Looking for a budget video card

[jacksprat]

I need a budget PCI express 16x video card that supports HDTV that is roughly around $50. I don't play much PC games other than the tomb raider games, dreamfall, and I'm thinking about purchasing Unreal Tournament 2004 and maybe Half-Life 2.

I'm upgrading my pentium 4 3GHz PC ( memory, video card, and maybe my power supply, which is 300-watts). I just want something that gets the job done. I don't care about playing at the highest resolutions, I just want steady frame rates with most effects turned on in games.

I've been downloading demos on my notebook such as Legend, Anniversary, Doom 3, & Half-Life 2 on my 1.6GHZ AMD CPU, 1 gig of ram, and a geforce 6150 graphic chip. They all run fine with most settings turned off and lower resolutions.

[KurtisLonely]

I got a Pentium 4 3.0GHz, Ati Radeon HD 2600XT ( ot TX) videocard, 2048MB Ram, and a new motherboard( not sure wich one ), Tomb Raider Legend, and Anniversary runs fine on my PC with the highest settings ( even NG)

My videocard was like €99,-

[Ring_of_Fire]

Radeon HD 2400 Pro/XT or the GeForce 8400GS/8500GT

[kill bill]

Radeon HD 2400 Pro/XT or the GeForce 8400GS/8500GT

7600GT 256mb would be a better preformer considering you don't care about Dx10.

Anyway. If you want DX 10 the cheapest and decent card would be around 99euros which would be the 8500GT 256mb;) If you paid a little more you would get the 8500GT 512mb which would preform better in Legend NextGen and if you photoshop iswell;)

[Ring_of_Fire]

Remember the guy wants a card that is HD, doesn't consume a lot of power/heat, and cost around $50. Here he gets the chance to own a DX10 card just in case a game needs it.

BTW, the GeForce 8 Series has more advanced graphical features than the GF7 series even though it may not handle it (and the thread starter doesn't care)! :)


"NVIDIA PureVideo™ HD2 technology provides unsurpassed Blu-ray and HD DVD movie picture quality"
http://www.nvidia.com/page/geforce8.html

[kill bill]

Remember the guy wants a card that is HD, doesn't consume a lot of power/heat, and cost around $50. Here he gets the chance to own a DX10 card just in case a game needs it.

BTW, the GeForce 8 Series has more advanced graphical features than the GF7 series! :)

Yea a HD 2400 pro or a 8400GS isn't HD. A 8500GT is HD. You wont get a $50 card that has HD. The 8500GT consumes 260watt I think. Also if he dosen't want Dx10 the 7600GT 256mb is HD enough;) The 8400GS is only 64bit. A 6150LE is 64bit

[jacksprat]

Actually I don't care much if the card doesn't display in High-Def. I just want a video card that outputs to either DVI-I or HDMI, has at least 256MB of dedicated video ram, is around or below $50, and basically, a card that will give me decent frame rates & effects/visuals with games (AOD,Legend, Anniversary, UT2k4, Dreamfall).

[kill bill]

Actually I don't care much if the card doesn't display in High-Def. I just want a video card that outputs to either DVI-I or HDMI, has at least 256MB of dedicated video ram, is around or below $50, and basically, a card that will give me decent frame rates & effects/visuals with games (AOD,Legend, Anniversary, UT2k4, Dreamfall).

A 7600GT 256mb is the best 8400GS and a HD 2400Pro = a 7400GS and a Radeon 1400Pro or a 1650Pro

this one is $89 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130062 but they are usually around $50

If you can't stomach that a 8500GT 256mb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127285 is a good bargin for $68.99

Plus a 8500GT is DX10 here is tomshardware benchmarks test http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=716&model2=856&chart=318 - The 7600GT is alot better but can't support DX10 but after all it should handle all the games you want to play fine:D

[jacksprat]

Thank you, I will consider those options. However, I am on a pretty severe budget. I still have to buy two gigs of ram and I need something that will run on 300-watts, otherwise I'm going to have to buy another power supply.

[kill bill]

Thank you, I will consider those options. However, I am on a pretty severe budget. I still have to buy two gigs of ram and I need something that will run on 300-watts, otherwise I'm going to have to buy another power supply.

To be honest. Say you were on a budget of $500 I would get:

A Pentium Dual Core 3.00GHz
Nvidia GeForce 8600GT 512mb
250GB HDD
480 - 500Watt PSU
And depending on how much you have you can choose between 1gb and 2gb ram:)

[jacksprat]

I'm not going to buy a whole new computer. I'm sticking with my P4 3Ghz PC. The graphic card I have in mind has already been stated, also, I'd want something that can out perform a geforce 6150 on my 1.6Ghz AMD Turion 64 notebook.

[kill bill]

I'm not going to buy a whole new computer. I'm sticking with my P4 3Ghz PC. The graphic card I have in mind has already been stated, also, I'd want something that can out perform a geforce 6150 on my 1.6Ghz AMD Turion 64 notebook.

A 8400GS wont out preforme a 6150LE. So heres a piece of mind whats your whole budget of ram and Video card and other pieces:)

[jacksprat]

I just don't want to spend too much money on my pc. I'm already buying 2gigs of ram. I hope I don't have to buy a new power supply, I would have to take my whole computer apart.

Basically, I'd need a card that wouldn't fry with only 300-watts

[kill bill]

Hold on i'll check my custom pc magazine. Theres an article on power compsuion BRB!

[kill bill]

An 8500GT takes 150Watt a 7600GT takes 178watt:)

[jacksprat]

Thanks a bunch kill bill. However, I'm not sure how many watts is being consumed from the 300 I have.

[KurtisLonely]

7600GT 256mb would be a better preformer considering you don't care about Dx10.

Anyway. If you want DX 10 the cheapest and decent card would be around 99euros which would be the 8500GT 256mb;) If you paid a little more you would get the 8500GT 512mb which would preform better in Legend NextGen and if you photoshop iswell;)
the 8500GT (256mb) is 75 euros here :)

[EscondeR]

MSI GeForce 8500GT PCI-E 256Mb 2xDVI TV OUT (http://www.calibex.com/Msi-Gefore-8500GT-PCIE256MB-543299336/cb2/prices-html) for $65 :)

[kill bill]

the 8500GT (256mb) is 75 euros here :)

Newegg those good deals o n an 8500GT MSI also Esconder pointed out a good deal:)

Thanks a bunch kill bill. However, I'm not sure how many watts is being consumed from the 300 I have.

Your monitor consumes 15watt. So In total you would have around 80watt left in your pc which is good enough:)

[EscondeR]

Kill Bill, please, use Edit button.

[kill bill]

Kill Bill, please, use Edit button.

I keep getting over excitied lately lol. :rolleyes: