looking for a "decent" extreme budget card...

Cthulhu

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 1, 2003
Messages
413
and i use the term decent very loosely... :D

anyway, here's the deal... friend of mine has a old computer (i'm pretty sure it's a athlon 2400, has a agp slot, 512megs pc2700, 300watt ps, not sure on the mobo) and his brother is getting him a new video card for christmas and asked for my help. i really have no idea about super budget cards though. price needs to be about 60 bucks... :eek:

the only game he plays is WoW... right now he plays it at 8x6 in low everything. and it plays.....barely. frame rate is solid....just not good. just by looking, i'd say 25-ish. i don't know what card is in there now, but it sucks. :D

so......can anyone give me some suggestions on what card to get? i'm going to fry's today after work. :eek:

edit: buying a used card is NOT an option.
 
i dont think theres anything decent u can get at frys for $60...
 
really? i was thinking surely there would be something there to allow him to play WoW at like 1024x768 for around 60 bucks... :(

anyone else have any other input?
 
used 9600pro ~$50, used 9800pro ~$80-90. check [h]'s for sale forums or ebay and you should be able to find a used $50 9600pro easily.
 
ClearM4 said:
used 9600pro ~$50, used 9800pro ~$80-90. check [h]'s for sale forums or ebay and you should be able to find a used $50 9600pro easily.

unfortunately that's not an option... he waited too long, and i have to get one at fry's tonight.
 
okay, i'll open it up a bit... i need a card for under 100 bucks at frys that will play WoW at 1024x768...

any suggestions?
 
i'd second the vote for a 6200 non-TC. the tc version iirc uses system memory instead of its own, which creates a huge bottleneck.
the 5700 might be acceptable but from what i've seen don't bother with the 9250.
 
the 9550 will be slow as molassas, its just a downclocked radeon 9600.

vote for the 6200..
 
the 6200 will be worlds quicker than that 9550. just buy the 6200
 
did you check another frys location? maybe you have to drive a little farther, but to be honest if you need the card ASAP it might be your best bet.
 
quadnad said:
did you check another frys location? maybe you have to drive a little farther, but to be honest if you need the card ASAP it might be your best bet.

yeah, there are a couple other stores in the area.. guess i could call them too. :D
 
if u only needed it before xmas u could pick 1 up from the egg or zipzoomfly and overnight it...also on the egg 6600's are 94 $ , and regular 6200s are in the 50s at the lowest
 
A 6200 AGP 128MB similar to the one linked above is on sale at Fry's B&M for $59.99 (no rebates)
http://shopping.ocregister.com/ROP/ads.aspx?advid=179018&adid=2392769&subid=9857563&type=

Neither this one or the BFG/3D Fuzion card listed above are the better NV43 core 6200. Both use the NV44A core, a Turbo Cache variant. It uses the same core as the PCI-E NV44, just a different interface. It uses 64-bit memory and performance isn't that great.

This link has a review of the 6200A and 9550: http://www.cpluse.com/Module/Show.aspx?ID=1830 Game benchmarks start on page 15 (summary: 6200A equals or beats the 9550 in all game tests, but neither is very fast).
 
So, is there any reason you couldn't overnight it from newegg or something, you'd have a better selection at that price even with the shipping I believe. I see 9600Pros for $66, shipping shouldn't cost more than 30 for overnight.
 
I have a 9800 pro, I could sell for $75 shipped. I just upgraded so its just sitting on my desk.

Let me know,

HaskE
 
Phranq said:
So, is there any reason you couldn't overnight it from newegg or something, you'd have a better selection at that price even with the shipping I believe. I see 9600Pros for $66, shipping shouldn't cost more than 30 for overnight.

yes, overnight shipping is 26 bucks... so this card is better than the gforce 6200 in the link i posted?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102407
 
HaskE said:
I have a 9800 pro, I could sell for $75 shipped. I just upgraded so its just sitting on my desk.

Let me know,

HaskE

overnight shipping? lol..
 
i used to play 1024x768 WOW through the entire first beta with a 4200 and later a 5200... there was nothing wrong with it and would play juuuust fine
 
either buy the dude's used 9800pro. or get a 6600. don't even bother with the 6200, whatever he has now is probably about as good. personally, I'd go for the used 9800pro.
 
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