Budget graphics

[thesupermedium]

Me and a friend have contemplated for some time building computers for money, and I have just built a quick one for budget gaming. I have a 9600 GSO by Asus with 512 DDR3 memory, but I was wondering if a 9500 GT would be enough for mainstream gaming (WoW, Call of Duty series, some mid level RTS games). The reason I've been thinking about the 9500 GT is I used one for about 7 or 8 months before I got my 4870, and I was impressed by it's performance at the time. With that said, my standards have been somewhat higher since I built my new computer, and I'm not sure what would be considered acceptable graphics capabilities.

Also, I am an ATi boy no doubt, and I am awar that ATi's older cards don't carry the reputation that their new ones do. Could someone give help with selection? I have been able to keep this build below $400, and I'd like to see it around that price range. Thanks, and here are the specs for the computer:

Cooler Master Centurion Micro ATX mini tower

AMD Athlon II X2 2.8 Ghz processor

Gigabyte 785G Micro ATX mother\board

Cooler Master eXtreme power 500W PSU

Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066 4GB RAM

Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM 500GB HD

I'd prefer the GPU match the CPU in bottlenecking, so I get the most performance for the $.

Thanks!

 

[jyjjy]

9500gt is pretty bad for gaming, it's just a renamed 8600gt. It should handle 1024x768 on a lot of games but that's about it.
For the same price get an HD4650(ddr3.) Also not great but a good bit better than the 9500gt. An HD4850 is the best for the money right now however.

 

[Jaysin]

skip the 9500gt. You can pretty much skip any offering of Nvidia's on tight budget as they just aren't excelling in that market right now. Try to swing the 4670, or the 4850 if you can, though that may be pushing your budget.

 

[thesupermedium]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm thinking either a 4850 or a 4830. I have seen people using the 4830 well with some dual core configurations. I'll look at the 4670 though, thanks guys!

 

[jyjjy]

The HD4850 is better and the price difference is almost nonexistent.

 

[babydevil05]

if u can wait for a couple of month, u can get a 5670......
if not, take the 4770, its 40nm & cooler & better than 4830

 

[demonnn]

are you sure an 4850 will fit in that case?
^^ what babydevil05 said.

I'm also getting an 4770.