Best Video card for under $50?

[joburnet]

I haven't really been keeping current with video cards but I think my geforce2 pro is giving me memory errors so I'm gonna need to replace it. I don't really need anything a lot faster but I would like to get the best card for my money. So does anyone have any ideas on the best card for under $50? Thanks.

 

[Matthias99]

GF2/GF4MX? That's usually my recommendation for a dirt-cheap card that can still run most games.

 

[acemcmac]

I like the 91/9200's personally... 92 if you need dual monitor support, 91 if you dont (91 is faster)

 

[BoomAM]

You can get 9200 128mbs for £50 in the UK. I think that thats about $60-$70`s in the US. Which would be worth the extra cash as it has PS/VS support. Which the GF2/GF4MX`s dont have.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: BoomAM
You can get 9200 128mbs for £50 in the UK. I think that thats about $60-$70`s in the US. Which would be worth the extra cash as it has PS/VS support. Which the GF2/GF4MX`s dont have.

Don't forget that the 9100 is faster than the 9200... I'm really only reccomending the 9200 for multiple monitor use. :beer:

 

[BoomAM]

Did`nt think that the 9100 was still available!?

 

[sellmen]

Radeon 9100 from Cnetpc.com

$49 shipped, store has good resellerratings.

Very nice card for the price.

 

[GreatDaleness]

Originally posted by: sellmen
Radeon 9100 from Cnetpc.com

$49 shipped, store has good resellerratings.

Very nice card for the price.

MUCH faster than a Gf4MX or 9200SE.

 

[Pete]

Or pick up a used GF3. I saw a Ti500 for ~$45 in For Sale a few days ago. 2D quality may be questionable, though, whereas a 9100 should have good 2D quality and similar or faster 3D performance.

 

[Salvador]

Or pick up a used GF3. I saw a Ti500 for ~$45 in For Sale a few days ago. 2D quality may be questionable, though, whereas a 9100 should have good 2D quality and similar or faster 3D performance.

That's what I'd recommend. I still have my Visiontek GF3 Ti200 from the BB Black Friday sale a couple of years ago. It's worth more to me to use in a backup system than what it's worth. You can find them for under $50 no problem. The Ti500 would be nice too and I'd bet you can find one under $50. Better than a GF4 MX.

You might want to spend a few extra $$ though and look for a good used GF4 Ti4200. I picked up a couple of them recently. I bought a Gainward Ti4200 64 mb with just VGA for $50 shipped off the fs/ft forum. I paid $65 shipped for a PNY GF4 Ti4200 64 mb card with VIVO and DVI. Both of those cards are a great deal for the money IMO.

2D quality on these cards is just fine. My GF3 is just as sharp as my GF4. I think the older cards like the pre-GF3 had fuzzy text or maybe I just got lucky with my cards.

Sal

 

[joburnet]

So it's looking like either a 9100 or gf4 ti4200. From what I've heard the radeon has better picture then the gf4 so I am prolly going to go with that.

 

[RussianSensation]

sometimes 9100 comes with 64-bit memory interface cutting its speed in half, so be careful, its alwasy a risk....
It seems like you havent been following the computer market (so you dont upgrade often?), so I am assuming you have a slow CPU as well? Well if that's case, 8500le/8500/9000/9000Pro/9100/9200/geforce3 ti200/500 will ALL give you almost identical performance. Unless your CPU is faster than Athlon 1400, go for the cheapest card.

 

[Schadenfroh]

get the cheapest 4200 your can find used refurb, whatever it takes

 

[Salvador]

What do you mean by ATI having a better picture? 2d Text? The GF4 is fine in this respect. If you were looking at a GF2 or possibly an off-brand GF3, maybe, but the GF4 has nice text quality.

The GF4 Ti4200's are a steal right now. The ATI's seem to hold their resale better for some reason. Maybe because ATI markets and makes a lot of their cards. NVidia doesn't make their own card. They just provide the chipset.

Sal

 

[joburnet]

Newegg has the gf4 ti4200 for $89 shipped which seems to be about the cheapest I can find it. That's more then I'm willing to pay so I was going to go with the 9100.

As far as better video quality I seem to remember reviews here on anandtech saying that the radeon had better anti aliasing or something like that. It's been a while since I read it though.

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: Schadenfroh
get the cheapest 4200 your can find used refurb, whatever it takes

 

[Salvador]

Do you need the card yesterday? I'd put a WTB on the FS/FT forums for one if I were you. Or just hang out on the forums. I would also check Ebay. I found one of my cards on Ebay. For some reason, people that shop on Ebay just don't know the value of the GF4 cards, so there are some pretty good deals to be found. Forget ATI on Ebay though. I've seen some rediculous prices for some used ATI cards on Ebay.

Sal