The ~$100 card, for me at least

D

Derfnofred

Gawd
Joined
Dec 11, 2009
Messages
606
First off, I'll state that I have no problems buying items used, esp in the case of good brands that are not overclocked.

Monitor: LP2475, so 1920x1200

I'm not much of a gamer, but I think that has a lot to do with the fact that I'm presently rocking out an IBM T42. It'd be nice to have a modicum of horsepower to play something occasionally, but I fully expect not to max out settings nor have AA enabled at above resolution. Certain functions of Photoshop CS4 take advantage of the gpu, and I imagine CS5 and thereon will only take further advantage.

Low power is a desirable characteristic, since most of the time the computer is on, the gpu will not be stressed. I have a 650W PSU, so that's not an issue. More quieter is more "gooder" as well.

Looking around, it seems like a used GTS 250 is my best option at the $100 mark. Ideally something like a 5670 or a 5750 would be the card to get, but one doesn't exist, and the other is around $140, and way too close in cost to the 5770, at about 165, which is closing in on double my intended budget. (Looking at Tigerdirect at least, since I'm in Cali)

4670 is $70 new, and there's no used market for it or the 4770. The 48XX series is a by and large a power hog, and thus less desirable. GTX260's are around the 100 mark as well, and not as terrible juice wise. It's just a crapshoot getting the second revision. Buy a $30 card and sit tight for the 40nm process chips from both ATI and NVidia to come up and on-line?

Any other ideas? I'm all ears. New or used.

Thanks,
D
 
Cheers and thanks,

I'm a bit reluctant to go with the 4870 or the 4890 due to it's ridiculously high quiescent power and high temperatures (i.e. the fan running all the time). I won't take advantage of its gaming horsepower quite enough to justify its detractions.

Any other ideas?
 
The 4870 and 4890 are very quiet when you adjust the fan speed to <25% in the ATI Catalyst program. It will only rev up when you are gaming and, even then, it will only be for a few seconds every 30 min - 1 hr or so.

If you really want a good, quiet solution, some of the 4850s have over-sized coolers that allow them to have low rpm fans. This should be plenty powerful for your brief gaming sessions.
 
4850s with stock heatsinks are hella loud, usually at 100% fan speed in most games after 10-15 minutes and stay that way till you end the game. the 4870s, 4890s are very quiet mine never goes above 50% and thats cause i have it set to 50%.
 
just wait

5770 will show up in hot deals for $100 or so within 6 months. A 5670 should be out soon. GT240 is decent but I would wait for a sale/rebate to bring it down to $60 or so.
 
Thanks guys. The 5770 is just within budget, but I'm think I might buy a $50 card for the while (esp since my newest game I own is Dawn of War) and see if I actually have time to play video games.

Either way, the price of the 5770 will probably be pushed down or something new will come on line by the time I'd be able to appreciate the horsepower available to me.

Best,
D
 
What about waiting a bit for the lower end of the 5000 series to launch? It shouldn't be too long now.
 
Zoomer said:
What about waiting a bit for the lower end of the 5000 series to launch? It shouldn't be too long now.
Click to expand...

There's no doubt that the most apparently right card for me will be something like a hd5670, so I agree there.

This is for a new build, which doesn't have integrated graphics on the mobo to tide me over.

How long is too long? A week, month? A full box of parts and no gfx card to use is a bit... frustrating ;-)

Anyhow, thanks Zoomer.
 
The 56xx series is slated for release in Q1 2010. That can mean as long as March 31st.

Your best bet is the HD 4670 if you need something now. That represent the best balance between price, performance and power consumption for your $100 limit.

The 9600GT is an alternative, however, it is about $20 more for a little better performance. Power consumption is relatively low at 60w under load.
 
"gooder" and "quiescent" in the same thread, by the same poster, now I've seen it all

honestly, just grab something like GeForce GT 220 or some GF8-9 board on close-out for $30-$50, nothing you're using will even approach demanding anything more, except for gaming, you've dismissed that though, so it apparently doesn't matter
 
A used 9600GT is a great deal and fits your low power/quiet criteria. I have one in my HTPC. It will still play most game out there as long as you don't use AA.
 
Thanks all. I'm glad someone appreciated the humor of an erudite that likes to use some fun vernacular on occasion ;-) To my defense, I did use quotations around "gooder"

So for the moment the two highest votes are for 4670 and 9600GT (or lower end nVidia card)? I'll have a look.
 
The 9600GT is a good enough card to game with @ 1920 x 1200.

I originally bought it for my HTPC, but when the GPU in my gaming rig died I used the 9600GT to play Fallout 3 for a couple of months until I was able to snag a HD 5850.
 
Derfnofred said:
Thanks all. I'm glad someone appreciated the humor of an erudite that likes to use some fun vernacular on occasion ;-) To my defense, I did use quotations around "gooder"

So for the moment the two highest votes are for 4670 and 9600GT (or lower end nVidia card)? I'll have a look.
Click to expand...

Erudite... EQ old school junkie ?
 
9600 GSO's can be bought very cheap too. Get the older 384 MB version. Lot of card for the money if you find a used one.
 
Derfnofred said:
Thanks. I think some of the other parts are going to take that long to get to me, so I'll sit it out for another couple weeks.

D
Click to expand...

Only 10 days to go? Yeah, it's worth waiting then.
I actually would say that the 9600GSO is a good pickup for cheap if you need a standin card. Mine was $35 after MIR. =) But if the 5670 is releasing on 21st, just wait for that one. It should perform quite well for its pricepoint and also offer you DX11 support.
 
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