Good Video Card on a Budget?

Gen2ly · 2009-04-18 23:37:37

I'm interested in getting a new video card for my pc. Currently i'm using a nvideo geforce 7050 which is pretty good for a built-in card but i'd like to get something better. some games i play are only going at 10fps so iwas wondering if i could do a decent upgrade on a budget. I've only got around $70 so first i'm thinking is that, is this possible? Second if it is, what should i be looking for: built-in memory, core speed...

I've been looking at newegg's deals:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...2&N=2010380048

and it looks like PCI express is the way to go now. I'd like to get an Nvidia card because I've had so good of an experience with Nvidia on Linux, but have seen some good things on ATI too. Any thoughts?

skottish · 2009-04-19 00:46:37

I run a nVidia 8800GT and VDPAU works on this card. It may be, or close to, the lowest model that is supported. I don't play any games, so I can't help there.

R00KIE · 2009-04-19 01:06:49

I would see what I could plug in the pc, make sure yours has a pci express slot, then see what cards you can get for the money you want to spend.
Do a little research and see which one(s) have the most recent core because sometimes there is some rebranding and older cards get a new number and for the unaware buyer they will seem to have the most recent core when in fact its a core from the previous generation, also check for other features you may want, apart from that the bigger the number the better
But remember, there is only so much a budget card can do.

fijam · 2009-04-19 07:20:52

8400GS is the lowest model that supports VDPAU.

Gen2ly · 2009-04-19 16:33:40

The computer does have a PCI express slot and thanks for the tip about looking at the core as i didn't know they did that.

Did a bit of research and learned a few things. First off that the versioning (8400...) tells what features the card has (core [usually],dx10, vdpau...) and that GS/GT/GTS are for clock speeds. GTS prices are... well, out of the budget. But a good GT card will be able to boost things quite a bit. Currently I'm getting ~10fps for wow, 40fps for Urban Terror, and ~15fps on Doom3 at a horrible 640x480, so there's definitely room for improvment.

The GeForce 9500 looks pretty good and been thinking about the Geforce 9600 which is pretty much a trimmed down 8800 GTS. Couldn't find any reviews of the 9600 gso for gaming so i'm not sure about that. I'm going to look at ebay and see just what i can find there.

Procyon · 2009-04-19 16:39:30

I get 125 FPS in Urban terror with a Geforce 8500GT. I also like that it doesn't have a fan.

Gen2ly · 2009-05-22 02:21:27

Just an update to tell i finally got my video card. Took a little longer than i hoped because i learned that i needed a new psu with it. But now got it installed and it runs beautifully. i ended up going with the nvidia 9600 gso which is a good lowend-highend card. Picked it up at Fry's for $80. Does everything good: fast compositing, hd movies play great, and gaming is really improved (can play crysis on medium settings).

Didn't realize upgrading a video card would require all the reading i had to do so i put all together on my blog:

Upgrading your Video Card

Appreciate all the tips guys. Woohoo!

Mr.Elendig · 2009-05-23 02:25:57

If you can go up a bit in price, then there is the 4770, awesome card for the money, but sadly, amd/ati is a bit lacking when it comes to drivers for gnu/linux

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=a … 4770&num=1

iBertus · 2009-05-23 08:53:50

+1 for the 8800GT! I used to have one of these and it would drive a 30" LCD at 2560x1600 with no problems. Sure, the gaming performance at this resolution wasn't the best, but it could run almost any Linux game windowed with no lag. This card also had pretty good CUDA performance. I ended up giving the card to my father when I built the new workstation and he still uses it for playing CS:Source and such online.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-04-18 23:37:37

Good Video Card on a Budget?

#2 2009-04-19 00:46:37

Re: Good Video Card on a Budget?

#3 2009-04-19 01:06:49

Re: Good Video Card on a Budget?

#4 2009-04-19 07:20:52

Re: Good Video Card on a Budget?

#5 2009-04-19 16:33:40

Re: Good Video Card on a Budget?

#6 2009-04-19 16:39:30

Re: Good Video Card on a Budget?

#7 2009-05-22 02:21:27

Re: Good Video Card on a Budget?

#8 2009-05-23 02:25:57

Re: Good Video Card on a Budget?

#9 2009-05-23 08:53:50

Re: Good Video Card on a Budget?

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