA/AF.

The cheapest DX9 card you can get is the GF FX5200, and that's nowhere as fast as a Ti4200.

 

[First]

As others have mentioned, you aren't going to find good DX9 cards under $80 (think Radeon 9600, GeForce FX 5600/5700, etc.) unless you're buying used or refurbished from someone. If your friend is selling a full blown 128-bit 9600 Pro for $80, I suggest you take it. Otherwise you will have to opt for "only" very fast DX8 cards like the GeForce4 Ti series, Radeon 8500/9200 series, etc.

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

My 9600pro runs my Unreal Tournament 2004 with everything on high except shadows with 2x AA and 8x aniotropic very smoothly at 1024x768. I have the Powercolor version that has the 340ddr/680memory. I have never had a stutter or slow down on my XP 2400 with 768megs of ram