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Video card recommendation? < $100

E

eber

Senior member
Hi everyone. I currently have a GeForce MX400 64 MB card and it suited me find but it's beginning to lag and become choppy with MVP Baseball 2005 unless are turn everything down to its lowest quality. I only play Madden and MVP (or whatever baseball game will come out next year), and may occasionally (very rarely) dabble into first person shooters--but I guess I've never wanted to play them since my current video card limits me playing them in the first place.

Can anyone recommend a good card suited for those games? My budget is less than $100 and I'd like to spend as little as possible. I've seen cards like the GeFore FX5500 256 MB that go for ~$80 from buy.com but that seems a little overkill for those games--if anything I'd want something ~$50.

Thanks in advance.
 
a 9600 pro is a nice card for under $100.

6200 is another $100 option. I've heard you can unlock some pipelines to get it to go even faster too. (I'm no expert on this though, not sure which cards this works on or what the success rate is)
 
Thanks. That ATI 9550 looks pretty good. I've been looking on Newegg but there are just too many to choose from.
 
Used 9500 pro, somewhere like ebay. here I wouldn't tell you to buy a used card if I wasn't using one myself (yep my 9700 pro came from ebay, and it works great!)

edit: it kicks the 9550 to the curb too 🙂
 
yep get a 6200, you can unlock the pipelines and OC it to make it better then the 6600 (a $180 card) PLUS it has shader model 3.0, which is needed to play games when they come out late 2005/ early 2006 and beyond

6200, dont settle for anything else (unless its a better 6xxx card)
 
Originally posted by: hans030390
yep get a 6200, you can unlock the pipelines and OC it to make it better then the 6600 (a $180 card) PLUS it has shader model 3.0, which is needed to play games when they come out late 2005/ early 2006 and beyond

6200, dont settle for anything else (unless its a better 6xxx card)
Click to expand...

Your theory here seems somewhat flawed here, you honestly think a 6200 will be able to play games that are comming out 2 years from now, and make full use of SM 3.0? Nothing is future-proof, and on a side note do you know how many games out NOW use SM 3.0? It ain't a whole lot 😉 And seeing as how hes looking for something CHEAP "if anything I'd want something ~$50. " where can I get a 6200 for that? 😕

edit: point i'm trying to make here, the 6200 is a nice card, but you can't go around touting it as some miracle solution for every single budget card thread, there are other options.
 
If I were you, I'd look for a used 9600 of some sort (regular, Pro, or XT--just not the SE/LE, with its halved 64-bit memory bus). If used 9700Ps go for near $100, you should be able to find used 9600Ps for near $50. A used 9500P is also a good alternative to a 9600XT.

A 6200 would be interesting, but at $120+, AND it requires you to void your warranty by unlocking pipes and OCing it? You might as well just buy a used 9700P. I'd recommend a 9700P, but I'm guessing you have a slow CPU, so spending that much on a used card would probably be overkill.

If you do go for a used 9500P or 9700/P, just be aware that some have a "rolling lines" problem. Ensure that the card you buy doesn't suffer from this, at least not at your desktop resolution.

Edit: Whoops, I didn't see that $100 6200. Still overpriced, IMO. Also, I'd avoid anything in the FX lineup, especially any FX 5200/5500/5600 and the 5700LE. Though they'll probably be faster than your GFMX, you can find better cards for the price.
 
Thanks for all the help guys. You've got me all excited about getting a new card. For some reason, I didn't think about going the used card route via eBay. Having just searched eBay, the lone used 9600 Pro is $86 with a good amount of hours left until the auction ends. And with regards to the 9700P, I do have a slow CPU (XP 1600+)--my new question is, is my CPU so slow, so much so, that the 9600 would be overkill or ineffective? I don't feel I need to upgrade my CPU yet as the games I've been playing (Madden, MVP) haven't been so processor intensive.

Edit: That 9600 Pro for $86 is 256 MB, not 128 MB which I'm guessing is being recommended to me.
 
Originally posted by: Blinkme323
I have a 4200Ti that overclocks to 4600 speeds for $60 shipped.
Click to expand...


Thanks, I'll look into but I need to do some research first as I am by no means an expert with video cards and don't know anything about them with regards to their model names.

As it is now, I'm leaning towards an eBay used card (9600 or 9500) if I can find one with a decent price, but most likely a new one (since I'm impatient and usually hate dealing with eBay and it's waiting and bidding)--the 9550 from Newegg for $70 shipped.
 
I'm not sure, but I think the 128mb is the better card. I don't think the 9600pro is optimized for 256mb and and games that would need 256mb for graphics are not really going to be handled to well by you combo (or mine, I'm not cutting edge either 😉)

I think the 128mb has faster memory or something (again, not really sure).

A geforce4 is a pretty good budget card too.
 
The 9550 and 9600 are both 4X1 pipeline architectures. Mine is a 4X2 which is a lot better. That is why my card performs so well and beats the newer FX series and Radeon cards. The new cards are also DX9 but too slow to actually utilize it. It looks SLIGHTLY better on some water reflections and such but loses about 20fps in most games. Your old card is DX7, mine is DX8 which is a good compromise. Mine can also overclock like mad to 4600 speeds which kills 9550's and 9600's. You won't be dissappointed. Plus, it is a lot cheaper at $60. I can ship Monday if you pay. I am impulsive too though and have made mistakes, so just think about it. You can look it up if you want. It is a Geforce 4 Ti4200 128mb made by Visiontec.
 
do you need something pronto? if not i'd say you could get way more bang for your buck if you save up for something in the $200 level like a normal 6800
 
Originally posted by: Blinkme323
It would be a crime to use a 6800 in a 1600. Even in my Athlon 2000, it would be useless.
Click to expand...

