Budget Graphics Card Roundup 186
Anonymous Coward writes "Not all of us are prepared to drop $500 for a killer graphics card. Generally, the sweet spot in price and performance is in the budget category of GPUs. Joel Durham Jr. over at ExtremeTech reviews nine current graphics cards, all of which are below $250, some below $150, to determine which cards are worth the time and money for the gamer on a budget. In the sub $150 category, the ATI Radeon 4770 performed the best for its price. Spend a little more and Joel recommends the GeForce 260."
Wait for the good deal... (Score:4, Informative)
All on one page please.... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Wait for the good deal... (Score:3, Informative)
I have to agree with you. I always wait for the good deals.
I have an 8800GS, which I picked up for $45 in October 08. Just recently I spied a 9800GT for $60. I was tempted to buy it, but decided not, since all my current games still play fine.
Left4Dead sure is fun when you get a good team together in Versus. :D
Re:All on one page please.... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Radeon 4770 Discontinued (Score:5, Informative)
New here? Radeon 4770 just came out last month [tomshardware.com]. It was even covered on
Re:Radeon 4770 Discontinued (Score:2, Informative)
What kind of conclusion is the Radeon 4770 as the best for its price for cards under $150? It's discontinued and you can't buy it from Newegg, Mwave, or ZipZoomFly. That seems to be a very poor suggestion to recommend a discontinued card that is probably only available used...
LOL, it's not discontinued. It just came out. You can't buy it from these retailers cause it's SOLD OUT. That's right, selling like hotcakes. But I gots mine . And these guys are calling $250 a *BUDGET* card? Are they INSANE?
Re:All on one page please.... (Score:2, Informative)
Just use the AutoPager Firefox extension. It loads all the pages for you and you can just scroll down.
Toms Hardware Monthly Feature (Score:3, Informative)
Here's the one for May. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-graphics,2296.html [tomshardware.com]
Re:Wrong... (Score:4, Informative)
$235 for the SLI plunge here.
I've got dual 9800 GTs with a Zotac SLI board for $55, each 9800 was $90. Free shipping with the Negg.
Re:Sub-$50 card (Score:3, Informative)
Radeon 3850 [tigerdirect.com]
Radeon 2600 XT [tigerdirect.com]
Another Radeon 3850 [newegg.com]
Re:Wrong... (Score:1, Informative)
Not to mention the fact that you avoid SLI issues. Everytime a game comes out and I view the forums, people with SLI setups inevitably pop up with problems more often than you'd think they ought to otherwise..
Re:Here's a prectical question... (Score:3, Informative)
If you have a 450w power supply you can run pretty much any mid range and lower card. The HD 4770 uses 80w at max (5w more than the pci-e slot provides, meaning you still have to hook it up to a power supply) which is probably more than the x1650, but lower than most other cards in the same performance range.
Re:Sub-$50 card (Score:3, Informative)
Mycroft
Re:Sub-$50 card (Score:3, Informative)
I bought an ATI card, and having no problems with it (4870). I used to be NVidia only and lived in fear of the ATI messes. AT the moment, I'm quite happy with it.
Still, buy what you're happy with; just throwing in a point of view of a non-fanboy who's seen both sides of it and is quite content with both.
Re:Here's a prectical question... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Wrong... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Here's a prectical question... (Score:2, Informative)
If $70 is too much money, or you'd like less power consumption, the Radeon 4650 might be better for you. It goes for around $60 and uses only 30W under load (http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/ati-radeon-hd4650_4.html#sect0 [xbitlabs.com]). It's not quite as powerful as the 3850 though.
I have a 3850 and have been able to play most games (like Fallout 3 and Half-Life 2) at the "high" performance level (I don't play many high-end shooters like Crysis, however, so YMMV)
I agree that buying last year's games are a good idea - by that time the price has usually dropped $10 - $20, most of the bugs have been patched, and often with games like Morrowind and Oblivion, a great deal of mods have sprung up.
Best of luck with whatever video card you decide on.
Re:Sub-$50 card (Score:3, Informative)
I poked around on Newegg a bit, and found the SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 3850 [newegg.com]. It's $100 plus shipping, but it has dual-link DVI and it's almost undoubtedly more powerful than your existing card (which is nice, even if you don't need it). The VisionTek Radeon HD 2400PRO [newegg.com] would probably work too, if you'd rather not spend $100, but there seem to be a lot of complaints about driver compatibility.
Now I want one of the HD 3850's.
--- Mr. DOS