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Video Card under $50

R

rubic

Weaksauce
Joined
Oct 9, 2004
Messages
86
Help, my wife's computer is normally not used for gaming but she now wants to play WOW on her computer and all she has is a TNT2 card. She has an AGP slot on her motherboard and I want to get her a video card for less than $50.

Newegg has a Nvidia 5200 card for about $45. Is this a good card or would something else work better?

Thanks.
 
The 5200 might play WoW on low settings, but it wouldn't be pretty. ZZF has a few AGP 9250s under $50, personally I'd go for one of them over the 5200.
Your best bet would be to look for a 9500pro on ebay or something, but it'll be a few bucks over $50.
 
rubic said:
Help, my wife's computer is normally not used for gaming but she now wants to play WOW on her computer and all she has is a TNT2 card. She has an AGP slot on her motherboard and I want to get her a video card for less than $50.

Newegg has a Nvidia 5200 card for about $45. Is this a good card or would something else work better?

Thanks.
Click to expand...

............. you may as well get her a 9800XT, its cheap n its good enough for WoW.
I know marriage = lots of $ to spend. :)
 
The 9250 says it is a DirectX 8.0 card. I'm pretty sure that WOW needs 9.0. I assume that the 9250 can do 9.0 also but I don't want to pull the trigger unless I'm certain. Thanks again.
 
Don't get an FX5200----It really sticks, I know, I owned one. I would check around and get at least an FX5700LE-Those are pretty decent for basic gaming IMO, I played Doom3, HL2, etc, w/ it, and you may find one for around $50 on ebay. On newegg, its about $100, so its over your budget, but I really don't think I'd settle for much less.
 
well according to this Hardocp article the FX5200 is better than the 9200. I've played many games on a 5200 and they run pretty good. Just make sure that it has a 128-BIT memory interface.
 
this card is 61 dollars after shipping.. but its much better than a 5200 or the low end 9200's. and its directx 9.

http://www.pricewatch.com/

click on video cards.. then look for nvidia 5500 128 meg.

if you can afford it you might get the
5600 as its only 67 dollars. and its a little better.

your welcome!
 
I'd look for a 9500 Non Pro and just try unlocking it to a 9700. If you buy them on forums, they will be around 60$ but will perform great for the price that you pay (I bought one just recently on the forums).
 
You may want to look on eBay for a Radeon 9600-based video card. There should be some from reputable sellers, that will be around that price tag, maybe a bit more.

Otherwise, look at Newegg.com, in their refurbished merchandise section. There were several Radeon 9600 cards under 60 dollars.
 
i had a 2400+ w/ 512mb ram and a fx5600 lets just say it ran like a$$.. id spent just a bitttt more and get a 9600 or something
 
radeon 8500 is decent. Or even a geforece 4 series. If she's not heavy gaming. Why bother.

You can find it for less than 50..
 
Id say a geforce 4Ti (NOT MX) or a radeon 9600, and make sure its 128BIT.
 
I would go Geforce TI-4200.

Athough there are better deals, as I bought a 9500 L shaped that softmods to 9700 (can't OC) for $55. you just have to look hard.
 
I went with the FX5200. I made sure that it's the 128 bit version and according to the HardOCP review it should be faster than a 9200. The reviews on NewEgg said it played WOW fine and that is all that she needs it for. Hell she is playing it on my laptop now so anything should be better than what she is using now. If the card sucks I will just send it back. Thanks for all the suggestions guys.
 
:confused:

so you went with what you were going to get in the beginning?

all these poor people's suggestions were for nada?

I just dont get it....
 
the fx5200 was a great card! You just have to know what one to get :p . I had the:

PNY Verto GeForce 5200, 128MB V-RAM, Fan Cooled, AGP 8x.
 
rubic said:
I went with the FX5200. I made sure that it's the 128 bit version and according to the HardOCP review it should be faster than a 9200. The reviews on NewEgg said it played WOW fine and that is all that she needs it for. Hell she is playing it on my laptop now so anything should be better than what she is using now. If the card sucks I will just send it back. Thanks for all the suggestions guys.
Click to expand...

It's probably the best choice for the money. (At least the 128 bit version). If you look at the
Valve hardware survey (the people who make Half-Life and Counterstrike). It's the 4th most popular card.
 
Unknown-One said:
the fx5200 was a great card! You just have to know what one to get :p . I had the:

PNY Verto GeForce 5200, 128MB V-RAM, Fan Cooled, AGP 8x.
Click to expand...
Most are of that variant. The big thing to look out for is the 128-bit memory interface.
 
so you went with what you were going to get in the beginning?

all these poor people's suggestions were for nada?
Click to expand...

No that's not really what happened. Many of the cards that people suggested are better cards but they are over my price range ($50) some are more than twice as much. Chances are that after a couple of weeks my wife will get sick of Warcraft and that's why I don't want to invest alot in her video card. My own computer has a 6800GT in it so I'm not really depending on this new card for gaming.

The problem with the 9250 was that it is DirectX 8.1 compatible and I need one that is 9.0 compatible. Once I read the comparison of the 9200 against the FX5200 I was convinced that in this case the FX5200 was the way to go.

All of the suggestions helped me in my final decision. :D
 
rubic said:
The problem with the 9250 was that it is DirectX 8.1 compatible and I need one that is 9.0 compatible.
Click to expand...

BZZZTt.

WoW runs on DX7-level hardware (GeForce2s) - all it requires is the ability to work with DX9 (which is completely different than supporting all the features), 32MB of RAM and hardware T&L.

Whatever you do, don't let her see the game running on your 6800...
 
can the fx5200 even handle games while running in dx9 mode? i thought it was more of a gimmick...i thought it ran most things in dx8 due to performance issues, correct me if i'm wrong though...
 
You can run DX9 games with a DX8 card, besides the 5200 is far to slow to use most of the DX9 stuff anyway. The 5200's DX9 was just a marketing ploy and it will be slower in WOW than a particularly slow snail in a vat of extra thick treacle. :D
 
ClawhammerUK said:
You can run DX9 games with a DX8 card, besides the 5200 is far to slow to use most of the DX9 stuff anyway. The 5200's DX9 was just a marketing ploy and it will be slower in WOW than a particularly slow snail in a vat of extra thick treacle. :D
Click to expand...

It might be playable if there's a way to force the game to run in DX8 (or even earlier) mode, like you can do with HL2.
 
but even if running in DX8, you would be much better running with a TI-4200.

Honestly, it's not that bad of a card, It's not meant for extreme gamers. It's good enough for playing games at 800x600 and medium details or maybe even high, which is good enough for casual gamers. You just have to realize that you can't max settings or crank up the AA/AF.
 
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