Video Card for Dad... wtf?

A

AoL_Is_My_EnEmY

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Mar 19, 2002
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Alright guys, I need your opinions on this one. I need a sub 50.00 dollar card for my dad for christmas. It needs to support DX9 and be able to run a games like q4 and fear. He doesn't need ultra performance and he could careless about looks, but his mx400 integrated isn't cutting it anymore. I need the card to be AGP 4/8x as well. Here's what I've found at newegg so far, which do you think is best... do you guys know any other good deals on graphics cards?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814145082
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814166003
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814133106
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130207
 
AoL_Is_My_EnEmY said:
I need a sub 50.00 dollar card for my dad for christmas. It needs to support DX9 and be able to run a games like q4 and fear.
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:p

Good luck to you

Out of those i would take the 5700 le unless the 5500 is 128bit but it doesnt say
 
Wait wait wait... Quake 4 and FEAR? Are you kidding?
None of those cards are going to be anygood for getting nice smooth gameplay.

I had my 9600XT playing FEAR at 800x600 at medium settings and looked horrible.
I played Quake 4 with it... 800x600 looked like crap.

Those cards just aren't made for those kind of games dude. To play them at 1024x768 you need atleast a 6600GT.

Here yah go:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814150089
 
You're not going to get anything worth buying for less than 50 dollars.
 
He's playing Q4 smooth on his GeForce 4MX sadly... it actually runs perfectly playable but just looks like crap. Well just judge which of those cards is best. :(
 
Buy a used 9600pro for $50. Runs quake 4 @ 800x600 med settings, no shadows, and looks pretty nice considering its running on a $50 card. Fear is anohter story. AA is really bad in Fear specially at low resolutions. The 9600pro runs the game ok just looks like sh**. 9600pro will be about twice as fast as the cards you have listed.
 
If I was the OP, I'd be frustrated reading some of these responses. He said that he only wants to spend $50 and that his dad doesn't care abouts looks. That's his definition of an upgrade, even though to the [H]ard that may sound ridiculous. Flame me if you want, but I think it's more helpful to give him a straight answer and not be so quick to make unnecessary comments. $200 is a lot of money to some people.

On that note, go with a used 9600pro like Clear said.
 
I would prob lean towards the 5700 unless you could find could a used 9600 or 9800 cheap
They will do it it just might not be pretty i can run fear with ATIs intergrated 200m graphics so.
 
Swishbish33 said:
If I was the OP, I'd be frustrated reading some of these responses. He said that he only wants to spend $50 and that his dad doesn't care abouts looks. That's his definition of an upgrade, even though to the [H]ard that may sound ridiculous. Flame me if you want, but I think it's more helpful to give him a straight answer and not be so quick to make unnecessary comments. $200 is a lot of money to some people.

On that note, go with a used 9600pro like Clear said.
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QFT, people saying go for 6600GT? :p

yah, go used
 
ThisMonsterLives said:
it's not worth upgrading if you spend 50 dollars.

200 or nothing.
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Ignorant statement. Although I do suggest maybe trying to find a used 6600 (NOT THE 6600LE) or 9800pro for ~$80 if you can add the extra cash to the budget. If not the used 9600pro is the best for the money and can be found pretty easily on ebay for ~$50. A used 9600pro sold for $40 shipped in [H] FS forums today.
 
see if you can pick up a 9700 pro in the classifies on here you may be able to find one sub $100
 
a 9800pro for about $75 used is by far the best deal and Is the minimum I would go with.
 
well here is the best bang your gonna get for low price imo its $100 though so twice what u want to spend

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127164R

its a 6600


here is a 6200 $70 its close to your price and will run those games better then the 9600 though i think at low resolutions with some small candy turned on

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122222


this review and others

http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q4/geforce-6200/index.x?pg=4

show the 6200 holding its own in doom 3 and such beating x600's so iam sure it should be better then a used 9600 pro and that 6600 would of course be icing but atleast get a 6200 dont buy anything used from last gen.
 
ehh every review i see shows the 6200 holding its own pretty good. i wouldnt get anything less then a 9800 pro from last gen and u wont find a good one for under a 100 and for that much u can get a 6600 which will beat the 9800 in about anything short of hi res stuff.
 
I dont know the last gen of ATI cards keeps up pretty good to my X700 i would just make sure it has a 128 bit memory interface and you should survive. if you stay with 64 bit you might as well stay with the mx
 
ThisMonsterLives said:
it's not worth upgrading if you spend 50 dollars.

