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Best Low Budget <$70 Video Card.

Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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Hi everyone,

The posts and help on this forum seem spectacular, so I was wondering if you guys had any idea on a low budget video card, preferably close to or under $70CAN, that would be good for mediocre-ly demading games such as Diablo III when it comes out.

I have been debating to myself between numerous video cards, some include:

the Radeon 4670 512MB - http://www.anitec.ca/product/597421/asus-eah4670-di-512md3-radeon-hd-4670-512-mb-pci-express-2-0-graphics-card-eah4670di512md3

the Geforce 9500GT 512MB - http://www.anitec.ca/product/598557/asus-en9500gt-magic-di-512mv2-geforce-9500-gt-512mb-pci-express-2-0-graphics-card-en9500gtmagicdi512mv2

And numerous cheaper options such as the 8400GT which is about $40, and the Radeon 4550 which is about $50.

Also, I really don't want to spend any more on a new Power supply. My current one has 350watts and has 19.5amps on the 12v rail.

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

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definitely go for the 4670. . .and gt the 512mb version dnt gt the 1gb one . . the 4670 just doesnt have enuf juice in it to benefit from the higher amount of memory
Graphics card Master
Power supply Expert

If you are willing to spend $80 CND + $11 shipping, then consider the HD 5670 which is roughly 25% more powerful than the HD 4670.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681...

Of course you can shop around in Canada to see if other places has a better deal.

A word of caution, the HD 5670 link that I provided is a PCI-e 2.1 card. There are known capatiblity issues about installing a PCI-e 2.1 video card into a PCI-e 1.0 slot. If you have a PCI-e 1.0 slot, then avoid the card I recommended.

There are no issues with installing a PCI-e 2.0 card in a PCI-e 1.0 slot though.

Thanks for the answers so far guys, but any lower cost options? Maybe one less than $50 or will it be more worth it to throw in the extra bit for a ~$80 one? Thanks.

Also, I heard that using a Radeon video card on an Intel processor is not as good as using a Geforce one on an Intel processor. Can anyone confirm this or is it false?

EDIT: Sorry, but one last question: Does it really make a big difference to get an Asus (which I heard is the best brand) video card over, for example, a Sapphire or a Zotac one?
Graphics card Master
Power supply Authority

where did you hear that intel+ati=bad bulls**t? definitely false.
Asus, sapphire, zotac - the difference may be in the warranty/cooling solution/software bundle. And sometimes there is no difference.
Are you planning to use this for gaming? If so, then I dont suggest anything less than an ati 5670. Anything less than that is a waste of money as it wont play games well enough to enjoy them (and wont play some recent ones at all). If your not using it for games you can pretty much just get the cheapest one you can get your hands on, or just use onboard video if you have it.
Graphics card Master

Dysania said:
Thanks for the answers so far guys, but any lower cost options? Maybe one less than $50 or will it be more worth it to throw in the extra bit for a ~$80 one? Thanks.

Also, I heard that using a Radeon video card on an Intel processor is not as good as using a Geforce one on an Intel processor. Can anyone confirm this or is it false?

EDIT: Sorry, but one last question: Does it really make a big difference to get an Asus (which I heard is the best brand) video card over, for example, a Sapphire or a Zotac one?


Almost all benchmarks you see on reviews of ATI and Nvidia cards are done with the fastest CPU of the time. That has been Intel for quite a while now. So any review you see with an ATI card doing well, should tell you that you heard wrong.

Thanks a ton for your input, everyone.

I've decided to get a Radeon 4670 1GB video card. Fits my needs perfectly as I'm not playing any super demanding games, but just Diablo III and such. However, the video card I'm getting is from Powercolour but I hope that, as you guys have said, it truly matter too much what brand its from.

Huge thanks to everyone, great answers, will definitely come here if I need more help.
Graphics card Master
Power supply Expert

Just make sure the card is DDR3, there are a handful of DDR2 HD4670s and they will be significantly slower. Also the difference between 1gb and 512mb of memory on these cards is entirely meaningless because they can't effectively utilize more than 512mb so don't pay extra for 1gb.
Graphics card Master
Power supply Expert

Dysania said:
Thanks a ton for your input, everyone.

I've decided to get a Radeon 4670 1GB video card.


If the 512GB version cost less, then get that instead since the HD 4670 cannot effectively use 1GB of VRAM. The HD 5670 is about 25% faster than the HD 4670 and having 1GB of VRAM is no different than having 512MB of VRAM for performance.

jyjjy said:
Just make sure the card is DDR3, there are a handful of DDR2 HD4670s and they will be significantly slower. Also the difference between 1gb and 512mb of memory on these cards is entirely meaningless because they can't effectively utilize more than 512mb so don't pay extra for 1gb.


Thanks a lot for the advice. Luckily the card is DDR3, and the place I''m buying the 4670 from prices the 1gb version and the 512mb version the same, or else I'd gladly save some money by buying the 512mb one.

jbart1981 said:
I know I'm late to the party but check this out

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml...

and a comparison to the 4670

http://www.hwcompare.com/graphics/compare.php?c=GeForce...


Thanks, man, and I know, I know, the 9800GT is a great card, lots better than the 4670. I'd love to have it, it'd be my ideal card, awesome and everything. Unfortunately, my power supply can't handle that card as it only has 19.5amps on the 12v rail, but the recommended amount for this card is 26amps.

Thanks for the idea though, and $49.99 for a 9800GT would be such a steal, but too bad.
Graphics card Master
Power supply Expert

That's actually a low power version of the card and should work on your PSU but a card available in store only in the US isn't of much relevance to someone in Canada.
This GT 240 is a actually a very nice deal;
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681...
It's initially $72 shipped with the promo code and just $42 after the rebate. You aren't going to do better than that in your price range.
It's a bit faster than the HD4670;
Graphics card Master
Power supply Expert

Dysania said:
Thanks, man, and I know, I know, the 9800GT is a great card, lots better than the 4670. I'd love to have it, it'd be my ideal card, awesome and everything. Unfortunately, my power supply can't handle that card as it only has 19.5amps on the 12v rail, but the recommended amount for this card is 26amps.

Thanks for the idea though, and $49.99 for a 9800GT would be such a steal, but too bad.

That's the recommendation for running the entire system, the 9800GT (full fat version) will only need about 7amps.

Mousemonkey said:
That's the recommendation for running the entire system, the 9800GT (full fat version) will only need about 7amps.


Oh, really? Thanks, and since I'm using some not so great processors and such, I think the 19.5amps will be enough? Hope so, I'll definitely consider the 9800gt now, thanks a lot!

EDIT: Aww man, just found out that the 9800GT and requires two 6 pin power connectors, which I don't even have one of. In fact, I don't even have a 4 pin power connector so even if the card came with an adapter, I wouldn't be able to use it. Thanks a bunch guys, I guess im going to have to settle for the Radeon4670 because of my psu's limits.
Graphics card Master
Power supply Expert

9800GTs have either one or no power connector as far as I am aware.
Did you check out the GT 240 I linked? It is low power with no connector and will work fine on your power supply.

jyjjy said:
9800GTs have either one or no power connector as far as I am aware.
Did you check out the GT 240 I linked? It is low power with no connector and will work fine on your power supply.


Oh really? Thanks, I'll take a step back to think about those two then, thanks a lot :) 
Graphics card Master
Power supply Expert

Like I said earlier for $42 dollars after the rebate I doubt you are going to find a better deal in your price range.
If you are talking about the 9800GT jbart1981 linked it has no power connector as well but unless you live close to Detroit and are willing to drive to get it you are out of luck on that one.
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