Replace 7950GT with what?

[billy44bob44]

I have a 3-year old system with a Gigabyte 965P-DS3 motherboard and a 7950 GT video card. The fan on the video card recently started making an annoying loud high pitched whine and so I think I need to replace it. The 7950's performance is ok for me, but I'm willing to buy a card with better performance as long as it costs under $100, preferably under $75. My video needs on this PC are pretty minimal: I originally got the 7950 to support HalfLife 2 and Counterstrike. If they release a new update to HalfLife I will probably try that, otherwise no gaming.

Let me know if you have any advice on a card that (1) will work on my system, (2) is better than the 7950 GT, and (3) costs under $100, preferably under $75.

Thanks in advance!

 

[PlatinumPC]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143119&cm_re=8800gts-_-14-143-119-_-Product
8800GTS for $90..pretty safe and since it's the 512mb G92 it performs similarly to the 8800GTX

 

[defaultluser]

4670 is your best bet below $75. Should be about %50-75 faster than a 7950GT.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127440&cm_re=4670-_-14-127-440-_-Product

EDIT: if you can get the above card in-stock, it's a good deal too. But be careful going G92, it will take twice the power your 7950GT did. I recommended the 4670 because of the low power consumption.

 

[LeninGHOLA]

Something like an nvidia 9600GT or an amd HD4670 would work fine, both about $75

 

[ganesh21]

If you don't mind buying used,on the forum they have 4870 and 5770 for ~ $100.

 

[rcf1987]

used go for a 4870 or gtx260 new then look for a gtx250 or a 4850

 

[slickmitch]

this may run cooler...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...056&cm_re=space_heater-_-96-615-056-_-Product

 

[-=Antimatter=-]

5750 or 5770 would be my recommendation.

You could also get a GTX 260 for $110-130 used.

 

[kush]

Too bad it's not a few months in the past...260s were commonly going in the low-$100s AR for quite a while there .

Alternate idea... Is there any kind of stability issue with your card now? If it's just the fan going out, you could replace the HSF for $20, $30 max. It's long since gone from the market, but I replaced the stock HSF on my old EVGA 7950 w/ a AC Accelero (rev 1 if I recall) - paid like $16 for it. It dropped temps from mid-high 80s to low 60s (passively run; 250mm side panel fan in my case tho), if I recall.... There's no sense in upgrading IMO, if you're not having performance/playability issues, not looking to play the much more demanding recent stuff, aren't looking to up your res, and so on...

[edit] For example, SVC has the Arctic Cooling S1 rev 2 @ $25. I thought even the r2 was long gone... Says turbo module/fan is required, but I'd venture to say that if you've got good airflow in your case, esp. w/ a panel fan blowing in the general direction at least, you can run passive/pseudo-passive no problem.