So what card do you guys think I should get?

[h2l]

So basically, all I want my computer to be able to play is BioShock, BioShock 2, and Dead Island. After that, I have a Nintendo 64 and Playstation 2 emulator for which to play some old school games, so I would need a card that could keep up with all of those games.

So as you can see.. I'm not really looking to spend much money on card since I leave most of the gaming up to my Xbox 360. I just want to play some things that I can't on my 360.

My system is Windows XP 32 bit, i3-2120, Asus P8H61, 8GB of memory(essentially 3.32 though), and a Seagate 7200rpm 250GB HDD.

I'm not looking to spend more then $100.

Here are the card I was looking at:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=41125&Sku=E145-0550 < I know this one is like $30 more but I'm okay with that a long as the extra money is worth it.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2555930&CatId=7387 < Another one I was looking at, but the $10 difference between this and the 550 Ti makes it almost impossible to justify buying it when a much better card could be had for only a few bucks more.

Then I could do slightly better then the 550 Ti at $130 with this > http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3199442&CatId=7387

Anyways, I came from using an HD 6870 and I really really loved it, but it was useless to me because I never even used it to game. So I guess right now I am just looking for opinions and suggestions. I actually think the cards I linked might be overkill for the games I listed above since they are all old, so let me know if I could even spend less.

Either way I am just looking for a card that won't be bottlenecked by my cpu, memory, or OS, because I won't be changing those things. I just want smooth gameplay on the games I listed.

Thanks!

 

[gorz]

If you are willing to spend $130 then get a radeon hd 7770. It's better than the 550ti and uses less power.
Your post does leave me with some questions though. Why are you running win xp 32 bit and what happened to the 6870?

 

[h2l]

Will definitely look in to the HD 7770, however, it is PCI 3.0, and I believe my motherboard only accepts PCI 2.1.

I gave up on Windows 64 bit. I had it for XP and 7 and I just don't like it. None of my security programs run on 64 bit and I'm not paying to buy new programs. I stick with 64 bit on my linux boxes now and 32 bit on my XP box.

I sold the 6870 because I needed the money at the time for something else, plus, no matter what I did, I was getting frame flickering or whatever you call it. I had the updated drivers, more then sufficient cooling power, and 8GB of memory. Couldn't figure it out so I thought why should I have a nice card that won't even work the way I want it to. I could just get a cheaper card, still play the same games, and just deal with the flickering.

 

[Sunius]

PCI express is totally backwards compatible, so 3.0 card will work in 2.1 board.

Up to $100 range, HD 7750 is your best bet. Next in line is HD 7770 for $130, then goes GTX 560/HD 6870 for $160.

 

[h2l]

Oh alright, didn't know they were compatible. That's great then, thanks! I might check out the 7750 then.

I would much rather spend $100 on the 7750 then $130 on the 7770, because if I'm already going to spend another 30 bucks, what's the point in not getting the 6870 right? And I'm not getting the same card I just sold haha.

 

[Sunius]

Hehe yeah .

 

[h2l]

Do any other cards come to mind for < $100 that still has decent onboard memory and will allow me to play BioShock and my N64 and PS2 emulators? I'm thinking I just want to spend $80 or $90 flat on a graphics card since I really won't be using it much for anything other then simple graphics games. I don't think I really need anything high powered like the 550 Ti or the 7750.

 

[gorz]

Just get the 7750 then. It is about as fast as the 550ti and uses less power and you save $30.