Best Sub-$100 Video Card

[NotALlama]

I'm in the market for a new card now that my GeForceFX 5700LE blows so much, and am looking to spend $100 or less on a new card. It has to be AGP and an nVidia card, and so far I've looked at the 4800SE, 4200, 5750. Any suggestions?

 

[Arkali]

Would this be faster?

Under $100 Nvidias aren't exactly amazing these days.

Edit: If you want a card which looks ridiculous.

 

[Concillian]

Of those I would choose the 4800SE.

 

[Corporate Thug]

9600 pro, used 9500 pro, used 9700 non pro

 

[Pete]

You should be able to find a used 9700 Pro for ~$110. I'd skip lunch for two days and go for the gusto.

 

[kamranziadar]

Well you can find a 9600 Pro for around $50 from Pricewatch.com

 

[Avalon]

Why does it have to be an Nvidia card? Nothing in the sub $100 range will be noticeably better than your card from the Nvidia camp.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: NotALlama
I'm in the market for a new card now that my GeForceFX 5700LE blows so much, and am looking to spend $100 or less on a new card. It has to be AGP and an nVidia card, and so far I've looked at the 4800SE, 4200, 5750. Any suggestions?

That 4800 probably would've been a screamer if it wasn't an "SE", same as your 5700 could've been reasonably decent except it's an "LE". My own 5700 is faster than a 4200 I obtained used (no, in retrospect it was still new) to put into a backup PC in place of a GF 3 Ti 200. Looking at the comparison shopping places, not even the 5700LE's are priced under about $120. (And why would you "look at" a 5750? It's a PCI-e implementation of the NV-5's.)

But I just won an auction for a 5900, plus a SB Live 5.1, both used, same auction lot, for $150 shipped.

(Edit: it's a few hours later, and the seller is unhappy, it seems, that his auction went for the minimum bid he was asking for -- just one bid, mine -- so the auction might not go through. I'll crucify him on eBay, but it won't mean I will have gotten a good item for a nice price if I have to do so.)

Plop down in a chair at Borders or Barnes & Noble with one of the "eBay for Dummies" books and take some notes about how to use that system to get a bargain. I think you can get a straight 5700, no LE/SE, for your $100, including shipping, with some patient sniping (one with through at very close to that amount this AM).

Nvidia's Series 5 chip set was less than spectacular, it seems, and apparently didn't sell nearly so well at the 5700 Ultra and on up level as the higher priced GF 4's had done. Compared to ATI-based graphics, the NV-5 cards are/were perhaps overpriced, and even now the pricing for used NV-5 cards seems slightly inflated next to used ATI stuff. My own preference for nVidia's offerings has been based on bad experiences for years and years. literally, with ATI drivers; in that regard, it's been my own opinion that nVidia apparently continues to work at their accustomed high quality level.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: Arkali {Snip!}
Under $100 Nvidias aren't exactly amazing these days.

Edit: If you want a card which looks ridiculous. {Snip}

The GF's seemingly were toasty-warm critters. I'd skipped over that generation myself, until recently. I pulled a GF 3 Ti 200 from a backup system that always did tend to run fairly warm; when I put a GF 4 Ti 4200 in it, the CPU temps rose six degrees, Celcius, and I ended up swapping hsf fans to bring the temps into line. Had I run across one of the "tunnel air flow" cooled 4200's, maybe that 80 mm fan on the cpu wouldn't have been needed!

 

[Concillian]

Originally posted by: Kiwi

That 4800 probably would've been a screamer if it wasn't an "SE", same as your 5700 could've been reasonably decent except it's an "LE".

There's nothing wrong with a 4800 SE, it replaced the Ti4400... basically an AGP 8x version of a Ti4400. It has all the normal features of a regular GF4Ti, including 128 bit memory and the same core.

So it's faster than a Ti4200, and will overclock better, at least on the memory.

The non-SEs were a little bit faster, replacing the Ti 4600. This was back when video card manufacturers didn't try to baffle and confuse consumers, but had relatively straightforward card linups. For nVidia it was 4200-4400-4600 then the AGP8x versions were 4200-8x, 4800SE, and 4800. Same cards now ith AGP8x... different names.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

Originally posted by: Concillian
There's nothing wrong with a 4800 SE, it replaced the Ti4400... basically an AGP 8x version of a Ti4400. It has all the normal features of a regular GF4Ti, including 128 bit memory and the same core.

So it's faster than a Ti4200, and will overclock better, at least on the memory.

The non-SEs were a little bit faster, replacing the Ti 4600. This was back when video card manufacturers didn't try to baffle and confuse consumers, but had relatively straightforward card linups. For nVidia it was 4200-4400-4600 then the AGP8x versions were 4200-8x, 4800SE, and 4800. Same cards now ith AGP8x... different names.

Like I already said, I'd skipped past the GF 4'S when they were brand new, going through a tight budget period. So I'd jumped more or less straight to the FX's from the GF 3's. I picked up my own 4200 from eBay. I think I recall it was supposed to be NOS.

Anyone here recall whether AIDA32 can pick up the difference between the two varieties of Ti 4200's when I run it again?

 

[fibes]

Originally posted by: kamranziadar
Well you can find a 9600 Pro for around $50 from Pricewatch.com

Do you have a link for that $50 9600Pro?

 

[Pete]

It's likely a fake, as the cheapest new 9600 non-Pro is $70 @ NewEgg, AFAIK. No store will sell a 9600P--even used--for less than that. An individual, maybe, but most likely not a store.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: Pete
You should be able to find a used 9700 Pro for ~$110. I'd skip lunch for two days and go for the gusto.

Agreed. 9700 Pro's in the $100 range are not hard to come by one eBay.

 

[Mr Pepper]

Check the For Sale/Trade forum here next week. I will most likely be putting my 9700pro up for sale. I wanted to give my rl friends the first shot at it though so I sent a mass email out on my list serve. Told em' I would give them a helluva deal for $75, no responce yet... Dummies LOL, I think they musta thought it was junk when I told them I bought it 2 years ago.

 

[ScrewFace]

Just spend a bit more and get a 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro and overclock it to XT speeds. This card still rocks and beats anything in the GeForce FX line including the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra. You'll have a great gaming card until nV50 and R500 come out next year.

 

[Vanderlow]

I'm going to assume you want to buy new. I see two choices. The sapphire 9600 pro at newegg is $100 or a full fledge chaintech 5700 (425/500) at futurepowerpc.com for $89 shipped. I got one, the 5700. Seems fine does 11,000 in 2001se and 2900 in 2003 w/o o/c. The 9600 pro would probably do 3400 in 2003.

http://www.futurepowerpc.com/s...PRDCODE=VCCH-SA5700128

 

[JEDI]

wait a couple of days..all the black friday ads are coming out

By mon, 11/15, we'll know what the best bang video card is

 

[Vernor]

Nv used to rule in the budget market.

Now they just milk crap like the 5200 to the max.

 

[JEDI]

sigh..i see only 2 video cards for the bf sales:

9600xt aiw $125
6800np $200

back to the OP's orginal questions- What is the best bang buck $100 video card now?