Cheap gaming card

[drthrd]

Want a cheap gaming card for now. Under $100. Waiting for PCIe 3 cards. Right now have a onboard Nvidia 7025. 400 Watt PSU. Will be playing Battlefield 3, Command & Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Diablo III,Starcraft II, Star Wars: The Old Republic.

 

[fb39ca4]

Have you looked at the "Best GRaphics CArds for the Money" article? You should get an HD 5770/6770. It's usually $110 but you should be able to find on under $100. Keep in mind you won't be maxing anything out with it though.

 

[thesnappyfingers]

so its a temp card?

here is a gtx 460 for 100.00 after mir from NCIX. I dare you to find a better deal. its 129.00 w/o mir.

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=55409&vpn=N460GTX%20HAWK&manufacture=MSI%2FMicroStar&promoid=1367

 

[megamanx00]

For under $100 it has to be the 5670 (GDDR5 not GDDR3 version). For a little over $100 a Radeon 6770 or GTS 450 are what to get. A GTX 460 on sale is an even better option, though you have to look for deals like above.

 

[drthrd]

What about the GeForce GT 520?

 

[megamanx00]

That's about half as fast as a 5670.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GT_520/6.html

 

[thesnappyfingers]

that 5670 will serve your purpose just fine, hell the 520 might too. but neither of those cards are really all that good for gaming especially the games that you are referring to.

The gtx on the other hand is significantly more powerful and trumps the 5670 easily. I would not purchase the 520 at all.

Here is the benchmark for GTX460 (same exact model that is on NCIX)
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_460_HAWK/7.html

Here is the bench for the 5670 and 520
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GT_520/7.html

both the benches are for battlefield 2, as you said you wanted to play bf3 with this card. BF3 of course will have higher system requirements.

Those benches are of course on max settings, so if you dont care about playing at minimum or low or middle, you could buy the gt 520 for 50 bucks and, like you said, wait for pci 3.0, I still wouldn't.

I would most definitely jump on this offer considering the 5670 is about $80.00, but the performance of the GTX460 more than makes up for the $20.00 difference.


recommend PSU for the GTX460 is 450 to 500 watts (card uses about 160 at max load)

Hope that helps.

 

[megamanx00]

All those games were tested at the highest quality settings. Using a 5670 would require you to of course use lower settings for smoother game play .

 

[drthrd]

What if I forgot about price whats a good card for a 400 watt PSU?

 

[megamanx00]

I'd say a 5670. You might get away with a 5770 or GTS 450 depending on how much power the rest of your system is using but it might be stressing your PSU. A high quality unit, like an Antec Earthwatts or Corsair 400W probably wouldn't have much of an issue. A lower quality unit like so no name brand or turbo link and you're taking your chances.

 

[thesnappyfingers]

+1 to megamanx, you will of course probably playing most of those games on your list on medium settings, but they will be playable this is also dependent upon your screen resolution.

here is a benchmark for all three of the cards that Mega mentioned.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Axle/GeForce_GTS_450_OC/16.html

to see if you can run the gts 450 or the 5770 here is a system wattage calculator
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

here is a gts 450 for cheap, 70.00 after MIR, however it is out of stock. the rebate is good until November.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?nm_mc=AFC-TechBargains&cm_mmc=AFC-TechBargains-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA&Item=N82E16814162062

 

[drthrd]

Looks like if I want to a card that will play them games at good resolutions and high details I should get me something like a Corsair TX750M for the PSU and for the video card a GeForce GTX 560 Ti.

 

[thesnappyfingers]

Looks like if I want to a card that will play them games at good resolutions and high details I should get me something like a Corsair TX750M for the PSU and for the video card a GeForce GTX 560 Ti.

Correct, but 750 watts is overkill for just one gtx 560 ti.

here are benches for the gtx 560 ti
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_560_Twin_Frozr_II/12.html

here is the card for 209.00 after MIR, 229.00 before MIR, at NCIX, it is the same website that I referenced for the GTX 460, earlier in the thread.

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=58303&vpn=N560GTX%2DTI%20Twin%20Frozr%20II%2FOC&manufacture=MSI%2FMicroStar&promoid=1115

What is the resolution that you want to play at?

 

[drthrd]

Looks like if I want to a card that will play them games at good resolutions and high details I should get me something like a Corsair TX750M for the PSU and for the video card a GeForce GTX 560 Ti.

Correct, but 750 watts is overkill for just one gtx 560 ti.

here are benches for the gtx 560 ti
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_560_Twin_Frozr_II/12.html

here is the card for 209.00 after MIR, 229.00 before MIR, at NCIX, it is the same website that I referenced for the GTX 460, earlier in the thread.

http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=58303&vpn=N560GTX%2DTI%20Twin%20Frozr%20II%2FOC&manufacture=MSI%2FMicroStar&promoid=1115

What is the resolution that you want to play at?

My monitor will only do 1920 x 1080. I do not see many monitors out there that will do greater. Looking at that page looks like if I don't go with a GeForce GTX 560 Ti I need to look at the HD 6950 or 5870. Have not priced AMD cards yet. Have a few more questions though but will make a new thread for them.

 

[thesnappyfingers]

the 560 ti and the hd 6950 are essentially the same price. Hope we were helpful and you got what you needed.

 

[drthrd]

Everyone was, thank you.

 

[drthrd]

Best answer selected by drthrd.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey