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Need sub-$100 card for WoW playing

M

MemoryInAGarden

2[H]4U
Joined
Oct 26, 2003
Messages
4,067
My girlfriend is wanting to play WoW with me. I was wondering what would be a good budget card to play it with at 1280x1024 or 1024x768 with AA/AF. Would something like a 9700/9800 pro be best, or do the FX5900s do a pretty good with it as well? Are there any new cards from ZZF or somewhere that would be able to run the game decently? It must be an AGP card.

Her specs:
2.4 ghz Celeron D @ 3.6 ghz
1GB PC3200
Asus P4S800-MX
36 GB Raptor
 
6600 GT AGP's can be found for ~$150... 6800 nu for less than 200 (on newegg). Yea I know you can just argue for X more you can get ____ .... but just something to keep in mind. If you could shell out the extra cash... those would be the best and would more than justify the price.
 
Get yourself a $120~ 9800 Pro off of newegg or some site. You'll be happy and should run the game just fine. 6600GT is not really worth the extra money IMO, but if you decide to spend more (like around $190) then I'd say get yourself a 6800nu.
 
Skrying said:
Get yourself a $120~ 9800 Pro off of newegg or some site. You'll be happy and should run the game just fine. 6600GT is not really worth the extra money IMO, but if you decide to spend more (like around $190) then I'd say get yourself a 6800nu.
Click to expand...

Why pay for a previous generation card that costs as much as a
refurbished 6600GT?
 
rfwinters77 said:
Why pay for a previous generation card that costs as much as a
refurbished 6600GT?
Click to expand...

Because, you can get it brand new in retail packaging and you lose basically nothing at all?

Guess what folks, 6600GTs are not that much better than 9800 Pro, and yes I've had personal experience with both. In fact, at higher resolutions the 9800P felt slightly smoother while playing CS:S.

And also, he asked for sub $100, he wont find anything but a used card for what he's wants to run at.

If you really want to play at the resolutions/settings you want you'll either A.) Have to settle for used (not a bad thing though most of the time) or B.) Raise your budget up a little bit.
 
Do NOT ever consider getting a 5XXX FX series card over the ATI 9xxx series card. The NV3X is by far the worst line of video cards EVER existed. You will be happy with the 9xxx series of cards. I was a previous owner of a 9800 XT before I jumped to 6800 Ultra. WoW plays perfect at the resolution you are aiming for with the 9xxx series.
 
My sister plays WoW on her P4 1.5GHz, Radeon 9200 and 512mb of RDRAM, plays at 800x600 with some detials on high. It gets pretty choppy in populated areas, but I'm not surprised.. she does have winamp running when she plays.

In any case, $100 should suffice; I'm thinking a 9600Pro or 6200. Anything else would be too much for that, literally "girly", system.

Radeon 9600Pro 256mb : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127152

GeForce 6200 256mb: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150094
 
ummmm for 19 more bucks for a 9800pro which is twice as fast as a 9600pro....what's the point??....
 
aZn_plyR said:
ummmm for 19 more bucks for a 9800pro which is twice as fast as a 9600pro....what's the point??....
Click to expand...

Agreed. I had an old 9700 Pro that was a good overclocker and managed to play HL2 at 1280x1024. 9600 Pro would be slightly faster than TI4200. Unacceptable three years after the fact IMO.
 
I would stretch you budget a little bit and go for the 6600. Ive always just been an Nvidia person, I feel ATI's drivers are somewhat........sketchy.

Plus you could say you have one of nvidias next gen cards :p
 
J-M-E said:
I would stretch you budget a little bit and go for the 6600. Ive always just been an Nvidia person, I feel ATI's drivers are somewhat........sketchy.

Plus you could say you have one of nvidias next gen cards :p
Click to expand...

Hmmmm, I run a X800XL in my main rig and a 6800nu in my LAN. As of right now, I am HIGHLY disappointed in Nvidia drivers so far.
 
your best bet is to make a thread right here in the for sale forum and say " need video card for $100" i've seen planety of 9700/9800 pros for sale here for around $100. And that will definately play WOW for you, along with plenty of other games. ;)
 
I got a 9500 pro 128mb agp8x I'm about to sell... $85.00...Not sure if that is enough for WOW ...
 
J-M-E said:
I would stretch you budget a little bit and go for the 6600. Ive always just been an Nvidia person, I feel ATI's drivers are somewhat........sketchy.

