Need advice choosing an afordable video-card

[javierdl]

I must say, what just threw me off yesterday, was learning that instead of only looking for a card with plenty of memory (1Gb), I should look instead for a card that has a good balance ratio between memory and bus speed. I was explained that there wasn't much of a point to have 1Gb of memory if the bus speed was slow, because then the card would take longer to access the memory. Whereas if I had a card with only 256ram with the same bus speed then the card would be able to access the memory faster therefore being more responsive to the pc. As a result of this, I should be looking for a card that has a good ratio between these two factors, even if that meant to get a 512ram instead of 1Gb. It makes sense to me. The only problem is that I can afford to spend only about $112US ($120CAN).
Can anyone coment on the ratio thing, and if posible suggest a card for a price that matches my budget? Keep in mind I'm using a BFG GeForce 7600 GT (PCI-E), so as long as the new card is noticeably better it should be good enough for me (for now).

My specs:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+
2Gb DDR ram
Motherboard: MSI- AMETHYST-M
Cpu Socket: 939
WinXP Pro, SP3

 

[Denithor]

Damn, your prices are expensive up there! You poor Canucks...anyway, these cards are what I found available up there and are priced in CAN$.

HIS 4670 512MB $100AR

PNY 8800GT 512MB $130

Both of these cards are significantly more powerful than your current 7600GT (on the order of 4-5 times faster). If you can stretch your budget a little the 8800GT is a stronger card but either will work well for you. Enjoy the performance boost!

EDIT: Btw, the 4670 consumes quite a bit less power than the 8800GT. If you don't have a strong powersupply go for that card instead (it will save you a few bucks on your monthly power bill also).