http://www.tomshardware.com/20...06/best_graphics_card/
The Best Gaming Graphics Cards for the Money: November 2007
November 6, 2007 07:07
Personally I'd wait until at least the 15th-19th of November.
ATI's releasing their HD38xx series cards around then,
and sometime in the same timeframe I've heard rumors that
NVIDIA will launch new card models too, possibly including a new
'low end' card.
For $55ish I've seen the HD2400PRO which is OK for most uses, so if you can't
wait I'd look for any cards that beat that one on either price/performacnce within
your budget.
Since he runs Vista I think you should check to see what the AERO and
Windows Vista Experience Index requirements / performance is for the card you select
to ensure it'll do the multimedia he needs at the resolution of the screen he uses.
Unfortunately there aren't many really cheap video cards, and even more unfortunately
the market is FULL of cards in a similar price range with NO sensibility of cost vs
performance. There are plenty of places I can buy a Gf 5200 card for MORE
money than I can buy a HD2450 or Gf 8500 which is insane given that there's just
NO comparison in terms of quality / features / performance. So don't totally
go with the one that's cheapest without checking performance or you may save $10
but get an obsolete model that's got 25% of the performance of another.