Plus you could say you have one of nvidias next gen cards :p
Click to expand...
Yeah one thing I hate about ATI is about releasing beta drivers. I couldn't BELIEVE howlong it took them to fix Battlefield Vietnam on their official drivers. It was their LEAKED beta drivers that fixed my problems :p

Going back from ATI to Nvidia wasn't that huge of a difference. If you can tolerate minor bugs then ATI is good for you. But if you like Nvidia, I would to get the 6600 over the 9xxx series.
 
If you're buying sub $100, then just get something used or refurbished. You'll probably find 9800 Pro 256-bit (not the 128-bit memory bus ones) on newegg for less than $100 refurbished if theyre selling them new for $120. Not to mention you could also find 6600 non-gts for less than $100 used or refurbished. The 9800 Pro however would be much faster, but if you are infatuated with nvidia cards, you can always get one of those refurbished 6600 non-gts at $100.
 
Maybe people need to take some remedial math lessons but $119(AR) is -not- "sub-$100" (not to mention that for $120 you can get a card without a rebate). $150 is -not- "sub-$100" and for "only a little bit more" you could, for about $200, get a 6800NU. For only a little more than that, you can get an x800...

For a new card stictly sub-$100, the best choice is a Radeon 9600 (vanila, Pro or XT) - just make sure it's an actual 128-bit memory card (and look at clock speeds, there's a lot of variation on this card). Some people might argue that a 128-bit 9800 is worth considering at this price-point. I used a 9600NP during the beta and felt ts played the game just fine at 1024x768 with good quality settings.

I'd probably drop the $120 on a 9800Pro too, It just didn't seem like anybody -actually- answered the original question.
 
ameoba said:
Maybe people need to take some remedial math lessons but $119(AR) is -not- "sub-$100" (not to mention that for $120 you can get a card without a rebate). $150 is -not- "sub-$100" and for "only a little bit more" you could, for about $200, get a 6800NU. For only a little more than that, you can get an x800...

For a new card stictly sub-$100, the best choice is a Radeon 9600 (vanila, Pro or XT) - just make sure it's an actual 128-bit memory card (and look at clock speeds, there's a lot of variation on this card). Some people might argue that a 128-bit 9800 is worth considering at this price-point. I used a 9600NP during the beta and felt ts played the game just fine at 1024x768 with good quality settings.

I'd probably drop the $120 on a 9800Pro too, It just didn't seem like anybody -actually- answered the original question.
Click to expand...

Yes, but at the resolution/setting he was asking about he wont even touch except moving up to a 9800 Pro. Anything less than that and he can forget about it.
 
aZn_plyR said:
ummmm for 19 more bucks for a 9800pro which is twice as fast as a 9600pro....what's the point??....
Click to expand...

The point is, no matter what, "budget" means absolutely nothing here. When some settles on a certain budget, there will always be the "well for $$ more..." It will never stop. :confused:
 
MemoryInAGarden said:
My girlfriend is wanting to play WoW with me. I was wondering what would be a good budget card to play it with at 1280x1024 or 1024x768 with AA/AF. Would something like a 9700/9800 pro be best, or do the FX5900s do a pretty good with it as well? Are there any new cards from ZZF or somewhere that would be able to run the game decently? It must be an AGP card.

Her specs:
2.4 ghz Celeron D @ 3.6 ghz
1GB PC3200
Asus P4S800-MX
36 GB Raptor
Click to expand...


Is she going to turn into an avid gamer? Or is she just going to play WOW for a while.

Get a ti4600 on ebay for $40, and spend the rest on a nice dinner with her. If she's not already a gamer, she won't know the difference between 800x600 and 1280x1024, or 60fps and 30fps.

But she will enjoy a nice date.

Just my $.02 ;)
 
Look for unlocked 6200s with 8 PIPes and volt modded cores/mem some people sell them for around 75 dollars on forums and eBays they perform almost like the 6600 gt for less price...
 
sarbz said:
Is she going to turn into an avid gamer? Or is she just going to play WOW for a while.

Get a ti4600 on ebay for $40, and spend the rest on a nice dinner with her. If she's not already a gamer, she won't know the difference between 800x600 and 1280x1024, or 60fps and 30fps.

But she will enjoy a nice date.

Just my $.02 ;)
Click to expand...

yeah i thought teh same thing till my women seen how good WOW Looks on my computer.

now she has an a64 3400+ 1gig ram x800 pro and a dell 2001fp
 
My old g3 Ti200 64mb (VisionTek), 1800 + pally Athlon, 512mb pc133, 5400 2mbcache HD lol and I can run the game @ 1024x768 with most settings on high,& aa/af nearly off.

