Budget video card recommendation

[OodlesOFun]

Can anyone recommend the best, inexpensive budget video card? I'm looking
for something with 64mb max to play some old games and possibly a few new
ones (Halo only requires 32mb). Thanks.

 

[James Grabowski]

Can anyone recommend the best, inexpensive budget video card? I'm looking
for something with 64mb max to play some old games and possibly a few new
ones (Halo only requires 32mb). Thanks.

How cheap? £30 should get you a radeon 8500 or geforce 3 from ebay. A
radeon 8500 will run most current games at 800x600 with reasonable fps.

 

[OodlesOFun]

How cheap? £30 should get you a radeon 8500 or geforce 3 from ebay. A
radeon 8500 will run most current games at 800x600 with reasonable fps.

I was looking around on newegg and I saw a Powercolor Radeon 7000 (64mb, AGP
[I'm only going to use the VGS out]) for $41. How does this look?

 

[Kirby Crosby]

a new 700 is a far worse deal than a used 8500...
stay away from any of the 7XXX series cards for gaming.

How cheap? £30 should get you a radeon 8500 or geforce 3 from ebay. A
radeon 8500 will run most current games at 800x600 with reasonable fps.

I was looking around on newegg and I saw a Powercolor Radeon 7000 (64mb, AGP
[I'm only going to use the VGS out]) for $41. How does this look?

 

[Dave S.]

I just picked up an Original Geforce3 for 29.00 on ebay and It plays most
any game out there.
As far as the Radeon 7000 It's not that good. In the under 50.00 range I'd
try to get (In this order) a Radeon 8500 (NOT LE), Radeon 8500LE 128MB,
Geforce3 Ti500, Geforce 3, Geforce 3 Ti200, Radeon 7500.
GeeZer

 

[OodlesOFun]

I just picked up an Original Geforce3 for 29.00 on ebay and It plays most
any game out there.
As far as the Radeon 7000 It's not that good. In the under 50.00 range I'd
try to get (In this order) a Radeon 8500 (NOT LE), Radeon 8500LE 128MB,
Geforce3 Ti500, Geforce 3, Geforce 3 Ti200, Radeon 7500.
GeeZer

Thanks for your reply. I'm gonna start looking right now. I also saw some
decent prices on some 9200SE's. Can I chuck these in the 7000 category or
are they decent?

 

[Strontium]

I would be tempted to say not to even touch anything below a Radeon 8500.
The GF3 Ti200/500 are excellent choices.

-
Dave S. stood up at show-n-tell, in [email protected], and
said:

I just picked up an Original Geforce3 for 29.00 on ebay and It plays
most any game out there.
As far as the Radeon 7000 It's not that good. In the under 50.00
range I'd try to get (In this order) a Radeon 8500 (NOT LE), Radeon
8500LE 128MB, Geforce3 Ti500, Geforce 3, Geforce 3 Ti200, Radeon 7500.
GeeZer

--
Strontium

"And, all of your lies weren't enough to keep me....here."

- Goo Goo Dolls

 

[Tod]

The 8500, 8500LE and 9100 have a little bit better chip,
over the 9000 and 9200

 

[Tod]

ATI 9100

 

[Pug Fugley]

Thanks for your reply. I'm gonna start looking right now. I also saw some
decent prices on some 9200SE's. Can I chuck these in the 7000 category or
are they decent?

Avoid the SE cards.

 

[Brad]

They are getting hard to find though. I got mine a a local store and it was
his very last one. After searching like 20 other stores.

 

[OodlesOFun]

They are getting hard to find though. I got mine a a local store and it was
his very last one. After searching like 20 other stores.

I was about to post this reply. The 9100's and 8500's that everybody
recommend are hard to come by. I'm probably going to buy from Newegg and
they mostly have (within my price range) 7500's and 9200's.

 

[OodlesOFun]

Id probally go with the 9200 if you can get one thats not se.

I thought SE mean't "Special Edition". Why are these SE's not-so-special?

 

[Brad]

Id probally go with the 9200 if you can get one thats not se.

 

[Big Fat Turkey]

I thought SE mean't "Special Edition".
Why are these SE's not-so-special?

they have comparison charts for the various models at the ati site. i'm too
lazy to provide a link, but i know they aren't difficult to find.

 

[Brad]

Lower clock rate. Slower memory. When i first bought my radeon thats what i
thought too. Think of SE as Slower or Sucky Edition. But if thats all you
can find its gotta be faster than what you have. I would think it would run
Halo with no problem at all.

 

[Tod]

ATI 9100 are still for sale on www.pricewatch.com

 

[bob cox]

I believe it stands for "Second Edition" ala Windows 98, not special
edition.

 

[neopolaris]

I have a 128-bit 64MB 8500 and 2 GF3ti200's. The GF3's are faster and seems
to run Battlefield with less glitches.

 

[J.Clarke]

I thought SE mean't "Special Edition". Why are these SE's
not-so-special?

It's like olives and European condoms--the smallest size is "large".

The "SE" doesn't mean a thing, it's just a name that some marketing
guy after running his focus groups and whatnot decided would sell.