What Video card for 115 Bucks?

Curtisbeef

Gawd
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Sep 22, 2000
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So... my 8600 GT video card just fried. I have been looking around and there is just so much info about crazy expensive cards... I cant find any decent info on budget cards. I don't play anything crazy just mostly WoW. I'm a Nvidia fan but im open to Ati. I'd like the card to have a HDMI out if possible but its not a big deal if it doesnt.

Soo my budget is around $115-125 Shipped.

I was looking at this Evga 9800GT on newegg
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130534

Any input or responses would be greatly appreciated, thank you.


EDIT: System Spec's
AMD Phenom 9850 2.5GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition
GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM
Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU 500W
 
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For Wow, a 5750 would probably give you a good frame rate at say 1680x1050 /w 2xaa to 4xaa in most areas since Wow is often cpu limited in large areas. The cost is about the same as the 9800 GT but comes with DirectX11 and Eyefinity support.
 
9800GT EE, single slot, no extra 6pin power required: here $99.99 upfront, $77.99 AR and BCB
If you don't want to chance it with BFG... try this PNY for a $1 more: here

GTS250 option $120 AR: here


DX11 option, Radeon 5750 for $100 AR, dual slot: here

Even better, but out of your indicated range, Radeon 5770 for $140 AR: here
 
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what cannondale06 said: Please post the specs of your PC. Be VERY specific about the make and model of the PSU.
 
More specifically, describe the case you will be mounting the card in, rather or not your motherboard has a pci-e 16x slot, and what type of connections your power supply provides. If your computer is not custom built, also provide the make and model.

psucables.jpg
 
Sorry about that guys here are my specs ill update my origional post as well.

AMD Phenom 9850 2.5GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache 2MB L3 Cache Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition
GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500)
Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM
Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU 500W
 
Save up a few bucks more and score a good deal on a 5770 which is 2x as fast in most games as a 8800gtx or 9800gtx

Runs cool
doesnt pull alot of juice
Has hdmi
looks great
Dx11

future upgrade to a second 5770 for xfire will yield performance close to or sometimes better than a 5870.
 
GTS 250 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ption=gts 250&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20
HD 5750 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ption=hd 5750&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

or the other specific suggestions above. If you want something for cheap as possible, the 8800GT you put in the first post isn't bad and is a huge step up from the 8600GT, but isn't that great anymore. A HD 5770 is much faster, but a little over your budget. IMO it's worth doing, especially if you're going to keep the card for a long time.
 
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I have a leftover $12 newegg gift card I could donate if you decide to buy a new 5770. All you need is the code/pin to use it.
 
Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU 500W

Yeah, even the 9800GT that didn't require a PCI-E pin would be too much for that PSU. Frankly put, that PSU is of too low quality for any of the video cards mentioned in this thread so far, including the low power HD 5750

If you really don't want to spend the extra cash to replace the PSU, then your best bet would be the HD 5570. Yes the HD 5570 has a piss poor price to performance value but it uses barely enough power to kill the PC/PSU.
 
Most used 5000 series cards should have a warranty unless it's been voided somehow. Most sellers with a reputation will assist with an RMA>
 
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Most used 5000 series cards should have a warranty unless it's been voided somehow.

Most video card manufacturers, except for XFX, only warranty the product for the original owner.
 
That PSU would be fine for a 5750/5770.

9800GT comes in a 125W and a 75W green edition

ATI lists the TDP of the 5750 at 86W

People have used his PSU for 4870's without issue. But I wouldn't do it. A 5750/70 would be fine. IMO Plus he's not running gobs of periphs and no mention of cpu overlclocking. Typical total system draw for the average 5770 machine us under 320W total.
 
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I have a leftover $12 newegg gift card I could donate if you decide to buy a new 5770. All you need is the code/pin to use it.
That would be a SUPER nice thing for you to do, shevanel :)
I'm probably gonna buy sometime tomorrow. Gotta see how much I'm allowed to spend tomorrow then I can decide exactly what I'm getting.
 
