Radeon 9550 - Good cheap card?

[paultuerena]

Hello everyone,

just looking for a good but cheap graphics card for my parents pc and read reviews saying that these are pretty good... Much better than Nvidia5700Le for DX9 games anyway! What do people think? If so what brands are best? Is it worth paying for 256mB over 128mB? Also anyone in the uk know a good place to buy from coz I got utterly stiffed by Microdirect!!!!

Thanks for your assistance!

 

[pxc]

256MB is a waste of money on a 9550. It only has a 64-bit memory bus, so I don't think it's any better than a 128-bit memory bus 5700LE even in DX9 games. The exception would be HL2, but the 9550 would only be barely playable in low resolution.

newegg did have a 9550 model (gexcube 9550 extreme?) with a high core speed and 128-bit memory bus, but it seems to be gone now.

If they're not gamers, a cheaper 9200se or other low end card is probably more than enough.

 

[CastleBravo]

You can find really cheap Sapphire 9600 Pro/XT deals on Newegg.com. That would probalby be the best bang for the buck if you don't need a "serious" graphics card.

 

[paultuerena]

couple of things

1 - I'm in the UK

2 - The 9550SE has a 64bit memory controller, the full 9550 has 128bit. Also the nVidia 5700LE has a 64bit memory controller too... That's the bottleneck and why I wouldn't buy one...

Anyone know any 9550's that do have the 400MHz clockspeed that I can buy over here? I understand GeCube makes one that has had exceptionally good reviews?

Cheers

 

[Dillusion]

couple of things

1 - I'm in the UK

2 - The 9550SE has a 64bit memory controller, the full 9550 has 128bit. Also the nVidia 5700LE has a 64bit memory controller too... That's the bottleneck and why I wouldn't buy one...

Anyone know any 9550's that do have the 400MHz clockspeed that I can buy over here? I understand GeCube makes one that has had exceptionally good reviews?

Cheers

the one that GeXCube made was actually a 9600XT downclocked and with a diff bios, so if you can find it, thatd be great.