Which video card for $120 or under?

[zCypher]

I await your suggestions!! My new HP is pretty decent in every respect except that it came with a 64MB on-board S3 (I think it's even PCI based!!) ... !!!!!

So, it runs UT (original) perfectly fine ... but it won't run NFSU2 without huge visual glitches, and I suspect that those types of problems will persist for most any 3d intensive games, probably due to lack of directx support or some crap.

So anyways, in my old computer before I sold it I had a 9200SE 128MB and it actually did just fine on the most part. But I also had 1GB DDR400 in that system so that helped too.

The system specs today are as follows:

XP2800+
512MB DDR333
80GB 7200 seagate
asus A7V8Z-LA
6 channel integrated ac97 audio (this is ok.., don't really care now)
sd/xd/usb/usb2.0/fireware/etc etc ports
there are available pci, dimm and agp slots..

i imagine that i can just pop in an agp card and disable the onboard in bios and be good to go?

SO ... what are your suggestions? what video card should i look for? i will probably pick up another 512 ram while i'm at it

 

[MadEye2]

Is it the VIA/S3 KM400/KN400 "Unichrome" that onboard your mobo?
I was thinking about buying a 9600se, but I was advised by the people on here to look for secondhand ti4200 cards - their performance is slightly behind the 9700 but you can get second hand ones for about $50. ASUS ti4200 9280 Video Suite is the one I bought.
Some boards automatically turn off the onboard VGA chip when an AGP card is installed, else it's in the BIOS - while you're in there disable the onboard sound and buy a cheap PCI sound card - onboard sound uses a lot more system resources than PCI sound for some reason.
Oh yeah, if you get an AGP graphics card and a PCI soundcard you'll no longer have to share system RAM like you're doing now with the onboard sound and graphics - it'll boost performance a fair bit.

 

[fibes]

I recommend this card. It's $9 over your budget, but it's a much better card than a 9200-9550.

9600XT

BTW, if you want to buy it, sale ends 11/30. Free shipping too..

 

[zCypher]

Sorry, I'm not looking to buy right away.

Thanks for the input MadEye2.. I do realize the benefits of not using integrated components, I sold lots of computers and parts when I worked for a comp shop for about a year. Right now the performance of my system is just fine, even with the onboard stuff, its just the fact that I CANT play some games, not how slow they are, that bothers me.

I definitely will eventually pick up a decent sound card, but right now i'm more concerned with the video card and I'm on a pretty tight budget.

 

[Cawchy87]

30-40 dollars get an nvidia geforce 3 or geforce 3 ti series card

50-70 dollars get an nvidia ti 4xxx series card.

80-90 dollars get a 9500pro

100 dollars get a 9600xt (not worth more than 100 imo)

115-120 dollars get a 9700 np or pro or a 9500np that softmods to 9700

 

[HappyNic]

well, what ever you get,, just don't get any, ATI cards with "SE", Nvidia cards with " MX". And remember,, it's not how much ram it has,, it's how fast those ram can run, Of course you want at least 64mb-128mb.

If you have no problem with USed cards you can mostly get a better deal in the for sale forum.

 

[IAteYourMother]

Originally posted by: HappyNic
well, what ever you get,, just don't get any, ATI cards with "SE", Nvidia cards with " MX". And remember,, it's not how much ram it has,, it's how fast those ram can run, Of course you want at least 64mb-128mb.

If you have no problem with USed cards you can mostly get a better deal in the for sale forum.

Dont you mean nv cards with FX?