That PSU would be fine for a 5750/5770.
Just because other people have used that PSU does not mean that it's a good PSU or that one should actually use that PSU.

Low TDP or not, that PSU is still too crappy for even a low power card for long.
 
Yeah, even the 9800GT that didn't require a PCI-E pin would be too much for that PSU. Frankly put, that PSU is of too low quality for any of the video cards mentioned in this thread so far, including the low power HD 5750

If you really don't want to spend the extra cash to replace the PSU, then your best bet would be the HD 5570. Yes the HD 5570 has a piss poor price to performance value but it uses barely enough power to kill the PC/PSU.

I disagree. Searching Google for that power supply and a 5750 produced numerous results of people running just fine. I'm not debating rather or not it's a crappy power supply, but I believe the PSU will provide sufficient power for this little card.

ATI also claims only a 450W PSU is required:
http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...s/ati-radeon-hd-5750-system-requirements.aspx

If ATI recommends a 450W, they're probably assuming even an inefficient 450W PSU could handle this card.
 
I disagree. Searching Google for that power supply and a 5750 produced numerous results of people running just fine.

ATI also claims only a 450W PSU is required:
http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...s/ati-radeon-hd-5750-system-requirements.aspx

If ATI recommends a 450W, they're probably assuming even an inefficient 450W PSU could handle this card.

Like I said: Just because other people have used that PSU does not mean that it's a good PSU or that one should actually use that PSU.

That "500W" Purepower PSU is in no way an actual 500W PSU. Considering that it's part of the Purepower PSU line, it's more than likely around 350W to 400W at best. It only has 14 + 15A on the the +12V rails which indicates a very old design. Since it's an old design from even before 2007 when that PSU was first released, there's a good chance that PSU won't last long.
 
if you can flex on your budget up just a bit you can often catch 5770's on newegg open box from 115-130ish. Bang for buck wise I think the 5770 is the best card on the market & if you can get the bang for less buck then its even better.
 
trusty psu calculator http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

i do agree with you Danny that the PSU isn't something I would typicaly use longterm but Im saying it would power his system fine for quite a while to give him time to upgrade his psu. Especially if he could upgrade it within 60 days. the psu isnt so bad as to think the 5750 would absolutely blow it out within a few weeks.. somewhat possible but highly unlikley imo

I have an Antec EA650 that I have used with 2x5770, 5870, gtx 470 and 8800gtx;s and that psu is very affordable. I could let him get it for super cheap when he recoops on his funds.

I am just saying the psu would be fine for now, especially if he knew he could possibly upgrade his psu within a couple months.
 
Hmm I'm worried because currently I'm broke as hell and :'m scraping the barrel as it is just to get this video card. I'm definitely not going to be able to upgrade my PSU anytime soon. So I need something that can last me a bit with this PSU.
 
Hmm I'm worried because currently I'm broke as hell and :'m scraping the barrel as it is just to get this video card. I'm definitely not going to be able to upgrade my PSU anytime soon. So I need something that can last me a bit with this PSU.

This PSU will be fine for a 5750. I recommend the 5750 because it meets your budget, at $100 after MIR. It doesn't sound like you want to wait for a 5770 open box deal, since your current GPU is dead.

Get the 5750.

Danny Bui is being overly cautious. It's like telling a person with a GTX 480 they need a 1kW PSU. Sure, a 1kW PSU would work, but so would a 750W.

Like I said: Just because other people have used that PSU does not mean that it's a good PSU or that one should actually use that PSU.

That "500W" Purepower PSU is in no way an actual 500W PSU. Considering that it's part of the Purepower PSU line, it's more than likely around 350W to 400W at best. It only has 14 + 15A on the the +12V rails which indicates a very old design. Since it's an old design from even before 2007 when that PSU was first released, there's a good chance that PSU won't last long.

Even if the capacitors are decrepit, that PSU is probably putting out at least 400W. And it's 15A rail is going to be more than enough for a 5750.

