Temporary Graphics Card

[sgtdavis44]

Hi, I'm looking to get a very cheap(under $65 US) card to replace my GeForce 6200(NV44a) until I get my MSI N460GTX Hawk in a month or two(unless something equally priced that is better comes out). Now what is best for this task? I would prefer something that is PCI Express 2.0. The reason I need this is because I'm getting the P55-GD65 from MSI and it doesn't have an AGP slot. However, I live in South Africa and to get proper pricing over here you have to multiply the cost in the US by about 1.3 times(and even that is almost too little, e.g. An MSI N460GTX Hawk cost what? $239 US dollars? Over here it costs a full $378 US). I aslo cannot import from the US or anywhere else as that is just alot of hassle and wasting time.

I'm thinking of a GeForce 210 and I play only S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call of Pripyat, S.T.A.L.K.E.R Shadow of Chernobyl, Company of Heroes, Far Cry 2 and Battlefield 2. I don't mind lower settings as I'm used to playing Stalker CoP at 15 frames a second which is VERY playable if you're used to it, believe me(although 1156 res, lower than that my performance decreases, as ell as higher. Battlefield 2 at 20-35fps @1280x1024 etc. So If I can get proper frames at 1280x1024 even at lowest setting I'd be happy.

 

[wa1]

So, first of all, tell us your FULL specs: CPU-RAM-Mobo-PSU-OS.
Let's make this simple, just list here all the cards that you can afford, then we will give you suggestions...
But you've said before that this is temporary, right? So i think you can get the cheapest card that you can find...

 

[Lian]

I'm down here in SA as well. My suggestion is looking at Gumtree / CapeAds and find a ATI 4xxx / 3xxx or Nvidia 9xxx series card.

I sold my 9600GTS for R500 last month on Gumtree which is well under your budget of $65 (i think ?). Currently have my GTS250 on gumtree for R950. Still have a look on there. Lots of second hand graphics cards for cheap that's far more powerful than a GF210.

If u insist on a brand new card, have a look at www.take2.co.za. Amazing prices and pretty much every card you can think of ranging from R400 to R10 000

 

[sgtdavis44]

@wa1: OK, full system specs:
Motherboard: MSI P55-GD65
Processor: Intel i5-760
Hard Drives: 2x Western Digital 80gb, 1x Seagate Barracuda 160gb, 1x Seagate Barracuda 80gb
Case: Coolermaster Elite 430
Graphics Card(The one I'm gettingin a month/two): MSI N460GTX Hawk(NOTE the Talon Attack one)
PSU: Still deciding here, probably bwteen 600W-750W
RAM: 4gb Kingston

I'm going to "the" shop(the only retail shop in Potch) on Monday to see what is the cheapest they've got.

@ct1615: I'll keep an eye peeled

@Lian: Thanks for the link!

EDIT:
@ct1615: Nope, unfortunately not. But that's a new one. I'd actually prefer something that I can collect(that is in my town) within the next 3 or 4 days. And I still need to find a good PSU that is not too expensive before I can do that. It is in fact about(generally) R215 more, that equals about 431 US more. Which is almost half my budget. I'll see if I can find a 8400GS somewhere. Our previous supplier in Pretoria(Tswhane) was R340, which is equal to $48 US. Which is the cheapest I've seen.