best card for ~$50

[oupei]

should I get:

9500NP
9550SE
9550
6200

or something else?

wanna have agp, dvi, and dx9 capabilities. will be used for HL2, and some RTS games. THANKS!!

 

[oupei]

btw, i just wanted to add that I've been looking for benchies but it's been tough. nobody likes benching the entry-level cards :-

here's what i did find:
9550
6200

 

[tuteja1986]

dude just get this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102408 if you have low range card : will play all games even fear at low graphic
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102348R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814131293
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814131292
worth the extra $20
anyways if you are going hl 2 , cs:s then get a low range ATI card because Nvidia ain't so good in low range..

but you should look at something like 6600GT AGP or X800GTO agp $140ish low price

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: oupei
should I get:

9500NP
9550SE
9550
6200

or something else?

wanna have agp, dvi, and dx9 capabilities. will be used for HL2, and some RTS games. THANKS!!

You should be able to find a used Geforce 6200 128MB 128bit AGP8x card for ~$50. That is your absolute best bet, and chances are you can unlock the card into a full fledged Geforce 6600 vanilla. You could even overclock after that if you felt so inclined. I've got an eVGA unlocked 6200 @ 400/700 that runs FEAR @ 1024x768 smoothly, albeit no eye candy

Anyway, it will be more than enough for HL2 and RTS gaming.

My second choice would be that Radeon 9500NP for $50 tied with the Gigabyte 6200 for $68. I didn't know anyone still sold those 9500s new! The Radeon 9500 is unlockable also, but either way you're not guaranteed at successful unlocking.

 

[airborne82nd]

If under 50.00 is what you are going for I think the 9500NP is the best card to get. Or look in the for sale section you might be able to pick up a 9700NP or pro for that.

 

[yhelothar]

I don't understand why people are recommending the 9500NP. Has anyone actually used one before? I had one that wouldn't unlock that I got to upgrade my geforce3. A non-unlockable 9500NP is slower than a geforce3.
That's weak. Might as well get a ti4200 used.
Anyways, I voted for the 6200.

 

[airborne82nd]

I recommend the 9500 because it best fit the posters requirements. If he is going for ~$50.00 it is the best card on the list. A Geforce 3 may be faster but it is not directX9 like he was asking.
However, he did put the 6200 on the list so if he dosen't want to stay ~50.00 by all means that is the better card.

 

[Steelski]

i had a 9500NP and it was the best bang for buck i ever had.
Finding one that unlocks now is something of an art so dont expect it to. Also a 9800SE might be unlockable.
I had a geforce 3 500ti that was great but i dont know how well they would do now. Also the GF 4200/400/600 ti might be good.

 

[abs0lut3]

hey geforce 4 Ti 4200 is only 35 bucks at Tigerdirect.com after rebate.

 

[Hikari]

The OP did mention DX9, even if that does sort of severely limit options.

 

[BlacKJesuS]

Id say a 9500NP...but make sure you get the one that softmods into a 9700P then you'll have a card that beats a 6200 and even a 6600

http://www.techpowerup.com/softmod/faq.php

 

[BlacKJesuS]

that 9500 you have selected will turn into a 9700 then all you gotta do is Overclock

 

[oupei]

wow, thanks for all the replies!!

hmm... i was under the impression that all the cards I put up there were > TI4200 > GF3... cuz I actually do have both a TI4200 and a GF3TI200 at home, and I was gonna use this to replace the TI200 to get DVI for the LCD and to play C&C Generals etc... cuz the TI200 wasn't cutting it.

well according to tom, the 9500NP is at least better than the GF4, though it is severely crippled from the 9500P...

and the 6200 article i linked above shows the 6200 is 110% of the x300. and the x300 is supposedly
the PCI-E version of the 9550 with a higher (325 vs 250) clock. the 9550 article I linked earlier also shows that the 9550 is about 90% of the 9600P, but their 9550 is 400/500 instead of 250/400 by default and they OCed it to 460/560... ugh, my head hurts...

oh wait, 9550 is 9600NP downclocked from 325/400 to 250/400, and 9500NP is about equal to a 9600NP... the x300 is the 9550 clocked back up to 9600NP speeds on a PCI-E bus. so...
9550 << 9600NP = 9500NP
6200 > X300 = 9600NP = 9500NP (by about 10%)
so then the 6200 isn't worth it, and I should get a 9500NP... yes?

