Help replacing onboard 6150 on the cheap

[adnoto]

Hello all,

A friend of mine has a problem with his nvidia 6150 onboard graphics. Screen went green tint on him. He checked the monitor using his laptop and all was good so he is pretty sure it is the mobo graphics. He wants a card that will accomplish at least what the now bad onboard would have. I didn't even know what to tell him because I really only pay attention to the cards in the "best bang for the buck" category and low end cards don't normally qualify. I noticed Tom's had an HD 3650 that made the cut last month for $35 but, from what I can tell, the cheapest it is going for now is around $50.

Bottom line? He wants something to run at least as well as (preferably better than) the onboard did. A card that is quiet, doesn't require a new power supply and is inexpensive ($20-$30). Any suggestions?

He is running a 2 year old emachines, with an AMD 3800 proc, has 1 PCIe, and some crappy power supply. He isn't into gaming.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Maybe a 2400xt, or an 8500gt could be had on the cheap if he's not gaming. If he wants to game later, I would at least go for the ati 4670 for 80 bucks. But one of those other 2 cards should be enough if he's not gaming.

 

[swifty_morgan]

4670 would be a big jump over the on board...........

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

As I said, if he wants to game later down the road.

There's this for 25 bucks on newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500048

Not the fastest greatest thing, but certainly a step up from his onboard.

This is actually current generation, ATI 4350 for 25 after rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127391

Also, keep an eye on ebay. When I upgraded my system and was making the switch from an AGP board to pci express, couldn't afford much of a video card, so got a 7300 LE 64 mb card for 12-13 dollars on ebay to hold me over. Probably some deals like that lurking out there still.

 

[adnoto]

4670 would be a big jump over the on board...........

Yeah he isn't looking for anything to game with. Just something to keep the thing running. It's actually his wife's rig and she is a doctoral student who couldn't care less about gaming.

I was looking on the egg and saw the 2400 and 8400 as well as these 7300gt and 7200GS's but I am not up to speed really and didn't know if they would suffice. I thought about selling him my tried and true 7900GS and upgrading myself. Would that 4670 kick the crap out of my EVGA 7900GS KO?

Oh crap. Now the wheels are turning. I may want to try that. Sell him mine and upgrade myself. Crap... now I really have to do some research! What should I even ask him for my 7900? What is it worth I wonder? Probably not much... sorry, just thinking out loud here.

Any more comments and/or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

I think it could take the 7900 to school. It's closer in performance to a 3850 or 9600 gso. For 80 bucks it's not too shabby. And doesn't need an external power connector from what I've been reading.

Although for little over 100 you can pick up a 9600gt that would not be much worse than running a 8800gt. 15-30% slower probably. So ask him for 30 bucks there, and maybe drop 50 on the 4670 or something. I don't have one, but it's kind of what I'm wanting as my gaming is mostly casual. So I'm like I don't know that I want to spend a whole lot on a gamer card. Plus with a wife and job, bills etc. you know how that all goes. But just do a google search for the ati 4670, all sorts of reviews around. This is probably the best time for buying hardware.

 

[adnoto]

I think it could take the 7900 to school. It's closer in performance to a 3850 or 9600 gso. For 80 bucks it's not too shabby. And doesn't need an external power connector from what I've been reading.

Although for little over 100 you can pick up a 9600gt that would not be much worse than running a 8800gt. 15-30% slower probably. So ask him for 30 bucks there, and maybe drop 50 on the 4670 or something. I don't have one, but it's kind of what I'm wanting as my gaming is mostly casual. So I'm like I don't know that I want to spend a whole lot on a gamer card. Plus with a wife and job, bills etc. you know how that all goes. But just do a google search for the ati 4670, all sorts of reviews around. This is probably the best time for buying hardware.

Yeah I do know "how that all goes." Thanks for the help. $30 would be fair you think? I would have to move quickly though. He really wants to get his problem fixed.. he is hearing it from the wife.

So the 9600 is significantly better than the 4670 then? Time to go look at the charts. I have been playing Fallout 3 lately and was surprised at how well the old 7900 was performing. Still it is always nice to get some new hardware

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

It's one of those things, I think the 9600 gt is about 20% better in performance, give or take a little. But then again, it's a little more. But then I think there's at least a 15-20% difference between the 9600gt and the 8800gt.

This might be a good card for you. 100 after rebate and free shipping. Would be more on the level of an 8800gt.

ATI 4830
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131129

Or an nvidia 9800gt for 95 after rebate, no free shipping though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127381

Just found a 9600 gt for 75 after the rebate is back. I think this is an overclocked version as well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127382


However here is a 4670 for 80, but 65 after rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127383

And I know what you mean on getting new hardware. A lot of times you think your setup is great, then you look at the performance of a new chip or card and are just blown away.

 

[adnoto]

This might be a good card for you. 100 after rebate and free shipping. Would be more on the level of an 8800gt.

Yes. I looked at the 4830 last night toward the end of my researching and was intrigued. It has the 256 bit interface going for it and double the stream procs or whatever. One thing that is drawing me to the 4670 is its lower power requirements. I have a rock solid Corsair 520 PSU so I am not really worried about the needs of the 4830 but it is the principle of the thing. If the 4670 isn't that far behind performance wise, I might decide on it just simply because I want to encourage ATI and nVidia to go the low power route whenever possible. It's a small thing but, to my mind, not insignificant.

One of the things that I am wondering about now and something I admittedly know little to nothing about is if my now lowly C2D 4400 will "limit" (be the system bottleneck) these more powerful GPUs. Like I said last night, I am sort of out of touch with the tech these days. Something I need to read up on I guess.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews.php?/gpu_displays/his_radeon_4670_4830_4850_mid_range_round-up/1

That might be an interesting article for you as it shows the performance differences of the 4670 vs the 4830 and 4850.