$75 Budget for Video Card

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JJ91284

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My brother is looking to upgrade from his 8600gt.

Is there a better card in terms of performance/reliability than a 9600gt (can buy it for $99.99 - $30 Rebate). I had an older 8800 GT SSC and it ran great. Must be reliable and can't suck up lots of power.

Also I'm assuming the 9600gt requires PCI-express 6 pin power right?
 
JJ91284 said:
My brother is looking to upgrade from his 8600gt.

Is there a better card in terms of performance/reliability than a 9600gt (can buy it for $99.99 - $30 Rebate). I had an older 8800 GT SSC and it ran great. Must be reliable and can suck up lots of power.

Also I'm assuming the 9600gt requires PCI-express 6 pin power right?
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Grab a used 8800GT or GTS from ebay or this board in the for sale section. Why even bother upgrading for $75??? I wouldn't even waste a penny in that category of videocards.
 
ScYcS said:
Grab a used 8800GT or GTS from ebay or this board in the for sale section. Why even bother upgrading for $75??? I wouldn't even waste a penny in that category of videocards.
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There's no point in him buying a great vid card because his dell system is about 1.5 years old. It has a dual core AMD and 2 gb of ram more than likely. Not to mention his psu is probably 350 or 400 watts so anything to powerful, he'll need a whole new system. He doesn't game much, but would like the performance to be decent when he does (med graphics 1280 x1024)
 
4670 is a great card for low budget and low power. I just got the

"http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1399548

Thats a link to a HD 4830 for $65 after rebate and a promo code. "

to replace mine. The difference in performance between 4670 and 4830 is 40-50% for most games (based on my research of all the reviews). It would be worth the additional cost even if your system bottlenecks it a bit (price is only $10-15 difference AR).
 
Attean said:
Would this be a worthwhile upgrade for my 7800gtx? Current rig is an x2 3800, 2gigs and I need a hold me over till I get enough for a complete upgrade. Oh, and I mostly play TF2.
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with a 3800 X2 you wouldnt get but about 3/4 of what that card is capable of but yes it would be a good upgrade until you do a new build.
 
ScYcS said:
Grab a used 8800GT or GTS from ebay or this board in the for sale section. Why even bother upgrading for $75??? I wouldn't even waste a penny in that category of videocards.
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what a silly thing to say. this isnt some high end gaming pc and a card like a 9600gt or even a 4670 would be a nice upgrade over the 8600gt.
 
Anything is a massive upgrade from a 8600GT. 4830 is probably the best bet if you count the rebate in.
 
lowteckh said:
Anything is a massive upgrade from a 8600GT. 4830 is probably the best bet if you count the rebate in.
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well that sort of depends on his cpu though. I had a 5000X2 and 8600gt and got zero increase in minimum framerates in games like Crysis and UT3 when using a 4670, 9600gt, or even 8800gt. sure my maximum framerate and and averages went up but overall playability didnt get better in several games. many people still forget how important the cpu really is even on current low end cards like the 4670.
 
cannondale06 said:
well that sort of depends on his cpu though. I had a 5000X2 and 8600gt and got zero increase in minimum framerates in games like Crysis and UT3 when using a 4670, 9600gt, or even 8800gt. sure my maximum framerate and and averages went up but overall playability didnt get better in several games. many people still forget how important the cpu really is even on current low end cards like the 4670.
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That doesn't make sense to me - i have an Opteron 165 and I saw a big boost from 7800 GTX to 8800GTS, then another one to 260 GTX. Crysis was playable at medium on the 8800GTS, and playable on all high on the 260 GTX.

Below image is 260 GTX framerates in Crysis, 1680 x 1060, 4xAA.

For reference my 8800GTS was 15.3 min, 24.3 avg, though at 0xAA.

crysisgpubenchxx3.jpg
 
cannondale06 said:
many people still forget how important the cpu really is even on current low end cards like the 4670.
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If I game at 1680x1050 with maybe 2x AA and a bit of AF on an overclocked Opteron running 2.8ghz what kind of frame rate increase could I generally expect going to a better cpu?

Also is there a link that compares various cpu's with the same card? Thx.
 
arcturus said:
If I game at 1680x1050 with maybe 2x AA and a bit of AF on an overclocked Opteron running 2.8ghz what kind of frame rate increase could I generally expect going to a better cpu?

Also is there a link that compares various cpu's with the same card? Thx.
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I'm gonna install my 775 build this weekend, I'll post some.

While there are many CPU dependency charts floating around, most are done at low res that nobody plays at. In short, your minimum framerates would go up a lot.
 
