Budget replacement for GeForce 8800 GTX

[vileynye]

Unfortunately, my 8800 GTX has been sputtering its last few breaths of life. It is time to replace it. However, due to financial struggles, I am on a very limited budget and it is becoming somewhat of a challenge to find a replacement card for a good price. My budget is $100 or below, I cannot afford to pay a dollar more. I would prefer a new card, to a used one, for peace of mind. I am aware you can bake a video card but since it is still useable, and all I have, I am unwilling to attempt it for fear of damaging it beyond usage. I am not entirely sure if it is relevant, or not, but I will give you my system specs just in case. Oh and please, hold your criticism of my old, outdated and slightly crappy rig. I just want to hear about the video card

Mobo: abit fatal1ty an8 sli
CPU: amd athlon 64 x2 4800+
RAM: 4GB( 4 x 1GB) OCZ PC3200 200MHz
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit SP1

Thanks for your time, I appreciate all feedback.

 

[Soda-88]

Cheapest Radeon 7750/7770 you can find, pretty much.

 

[fun500]

Heres an article covering graphics cards at different price points:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-2.html

And here's a couple of cards from newegg, both AMD 7750s
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121652
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202002

 

[funguseater]

Hi

Well you could pick up a HD7770 for around a $100 if you find a good sale, its about 8-10% improvement over 8800 but uses half the power. Also I would suggest you take a look at overclock.net, they have an excellent trading community in the US where you can find very good deals on used gear (but I only buy from people with many trades and very good feedback).

Good Luck with the search
Fungi

 

[vileynye]

Thanks for the quick replies guys. I appreciate the help. It seems the ASUS card fun500 linked from newegg is kind of what I’m looking for. I guess my next question would be how does the 7750 compare to the 8800 GTX? In addition, I read somewhere that the HD 5770/6770 performs the same as the HD 7750 at 1600x1050, which is what I am running at. Not sure how valid this information is, any truth?

 

[vileynye]

I found a Radeon HD 6770 1GB for 109 with a 30 dollar rebate. How does the 6770 compare to the 7750?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121472

Edit: I found this http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/345593-33-7750-6770

Seems to answer my question and from what I understand the 6770 would be an upgrade, even if relatively small, for the price I am looking for. Am I on point here or am I way off base?

EditEdit: What about the GTX 550 Ti?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500283