You don't need 400W to run a low end graphics card in a system with one dvd burner, one hard drive, one video card, and a middle-class processor.

http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/3...orce_gtx_470s_in_sli_overclocked/index17.html
 
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form a performance standpoint his cpu may be middle class but a Phenom 9850 is a very power hungry cpu. if the psu really only had just a 15a 12v rail it would be insufficient but that psu has two 12v(15 and 14) rails.
 
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I agree, your current PSU is/will be fine for either a 9800GT or HD 5750 upgrade.
 
Curtis. You shouldn't worry about the PSU with a 5750, it will be fine. Just try to upgrade it before the end of the year because there isn't anything wrong with having a good quality PSU that delivers clean power. Great PSU's can be had for under $60 on newegg plus rebates. http://www.newegg.com/Special/ShellShocker.aspx?cm_sp=ShellShocker-_-17-341-010-_-05302010
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...41017&cm_re=modxstream-_-17-341-017-_-Product

Are you using onboard video now?

If you want to save some money or kill two birds with one stone then buy that OCZ psu or an Antec EA650 from the link in my earlier post.

I'll send you a 8800gtx with 348bit 768mb memory that would play most games just fine, it doesnt have hdmi but it does have s-video to RGB adapter.

The antec would cost you $75, the ocz is $55 SHIPPED or $30 after MIR. so that leaves approx $50-70 in the budget which I would sell the 8800gtx to you for super cheap... It's worth $80 max but it's sitting on my desk and no one has been giving me offers on it and Id rather give it to someone in need rather than it sit here doing nothing.

I would ship it to you for $15 to cover the shipping. This is a one time offer and only because your strapped for cash and in need of a gpu.

If you ever upgrade to a 5770 or whatever, then ship me the card back.. possibly. Yours to keep if you want to run it til it stops running.
 
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Danny Bui is being overly cautious. It's like telling a person with a GTX 480 they need a 1kW PSU. Sure, a 1kW PSU would work, but so would a 750W.

Even if the capacitors are decrepit, that PSU is probably putting out at least 400W. And it's 15A rail is going to be more than enough for a 5750.

You don't need 400W to run a low end graphics card in a system with one dvd burner, one hard drive, one video card, and a middle-class processor.

http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/3...orce_gtx_470s_in_sli_overclocked/index17.html
I am being cautious but not overly. I've yet to see any proof indicating the Purepower is capable of 400W let alone 500W of power.

In addition, that Tweaktown review isn't very good for two reasons:
1) 3DMark06 does not load the GPU that much compared to Furmark or OCCT GPU test
2) They're basically using a Kill-A-Waat device that's been shown to be inaccurate with PSUs with APFC.

Curtis. You shouldn't worry about the PSU with a 5750, it will be fine. Just try to upgrade it before the end of the year because there isn't anything wrong with having a good quality PSU that delivers clean power. Great PSU's can be had for under $60 on newegg plus rebates. http://www.newegg.com/Special/ShellShocker.aspx?cm_sp=ShellShocker-_-17-341-010-_-05302010

If you want to save some money or kill two birds with one stone then buy that OCZ psu or an Antec EA650 from the link in my earlier post.

I'll send you a 8800gtx with 348bit 768mb memory that would play most games just fine, it doesnt have hdmi but it does have s-video to RGB adapter.

The antec would cost you $75, the ocz is $55 SHIPPED or $30 after MIR. so that leaves approx $50-70 in the budget which I would sell the 8800gtx to you for super cheap... It's worth $80 max but it's sitting on my desk and no one has been giving me offers on it and Id rather give it to someone in need rather than it sit here doing nothing.
The OCZ is crap. It's based on the FSP Episilon design well knwon for being only capable of providing 500W under the best case scenario. That PSU will not be able to provide 600W.
 
Well 85% of the 300+ people that bought it have said otherwise.

Please keep in mind, he is using a pretty standard pc without alot of addons.

