The $75 Question

Libast

Libast

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 14, 2002
Messages
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Hello all- I need a low-mid grade upgrade for this Wal-Mart x1650 I have for my father's computer.

I have dropped off the face of the earth when it comes to computing hardware (as evident in my sig) and I am not sure who's what to whom now.


On the 'egg, there are these cards that fall within my price-range

$69.99 ---- EVGA GeForce 9500 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2

$59.99 --- SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3

$69.99 --- BIOSTAR Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit GDDR3

$71.99 ---- SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 4670 512MB 128-bit GDDR3


and then in the 75-100 there are names like 2600xt, 9600gt,x1950pro etc


He plays World of Warcraft on a pentium 4 3.0 800 FSB with 3 gigs of ddr400.



what is going to be his absolute best option? i have tried a couple of comparison websites, but they all review top of the line games with advanced graphical features- something WoW isnt known for.

Thanks in advance :)
 
The 4670 is your best bet. It certainly does a superb job for the card it is.
 
The 9500GT is only worthwhile if you're putting it in an HTPC (because it's usable with CoreAVC with CUDA - nVidia wins here at the moment).

Go for the 4670. A big advantage is it doesn't require a PCIe plug, so it will work with nearly any PSU (it only draws about 45W under load) and has low heat output. I'm guessing from your description that the computer also came from Wallmart, so chances are its power supply isn't great, and likely doesn't include a PCIe plug.

The 4650 would also be a reasonable choice - little slower, little less power, little less heat.

The 3850 would be a little faster than the 4670 for most things, but it uses more power and does require a PCIe plug.

The 9600GT is faster, hotter and more power-hungry again (it's what I've got in my gaming machine) and is definitely overkill for WoW.

BTW, I run a 4550 in my HTPC, and it's capable of playing Guild Wars @ 1280x720 with 4xMSAA @ 60 FPS. A 4650 or 4670 is considerably faster, and should give your dad plenty of headroom to play WoW at maximum settings at 1680x1050, and probably at 1920x1200 or even higher.
 
I got a 9400gt from pny for $40 and considering it runs bf2 on all high settings I'd assume it would run WoW fine
 
yes strangely it has a pci-e slot instead of AGP which annoys me because i have quite a fleet of AGP cards :)

its an HP, the onboard video went out and rather sending off for it to be fixed, he grabbed the $100 special at walmart to tide over and there are no pci-e power connectors.

4670 it is , gonna see of one of the brick and mortars has it today, so we can return the crappy card.

thanks guys/gals!
 
I'm not sure if I would use the 4670 for WoW.... it only has 128-bit memory interface.
 
cannondale06 said:
for the price yes but putting that card with a single core P4 isnt going to do anything more for gaming than a 4670 can though.
Click to expand...

Not to mention that the "walmart special" that was purchased will have a very very minimal psu in it. He has mentioned that it doesn't have a 6 pin, which leads me to believe that it has a very minimal 12v rail.
 
my friend he has the SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 running wow just fine and rainbow 6 vegas 2
 
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