200 or nothing.
Click to expand...

thats bullshit

for only a little more he could get a used 9800Pro instead of the 9600 people are suggesting

I have seen them go for as low as $60
 
dajet24 said:
well here is the best bang your gonna get for low price imo its $100 though so twice what u want to spend

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814127164R

its a 6600


here is a 6200 $70 its close to your price and will run those games better then the 9600 though i think at low resolutions with some small candy turned on

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814122222


this review and others

http://techreport.com/reviews/2004q4/geforce-6200/index.x?pg=4

show the 6200 holding its own in doom 3 and such beating x600's so iam sure it should be better then a used 9600 pro and that 6600 would of course be icing but atleast get a 6200 dont buy anything used from last gen.
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The x600 IS THE 9600PRO in PCI-E form! and the 6200 only beats the 9600pro in doom3
I agree a used 9800pro is your best option if you can find one for ~$80 shipped or less (very possible if your willing to extend the budget). Much faster than the 6200 or 9600pro. Its on par with the 6600.
 
well there are some differences from x600 and 9600 pro.. one being the 9600 is only open Gl 1.3

the x600 is 1.5

2nd x600 has 256 ram the 9600 pro is 128

i cant find a direct review puting the 9600 pro vs a 6200 but i would feel safe saying the 6200 would be better in the long term over the 9600 pro

that said for 30 bucks more the 6600 would be worth it
 
Vote for the 6600 here.

Get one with a OK cooler, these cards overclock great. 500 core is pretty much a given. You will have to tweak settings to get playable Q4 and FEAR, but not that much.

Good bang for the buck-I have the AGP Chaintech 6600 and a A64 3200+ in my work machine, play Q4 sometimes during lunch. 1024x768 no AA/no AF/no shadows is playable MP. You can turn on shadows in SP at those settings though.
 
sabrewolf732 said:
a 9800pro for about $75 used is by far the best deal and Is the minimum I would go with.
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Is this the going price on FS? That sounds like a pretty good deal to me, and definetly worth the $25 swing.

These budget card threads typically turn out this way, with a ton of people calling for you to put in more cash to upgrade. It's not totally unreasonable though. I played doom3 on a geforce3 and it was ok. Can't imagine what FEAR would be like on a GF4MX. When I got my 6800, d3 was like a different game. I wish I hadn't played it with my GF3, it was that much better. But a 9800 Pro isn't a geforce3, nor is even a 9600 pro. So I'd say either look into used versions of those, or for a little more a 6600. Anything less I don't think is worth the money.
 
dajet24 said:
well there are some differences from x600 and 9600 pro.. one being the 9600 is only open Gl 1.3

the x600 is 1.5

2nd x600 has 256 ram the 9600 pro is 128

i cant find a direct review puting the 9600 pro vs a 6200 but i would feel safe saying the 6200 would be better in the long term over the 9600 pro

that said for 30 bucks more the 6600 would be worth it
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First the 256 ram makes no difference and is a marketing scam and gl1.3 or 1.5? Ya, like you will ever know the differnce. Then you have to worry about buying a 64bit 6200 or 6200tc version, which is what will probably happen when you try buying a cheap one. Also the 9600 is cheaper and easier to find used.

Again like other have said your best buy would to save another $30 for a used 9800pro or 6600. Make sure its not the 6600le though! These only have 4 pipes and not 8.
 
Niloc said:
Is this the going price on FS? That sounds like a pretty good deal to me, and definetly worth the $25 swing.

These budget card threads typically turn out this way, with a ton of people calling for you to put in more cash to upgrade. It's not totally unreasonable though. I played doom3 on a geforce3 and it was ok. Can't imagine what FEAR would be like on a GF4MX. When I got my 6800, d3 was like a different game. I wish I hadn't played it with my GF3, it was that much better. But a 9800 Pro isn't a geforce3, nor is even a 9600 pro. So I'd say either look into used versions of those, or for a little more a 6600. Anything less I don't think is worth the money.
Click to expand...

I agree, 8 pipe card minimum :p
 
The memory bus has more to do with it than ram and version numbers. That is the reason a 9800 pro is just barley slower than a my x700 pro trust me memory bus and the number of pipes is the most important
 
needmorecarnitine said:
thats bullshit

for only a little more he could get a used 9800Pro instead of the 9600 people are suggesting

I have seen them go for as low as $60
Click to expand...

he said DirectX 9. 9800 = DirectX 8.
 
By the way I would try to find an old 9500 Pro or something similar. Maybe you'll get lucky and snag one cheap.
 
robberbaron said:
Better than a GeForce2, you have to admit. And for $49, WGAF?



9800 is a DX9 part. FP24, SM 2.0, etc.
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idk.... a 9600se still blows in my opinion. 64 bit mem interface, for $50 he can easily get a 9500pro or a 9500 non pro that mods to a 9700p
 
ThisMonsterLives said:
Great to see my n00b 14 year old brother has been posting for me. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Sounds like the n00b in this thread would be you (after reading the above)... :p
 
i'd go with sabrewolfs suggestion and find a ati 9500 that mods to a 9700.

maybe you could find a nv 6200 that unlocks and than clock it to 6600 speeds, well worth the money ;-)

at the 70 bucks range you maybe find a card that is more worth it's money than a gf5500 for 45 bucks :rolleyes:
 
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