But then again I am running my old g3 into the ground, ocing the poor thing @ 249/545, (stock = 199.8/465 stock ram cooling and a slot fan to help out with cooling lol. I could see that 9800 doing you very nicely and all. even a 9600pro if you could find one...9500pro..... 6600(non pro) for sub 100 $ prices. Iron lag @ certain areas are still a huge problem.....
 
Diablo said:
My old g3 Ti200 64mb (VisionTek), 1800 + pally Athlon, 512mb pc133, 5400 2mbcache HD lol and I can run the game @ 1024x768 with most settings on high,& aa/af nearly off.

But then again I am running my old g3 into the ground, ocing the poor thing @ 249/545, (stock = 199.8/465 stock ram cooling and a slot fan to help out with cooling lol. I could see that 9800 doing you very nicely and all. even a 9600pro if you could find one...9500pro..... 6600(non pro) for sub 100 $ prices. Iron lag @ certain areas are still a huge problem.....
Click to expand...

I get Iron lag on my system. It's just a fact of life in IF. I saw a couple of refurb 9600XTs for around $70 and the refurb 9800 pros for $100. Either one would be a decent buy, but the 9800 would obviously do a lot better than a 9600XT. The computer just has integrated graphics right now, but she's happy that she can get online without the swapping that was going on with the 128MB shared RAM in her last system.
 
ya, if you think the extra money is worth it you cant go wrong on it really, all your decision. :p , and it is good to know when it gets old likem ine that you can oc the thing to death :D
 
sarcasm

[See's a "need sub $100 card" thread
enters
begins to submit totally worthless trash]

Dude, get 1 card now and another down the road, SLI, save so much money!
OMGZ know what you can get for like $50 MORE!

/sarcasm

People have serious issues understanding the word "budget"?

Screw AA/AF, just find something that can handle 1280x1024 reliably. 9600 as said above will do this. Ti series as well but i cringe at their age. You should not be seeking a card that can do AA/AF for a budget PC. Its not that big of a loss. Higher resolution > lowest levels of AA/AF.
 
I haven't played in a while but from what I remember when benchies were done in March and April, mid-range Nvidia cards were significantly faster than the equivalent ATI cards. Even the piece of crap 5900FX beat out the x700pro, and the 6600/6600GT which are the competitors of the x700 line completely destroyed it.

In most games a 9800Pro seems to be somewhere between a 6600 and 6600GT, but I believe for WoW the 6600 non-GT is the best card that is close to $100. It's actually less than a 9800 Pro at most places for brand new prices.

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2381&p=4

The 9800 Pro isn't displayed here but considering the x800XL can barely top a 6600GT and and x700Pro is WAY behind it, I doubt the 9800 can stand up to a 6600 non-GT. Then again things may have changed in the last couple of months.
 
Mr Mean said:
Do NOT ever consider getting a 5XXX FX series card over the ATI 9xxx series card. The NV3X is by far the worst line of video cards EVER existed. You will be happy with the 9xxx series of cards. I was a previous owner of a 9800 XT before I jumped to 6800 Ultra. WoW plays perfect at the resolution you are aiming for with the 9xxx series.
Click to expand...

shhhhh! not to loud my gf might find out I put a NV 5200 FX in her computer... :D
 
lawrence131 said:
I haven't played in a while but from what I remember when benchies were done in March and April, mid-range Nvidia cards were significantly faster than the equivalent ATI cards. Even the piece of crap 5900FX beat out the x700pro, and the 6600/6600GT which are the competitors of the x700 line completely destroyed it.

In most games a 9800Pro seems to be somewhere between a 6600 and 6600GT, but I believe for WoW the 6600 non-GT is the best card that is close to $100. It's actually less than a 9800 Pro at most places for brand new prices.

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2381&p=4

The 9800 Pro isn't displayed here but considering the x800XL can barely top a 6600GT and and x700Pro is WAY behind it, I doubt the 9800 can stand up to a 6600 non-GT. Then again things may have changed in the last couple of months.
Click to expand...

Let's try a review with a little more up to date drivers, like the X700 Pro review from right here at [H]. The story is a little bit different.

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NzcyLDg=

I'm sure the 6600GT would be little faster than the X700, but not like the Anand numbers showed.
 
Listen, MY card (mx440se) runs WoW at 1024x768, with AA and AF, fine.Your definetly not gonna need to spend an large amount of money.
 
If I were you, I would look around for a used card cause they are starting to get really cheap. I just picked up a BBATI 9700 Pro for 60$ local...
 
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