Where to go from here?

[Gordon Freeman]

Hey all, long time reader, first time poster.

I have a fair-to-middlin' rig here (see system specs) and I get a 5.9 rating from Windows...I know I need a new video card but trust me when I say "I'm a guy on a budget" (ever since the Combine invaded, PC parts are hard to come by!)

Anyway, jokes aside, I've had my eye on this:

Newegg.com - ZOTAC ZT-20305-10L GeForce 210 1GB 64-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x 16 (Compatible with 1.1) HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card

...or something like it, in that price range, to replace my ancient dual 8600 setup. Would I see a noticeable, major improvement with that card?

 

[stormy13]

Gordon welcoem to the Seven Forums.

You do not want that card. It is the lowest of the low end card available to the point that a single one of your two 8600 GT's would pretty much slap it silly, never mind 2 of them in SLI.

How much can you afford for a new card as there isn't much of anything to recommend at or near $50.00 that would be much if any of an improvement over what you currently have.

 

[AstaLaVista]

+1 on what stormy said... sometimes, it is better to just save up for a new rig or for something better than spend little money on something not worth it.

Checking your Motherboard, it does not appear to have the capability of running SLI in 16x mode so that is also out. You either spend the money for a good single card or save up and update your rig from the ground up.

Have you looked into buying Pre-Own stuff? When I started, budget was extremely tight and what I did was go to hardforum.com, those guys are as nice as the guys here and they have a ForSale/ForTrade section. I have purchased a few Pre-Own stuff from there and not a single issue. Sure, you always have to be careful and look at their Heat/eBay Feedback but, if you are patient and take your time... you can end up with a very good card for about the same price as the POS you are wanting to buy right now.

Look at my rig, I also get a 5.9 from windows due to my hard drive. Baffles my mind because I am using a Velociraptor, supposedly, a fast hdd and windows tells me its a POS, yet, there is no game out there I can not play at full or maxed out so... there you have it

Look what I just found... and I stii would probably wait and save up
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=5639258&sku=E145-9862


EVGA GeForce 9800 GT 512MB GDDR3 PCIe

$45 OFF use coupon:
WRY28525
Coupon Ends 4/30

 

[Gordon Freeman]

Overall, I'm very happy with the rig as is. My next video card setup won't be SLI - I've seen SLI Stutter and it's not pretty. I'll just settle for one nice video card. I've got plenty of upgrade options with this system to keep me happy for a couple years (I can add a bigger, badder CPU and up to 16gb RAM, specifically).

So the video card is the Achilles' Heel. I don't think I'd go for a 9800 as I don't want just an incremental jump. There's a 500-series on newegg...let me see where was it...here:

Newegg.com - ASUS ENGTX550 TI DC/DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

but that's at the absolute top hard ceiling end of what I could spend right now.

 

[AstaLaVista]

So... what's your budget?

 

[Gordon Freeman]

So... what's your budget?

Well ATM I'm just windowshopping, getting ideas, but it certainly wouldn't be more than $150.

 

[mickey megabyte]

ok - now you're talking gordon!

ps - when's your new game coming out?

we've been waiting patiently for years! and our patience is running out!

 

[Gordon Freeman]

ok - now you're talking gordon!

ps - when's your new game coming out?

we've been waiting patiently for years! and our patience is running out!

Com ine ark matt eactors ke inter upting o r a empts to uploa i to y ur tim -stream.

But hopefully no later than Q4 2011

 

[stormy13]

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100282XTREME Radeon HD 5850 Xtreme 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

Unless it has to be Nvidia.

 

[mickey megabyte]

stormy, that would

"be adequate!"

"what the hell does that mean anyway?"

"dunno, seems like something the vorts would say."

 

[Wishmaster]

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100282XTREME Radeon HD 5850 Xtreme 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

Unless it has to be Nvidia.

And for just a bit more, if you specifically want Nvidia ..
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GV-N460D5-768I-B GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Either would be a good card but ..

I think, in this price category, the ATI 5850 would be the better choice.

 

[Gordon Freeman]

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100282XTREME Radeon HD 5850 Xtreme 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

Unless it has to be Nvidia.

I'm a bit of an nvidia fanboy these days - for discrete cards. For onboard video, ATI all the way. Primarily because I haven't heard of an ATI set that slagged down like the 7600-8200 series had a tendency to on some laptops (such as my wife's DV9000, which I also blame HP for...)