 

[oupei]

steelski, virtualgames, and anyone else who has owned a 9500NP, could you please elaborate on your experiences? I just want to verify that the actually people's experiences match the benchmarks. was your 9500NP really worse than a GF3? I have a chance of unlocking it, but I just want to be sure that even if it doesn't unlock, I'll still have a decent card.

 

[oupei]

would ya look at that... the 4200 > 9500 at UT2004. bleh... and 4200 > 9600pro even at COD. hmm.. it must be because these are DX8 games... well, HL2 is DX9, and I shouldn't have to worry much about RTS games even if they are DX8, right?

oh that does remind me, AT's HL2 article would be the most useful. strange that they didn't include anything from the 9500 series though... if the 9500NP performs like an X300, then the 9500NP would be the best choice even unlocked...

9500NP owners, have you tried it with HL2? can I expect these results?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

This was a nice deal
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=R9600PRO-N

OOS now though.

9600pro $34 + shipping

 

[Creig]

I still have my soft-modded 9500NP awaiting reuse as a FireGL X1 in a rendering machine I'm building. Here is a link to a thread I made concerning the 9500NP that should answer most of your questions.

Radeon 9500 Mod thread

 

[oupei]

Originally posted by: Creig
I still have my soft-modded 9500NP awaiting reuse as a FireGL X1 in a rendering machine I'm building. Here is a link to a thread I made concerning the 9500NP that should answer most of your questions.

Radeon 9500 Mod thread

hmm... ati cut production on moddable 9500NP and that was over 1.5 years ago? can't count on modding mine then i guess...

do you know how your 9500NP did on HL2 before unlocking, btw?

 

[Creig]

I didn't bench mine stock at HL2, so I can't help you with that. But as long as the card has the four memory chips in the "L" configuration then there's a chance it will unlock into a 9700. I would double-check with the website to ensure that the picture shown is an actual representation of the card they're selling. Some websites don't realize (or care) that there are two different versions of PCB and simply throw one picture or the other up without checking.

 

[aatf510]

I have a 4-month EPoX 9550 128mb (still within 1-year warranty) for sale.
It is moddable to 9600Pro with a BIOS flash which I have tried.

 

[RussianSensation]

I wonder what used 9700pro, 9800Pro cards go for now? I am sure you can find one for $60?

 

[yhelothar]

Originally posted by: oupei
wow, thanks for all the replies!!

hmm... i was under the impression that all the cards I put up there were > TI4200 > GF3... cuz I actually do have both a TI4200 and a GF3TI200 at home, and I was gonna use this to replace the TI200 to get DVI for the LCD and to play C&C Generals etc... cuz the TI200 wasn't cutting it.

well according to tom, the 9500NP is at least better than the GF4, though it is severely crippled from the 9500P...

and the 6200 article i linked above shows the 6200 is 110% of the x300. and the x300 is supposedly
the PCI-E version of the 9550 with a higher (325 vs 250) clock. the 9550 article I linked earlier also shows that the 9550 is about 90% of the 9600P, but their 9550 is 400/500 instead of 250/400 by default and they OCed it to 460/560... ugh, my head hurts...

oh wait, 9550 is 9600NP downclocked from 325/400 to 250/400, and 9500NP is about equal to a 9600NP... the x300 is the 9550 clocked back up to 9600NP speeds on a PCI-E bus. so...
9550 << 9600NP = 9500NP
6200 > X300 = 9600NP = 9500NP (by about 10%)
so then the 6200 isn't worth it, and I should get a 9500NP... yes?

Toms benchmarks are bogus. He has 8x AF on all of them. GF4 ti used some very aggressive AF algorithms that absolutely destroys performance. Turn off AF on all the cards, and GF4 ti would spank the 9500 EASILY. It's not worth using AF when you're getting 11fps anyways.
So far, there aren't any games that REALLY untilize DX9 effects. DX8 HL2 looks not too far off from DX9, and it's certainly not worth the performance hit with all those extra goodies IMO.