best card for under 130? help!

H

hellzassasin

Guest
Joined
Oct 16, 2003
Messages
169
hey, i got a copy of hl2 yesterday, and underground 2 while i was at it, and i finally relaized, im a litttle out of date. the main machine i got right now in my room is using a geforce 3 ti200, 128. as old as it seems, its got a refresh rate of 8.9 gb per second, which seems to be not that bad. anyway, i was thinking about buying a new video card while im at it. i got around 130, watcha guys think? should i go nvidia and get a 5700 or something, or ati? they got some lower model 9800's on newegg, but i cant seem to make my mind up. thanks alot~
 
At least save up for the 9800 Pro EZ version, but you should wait for a decently priced 6600GT to come out very soon and save up for that.
 
I think a vanilla 6600 would cost around 149$ at MSRP, which is equal to around 130$.
 
Xilikon said:
I think a vanilla 6600 would cost around 149$ at MSRP, which is equal to around 130$.
Click to expand...
I was going to recommend the same, but there's no 6600 non-GT AGP cards yet.

Probably one of the cheaper 9800-based cards with a 256-bit memory bus is the best for that price right now.
 
pxc said:
I was going to recommend the same, but there's no 6600 non-GT AGP cards yet.

Probably one of the cheaper 9800-based cards with a 256-bit memory bus is the best for that price right now.
Click to expand...
And if Anandtech is to believed, their never will be a non-GT AGP version of the 6600. Bums me out, that's what I was looking at for a sub-$130 upgrade, too.

Granted, the GTs should be dropping in price *eventually* to around $170 or so (that's where the PCI-E 6600GT is at right now), but that's still more than I really wanted to spend on a graphics card (I just don't do *that* much gaming anymore).

For what it's worth, I just went with a GeForce 5700 (non-LE, the full version). I bought my from these guys for $88 shipped. But, then, I play a lot of older games ATI doesn't work correctly with, so I needed to stick with nVidia.

If NSFU2 and HL2 are all you really plan on playing, both being newer games, ATI's support for them is great and it would not be a mistake to get an ATI card. In that case, I'd STRONGLY RECOMMEND just going on eBay and buying a Radeon 9500 Pro. Faster than the 9600 Pro and just about neck-and-neck with a 9600xt. Best, you can find them for around $75 shipped.
 
o really, radeon 9500 pro is better? how can that be, even if its an older card?

thanks for all the tips guys, this realy helps me.
 
not this again...

Anyways, your choices are pretty much limited (for AGP) to:

used 9700 Pro, 9800 Pro, or FX5900

most card under $130 will sport craptastic128bit memory.

Closest you'll get to a 9800Pro 256bit 128mb is a 9800SE 256bit 128 softmodded to 9800Pro (but that involves an after market vga cooler, voided warranties, and special drivers); comes out to $160 in the end.

Save the extra $ and get a better, thats my advice. Look at 6600GT AGP (when they come out) or 6800oc for best "bang for the buck".
 
hellzassasin said:
o really, radeon 9500 pro is better? how can that be, even if its an older card?

thanks for all the tips guys, this realy helps me.
Click to expand...
Age has nothing to do with it - the 9500 Pro is the exact same core as the 9700, just accessing the memory differently. Having to put 9700 cores on a 'midrange' card was killing ATI's profits, so they produced the smaller and cheaper 9600 to fill the 'midrange' lineup.

That it was slower than the 9500 in every test was mostly irrelevant to ATI - it was 'close enough', and cost a small fraction of the r300 to produce.
 
Be like me and get a Sapphire 9800 SE and softmod it to pro. I believe that they go for 130$ on newegg.
 
9600xt, You should be a able to pick up a retail off brand version for a few more bucks than 130. Its better than a 9800se (softmodding ruins the life of a card) or a card someone has already beat up (ex. 9700). Do you really want to trust 130 dollars to a used or refurbished card, 130 dollars to some people is quite a bit of money, and isnt worth the risk. Buy a XT retail, you'll be playing sound for quite some time on it still.
 
independantvariable said:
9600xt, You should be a able to pick up a retail off brand version for a few more bucks than 130. Its better than a 9800se (softmodding ruins the life of a card) or a card someone has already beat up (ex. 9700). Do you really want to trust 130 dollars to a used or refurbished card, 130 dollars to some people is quite a bit of money, and isnt worth the risk. Buy a XT retail, you'll be playing sound for quite some time on it still.
Click to expand...

but... if ya get a 9800se.. it is very close to a 9600xt.. neck to neck IMO and it beats it sometimes back and forth.. but later on if ya need an extra boost.. u can softmod to 9800pro and there you go!
 
Yes but then we need to gamble, do you really want to gamble with 100 something dollars? You can either get a retail card w/ a warranty that you know WILL perform just fine. Or you can take a CHANCE softmodding a card (because we know all cards do not softmod right....). Do youself a favor and get a reliable card you know will work day in and day out. Its not worth a few more frames on a benchmark.
 
independantvariable said:
Yes but then we need to gamble, do you really want to gamble with 100 something dollars? You can either get a retail card w/ a warranty that you know WILL perform just fine. Or you can take a CHANCE softmodding a card (because we know all cards do not softmod right....). Do youself a favor and get a reliable card you know will work day in and day out. Its not worth a few more frames on a benchmark.
Click to expand...

true but he does not have to softmod right now.... the 9800se is even with the 9600xt and when he wants to upgrade.. instead of buying ANOTHER videocard he can just softmod the 9800se for a free upgrade and then later on he can get another videocard.. by then if he sells the card it probably won't be worth 50 bucks... so imo get the 9800se and softmod it b4 u throw it out to get a good marginal boost....
 
I was kinda thinking u could buy a 9500NP and softmod it to a 9700NP, Opens up 4 extra pipelines and 256-bit memory bus. You *might* be able to OC it to the 9700 speeds also with some decent cooling.
 
Megadeth_Guy01 said:
I was kinda thinking u could buy a 9500NP and softmod it to a 9700NP, Opens up 4 extra pipelines and 256-bit memory bus. You *might* be able to OC it to the 9700 speeds also with some decent cooling.
Click to expand...
damn...the old times are haunting me again. that was liek a 90 percent success rate too wasent it?
 
hey guys, thanks ALOT for the tips. this will help me unbelieveably. i got out of looking at deals on parts recently cuz of school and stuff, so i dont know what models are new and price ranges.

LAST question. you said "softmodded" what do you mean by softmodded, whould this be something you do yourself, or is like a "light" version of the card.

thanks for the help guys.


so if u softmod it, would u need a third party driver to overclock it, and a new vga cooler, right?
 
hey guys, thanks ALOT for the tips. this will help me unbelieveably. i got out of looking at deals on parts recently cuz of school and stuff, so i dont know what models are new and price ranges.

LAST question. you said "softmodded" what do you mean by softmodded, whould this be something you do yourself, or is like a "light" version of the card.

thanks for the help guys.


so if u softmod it, would u need a third party driver to overclock it, and a new vga cooler, right?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top