Attean said:
Would this be a worthwhile upgrade for my 7800gtx? Current rig is an x2 3800, 2gigs and I need a hold me over till I get enough for a complete upgrade. Oh, and I mostly play TF2.
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I went from a 7800gt to a HD4830 and it destroys it. Felt like a new computer on games. I run source games at 1920x1080 4xAA,16xAF smooth. The stock 3800x2 speeds might cpu bottleneck some, but I think a 4830 should still help quite a lot on newer games while turning AA on.
 
Varmint said:
That doesn't make sense to me - i have an Opteron 165 and I saw a big boost from 7800 GTX to 8800GTS, then another one to 260 GTX. Crysis was playable at medium on the 8800GTS, and playable on all high on the 260 GTX.

Below image is 260 GTX framerates in Crysis, 1680 x 1060, 4xAA.

For reference my 8800GTS was 15.3 min, 24.3 avg, though at 0xAA.

crysisgpubenchxx3.jpg
Click to expand...
I dont know what to tell you but the minimums in Crysis, UT3 and Far Cry 2 were with 2 fps of what they were on the 8600gt no matter what card I used. when I put the 4670 in the Core 2 system I have over a 30% increase in performance. yep a 5000 X2 was giving up over 30% to a Core 2 cpu even with a wimpy 4670.

I find your minimum framerates to by quite strange since they are much higher than what any review site has. even without AA my minimum was at 13 with a 5000 X2 on all high settings.

overall you are really not even getting close to what the gtx260 is capable of. why would you use such a strong card with such a weak cpu? in games like Far Cry 2 you are only getting about 50% of the minimum framerate you could be getting with a strong Core 2 or Phenom 2.
 
arcturus said:
If I game at 1680x1050 with maybe 2x AA and a bit of AF on an overclocked Opteron running 2.8ghz what kind of frame rate increase could I generally expect going to a better cpu?

Also is there a link that compares various cpu's with the same card? Thx.
Click to expand...

Varmint said:
I'm gonna install my 775 build this weekend, I'll post some.

While there are many CPU dependency charts floating around, most are done at low res that nobody plays at. In short, your minimum framerates would go up a lot.
Click to expand...

CPU Scaling With The GeForce GTX 295
CPU Scaling With The GeForce GTX 280
CPU Scaling With The Radeon HD 4870 X2
CPU Scaling With The GeForce 9800 GX2

You're welcome. And CPU matters, but not more than the GPU. Hell no.

@cannondale, So what if it's "full potential" isn't there? There's a very noticeable and positive change in playability and frames regardless. Not everyone wants to build a new system every time a new video card is released y'know.
 
lowteckh said:
CPU Scaling With The GeForce GTX 295
CPU Scaling With The GeForce GTX 280
CPU Scaling With The Radeon HD 4870 X2
CPU Scaling With The GeForce 9800 GX2

You're welcome. And CPU matters, but not more than the GPU. Hell no.

@cannondale, So what if it's "full potential" isn't there? There's a very noticeable and positive change in playability and frames regardless. Not everyone wants to build a new system every time a new video card is released y'know.
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overall yes the gpu is usually what needs to be upgraded. the problem is that the more gpu you get then the more cpu you need to keep it fed. oh and actually cpu can matter more than gpu. it just depends on what cpu and gpu combo you are talking about.

in FEAR 2 an e8500 at 3.6 with an 8800gt does better than a gtx280 with a 5000 X2. http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...us-graphics-settings-compared/Reviews/?page=2
 
cannondale06 said:
I dont know what to tell you but the minimums in Crysis, UT3 and Far Cry 2 were with 2 fps of what they were on the 8600gt no matter what card I used. when I put the 4670 in the Core 2 system I have over a 30% increase in performance. yep a 5000 X2 was giving up over 30% to a Core 2 cpu even with a wimpy 4670.

overall you are really not even getting close to what the gtx260 is capable of. why would you use such a strong card with such a weak cpu? I also find your framerates to by quite strange since they are much higher than what any review site has. even without AA my average framerate was a little lower than that and my minimum was at 13 with a 5000 X2.
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Well, I thought you meant literally 0 fps (when you said "zero increase"). A 2 fps gain in minimum is similar to my 3 fps gain from 8800GTS to 260 GTX. I'm expecting a big gain when I install the e5200.

Which FPS you think are high, the 8800GTS or the 260? It's hard to find a good match - if you see any links (all high at 1680 x 1050) please post them.

I bought the 260 cause of Live's 25% deal, knowing I'd plan to get a new CPU build later anyway. And it made Crysis playable at high, which was like the only game the 8800 couldn't handle well.
 
cannondale06 said:
in FEAR 2 an e8500 at 3.6 with an 8800gt does better than a gtx280 with a 5000 X2. http://www.pcgameshardware.com/aid,...us-graphics-settings-compared/Reviews/?page=2
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That may be true of Fear 2, which is designed to run on the 360's 7800GTX-type hardware, but it's definitely not true of Crysis, I can vouch for that.