My pc draws less than 486W total on average and I use 3 drives in raid, 2 video cards (although one is a 5450 and really doesnt matter) and an overclocked i5, pci sound with 5.25 bay, logitech g15, astro a40 mixamp, etc

Danny, Can you reccommend a PSU for this fella that is under $80?
 
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Well 85% of the 300+ people that bought it have said otherwise.

Please keep in mind, he is using a pretty standard pc without alot of addons.

My pc draws less than 486W total on average and I use 3 drives in raid, 2 video cards (although one is a 5450 and really doesnt matter) and an overclocked i5

Danny, Can you reccommend a PSU for this fella that is under $80?

Newegg reviews when it comes to PSUs shouldn't trusted considering that Apevia PSUs are well reviewed there. That's a clear indication of the level of expertise and knownledge Newegg PSU reviews have considering that Apevia is well known among PSU experts for being pretty damn shitty.

I know he has a standard system. But note that not once did I say he needed a larger PSU. I just said he needed a better quality PSU that won't die after a few months. I do have a PSU recommendation:
$50 - Corsair 400CX 400W PSU

With the exception of the GTX 260, that Corsair would be more than enough power for any of the video cards mentioned in this thread with that system.

As for your PC draw, if you're using a Kill-A-Watt or a UPS, take those figures with a grain of salt: They're well known to be inaccurate:
Yes and a quick search would turn up this topic a million times over. Here is the recap:

1) APFC can fool Kill-A-Watts into giving you abnormally low readings (some times giving better than 100% efficiency)

2) Power supplies derate with temperature anywhere from 2w/c above a nominal rated at value to 10w/c.

3) Kill-A-Watt's and most power meters sample too slowly to catch transient loads (the Transient load from our tests is 117w and is COMPLETELY missed by Kill-A-Watts).

4) Power supplies last longer if you stay in the 40% to 60% range of their output.

5) power supplies are quieter if you stay in the 40% to 60% range of their output.

6) Power supplies are cooler if you stay in the 40% to 60% range of their output.

The power meters in UPS software are just as bad. You have to spend some change before you get anywhere near an accurate power meter when your PSU has APFC.
[Kill-A-Watt Inaccuracy]
Here's Paul Johnson's post, PSU reviewer of HardOCP.com, about the inaccuracy of the Kill-A-Watt:
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1032190998&postcount=7

Another Paul Johnson's post:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showpost.php?p=27745&postcount=26

In addition, three other PSU experts backs up Paul Johnson's statement:
Oklahoma Wolf of JonnyGuru.com:
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1034843536&postcount=21
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1034555880&postcount=17

JonnyGuru of JonnyGuru.com himself as well as the senior PSU engineer over at BFG acknowledge the inaccuracies of a KAW (Post #7 in regards to Post #2):
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5977
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showpost.php?p=29907&postcount=2

Redbeard of Corsair also acknowledges the inaccuracies:
http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1032811067&postcount=22

Related discussions:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1447774
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1509210
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3102
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2695
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2284

In other words, the figure you just quoted might be too high or too low.
 
Thanks for those links, I'll def read through them to learn a little more about power.

I think he would probably need this one to power the 8800gtx I offered and the price for both items would still be under his budget.

I think the psu would be overkill in the system but what does that matter when he is accomplishing 2 upgrades with 1 fixed budget.
 
Im not really looking for used stuff thanks very much for the offers though. I'm most likely going to just buy a card on newegg. Also im only like 20 min from a Newegg facility so it will get here insane fast.

I used the power calculator posted earlier and it said i needed 385~ watts total with the 5770.

Although I may have to settle for a 5750...
 
You'll be fine. Just dont go running off to meet your gf and leaving furmark stability test running all day lol
 
I think im gonna end up going with the XFX 5750: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150448

Im a little worried about ATI drivers from all the horror story's I have been reading.
Good warranty and good performance.

Don't worry about the drivers. You won't see every problem. The other thread mentions one of the biggest gripes (sensitivity of upgrading on top of old drivers and what can go wrong), but even that isn't too common.
 
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