I think that's highly dependent on how CPU/GPU intensive a particular game is.

I do think it's probably overkill for a guy who doesn't play a lot of FPS games though.
 
Yeah, he could probably play a game like Doom 3 that is very gpu limited with that card pretty well, but it is more worth it to upgrade the whole pc if you are going to spend that much. You can get a nice P4-M 2.4, 512 pc3200, and mobo combo for $140 these days.
 
If you can't get a used 9500 Pro or 9600 Pro, or a ti4200 for that matter, the 9550 128-bit isn't that bad. I'm sure it's twice as fast as what you have. OK, I'm not sure but I'd jump off a cliff if it wasn't, if you know what I mean. Benchmarks are sparse since it's a cheap card and I'm too lazy to dig one up that pits it against the MX400. You'll just have to trust me on this one.

*throws fists in frustration* wtf did ATI discontinue the 9500 PRO for? That would have been a perfect card. I have it in my old PC and I love it. I just now noticed it has twice the pipelines as the 9600 XT (only four?), I never knew that. It was $200 two years ago.

Edit: spelling correction: a cheap card, not a cheat card.
 
I think your best bet would be to get a 9550 128mb (128-bit only) video card, for around $65, newegg has themfor that price. Its a great budget card, dont waste your time with the 5500 from nvidia, the 9550 is more then twice its speed on some of todays newers games. Look at this test:

http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/955055005200/ut2004.htm

note that this is the 64-bit version of the 9550, and you should expect even better with the 128bit for the future.
 
Again, thanks for all the help. You've all really guided me and helped my progress in picking a card greatly. I've been looking at all this stuff on video cards (benchmarks (which I really understand partly), review sites, reviews on newegg, and even xtknight's guide in this forum). As it is now, I'm leaning towards one of those 9550 128-bit cards on Newegg for $70 shipped--but then again, I'm not really sure yet...I'm just sort of torn on the difference in getting a used card somewhere and getting a new one from Newegg.

Also as I've read on xt's guide and Newegg, the 9550 getting be overclocked to a 9600, so I'm taking that into consideration. The used 9500/9600 Pros on eBay look attractive for my price point but again, I hate dealing with bidding and having to wait to find out that I've been outbid to then go again and bid and wait on another auction. Blinkme323's Ti4200 for $60 shipped also looks attractive and he did a good job of convincing me but those benchmarks seem to vary from game to game looking at some of the other ones. I guess I'd just like a second opinion on going for the used Ti4200 for $60 shipped route or getting a new one for $70 shipped (even though the performance may be less)...is his so much of a better deal in terms of bang for my buck and having to go thru the buying thru a stranger/non-dealer process?
 
Originally posted by: MonkeyWrench4000
I think your best bet would be to get a 9550 128mb (128-bit only) video card, for around $65, newegg has themfor that price. Its a great budget card, dont waste your time with the 5500 from nvidia, the 9550 is more then twice its speed on some of todays newers games. Look at this test:

http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/955055005200/ut2004.htm

note that this is the 64-bit version of the 9550, and you should expect even better with the 128bit for the future.
Click to expand...


Great, thanks, another vote for a 9550 (I didn't see your post until after mine, I never refreshed).
 
Originally posted by: xtknight
If you can't get a used 9500 Pro or 9600 Pro, or a ti4200 for that matter, the 9550 128-bit isn't that bad. I'm sure it's twice as fast as what you have. OK, I'm not sure but I'd jump off a cliff if it wasn't, if you know what I mean. Benchmarks are sparse since it's a cheap card and I'm too lazy to dig one up that pits it against the MX400. You'll just have to trust me on this one.

*throws fists in frustration* wtf did ATI discontinue the 9500 PRO for? That would have been a perfect card. I have it in my old PC and I love it. I just now noticed it has twice the pipelines as the 9600 XT (only four?), I never knew that. It was $200 two years ago.

Edit: spelling correction: a cheap card, not a cheat card.
Click to expand...

I got a 9500pro too when they were about to be discontinued. The 9600 cards have 256bit memory architecture vs. the 128bit on the 9500pro. Twice the pipelines helped make it faster in a lot of situations though 🙂

My girlfriend has it now and I'm running a 9800 pro.
 
You seriously think a 9550 with 400mhz speed and 4x1 pipelines could beat my 444mhz 4x2 pipleines TI4200!?! BTW, a 9600 is 128bit and gets smoked by the 8 pipeline 9500's.
 
Originally posted by: Blinkme323
You seriously think a 9550 with 400mhz speed and 4x1 pipelines could beat my 444mhz 4x2 pipleines TI4200!?! BTW, a 9600 is 128bit and gets smoked by the 8 pipeline 9500's.
Click to expand...

I don't seriously think it, it's just a lot easier/safer for me to buy from Newegg. Before this thread started, I knew absolutely nothing about video cards--I'm just still pondering if yours is such a good deal that I shouldn't pass it up for a new card. Don't get me wrong, if the transaction between you and I were easy (such as a local pickup) I 'd be all over it. It's been proved to me that the the Ti4200 will outperform the 9550 easily but I'm wondering if I'll need all that extra performance (MVP 2005 is bearable with my MX440, just not very aesthetically pleasing)--I'm no hardcore gamer and if I were to play something like Half-life 2 I wouldn't mind lower settings.

BTW, Is your card softmoddable or overclockable with stock cooling, or would I need fans and memory heatsinks to OC your card to 4600 levels? Are you local pick-up by any chance ? (I'm in San Diego).
 
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