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"best budget" card for non-FPS games (ie. Civ 4)

Forum Graphic & Displays : Graphics Cards - "best budget" card for non-FPS games (ie. Civ 4)

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I wanted to know if I rarely play FPS games, which video card would suffice for max settings? I'm planning on playing Civilization 4, Sims 2, Starcraft 2 (when it comes out). Also, I want a DVI output to watch movies in high quality.

I was looking at the Geforce 7900 GS OC'ed and the 8600 GT. Are they overkill?
Any suggestions are welcome

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I forgot to add, ideally I'd like to spend $100 or less. But I'm willing to go up to $150

Reply to howiejeon

something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814161060 after mir $110

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Reply to rammedstein

Check out tomshardware charts , for GPU's

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Reply to Maziar

Yes the x1950pro would be perfect.

Reply to cristip60

7900 GS should be a good card for those games.
Dont underestimate Civ4. If you want to run it with all eye candy then you will probably need somthing like 7600GS or even GT to run fine.
Sims2 also need a good card. I dont know about starcraft2.
7900GS seems to be good for those games. I personaly would look into x1950pro or even x1950GT and overclock.

Reply to NaDa

IMO this should be plenty enough. Starcraft 2 shouldn't be that demanding since the FAQ on the official site states that it will offer "maximum scalability across all systems" or something similar.It'll also work on XP and they've said that it's not going to use DX10 exclusively, not at the moment at least. A 79xx\X19xx series card for any RTS game would be overkill, since they'll most likely have FPS caps at 30FPS or so, like C&C 3. If you need a DX10 card, get this instead.

Reply to Rage_3k_Moiz

I play Civ4 on my x800xt. Dont underestimate this card it's really good. it's a bit better than 7600gt and I wouldnt go any lower than that.
The lowest card you could possibly go is the 7600gs or the x1650pro but that's only if you are on a really tight budget.

Sims2 isn't in the same league as the Starcraft and civ. It's more like FPS. And it plays nice on my x800xt.

Message edited by NaDa on 07-30-2007 at 10:26:55 AM

Reply to NaDa

I know you didnt mention it, to the person that said that an X1900 card would be to overkill for rts's! With my system in the sig I cannot run at a full 30fps all the time in C&C3 with everything all the way up. I can get close, but I run the game on all eye candy with 1 level of anti-aliasing when there are 3. So I am not only lacking in that area with my system, but also...I do not stay at 30 FPS all the time with it it does still drop to 22 - 23 depending on what is going on. World in conflict (given im in the beta) also cannot be ran at max settings. Dont even get me started on supreme commander...I mean seriously...you need a beast of a system for that RTS game...and 3rd I had never seen a 30fps cap on a game until I played C&C3, and to tell you the truth...I HATE it. I hope SC2 allows me to run @ 60fps as WC3 did because that is what I want...so In order for me to be able to run at 60 FPS in a game such as SC2 or 30 FPS in C&C3 with all Eye candy up I will need an upgraded system (or atleast...there is a good chance for SC2 that I will). So I wouldnt go as far as to say that the X1900 series is overkill for RTS games...especially (not saying that the OP is) if someone has the same lvl of expectations I have for gameplay settings and speeds! So to the OP...just get the absolute best card that you can possibly afford in your system! Hope this help!

Best,

3Ball

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Reply to 3Ball

CNC3 (in fact all C&C games I've played as far as I can remember) REQUIRE a 30fps cap. This is because the game speed is dependent on the framerate. Cant remember CNC3 but I know in older games like generals, they had a game speed adjust which basically changed the framerate cap. I played CNC generals ZH not that long ago after forcing off the 30fps lock, and I lowered all the graphics to min and I got 300+fps. The game is beyond unplayable it is that fast (10x faster than normal at least). EA shouldn't have based the game speed on FPS, but I assume they have their reasons. And yes, SC is gay it runs so bad.

Reply to randomizer

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