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Need advice on $100 video card

J

jraddatz

Member
I'm currently buying parts for a new budget gaming PC because my athlon 1800+, 512mb or ram, and 9500pro is pretty aged.

My new PC will have:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Brisbane
1GB of RAM
some MB w/ PCI-E

can anyone recommend a good video card for about $100. I would like to get:

SAPPHIRE Radeon X1950PRO 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card

but its at $165 which is a bit out of my price range atm. Can anyone suggest something that is a big improvement from a AGP 9500pro that is around $100?

Thanks
 
7600GT, or also you can sometimes get the 'recert' 256mb 7800GT VIVO @ Newegg for $110 or so, I have one and it's fantastic for the price. The 7600GT will easily be 3x+ faster than what you're used to, even if you modded it to 9700 Pro levels. Good luck! And try to squeeze out another 1gb of memory, as 1gb is just not enough for most recent big titles.
 
Originally posted by: jraddatz
how do those compare to buying a cheap 6200 and unlocking it for a 6600? I've heard the performance is a huge jump for the price.

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=40&threadid=2029843&enterthread=y
Click to expand...

Not bad, but basically obsolete for current games at any level of detail. The 7600GT, and particularly the 7800GT Vivo, will eat a 6600 alive. Not to mention that it's a PITA to deal with unlocking things that (a)-might not be there on the model you get out of the box, and (b)- might not function when unlocked, which might lead to (c)- you being stuck with a 6200, an incredibly slow card for gaming.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814139003R

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814142061

are both great deals ..
 
9500Pro is about as gaming-able as an X300 or 6200 in reality 🙂 I like gpureview.com for the comparison 😉
 
Originally posted by: jraddatz
I'm currently buying parts for a new budget gaming PC because my athlon 1800+, 512mb or ram, and 9500pro is pretty aged.

My new PC will have:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Brisbane
1GB of RAM
some MB w/ PCI-E

can anyone recommend a good video card for about $100. I would like to get:

SAPPHIRE Radeon X1950PRO 512MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card

but its at $165 which is a bit out of my price range atm. Can anyone suggest something that is a big improvement from a AGP 9500pro that is around $100?

Thanks
Click to expand...


Take your pick X300 or 6200 comparion
 
Originally posted by: munky
I would get this x1950gt
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102034

It's $110 after rebate, but it's faster than anything else at this price.
Click to expand...

Agreed, break the limit a tad. It will be worth it.

Edit: another good route to go with this, provided you haven't already bought any parts, is to tell this forum what your $$$ limit is for the whole build, and let us recommend parts for you. I am always impressed with some of the recommendations I see for builds on here.
 
Here is what I'm looking at:

$300 - since I already have a Power Supply, mouse, keyboard, monitor, speakers.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Brisbane 1.9GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103036

SAPPHIRE 100199L Radeon X1950GT 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail (Thanks to you guys!)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102034

PC CHIPS A13G V1.0 Socket AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 6100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813185093

WINTEC AMPO 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory - Retail (will get another stick in a month or so)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161675

Rosewill R6422-P BK Black SGCC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail (i know its cheap material, but its really cheap in price as well)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147064

This puts me at $344 with a 30 MIR..


Is there a better place to post this?
 
I'd personally never buy a PC Chips board.

This would be a better choice IMO, or just pick any non-PC Chips board in that price range and you can't really go wrong.
You could also knock a couple bucks off the memory with this Buffalo RAM. Heatspreaders are useless for the most part.
 
Sounds good, I changed the two out. so i will get the

ECS RS485M-M (V1.0) Socket AM2 ATI Radeon Xpress 1100 Micro ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
and
BUFFALO Select 1GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5300) Desktop Memory Model D2U667C-1G/BR - Retail

thanks!
 
BIOSTAR TFORCE 550 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - OEM is 49.99 no MIR...

This looks alot better. Better sound and 4 Ram slots. That is much better, since I can go with 4x1gb chips in the future

How are OEM MB? the retail is $79.99 with a $10 MIR. Thats a bit too high in price. Anything to be weary about with an OEM MB?
 
You have a nice budget setup. If I were you I'd try to wait some and save a bit more money to get a better card, like a 7900 or that ATI card you're looking at. You've got the power to run it, so you'd be cutting your leg short. If you're sure you don't want to do a nicer card then a 7600GT won't be that bad.
 
Originally posted by: jraddatz
BIOSTAR TFORCE 550 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce 550 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard - OEM is 49.99 no MIR...

This looks alot better. Better sound and 4 Ram slots. That is much better, since I can go with 4x1gb chips in the future

How are OEM MB? the retail is $79.99 with a $10 MIR. Thats a bit too high in price. Anything to be weary about with an OEM MB?
Click to expand...
The OEM one you're looking at is an open box item, which may or may not come with accessories. ECS is definately a budget brand, but there's nothing wrong with them.
 
Originally posted by: jraddatz
Thank you very much, Anandtech forum members are the most helpful people I've run across.
Click to expand...

No problem man. That's what we're here for in the video forums. Well that and arguing. 😀

I couldnt believe how hard it was to find a freakin review for the X1950GT.

I did find this and it looks like the X1950GT will rape a 7600GT, so I suggest you go with munky's suggestion.
 
Originally posted by: jraddatz
Here is what I'm looking at:

$300 - since I already have a Power Supply, mouse, keyboard, monitor, speakers.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ Brisbane 1.9GHz 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM2 Processor - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103036

*snip*

This puts me at $344 with a 30 MIR..


Is there a better place to post this?
Click to expand...

Just noticed that you have chosen OEM for your processor and didn't see you mention that you have a HSF to use. Just making sure that you have that is all. I too am in the near future of buying a new system as mine is 4.5 years old and I know what your going through, well mostly I guess. nice tread I'll be watching this one.

 
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