I need a new video card - Help?

[Babydoll3133]

Hello,
I have a Ge Force GT 220 (yes, I know) that I have been using for several years. Though I have been quite happy with it, newer games need more power. My gaming is mostly Sims 2 - Sims 3. The sims play well in XP 64, but not in Windows 7 64. I have 8 gigs of memory and a Phenom Quad 2.31 ghz. Could anyone please suggest a Video card that would be better without breaking the bank? I'm not interested in anything in the $100 or above mark - I'd rather keep it around $50 if possible. Thank you.

 

[Pinhedd]

Decent video cards simply do not retail for 50 dollars. You can get a Radeon 6670 for around 70 bucks and it will offer up to about 3x the performance of your 220

 

[legendkiller]

This is your ultiamte best matched for around $50 bucks but this one should do the most effective trick for your budget... http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1781467&Sku=M452-0469

 

[Babydoll3133]

$70 is "around" $50. I just can't spend $120 bucks to push around digital people. The 220 is actually a pretty good card, but I wanted something a little better.

Thank you for your reply.

 

[smorizio]

the 210/520/530 cards are all low power cards for dell and hp. the 530 might be a little faster then your old card it has 90 cuda cores. the next step would be the 450. there one card for 69.00 on new egg.
on ati side looking at the 6500/6700 line of cards on new egg.

 

[manohar_62]

you should upgrade to galaxy gts 250 for around $60 in ebay. i bought one and it plays recent games on high and medium depending on the game with good fps.

 

[sarah_diamond]

Yeah, ATI HD 6570 2 GB memory, I've bought it $62

 

[Babydoll3133]

Ok...I'm torn here. Both are about the same price ($55 after rebate)

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6670 1GB
XFX HD-657X-CNF2 Radeon HD 6570 2GB

Which would be the best?

Video Cards are the only thing that truly confuses me.

 

[Pinhedd]

6670 1GB hands down. The 6570 is less powerful and has inferior GDDR3 RAM which is vastly inferior to the GDDR5 RAM found on the 6670. The fact that the 6570 has 2 GB of RAM is meaningless, it's purely there for marketing purposes

 

[Babydoll3133]

Thank you Pinhedd and everyone. You have helped me a great deal.

Edit: I just noticed (after ordering) the SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6670 1GB has DDR3 memory.
The more expensive card has the DDR5. I hope that doesn't make too much difference.

 

[Pinhedd]

probably not as much as going from a 6570 chip to a 6670 chip. I would call and see if you can adjust the order to the GDDR5 version if the price difference isn't that big

 

[Babydoll3133]

Ok. Thank you. I'm sure the difference going from a GT 220 to the 6670 will make up for that. My daughter has a 5700 series that is just amazing compared to mine, so I'm sure I will be happy.

 

[Babydoll3133]

Best answer selected by Babydoll3133.