Which Vid Card Is Right for Me?

[iyzmi]

I need an inexpensive vid card (under $60ish) for my planned PC build. The only game I play on occasion is CS: Source. I have a 19" widescreen monitor so I want to play the game at max res (1440x900) with all settings set to max. I'm not looking for godly fps, just so everything looks fluent and not jittery. I'm up for ATI or Nvidia.

I noticed that you can now get a low end Nvidia 8 series for about $50, are these cards a good deal?

 

[itotallybelieveyou]

bring down the screen and bring up the budget for vid card but if you insist http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102035
x1650 should be able to do it depending on your cpu

 

[iyzmi]

CPU will be an AMD Athlon X2 4000+ or 4200+

Oh, and that vid card is perfect for my budget. I'm ok with paying any price as long as it comes down below $60ish w/ rebate.

 

[Ibanezrg570]

I'm not sure anything under an X1900 series card will do what you want to do. It's been a long time since I had my X1650 but I do remember when I went to my X1900GT, the improvement was impressive. I did play CS with my X1900 and it ran quite smooth at 1680X1050. If you can swing the extra $50-$60 you may want to look into an X1900 series card or an Nvidia counterpart.

Cheers

 

[celewign]

I need an inexpensive vid card (under $60ish) for my planned PC build. The only game I play on occasion is CS: Source. I have a 19" widescreen monitor so I want to play the game at max res (1440x900) with all settings set to max. I'm not looking for godly fps, just so everything looks fluent and not jittery. I'm up for ATI or Nvidia.

I noticed that you can now get a low end Nvidia 8 series for about $50, are these cards a good deal?

When Source came out, the X800 line was king. You should get good frames very cheaply from an X800XT or something similar. Go ATI, though, Source was always better with the ATI cards. (it doens't matter really now, because everything with more that 16 pipes runs Source on max I guess)

Look for a cheap X800 card, is my bet. But only if you want to play CSS and you don't want to do anything newer, like UT2007 or Crysis, because that card will rear it's ugly PS2.0, DX9.0b head when you try to load Lost Planet etc.
-cm

 

[iyzmi]

I've narrowed it down a bit, heres my list:

$50 cards
--------
MSI GeForce 8400GS
Sapphire Radeon X1650

$60 cards
--------
MSI GeForce 8500GT
EVGA GeForce 7600GS
Sapphire Radeon x1650 Pro
MSI Radeon x1650GT

Of both those lists, which cards are superior? Am I missing any?

 

[jaguarskx]

X1650

X1650 Pro

 

[cleeve]

I'm not sure anything under an X1900 series card will do what you want to do. It's been a long time since I had my X1650 but I do remember when I went to my X1900GT, the improvement was impressive. I did play CS with my X1900 and it ran quite smooth at 1680X1050. If you can swing the extra $50-$60 you may want to look into an X1900 series card or an Nvidia counterpart.

1440x900 is alot less than 1680x1050.

An X1650 PRO would handle CS: Source just fine at 1440x900.

 

[iyzmi]

Is the x1650 Pro better than the x1650 GT?

Also, does the northbridge/integrated video of a mobo still matter if I buy a video card? Should I still buy an AMD 690G board instead of a Nvidia 6100 or does it not matter if I purchase a video card?

 

[Gravemind123]

The X1650GT is an underclocked X1650XT from what I can tell, as it has the same hardware units, just lower clock speeds. Because of the reduced clock speeds, it probably performs under an X1650XT, but the speeds are still enough that it should outperform and X1650Pro. It also should overclock to X1650XT speeds without much issue.

 

[iyzmi]

So x1650 GT > x1650 Pro?

This is still a big concern of mine: Does the northbridge/integrated video of a mobo still matter if I buy a video card? Should I still buy an AMD 690G board instead of a Nvidia 6100 or does it not matter if I purchase a video card?

Thanks for the responses, you guys are really helpful!

 

[cleeve]

Integrated video doesn't matter if you buy a video card.

yeah, I'd put the X1650 GT slightly above the X1650 PRO... and it'll likely have alot more overclocking headroom to boot.

 

[iyzmi]

By integrated video you mean the northbridge right?

x1650 GT is 256mb GDDR3
x1650 Pro is 512mb GDDR2

I guess the speed is more important than the memory?...

 

[cleeve]

Yes, the speed is more important tnan the memory.

In addition the GT has 24 pixel shaders. The PRO only has 12...

 

[iyzmi]

I've narrowed it down a bit, heres my list:

$50 cards
--------
MSI GeForce 8400GS
Sapphire Radeon X1650

$60 cards
--------
MSI GeForce 8500GT
EVGA GeForce 7600GS
Sapphire Radeon x1650 Pro
MSI Radeon x1650GT

Of both those lists, which cards are superior? Am I missing any?

So of the $50 card choices, the x1650 is the best and of the $60 choices, the x1650 GT is the best. Any other thoughts on this?

When you say integrated video you mean northbridge, right? Thanks for your help!