Video card suggestions please

[SammyBusby]

I am about to purchase a video card for my computer. I dont know much about my computer since the video card fan went out and burned up the card before I could get all my info copied somwhere. Here are my computer stats as I know them:

Acer Aspire AST180-UA380B
Windows Vista Basic
AMD Athlon 64 3800+
1GB RAM DDR2
160 GB SATA Hard Disk
Multiple Card readers on front
DVD Dual drive
Geforce 7400( The one that stopped working)

So what I need help with is choosing which brand of card I will need to fit my needs. Im on a budget. I tight one. I can spend about $100 bucks on the card. What card do I need to get? The computer ran my games ok at the time if i turned down alot of the graphics options. The last game I played on it was The Witcher and it ran it pretty good. I have been looking at getting either a geforce 9800GT or a geforce GT 240. Ive also looked at a few ATI cards but I havent used an ATI card for about a decade now. Which do you guys suggest? Remember that Im on a tight budget and 100 bucks is my limit. Will I need a new PSU if I upgrade to any card you guys suggest?

 

[Herr_Koos]

Have a look at this article:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/graphics-card-radeon,review-31911.html

It should tell you exactly what your options are.

 

[SammyBusby]

Have a look at this article:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/graphics-card-radeon,review-31911.html

It should tell you exactly what your options are.

Thank you for the reply Herr_Koos! Intresting article indeed. My only problem with it is that it doesnt compare ATI to Geforce on there. Which ones are better? Ive had Geforce for many years now and not had much trouble with them. How are the ATI cards compared to the Geforce?

 

[Herr_Koos]

Have a look at the benchmark charts on the main page, that should give you an idea.

 

[k61824]

I am guessing that your PSU doesn't have a PCI-E power connector. In that case, nVidia should limit you to ~GT220 or GT240 (check the manual for each brand of GT240 to see if you need a PCI-E power connector). 9800GT should need a power connector for it to work.

For ATI the option is rather limited. Try to see if HD 5570, HD 4830 and HD 5670 requires a PCI-E power connector.

 

[SammyBusby]

I am guessing that your PSU doesn't have a PCI-E power connector. In that case, nVidia should limit you to ~GT220 or GT240 (check the manual for each brand of GT240 to see if you need a PCI-E power connector). 9800GT should need a power connector for it to work.

For ATI the option is rather limited. Try to see if HD 5570, HD 4830 and HD 5670 requires a PCI-E power connector.

Im not sure about the PCI-E power connector... But right below where the graphics card goes into the PCI-E slot is a small slot. Its pretty small but it is in between the PCI-E slot and the regular PCI slots. It kinda looks like a very small pci slot actually. Is that the PCI-E power connector??

 

[redechelon]

Nah, he's talking about a cord that would plug into the end/top of your card. Something like this http://www.erodovcdn.com/erodov/reviews/guide/pci-e-connector/pci-e-power-connector-2.jpg

 

[SammyBusby]

Oh ok. Just as I realized what it was I read the above post. I have my eye on a 9800gt that has an adapter bundled with it right now. Im still uncertain on what to actually get though. Since Ive used the Geforce family for so long i think i will stick with them. But is a gt 240-250 better than the 9800gt family of cards?

 

[Bluescreendeath]

GT240 performs equal to or marginally better than a 9600GT. So it would be worse than a 8800GT/9800GT.

GTS250 is a rebranded 9800GTX/GTX+, so it would be better than the 8800/9800GT.

 

[SammyBusby]

GT240 performs equal to or marginally better than a 9600GT. So it would be worse than a 8800GT/9800GT.

GTS250 is a rebranded 9800GTX/GTX+, so it would be better than the 8800/9800GT.

Thanks everyone for all the advice and help you have offered me. I will soon be doing a comlete build in the coming months and its nice to know that there is a site with nice people like this thats willing to help others having problems. I am soooo glad I found this site. Thanks again everyone

 

[redechelon]

Thanks everyone for all the advice and help you have offered me. I will soon be doing a comlete build in the coming months and its nice to know that there is a site with nice people like this thats willing to help others having problems. I am soooo glad I found this site. Thanks again everyone

It's also nice to see someone so thankful, Good luck!

 

[SammyBusby]

I went ahead and ordered an ASUS 9800GT and got it for 96 and some change including shipping and handling. My current card in my other, older computer is a ASUS 6600 GT and I loved the features that came with it such as the overclocking software. Also I have never had a single issue with the card since I bought it which was around 5 or 6 years ago. Im hoping this card will be of the same quality as the previous one. Once again thanks everyone.

 

[Misko195]

I am guessing that your PSU doesn't have a PCI-E power connector. In that case, nVidia should limit you to ~GT220 or GT240 (check the manual for each brand of GT240 to see if you need a PCI-E power connector). 9800GT should need a power connector for it to work.

For ATI the option is rather limited. Try to see if HD 5570, HD 4830 and HD 5670 requires a PCI-E power connector.

It's not true, he always can use two Molex to Pci-E connectors, like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812198022&cm_re=molex_pcie-_-12-198-022-_-Product

 

[Misko195]

Oh ok. Just as I realized what it was I read the above post. I have my eye on a 9800gt that has an adapter bundled with it right now. Im still uncertain on what to actually get though. Since Ive used the Geforce family for so long i think i will stick with them. But is a gt 240-250 better than the 9800gt family of cards?

About GTS 240, GTS250 and 9800GT, GTS 250 is best choice...

Here one good link for graphic card comaration, take look:

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=575&card2=606

 

[SammyBusby]

Best answer selected by SammyBusby.