Which budget card to buy?

[Kolibri]

I have:

T-bird 1200
Geforce 2 GTS
Abit KT7A-RAID
768MB PC133

I want to buy a budget graphics card, so which one should I choose:

1) 9000Pro for 116$
2) 9100 for 92$
3) 9200 for 129$
4) GF4 Ti4200-x8 for 145$ (somewhat doubtful as it is a bit expensive and I'll probably have to flash by MOBO bios, something I am not happy to do)

Price and performance is an issue.

Keep in mind that this graphics card will merely serve as a quick fix for when I buy myself a new system in a month or so (I could buy a 9700pro/nonpro radeon card now but I somehow doubt my motherboard supports it).

Thanks for your help.

PS. don't bother suggesting any other boards beyond those listed, as it is NOT an option.

 

[nick1985]

G4

 

[Nitemare]

Newegg has the 9100 64MB for 65 and the 128MB for 80.

Ordered the 9100 last week and it's great when it works. Does not like something in my system and locks up occasionally. I'm sure it is something simple as I am the only one having this problem.

the 9000 and the 9200 are slower than the 8500 and 9100

 

[gregor7777]

9100 (8500le) will match up nicely with that rig and not kill the wallet.

 

[bgeh]

i'll get the 9100

 

[selfbuilt]

The 9100 should be faster than either the 9000 Pro or 9200, and is cheaper to boot, so I'd go for that in a flash. The GeF4 is a better card, but I don't know if its worth that price difference to you ... it may be, if you plan on using it in an upgraded system later.

Tom's Hardware ran a review comparing older cards on an Athlon 1Ghz system, so that should be helpful for you (the 9100 is the same as the 8500LE, and the 9200 should give comparable performance to a 9000). You can check it out here.

 

[Schadenfroh]

Originally posted by: nick1985
G4

 

[Kolibri]

After doing a bit of research I discovered that my mobo may very well support the newer graphics cards. So I will try and dump a Gigabyte 9700pro in it instead.

Thanks, though, for your answers.

 

[Jeff7181]

I should get comission from Asus for this...

Asus V8420S... $145 shipped from newegg... and can be easily overclocked to speeds faster than that of a Ti4600.

 

[Pete]

A 9700 would be wasted on your system. You'd probably get better results buying a $100 128MB 4200 (GameVE) and upgrading your CPU/MB/RAM.

 

[NYHoustonman]

A 9700 would be wasted on your system. You'd probably get better results buying a $100 128MB 4200 (GameVE) and upgrading your CPU/MB/RAM.

Agreed. Or you could wait and get a better video card along with the rest.

 

[Kolibri]

Well, I'd like a (small) boost now and will be putting in my future comp. =)

 

[DAPUNISHER]

If you don't mind crappy 2D the Abit siluro ti4200 is back in stock@newegg for 89$ shipped, I've scored over 14,000 3D2k1se with it and the games look great but the 2D...........

 

[Jeff7181]

I'm selling my Gainward Ti4200... it's in the FS/FT forums...
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=45&threadid=1068614&FTVAR_MSGDBTABLE=

 

[ultimatebob]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
If you don't mind crappy 2D the Abit siluro ti4200 is back in stock@newegg for 89$ shipped, I've scored over 14,000 3D2k1se with it and the games look great but the 2D...........

Hmm, that's odd. The 2D image quality looks great on my ABit Siluro.

 

[Blooz1]

You can still get a Sapphire Radeon 8500 (275/275) at AllStarShop.com for about $80....

 

[UNCjigga]

How about those cheap GeForce FX cards (the <5600 ones...are they any good?)

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: uncJIGGA
How about those cheap GeForce FX cards (the <5600 ones...are they any good?)

You'll need to upgrade again to run HL2 and Doom3 with much eye candy... go for the cheap stuff right now to hold you over till those games are released and we can see exactly what they require for a good gaming experience.

 

[Dizway]

Buy "Built by ATI Radeon 8500 64MB" (not power cooler or saphire) for $60-70 in the FS forum or even ebay! I won a bid on ebay for 60 shipped (new oem). Video cards have the highest depreciation value for computer parts. Not worth buying new at all... unless it's from a "hot deal".