good card on a low budget

[Will]

Hi all,

I need to upgrade my card but I have almost no money. Regardless of what I
do I wll have to save up for one.

Being as I would like to get one in the next couple of months I will
probably have to settle for one that costs less than $150 usd.

I have seen some promising leads on Newegg like a leadtek 5700 ultra for
$155 or so. But from what I've heard to play some of the newer games I will
need at least a 5900.

Also With new geforce chips coming out will their possibly be a nv4x chip
for less than my set limit in say 3 months or so. If it will be worth the
wait I could maybe go as long as 4 months before upgrading as My fave games
(ut2k4 and AA) are running fairly well on low settings.

I'm not deadset on getting either Nvidia or ATI, I just need a good card on
a budget.

TIA
Will

system specs:
Pentium 4 2.4 ghz
768 mb ddr266
gigabyte radeon 9200se 128mb ram o/cd to 250/200 Cat 4.9s
XP sp2
SB Audigy1

 

[Yeremein]

I'd either (1) hold out for a GeForce 6600, or (2) get an FX5900[XT]
cheap on eBay. I did (2), because I didn't want to wait until Christmas.

 

[Tod]

As it gets closer to Christmas, prices will drop.
Also during the six days after Christmas, Retailers/Wholesalers will try to
clear out as much computer stuff as possible.
Inventory tax is paid on anything leftover after Dec 31st.

Also with the Nvidia 6600 coming out, it will help drop the price on other
Nvidia based cards.

Personaly, I'm happy with my ATI 9600 PRO AIW.
ATI 9600XTs are currently down to $140 mailorder.
Should get cheaper as Christmas gets closer.

 

[johns]

Gigabyte 9600XT at mwave.com

Mine runs Far Cry as well as I have seen it run with
good frame rate and all the eye candy. Doom 3 is
very playable. And MOHAA, CoD is no problem
at all.

johns

 

[Luc Monod]

ATI's are decent/good gaming cards, but if you want to run any OpenGL apps
(3DSmax, CADD, etc), go with NVIDIA.

Luc
Mechanical Designer

 

[wgd]

Hi all,

I need to upgrade my card but I have almost no money. Regardless of what I
do I wll have to save up for one.

Being as I would like to get one in the next couple of months I will
probably have to settle for one that costs less than $150 usd.

I have seen some promising leads on Newegg like a leadtek 5700 ultra for
$155 or so. But from what I've heard to play some of the newer games I will
need at least a 5900.

The 5700 Ultra is an O.K. card, but the FX5900XT is much better and only
about $25 more (new). Like another poster said eBay is a good place to
pick up a used FX5900XT cheap. A lot of people have upgraded to the 6800
series and are selling their used cards on eBay. You could probably pick
one up for under your price target.

Some people don't like eBay. I have been buying and selling there for 4
years with no problems.

 

[Mangyrat]

first off take a look at www.pricewatch.com then at toms hardware and check
benchmarks then make up your mind.
ati has a lot to offer in your price range that will beat the hell out the
5700ultra. make shur you look at the quality bench marks not just the raw
speed tests.
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/vga-charts-13.html we all
want our games to look great when playing games and when you buy a new video
card its so they are faster and look better. so check both bench marks and
make up your mind. and dont for get to research any vender you find on price
watch. the cheapest site may not be the best to order from.
if it was me i would get the 9800pro for around $160 from newegg it would
work great in your sys.
and if you just cant swing $160 then in your price range the 9700pro is
still a damn good card if you can find one.
ebay is a great place to find some deals but you realy dont know what your
getting in a used card. they may have overclocked it till it craped out or
it may even be a lower end card that they hacked to a faster speed like a
lot did with the 9500 cards and then sell them as a 9700. save your self
some cash in the long run and get the 9800 pro it will hold up for a few
years.

 

[N´far]

first off take a look at www.pricewatch.com then at toms hardware and check
benchmarks then make up your mind.
ati has a lot to offer in your price range that will beat the hell out the
5700ultra. make shur you look at the quality bench marks not just the raw
speed tests.
http://graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20031229/vga-charts-13.html we all
want our games to look great when playing games and when you buy a new video
card its so they are faster and look better. so check both bench marks and
make up your mind. and dont for get to research any vender you find on price
watch. the cheapest site may not be the best to order from.
if it was me i would get the 9800pro for around $160 from newegg it would
work great in your sys.
and if you just cant swing $160 then in your price range the 9700pro is
still a damn good card if you can find one.
ebay is a great place to find some deals but you realy dont know what your
getting in a used card. they may have overclocked it till it craped out or
it may even be a lower end card that they hacked to a faster speed like a
lot did with the 9500 cards and then sell them as a 9700. save your self
some cash in the long run and get the 9800 pro it will hold up for a few
years.

The 5900XT is a good card as well and faster ( cheaper too? ) than a 5700U.

 

[Leon Smith]

I can also vouch for the fx 5900 xt cards, good price and excellent
performance. Doom 3 runs at 1024x768 in 'High' mode at a steady 40 fps and
most games will run at 1280x1024 without any problems. One of these should
see you through the next batch of big game releases.

 

[DaveL]

If I were you I would not buy an FX card. Either wait for a 6600 or get an
ATI card like a 9600xt or 9700pro or 9800pro.

DaveL

 

[A. Bahm]

Well, if you use pricewatch.com, be sure to cross refrence it with
resellerratings.com or something. I just use newegg, myself. The extra
bucks above the minimum pricewatch price
are money well spent, considering newegg ships the right item fast (and
cheap, usually free),
has good customer service, and no hassle returns.