Video Card Recommendation ($50-$60 Range) Most Bang for the Buck

[Mojonba]

My second system is a Celeron 533 o'ced to 900. It has an Abit Bh6 mobo and 286mb ram. It currently has an aging Matrox Mystique G200 which has served me well until last week when the beta of Warcraft 3 was released. I am Real Time Strategy player and like to play in my home lan against my friends, but Warcraft 3 has been unplayable with my old video card. I have a Radeon 8500 in my main system and it plays beautifully. The other uses for that computer will be playing AoE, Starcraft, Need for Speed, etc. and my sister which will only use it for Icq and Msn messenger. It is paired with a Dell 17" monitor running 1024x768 so extreme quality 2d will not be so important. I am a long time matrox user so I am used to good 2d quality, but i changed from Matrox to Ati in my main system and I have no complaints. I was thinking an ATi Radeon Le or an Visiontek 5832 with a Geforce GTS-V chipset. Which would you recommend? I was also considering a Radeon 7500 but the price is a little to high for me. Do you think it will go down considerably within a month??

Mojo

 

[Ryukumu]

I really doubt that the Radeon 7500 will drop in price majorly in the next month. DIdn't ATI just drop the retail price from $199 to $149?

If your budget is $50-$60, then really your only options are a Geforce2MX card or a Radeon LE. I'm not sure where to find those at that kind of price though.

 

[aphex]

Check out the first one HERE

VISIONTEK Xtasy 5632 GEFORCE2 GTS-V 4X/2X 32MB AGP - OEM
This VGA card offers high performance based on the GeForce2 GTS-V chipset and 32mb 256 bit DDR memory. Visiontek is the only Nvidia board partner to offer this card. Part# 72440.0 Model#: XTASY 5632

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

What about Ye Olde Radeon LE?

 

[Amber]

The VISIONTEK Xtasy 5632 GEFORCE2 GTS-V 4X/2X 32MB AGP ,For the money from newegg ROCKS
I have overclocked it to 200/380 and it ran a 3878 on 3Dmark 2001,on an AMD XP 1700

 

[Mojonba]

Here are the latest prices

Radeon 7500 ~ $90
Radeon 7200 ~ $60
Radeon Le ~ $ 60
Geforce GTS-V~ $50
Geforce GTS Ti~ $70

 

[Daovonnaex]

Radeon 7000 32 DDR or GeForce GTS-V. They both perform well, choose on the basis of the features you prefer.

 

[Maxpane]

Another vote for the gts from newegg. 50 bones for that card is a steal.

 

[jfunk]

Don't forget that if you don't mind a $50 rebate, you can still get the GF3 Ti200 form Gateway for @$85. (until 2/28)

Details available in Hot Deals.

Other than that I would also agree with the GTS-V for $50.



j

 

[nemesismk2]

Get a Kyro 2 or a Radeon and you'll get great 2D quality too. Avoid the cheapo Nvidia boards unless you want to go crosseyed with their very dodgy 2D quality. I used one of those cheap GTS boards which everyone seems to recommend, cheap they maybe but inferior quality they are especially in the 2D department.

 

[jfunk]

How's the Kyro gonna perform on an older system, though???


j

 

[zeroidea]

Radeon LE's have been spotted at newegg for $39 shipped, or TCWO for around $46 shipped.
I just bought a Radeon 32MB DDR (the original) for $45-something from compuvest.

Prices for these cards in the FS/T forum have begun to reflect these deals; someone is/was selling a Radeon7500 Retail for $80, while other sellers are holding out for the ~$130 ballpark.

 

[rogue1979]

I just picked up a Radeon LE from TCWO for $45 shipped, and when it arrived it was an actual 32MB DDR. Running good at 180/180, I highly recommend it.

 

[KiltedFool]

Background:
My comp has a Hercules GeForce DDR-DVI. My wife's has a Voodoo3

I recently ordered the GTS-V from newegg and had planned on putting it in the wife's comp to get her off voodood, she doesn't game much so she wanted me to drop the new card in my comp and she'd take my old one. Debate is whether I order a second GTS-V so we both have an upgrade.

Now I recently bought Ghost Recon, which is apparently a resource hog. I've frozen my comp playing it 4 times, and each time I bump down the specifications. I'm tempted to throw money at a severe card to run this game studly, though it'll cost me in domestic tranquility.

Short version: How much will a GTS-V card upgrade my performance on a game like Ghost Recon (only severe video demand game I own)? Going from the old DDR-DVI, how much boost should I see? And how much boost over both the DDR-DVI or the GTS-V would I get if I went to a Ti200 (Gainward or Visiontek)?

I wanted a card in this budget range for a while, since I didn't need bleeding edge, but Ghost Recon may require bigger guts.


Oh btw I'm running a Duron 900 w/ 512 MB Crucial PC2100 on an Asus A7A-266. The original A7A.


Thanks
KF

 

[jfunk]

Anand 15-card shootout

Now that test is using the new Unreal2 thing showing how cards will perform on next gen stuff, so the FPS aren't really important. I'm just using that as a reference to determine how mucht his card would help you.

Since the GTS-V lies somewhere between a GF2MX and GF2 GTS, I would say you're not going to see a huge performance increase here. Now it may be enough to get you through Ghost Recon, but it's not gonna be enough some time later this year when you get the next one probably.

Being that you're existing GF DDR is so close in performance, I wouldn't bother getting two of these cards. Get one to make the wife happy now, save the other $50 and add to it for a few months. In a couple months or so (hell, mabye 1) you'll be able to snag a GF3 Ti200 for $80 or so and then you'll be set for a while.

j

 

[adlep]

I bought 2 original ATI RADEON 32Mb DDR's from compuvest for about $45.00 shipped...
In 16 bit color all details on the max it does about 55 fps at 1024x768 on RTCW so you can't beat it
+ good image quality + it overclocks to 183 Mhz with Power Strip