What video card for $50??

Ok I only have $50.
Im getting tired of waiting for prices to drop and Im not making any money ATM so Im wondering if I should get a X1950pro through ebay. (plus Kanes Wrath is coming out this week)
How does this look? This one won't go anywhere so I can keep an eye on it.
Its refurbished so it looks a bit iffy.
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sapphire-ATI-R [...] dZViewItem


Im really interested in this one, but does anybody know if the zerotherm will take up two slots?
http://cgi.ebay.com/Sapphire-X1950 [...] dZViewItem


If anybody can find a (single slot) card there that will play most games maxed (cod4, cnc3) I'll gladly look into it.

Are you sure that it will take 2 slots? The X1950XT is what I really want. It has all the cables too.
im 15 please give me a break.

the zerotherm does take up two slots, and what is this all about i'm 15 gimme a break, dude no one give's anybody a break [if you can give/help others that makes u a better person for it, point being learn to give b4 you get so comfortable with receiving], the sooner you understand this the better you will do in life...

P.S. dude seriously just go for the x1950pro, its single slot, and will play C&C3 kane's wrath, I personally can't wait for it since it does include the beta for red alert 3....

for $50 you can't beat that deal...but do heed mactronix's warning, nothing in life is guaranteed, the guy who is selling those $50 1950's has a 3,000 ish feedback score, with a rating of 98.6% I would buy form him if I were in your shoes is all I'm saying.

Also the X1950 is refurbished, is that ok?
I also heard that the X1950 dosen't oc very well.

That's what I would do.

@aznstriker: I'm looking to sell my powercolor X1950 pro, but shipping to the US is probably gonna cost around $20. It does come with most of the original packaging at least

An X1950 pro could run on 22A, the XT would be looking more at 23-24A. You'd want a 29-30A PSU to account for capacitor aging and upgrades though.

*pop*

yeah it does look like you would loose a slot to it, so I think that cooler isn't single slot.

Also what are the specs for your power supply, how many amps on the 12v rails, or combined amps?

Not sure that the Dell 305w PSU is going to work, but I know that other people say that the Dell PSU's are sometimes under-rated. I just don't like to push things when it comes to PSU's. They are probably the most important thing on a PC. If you don't have stable and reliable power, than you will have issues sooner or later.

Edit: forgot to mention that your PSU may have some level of capacitor aging, depending on how old the PSU is. So if it's rated at 22A, but is 2-3 yrs. old, you could be down to 20A or so. Just keep this in mind. Also you'll be stressing this PSU more so it might react different than what you currently experience. I'm just stating this right now, so you don't come back and say that it doesn't work or that you fried some parts when you turned your computer on for the first time after installing the GPU.

The recommended 12v for the X1950 pro is 30 amps, which assumes a pretty loaded system. 26 would probably be fine, but I wouldn't expect 22 amps to work out too well for you. Depends on system load of course, but 22 amps points more toward an HD2600XT/8600GTS max to me.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/v [...] dr4_5.html

yea....

Good luck with it, just don't come back later and wonder what went wrong. I'm just cautious and don't want people to end up with a bad computer experience.

yeah well, the x1950pro is still based on an older process, than the G80, so there is still a chance the x1950pro uses more power, hey if that PSU of your blows and saying it takes nothing else with it, get this one to replace it which should be more than enough: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371005

obviously The 1950 Pro, because you can either overclock it to X1950 XT and/or run 2 1950 Pros in Crossfire mode

I had the psu in question. I upgraded the psu in order to run an 8800GT. Some do run one with this psu but I chose not to. I would do the same with a X1950Pro also.
8800GT = 110w
X1950Pro = 107w
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/0 [...] hics_cards

The Dell 305w = 305w continuous, peak ?, 264w on the 12v = 22amps (too close for comfort for me, but people are doing it).

Its a Dell and I have warranty on it so its ok if I blow the computer.
(I'll just switch the graphics out, and the technition won't know that a X1950pro caused the blow)

http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine
I got 266 watts. I should be ok.

I have it on 3.2 and I don't overclock it.

Sadly they don't have the refurbed X1950pro in there any more.
Weird thing is they had like 40 left.
So im just going to bid and buy one under fifty bucks.

The x1950Pro beats the 7950GT in pretty much all benchies however the 7950GT isn't such a power hog.

YVW KyleSTL on the link. I find the 3 that I have in my signature I tend to use a lot, so I just leave them there.

I would just stick with the x1950pro, if I were you. It's only like 5 watts difference between the x1950pro and the 7950gt. I know that some people have had driver issues with the 7950gt, but I'm sure most of those should've already been worked out by now.

"The X1950Pro is rated for 66W under load, and the X1950XT is at 99-110W"

X1950Pro = 107w
X1950XT = 153w
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/0 [...] hics_cards

"With a questionable Dell 305W"
When you question something, make sure all your ducks are in a row.

Not sure on C&C3 off hand as the game is capped at 30 fps max. Oblivion and NFS Carbon were the first signs I saw of things to come. Shader heavy games where the X19xx architecture really shined over the GF79xx architecture. COD4, UT3, Crysis, and NFS Pro Street followed theis trend.


A few links to back up my sour feelings about GF7's now......

Oblivion's GPU demanding outdoor foliage with the GF7's hard, causing lower average and much lower minimum fps. You can see the X1900XT just pull ahead of it's 7900GTX competion. Also note the 7900GT fall way behind the X1800XT. The sure enough the X1950 pro came out and left the 7900GT and even the GTO in it's dust. I had a 7800GT OC and was totally dissapointed in in for Oblivion. Enough so I replaced it with a X1800XT.
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardwar [...] /page5.asp
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardwar [...] page12.asp

NFS Carbon not only did the X1950 pro crush the 7950GT, it also managed to do the same to the X1800XT(my card at the time) that had so far proven to hold it's own or beat the X1950 pro:
http://www.elitebastards.com/cms/i [...] mitstart=3

COD4 the X1950 pro pulls ahead of the 7900GT by 50%. Often in old games these two were equal, with the 7950GT ahead of both. http://www.firingsquad.com/hardwar [...] /page3.asp

In UT3, the X1950 pro beats the 7900GTX, never mind the 7950GT or 7900GT.
http://www.anandtech.com/video/sho [...] i=3128&p=4
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=693

Ok thanks guys, I sure that the X1950pro is my choice.
Marelous, what game is that link on?

All I was saying is you have 22amps.
8800GT bare minimum 22amps
Does the X1950XT need more juice than an 8800?
Good choice for card, just keep an eye on your psu.