Keep in mind my Crysis benchmark (GPU.bat) is fairly GPU intensive - if I run the CPU benchmark where he's blowing stuff up, it runs like total arse on my system.

I get the same experience in game - it's super smooth sometimes but there's a lot of slowdowns especially when a lot of stuff is on screen.
 
cannondale06 said:
I find your minimum framerates to by quite strange since they are much higher than what any review site has. even without AA my minimum was at 13 with a 5000 X2 on all high settings.
Click to expand...

What was 13 minimum, the 8600GT? I got like 15 minimum with the 8800GTS, seems about the same. You can't easily compare benchmarks, could be different NVidia drivers, different benchmark even.

I did a quick search but a lot of sites don't use the default GPU.bat file I used, they make their own benchmark, or they don't say what they used.
 
Varmint said:
What was 13 minimum, the 8600GT? I got like 15 minimum with the 8800GTS, seems about the same. You can't easily compare benchmarks, could be different NVidia drivers, different benchmark even.

I did a quick search but a lot of sites don't use the default GPU.bat file I used, they make their own benchmark, or they don't say what they used.
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I ran several fraps benchmarks in Warhead and Crysis and it would dip to 13 even with 4670 or 9600gt. it might have just been a very cpu intensive part. with my 4670 that same spot went from 13 with the 5000 X2 to 19fps with the E8500. I ran tons of benchmarks and at first it was hard to believe that even with a 4670 the cpu makes a huge impact in several games. before with the 5000 X2 I wasnt even getting close to what reviewers were getting with the 4670. yeah you will see a nice little boost when you get a better cpu and I promise you that more demanding games will feel much better.
 
What's casual gaming? Cuz my 9600GT from half a year ago or so completed COD4 and Assassin's Creed at 1680*1050 max settings, and Crysis 1440*900 High settings.
 
cannondale06 said:
I ran several fraps benchmarks in Warhead and Crysis and it would dip to 13 even with 4670 or 9600gt. it might have just been a very cpu intensive part. with my 4670 that same spot went from 13 with the 5000 X2 to 19fps with the E8500. I ran tons of benchmarks and at first it was hard to believe that even with a 4670 the cpu makes a huge impact in several games. before with the 5000 X2 I wasnt even getting close to what reviewers were getting with the 4670. yeah you will see a nice little boost when you get a better cpu and I promise you that more demanding games will feel much better.
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Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing how the e5200 does. Later I'll get a quad.
 
Varmint said:
Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing how the e5200 does. Later I'll get a quad.
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the stock e5200 isnt going to be much better than what you have. it will allow you to oc a lot more though to get some additional performance. also going to 775 to get a dual core and then going quad core later seems like a lot of aggravation for a dead end socket. I would just go Phenom 2 X3 now to get the most bang for your buck. anyway thats just a suggestion and we are getting way off track. lol
 
cannondale06 said:
the stock e5200 isnt going to be much better than what you have. it will allow you to oc a lot more though to get some additional performance. also going to 775 to get a dual core and then going quad core later seems like a lot of aggravation for a dead end socket. I would just go Phenom 2 X3 now to get the most bang for your buck. anyway thats just a suggestion and we are getting way off track. lol
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The upgrading is part of the fun, you got it backwards. :) I really want to see the progression rather than do it all at once, otherwise I'd have probably gone with an i7.

I did think about staying with AMD, but figured I'd try Intel this time.

I think you guys answered this thread question with the $65 4830 - that should have been end of thread!
 
I went ahead and picked up the 4830 for $65. That's just a ridiculous deal. I'll probably reseat my processor when it gets here and go for 2.4ghz and then upgrade toward the end of the year.
 
Attean said:
I went ahead and picked up the 4830 for $65. That's just a ridiculous deal. I'll probably reseat my processor when it gets here and go for 2.4ghz and then upgrade toward the end of the year.
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That'll be faster than the 8800GTS 640 that I paid $320 for less than 2 years ago. Crazy prices these days!

Overclock the X2 if you haven't already. Should do 2.5 GHz I think.
 
Weird, I just upgraded the 8600 in my spare rig to a 9800gt last month for ~$75-80 shipped
 
Crap. Well, I'm going to have to send my 4830 back. As good of a deal as $65 is, it doesnt have dual DVI ports. I really should've checked that before ordering. I need my dual dvi for multiple monitors, even if my 7800gtx isn't as good performance wise.

Cool, because it was unopened newegg was able to refund me in full. I knew there was a reason I buy I everything through newegg.

Anybody know any hot deals on 4830s or the equivelent with dual dvi connectors for <= $75? I was thinking this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127420
 
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