What video card to buy?

[skisteven1]

I have a Dell SC420 that I'd like to turn into a system for actual use. Right now it's limping along with a GeForce 440MX PCI card (that is kind of broken). I'd like to put in a PCI-e video card, but I'm not much of a gamer. Past games I've played include:

Starcraft
CS
GTA3
WoW (on 9200mob)

I'm not exactly used to blazing fast stuff, so I'm thinking around an X300 (I also don't know much about the current cards). I'd like to spend around $80 or less, but if I can get a great deal of performance out of a couple more bucks I'm not opposed.

Also, it should be noted that I'm going to be modifying a PCI-e 8x slot to fit the 16x card, so power might be an issue. Are there any cards that have their own power cable to the PS? I'd like something at LEAST as powerful as my 9200mob, but preferably something that can play WoW at 1024x768 without much trouble.

Suggestions? Here's some of the cards I'm looking at (I don't know if these prices are any good either)


GeForce PC5300TM 128MB GDDR3 16x PCI Express Video Card
$64.99

GeForce 6200 128MB DDR PCI Express Video Card w/TV-Out, DVI
$62.99

ATI Radeon X300SE 128MB DDR 16x PCI Express Video Card
$53.00

Gigabyte GeForce PCX5750 128MB DDR 16x PCI Express Card
$58.90

Even if you can't suggest a good deal, just which cards I should look for, and what prices are normal would be most helpful. Thanks!

 

[ElFenix]

check fs/ft? all those cards are kinda... poor. the 5750 might actually be the fastest one

try this one

somewhat less expensive

 

[skisteven1]

How do those compare with the ATI 9000 series? Will either/both of those be able to handle WoW and any other game I might pick up? (keeping in mind i'm not likely to start with BF2 or CS2 anytime soon).

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: skisteven1
How do those compare with the ATI 9000 series? Will either/both of those be able to handle WoW and any other game I might pick up? (keeping in mind i'm not likely to start with BF2 or CS2 anytime soon).

the ati 9000 series is similar in performance and features to a radeon 8500. which was a fast card in 2001. the X300SE might be a crippled version, using either some turbocache type scheme where it uses system ram for memory, or with a 64 bit memory bus (SE for ATI usually means 'slow edition'). an x600 pro is a radeon 9600 pro or xt, and should run wow just fine, along with other modern games, assuming you don't turn the eye candy way up.

x550 i think is an x300 on steroids, but i'm not sure.

edit: yes, the x550 is the same chip as the x300, with faster clocks

 

[AStar617]

From the available info (mostly on aaltonen.us forums) it appeared that Nvidia cards were largely incompatible with slot modded SC420s, giving memory parity errors. My brother's SC420 did NOT like his 6600 and he had to return it for an x700. I'd stick with ATI cards if I were you.

That said, If you get lucky like I did, you can find a Radeon 9100 PCI (which is truly a rebadged 8500 with no modifications) for fairly short bucks. This handles older stuff very well in my SC420. My box is slot modded but I don't have the scratch to drop on a PCI-E card just yet. The reason I was ok with the PCI purchase was because I also have a Dimension 2400 with no AGP/PCI-E slot, only PCI. This card will be moved across to the 2400 after I get a PCI-E replacement for the SC420. The 8500/9100 outperforms even the 92xx series cards... Unfortunately it's not made anymore so eBay or FS/T forums is your best bet. You can get used X300se's (mostly Dell OEM pulls) for as little as $30-40, and that should definitely get you in the door for what you want to do.

Example 1 | Example 2 (DISCLAIMER: I neither know nor vouch for either of these sellers)

The absolute best bang-for-the-buck seems to come in the x800se cards which are hitting the market. These feature much slower clock speeds than standard x800s and even x700s, but are still 12-pipeline cards meaning they eat most any 8-pipeline-or-less card for breakfast and appear to be in the 6800NU range regarding performance. These are popping up for around $150 AR these days on reputable shops like Newegg. Such a card would be usable long after an x300...

Hope that helps... thx for the PM too, btw

 

[biostud]

add $100 and we can start talking about decent video card

 

[AStar617]

Originally posted by: biostud
add $100 and we can start talking about decent video card

Well considering he's not looking to play the bleeding edge games, He doesn't have to spend that much. even 128mb x700 non-pros have dipped below $100 used. To say that's not a "decent" card is pretty absurd.

 

[coomar]

there is an x700pro pci-e on newegg at 110

 

[coomar]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814125165

if you don't mind used:

100 for a 6600 shipped:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=45&threadid=1537681&enterthread=y

 

[Topweasel]

2 x PCI Express (x8, x1 connectors)
Bullet 3 x 32bit/33MHz 5v PCI
Bullet 2 x Front USB ports, 2 x USB in the back
Bullet 1 x RJ45, PS/2, 1 x serial port and 1 x parallel port

Might not be able to. If i am reading this right it looks like it only has 1 8x slot, not big deal if it is open ended so you can use a 16x card in it. But if it is a 8x closed end Slot the while electrically compatible the cards wouldn't be able to physically fit.

Edit: Look at this PDF flyer for it. Dell SC420

 

[skisteven1]

Originally posted by: Topweasel
2 x PCI Express (x8, x1 connectors)
Bullet 3 x 32bit/33MHz 5v PCI
Bullet 2 x Front USB ports, 2 x USB in the back
Bullet 1 x RJ45, PS/2, 1 x serial port and 1 x parallel port

Might not be able to. If i am reading this right it looks like it only has 1 8x slot, not big deal if it is open ended so you can use a 16x card in it. But if it is a 8x closed end Slot the while electrically compatible the cards wouldn't be able to physically fit.

Edit: Look at this PDF flyer for it. Dell SC420

You are correct. The cards are electrically compatible though, and there are a lot of people who have successfully modded the slot to take a x16 card. I hope to do the same, since I'm running low on PCI slots.

 

[Topweasel]

w00t,, I am just Happy I am right... Modding it wouldn't seem to be that hard of an option, you would just need to cut the back off of the slot (in theory) right? Good Luck with that.