Which Graphic Card is the best for my $130 budget

none of those are better.

Wouldn't pick any of them honestly... if thats all you want to use the GC for I'd go with the X1300. Best value of the bunch... but it your card that you have now could be better... I never trusted ATI. I'm an nVidia guy and I know they X1300 had some issues with drivers. The others on the list are 2-4 yr old cards (the FX 5200 is really old ... came out new in 2003 just after the 5900 and 5800s). Good thing the GC isn't your money, otherwise for $150 you can get a card 2x as good that will work with an AGP slot online. Next year ask for a NewEgg gift certificate.

You betcha.... follow the link

https://secure.newegg.com/NewVersio [...] ficate.asp

More memory does not mean more performance. Performance is all about chipsets and clockspeeds.

1. Go to newegg.com

2. get an X1650 PRO or 7600 GS for about $130... much better than all the cards you listed.

Or sell the cards for $120 Bucks outside of Circuit City.
Then go spend the $120 at NewEgg :>>

You can often get good deals on Computer Packages at BestBuy/Circuit City if you are a non-gaming Web surfer. However, computer parts are way over-priced. The same really for just about any brick/mortar computer store. I cant think of a one that has decent prices unless you find a killer sale.

More memory doesn't equal performance, that's why. The amount of memory is a marketing gimmick.

Performance is primarily affected by the chipset, and by the clockspeeds/memory bandwidth.

The 9800 PROI is an 8-pipeline architecture. All of the cards you listed are 4 pipeline...

Have a look at the videocard heiarchy chart in the 'best cards for the money' thread at the top of this forum to get an idea of how cards perform relative to one anoither.

Thanks for taking the time to explain. I know how to build computers, do websites etc, but sure didn't know piddly about graphic cards. Man, those stores like Ciruit City, Best Buy have a lot of false hype about their cards...

Just a thought: perhaps you should get a PCI-E board, just for the sake of getting PCI-E cards (much cheaper and faster than AGP)

I just built my system a couple months ago and don't want to start over now. I'd have to change too many things.
Ah. Well if I were you, I would exchange that BestBuy card to eBay or an online retailer that will allow you to sell/trade it. BestBuy is the biggest rip off, ever.

My dumbass friend bought one about last year, when 6600gt's and 6800gt's were out. ahahaah

It was great, 3 years ago. Then the Geforce 6 series came along and made it look like a toy.

It was great, 3 years ago. Then the Geforce 6 series came along and made it look like a toy.
which card you talking about now?
9800 series

If the 9800 is better, how come it is not listed on Tom's Frame rate chart?
http://www23.tomshardware.com/grap [...] &chart=196
pretty sure he's joking.

Besides my current 9800 Pro 128, I also have setting on the table my old (ATI RADEON 9600 PRO)

Circuit City has the XFX GeForce 7600GT XXX Edition Graphics Card for $189, but I don't want to spend the extra $40 to get it...
(my $130 gift card)

Circuit City cards
http://www.circuitcity.com/ssm/Vid [...] orylist.do

What about the PNY GeForce 7600GS AGP card for $149.99 after $30 rebate? A decent AGP card that is not much more than your $130 gift card.

7600GS is probably the best card for the money you can buy, especially since it's a good overclocker.

Jack,

If you are in the Chicago area I will loan you the $30 until the rebate comes in!

Jim :?

Fry's and Microcenter are generally exceptions to this rule, if you are lucky enough to live near one of them... I happen to live near both of them

Okay guys, I hope you don't kill me here. I went to circuit city and chewed them down from $179 to $140 (they match the online price) for this card:


VisionTek RADEON X1300 XGE 512MB DDR2 OC AGP Graphics Card overclocked to 600MHZ

http://www.visiontek.com/products/ [...] E_agp.html

Circuit City didn't have SAPPHIRE and they did have the VT listed there for $179.
I'm not whinning as it was only $10 over the gift card I had.

I'm more interested if it is a decent card or not. I can always take it back. You can't do that very well with newegg or whatever.

These are the cards to get for $130
X1800GTO
7600GT

http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/0 [...] or_125_tie

Circuit City didn't have SAPPHIRE and they did have the VT listed there for $179.
I'm not whinning as it was only $10 over the gift card I had.

I'm more interested if it is a decent card or not. I can always take it back. You can't do that very well with newegg or whatever.

no its not a decent card.... not within the same time zone as one. it is probably about the same performance as your current card, maybe slightly better or slightly worse.

Basicly what i am trying to say is, for 130 or whatever you paid, you get nearly no difference. total ripoff too!
Well, that was the best I could do at Circuit City with my gift card. Only $10 more out of my pocket.
It would have cost me at least $40 more to get the 7600GS and the 7600GT was over $200.

I'm trying in now as I installed it. It looks more crisp than before. I will try the MS FS2004 tonight. If I'm not happy with it this weekend, I'll take it back and get a different card.

I hate gift cards, they burn holes into your soul until you go and use them. It might be okay for some places like Newegg but it's still problematic as you juggle in your mind where you are going to use those dollars. This graphics card situation is a good case in point, at least Circuit City got that X1300 off the shelf.

I thought there were some great idea's in this post but in the end he got the X1300. The only thing I'd consider from BestBuy or Circuit city is a new keyboard or maybe speakers. Perhaps a flash drive... but often the prices are only mediocre. They really don't have a good selection of computer hardware at all.

Those 6200 series cards are terrible... really poor. In fact I benchmarked a 5200 / 6200 and an old Geforce Ti4200 and the 4200 beat the pants of the others in every benchmark. It woke me up to how crippled the lower end cards really are. Those flashy boxes and the inclusion of 256 or even 512Mb of memory onboard means NOTHING. The 64Mb on the 4200 was plenty to beat the 5200 and 6200.

Anyway... good luck with your x1300.

I am totally amazed at the way the boxes advertise these things at the stores. 512Mb, OverClocked - etc. Make sit look like it is the hottest thing out there.
I thought for sure this was a good one till I brought it home and saw the test and the comments here.

Next week, I will scroung up another $50 and take this card back and get the 7600GT