Under $80 Video Card

[thatbox]

I'm building a new Athlon XP 1800+ system with an Asus 7N8X Deluxe with cheap DDR 2100 RAM. (Yeah, the only premium component is the mobo.) I'm trying to keep the overall costs down, and I've set aside about 80 bucks for a TV-OUT DDR video card. The only thing I'll need real power for is Warcraft III and UT2003. I'd like to stick with nVidia or ATi. What's out there for me?

 

[nardvark]

if you wanted to spend 20 bucks more, I'd say spring for a 128MB Radeon 8500le. otherwise, get a 64MB version (I think these run at about 80 bucks now), or something of a previous generation. I run WCIII at 1024 with details on high on an ATI Radeon 32MB DDR...so you don't need a real powerhouse for it. I don't know as much about UT2003...but there are plenty of others on this forum who can tell you I'm sure.

 

[tart666]

made by ATI 8500LE 64MB is $79 at ati.com. (Edit: ram size corrected)

 

[spanky]

for under $80 u can get a radeon 9000

 

[orion7144]

GF4 TI4200

 

[Rand]

Originally posted by: orion7144
GF4 TI4200

Where's that at?
Besides BestBuy's 1day sale I don't know of any Ti4200 that has even approached the sub $100 marker.
Cheapest price I've seen was a Gainward 64MB Ti4200 at $113, but that still lacked TV-Out as well as being way over his price range, nor is it from a particularly reputable dealer.

I'd vote for a 64MB R8500LE.... you can find them for around $70 now, amazing performance given the very cheap price.

 

[optimistic]

Right now Fry's is selling their Dual Head MSI GeForce4 ti4200 64mb for $99 (NO REBATES). Deal ends Sunday.

I wound get it. But no money.

 

[thatbox]

Thanks, guys. I'll probably be going with a Tyan Radeon 9000 Pro for 90 bucks (Just one more soccer game I'll have to ref). If you think this is a bad decision, let me know. Here's a link to its specs:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=W450-7000

 

[Bovinicus]

Actually, the Radeon 8500LE is slightly faster than the Radeon 9000. It can process more textures in one pass, and is therefore better for future games. A 128MB card is a good idea, but it is not necessary. Also, I would definitely suggest against getting cheap memory. That is a VERY bad idea, even if you don't plan on tweaking or overclocking. Go with Crucial memory; Crucial is cheap but very high quality.

 

[tart666]

built by ATI is a crapshoot. "made by ATI" is pretty safe

Also, tigerdirect? After all the horror stories about shipping the wrong parts and not taking them back?

I recommend any of the three 8500LE at mwave: here. I think the retail one comes with counterstrike and a DVD player.

 

[MrPabulum]

Get a nice Radeon 8500. Its in the sub $80 range and will play anything tied up to an XP1800..

Oh do not get cheap memory! Kingston makes some nice PC2100 and PC2700 and its priced well. Head over to Googlegear.

 

[sash1]

"Also, tigerdirect? After all the horror stories about shipping the wrong parts and not taking them back?"

OMG yeah. Do not buy from tiger direct. And if you do, don't plan on actually getting what you purchased, or even to get anything at all.

Buy from newegg or another reputable place, and get the 8500.

 

[CraigRT]

i'd go 8500LE too.
have one overclocked to regular Radeon speeds and it runs UT2003 just amazing for such a cheap card.

recommended!

 

[thatbox]

Wow. 8500LE it is. Thanks.

 

[thatbox]

Theres one at newegg.com (a 128MB 8500LE) that says its "powered by ati." is that alright? to see it, go to newegg and search for 128 MB 8500le in video cards.

 

[tart666]

Ahh, once again, "powered by" cards may have bad image quality. You just never know.

If I were you, I'd spend the extra $10 and get the "made by" card from ati.com or mwave.

 

[thatbox]

ATI RADEON 8500LE 64MB AGP (Retail) $94.33
A19200 ATI RADEON 8500LE 128MB AGP (White box) $98.00

Thats on mwave. Whats the catch? Is the white box version of the card that much worse than the retail??

 

[thatbox]

Ah. And a Radeon 8500LE with 128MB Crucial memory (since someone recommended it) is $110 from Crucial's website. So, now out of this Crucial 128MB, the retail 64MB, or the "white box" 128MB, which one? I want to get this right, cause I'll be using it for a while.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

128MB Radeon 8500LE for $79 (no rebates)

(edit: out of stock now, but built by ATI and a retail kit)

 

[thatbox]

Out of stock doesn't do me any good; I wish I'd caught that earlier. What now?

 

[Tobias]

Saw the retail (built by ATi) 8500LE at CompUSA for $70, advertised in this week's flyer. I hate CompUSA, but this is a good deal!

EDIT: the 64 MB version, BTW

 

[CurtCold]

Get the LE, and overclock it to 275/275, you won't be dissapointed for the dough. I'm runnin about the same setup and get about 8500 range 3D mark score. Running the 2.4Cats with Rage 3D tweak. I can't tell the difference in my Friends gF4 4200's and they paid about ~$140 for. They get about 190fps in Q3 stock, I get about 165fps, with slower CPU, when I overclock I can hang with about 183fps.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Yeah, the 64MB is in stock for $70 after rebate. But check for the nearest store, they might have the 128 in stock. All the Sacramento stores are out, but I could take a trip up to Reno

 

[hkssupra69]

how much faster is the 8500LE over a GF3? And the DVD quality on it, how good is it? I'm looking into one myself and all these people are convincing me to buy one. I have a GF2Ti right now and a tv out and better framerates sounds like a good deal. I have a hardware dvd decoder so I could probably get rid of that too if ATI quality is up to par.

 

[Rand]

Originally posted by: hkssupra69
how much faster is the 8500LE over a GF3? And the DVD quality on it, how good is it? I'm looking into one myself and all these people are convincing me to buy one. I have a GF2Ti right now and a tv out and better framerates sounds like a good deal. I have a hardware dvd decoder so I could probably get rid of that too if ATI quality is up to par.

The R8500LE is roughly on-par with the reg. GF3 overall. A bit faster then the Ti200, but not quite up to Ti500 speed. Of course this is heavily dependent upon the individual game.
The GF3 is much faster with FSAA though, albeit slightly lower quality. On the flip side, ATi is far faster with anisotropic filtering enabled... though with slightlyy lower quality.

As for DVD playback quality.... well, this is ATi.... in other words it's the best DVD playback one can get. ATi's long been the industry leaders in DVD playback capabilities, even the old Rage 128 is vastly superior to the GF4 in DVD playback performance/quality.
MultiMedia capabilities are ATi's forte' and when it comes to DVD/TV-Out and other such features none can match them.