What to buy around $100?

[yuppicide138]

Recently upgraded to a 22" LCD and decided to get a new video card also. Unfortunately all I could afford at the time was a Radeon HD 3450 PCI-e. 256MB ram.

My system has 2GB memory and an AMD Athlon X2 4200+ dual core processor.

I've been experiencing lag in a game I play for a few months now. I thought it was their crappy servers and it could be, but then I thought maybe I should try a better video card.

I have Verizon FIOS which is 25Mbps down and 15Mbps up, so lag should not be an issue. I do speed tests on a regular basis and always get good speed.

Could my video card be responsible for lag? I've turned my settings to low.

What would you recommend I buy that is around $100? I'll go a little over if I want, but would prefer to stay closer to $100.

 

[mfarrukh]

A Radeon 5750, for $130, will perform great on you monitor.
Most games at maximum settings

A Radeon 4770 or 4850 for $110
Most games at medium settings


A GeForce 9800 GT for $90.
Exceptional performance at 1680x1050

However, off all of these, I would recommend you to get a 5750.
Will be great for you for couple of years or so


GooD LucK

 

[yuppicide138]

Thanks for the info.

Gonna give one a try next week when I get paid.

 

[yuppicide138]

Best answer selected by yuppicide138.

 

[jitpublisher]

Yep, gotta agree, that 3450 is a painful, painfully slow GPU for gaming in the first place, and with that new 22 monitor, it only gets worse! You should be able to get another 400mhz out of your X2 as well pretty easily, that will give you a nice little bump when you get that new GPU as well.

 

[yuppicide138]

Sorry I can't overclock my X2. It's a HP computer. They use MSI motherboards, but specially designed for them with things locked.

There's software that can do it probably, but it requires me to look on the motherboard with a flash light. You have the select the right option in the software. Too much work.

I could go up as high as XP 4500+ I believe, but heck for $439 I can get a full quad core machine these days. Would just need to upgrade video card, and that price doesn't include OS.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

A Radeon 5750, for $130, will perform great on you monitor.
Most games at maximum settings
A Radeon 4770 or 4850 for $110
Most games at medium settings
A GeForce 9800 GT for $90.
Exceptional performance at 1680x1050
However, off all of these, I would recommend you to get a 5750.
Will be great for you for couple of years or so
GooD LucK

The 5750 actually performs the same as a 4850. It's not really worth the price because you can get a 4870 512mb for around $120, and that performs equal to a 5770.

 

[jyjjy]

Where can you get an HD4870 for anything close to $120?
This is your best choice for $100;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102824

 

[yuppicide138]

Comparing specs of ones you suggested, some of the cheaper ones perform just as well as the 5750.

I'm using this site:

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php

.. I only wish I could do more than 2 cards at once.

 

[yuppicide138]

Where can you get an HD4870 for anything close to $120?
This is your best choice for $100;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102824

Looking at that card it says "PCI Express 2.0 X16".. looking at the specs for my computer it says "PCI Express x16" -- is that compatable?

Here's my crap computer:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=c00587142

 

[jyjjy]

2.0 cards are backward compatible.
Unfortunately it seems that computer usually came with a 300w PSU which severly limits your choice of video card. You should be able to use an HD4670 however which is a decent card for lower resolutions like 1280x1024 and below. If your resolution is higher than that you will probably want to replace the PSU before upgrading your card.

 

[yuppicide138]

Thanks for the info.

 

[Glacier]

My personal opinion, get the 4850.