Extreme Budget Graphics Card for gaming

[Tact1999]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE:
ideally tomorrow

BUDGET RANGE: $0-$75 USD

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT:
Overwatch!! (the main reason i'm making this purchase!). But also WoW (think 80man Alterac Valley at medium would be sweet), and finally Diablo 3 at any setting that gives 0 lag when in a party that spams chakrams or hammers. >.<. last priority would be the new doom game and whatever else might come down the line.

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY:
ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT
and what I believe might be either a:
525W 85% efficient (80 Plus®Silver Certified) Power Factor Correcting (PFC) power supply
or
525W 70% efficient Active PFC power supply

source i used for PSU cause i was too lazy to look inside -_-


OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS:
4gigs of ram(ddr3),
Intel Xeon E5530 @ 2.4ghz,
PCIe 1.0 x16

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS:
any legit place with awesome return policy if i get a bad one. so newegg? tigerdirect? whatever you guys love to shop at. (also super fast delivery) USA

PARTS PREFERENCES:
I originally wanted to "future proof" this purchase by getting dx12. but that might make things more expensive/harder to find. I also thought 256bit and 2gb ram might be necessary but i also know i can't look for a card just based on that. so not really sure what i'd prefer. :-/ but i did want to play it safe and at least go for a card that doesn't need external power incase the PSU that came with my pc did not match the specs (bought pc off ebay for cheap. going great for almost 2 years playing on it DAILY )

OVERCLOCKING: No

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: well i do have 2 pcie 1.0 ports but....nah. budget constraints.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1440x900 max and would love to play all above games at that rez like i do now.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: um... can withstand the neglect of not being dusted and cleaned as often as it should. (i'm stupid). cards have lifetime warranties? sure i'll take some of that; Must run [strike]Crysis 3[/strike] Overwatch.


the only card i'm looking at now that piques my interest even thought it's a little over budget is:

ZOTAC GeForce GTX 750 Ti DirectX 11 ZT-70605-10M 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready Plug-in Card Video Card

but i don't know if this is the model that does not need external power :-/

 

[Saestear]

Hi!
I believe with budget that tight, 750Ti is so far pretty much the only viable option. However, it's successor, the 950SE should be coming out some time soon and although it will probably be a little bit pricier, it might still be an option for you. You can also try looking around fleaBay and maybe you can find the 750ti even cheaper....be careful to buy only from reputable sellers tho!

So it's up to you...either wait a bit for 950SE and decide when you see the price or go for 750ti now...either way, it is a good card in this price range.

cheers!
Stanley

 

[William Henrickson]

$47 AMD R7-250 for the WINNNN!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Radeon-R7-250-2GB-DDR3-PCI-Express-3-0-x16-Low-Profile-Video-Card-/201572066345?hash=item2eeea1a429:g:Tu8AAOSwgQ9Vq~QG

I saw the "Extreme Budget" title and jut had to throw this deal in there, haha!

 

[Saestear]

$47 AMD R7-250 for the WINNNN!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Radeon-R7-250-2GB-DDR3-PCI-Express-3-0-x16-Low-Profile-Video-Card-/201572066345?hash=item2eeea1a429:g:Tu8AAOSwgQ9Vq~QG

I saw the "Extreme Budget" title and jut had to throw this deal in there, haha!

I guess that would work just as well, considering the OP's requirements. And of he has a MB for it, he can always do crossfire instead of going for something more expensive...

But overall, I think the 750ti should perform better...and he can always overclock it to get that 10 fps more in times of need. I can't really tell from my experience as the last ATI card I had was like 12 years ago. But I believe in this budget, ATIs would work just as well.

 

[William Henrickson]

Its roughly half the performance and price.

I put one of these in a Dell Core2 E7400, ate games for lunch! Was always CPU limited.

EDITED as I realize it's a Nehalem. Whats with PCIE1.0? Server board?

 

[Saestear]

Its roughly half the performance and price.

I put one of these in a Dell Core2 E7400, ate games for lunch! Was always CPU limited.

EDITED as I realize it's a Nehalem. Whats with PCIE1.0? Server board?

Well, looking at the specs...yea, it's not worth getting 750ti, unless an all-system is planned as well (this doesn't seem to be the case...)

On the other hand, he does mention "future-proofing", so when he actually does upgrade, the 750ti would work better.

So, dear OP: if you are planning to upgrade your whole system to meet today's medium requirements in a year or so, 750ti might be a better way to go. If you are not certain about upgrading in let's say 3 years, go with the R7 and save the rest for a nice dinner

have a nice day
Stanley

 

[Yodie_The_Great]

The GTX 750Ti is a very good GPU. It functions a bit less than a 960 and is about $20-40 more than your budget, But I think it is fine for your needs.

 

[William Henrickson]

I just remembered something. I had a friend who had that exact Zotac 750Ti, it died and they sent him a GTX950 free of charge.

 

[Tact1999]

thx so much guys for the input. i was able to add in 10-20 more bucks to my budget. (i get tips at work and i'm using them to fund the card ) but out of sheer principle i might try to keep it in the very very low 100's tops. (i'm a cheapskate) also as per your guys comments, it wouldn't be worth getting a super beast on the mobo i have and i have no plans on doing a full system upgrade. just a card to get me by the next few years playing in medium-low settings. i'm not picky so long a framerates are super smooth.

i will check out those cards. ty guys. feel free to add in any other cards you guys thing are top-notch for my new updated budget. (sub$100ish)


EDIT:

i forgot to mention i think i also want to upgrade my memory. is it wierd to have an odd number of ram? i think i have to buy them in 3's (triple channel). and i don't wanna go overboard with 2x6 so i wanna get 1x6 which will leave me with 7 gigs of ram...i've never seen/heard of this and curious if it matters?

(in the end i'd have)
2
1
1
1
1
1

on the 6 slots available

 

[Saestear]

i forgot to mention i think i also want to upgrade my memory. is it wierd to have an odd number of ram? i think i have to buy them in 3's (triple channel). and i don't wanna go overboard with 2x6 so i wanna get 1x6 which will leave me with 7 gigs of ram...i've never seen/heard of this and curious if it matters?

(in the end i'd have)
2
1
1
1
1
1

on the 6 slots available

Hi. Yes, it is a bit weird Triple channel sounds unusual, but seeing as your mobo is probably a server one, it is possible. That means you have to buy the memory as 3 pairs. What you can usually read is that the pairs should be of the same memory sticks and for best functionallity, I'd say it's true - two identical DDR sticks for each channel. It usually works even if you mix different brand and capacity ones. But they are usually sold in pairs with "guaranteed compatibility", so that you know the pair will work together. Bit I've usually mixed them with no problems. But getting 1 gb sticks can be quite difficult and expensive...it's not usually worth it for the money...try to look for those at fleabay - something like this http://www.ebay.de/itm/Micron-1GB-DDR3-1333MHz-ECC-PC3-10600-240pin-Mac-Pro-Server-Ram-MT9JSF12872AZ-/121768384779?hash=item1c59f6190b:g:mbwAAOSwwE5WWO7G

EDIT: interesting idea might even be to buy them from the eastern market. It's basically the same thing you get locally, but diractly from the factory. Of course, this direct shopping involves a bit of a risk http://www.banggood.com/Xiede-2GB-DDR3-1600Mhz-PC3-12800-DIMM-240Pin-For-AMD-Chipset-Motherboard-Desktop-Memory-RAM-p-993746.html But when you get a non-working product, they will usually refund you. Just a thought