Help buying video card for xmas for 12 yr old son

[bradyapba]

nitromullett is correct. You really SHOULD spend AT LEAST 200 for a video card. $200 is a nice mid range VC these days.

At that level you are looking for a 6600GT or a 6800 vanilla as your cards of choice. If you pay attention to sales and look around, you should be able to find them in the 200-250 range if you were so inclined.

I wont bother to mention my rec. for a $400 card... i dont think your gonna stretch to that

hope this all helps.

Chris

 

[WT]

Damn guys .. its nice to recommend to a gamer (emphasis) to blow $200 on a card, or even $150. But this is a 12 year old who would be just as happy playing some crappy console port, and you are recommending Dad blow his budget just in case he wants to play HL2 at high gfx settings. Lets not ignore his original question, which was a card in the $50+ range. I recommended the 9600 over the 4200 simply because it offers better DX9 compliance. Go buy a $200 card for YOUR rig, don't try and convince everyone that they NEED a high end card.

 

[Thermalrock]

the guys youre adressing wouldnt buy 200$ card they all spend 400+ on theirs

 

[adamcwatts]

I think you should not buy the 50-60$ videocard and wait for his B-day and buy him like a 6600GT or an ATI 9600. The 50$ videocard is just a waste of money, with that money you should buy some more memory since games like Farcry and Doom 3 eat that stuff up!

 

[imported_Computer MAn]

Originally posted by: magster97
Could you give me some good suggestion for video cards someone suggested a Geforece 4 440Mx 128 DDR what about this? I'm really not sure what to do and need any suggestions on which to put with this computer if it's more than $60.00 what kinda price range is he looking at.

Whatever you do dont get an MX440 for gaming. In HL2 they have to run DX7 path and they wont even run the new Medal of Honor. And in all the other games the performance is terrible. AND a used TI4xx would be your best card for that range.

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: EvanB

Originally posted by: Fern

Originally posted by: magster97
Could you give me some good suggestion for video cards someone suggested a Geforece 4 440Mx 128 DDR what about this? I'm really not sure what to do and need any suggestions on which to put with this computer if it's more than $60.00 what kinda price range is he looking at.

I'd say no to the G4 MX cards. IMHO, Things like this are way overpriced for what they can do and just have lot of marketing hype on the box making it sound like something it's not.

What kind of games does your son play? This is fairly important because some games (ex. Warcraft 3) can be played just fine on a pretty weak gfx card. Whereas others (Far Cry, Halo, Half-Life 2) require stronger gfx cards to be played decently. In otherwords strategy-type games which generally have light 3D gfx don't need much of a card, whereas 3D intense games do need a good card.

Fern

Umm, the kid is 12. I dont think HL2 and Far Cry are high up on his list of games to play.

That's funny, because my 10 year old brother plays HL2 deathmatch, natural selection, far cry, c&c generals, and day of defeat(kicks my ass in this) with me, all the time. Some little kids out there really are digging the bigger games, so we can't exclude the possibility that this kid does indeed want to play titles such as this. If these are the games in question, you might want to bump up the budget just a hair for an ATI 9600, which will still net you under $100. If you really want to stick to $50-$60, then you will have no choice but to find a used geforce Ti4200, in which case like a couple have said, our for sale/for trade forum is a great place to start.

 

[SonicIce]

Jeeze people! The guy said a card in the $50-$60 range and you go off recommending $400 cards. My suggestion? The best you could get for around $60 would probably be this 9600 for $66. Increase the budget to around $140 and you can get a 9600XT which will offer great performace in todays games. The 9600XT has a very good price to performace ratio. Get the 9600XT and your son will love you forever.

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: SonicIce
Jeeze people! The guy said a card in the $50-$60 range and you go off recommending $400 cards. My suggestion? The best you could get for around $60 would probably be this 9600 for $66. Increase the budget to around $140 and you can get a 9600XT which will offer great performace in todays games. The 9600XT has a very good price to performace ratio. Get the 9600XT and your son will love you forever.

Might as well get a used 9700 pro for under $125 if you're going to go that high, unless one strickly wants to steer clear of used cards.

 

[bradyapba]

Some people should read, and not acccuse people of things.

I do NOT have a $400 card in my system. I have a @200 card, i bought the PNY 6800 for $200 from compusa on black friday.Before that for 2 years I had a gainward ti4200 which i paid $135.


So i DO know what im talking about. I play a ton of games from sim2 to hl2, to far cry, to joint ops, to total war, plus many in between. My ti4200 is struggling to play the new games. And I only invested $200 in a new one.

Also, to say 12 year olds aren't playing hl2, is someone who doesn't know 12 year olds. I am a middle school science teacher grades 6-8, and they are ALL playing hl2, doom 3, etc.

I recommended at least 5 different links on how to get a ti4200 or an ati 9600. If all they want to spend is 50-60 bucks i gladly supplied the info.

But I would be a miss not to say, thats probably NOT the way to go into a new system, esp if he is playing games a lot. So i tried to recommend something that would be more suitable for that system, and probably more along the lines of what his other gaming friends have.

Know who was in front of me at the counter at 6 am at compusa on black friday. 2 boys 12 and 13, looking for the PNY 6800 to play hl2.

So i was more than glad to point the parent in the right direction for a 50-60 card if they want, and i also reccomended what probably is better for the system and games at around 200.

 

[ponyo]

Originally posted by: SonicIce
Jeeze people! The guy said a card in the $50-$60 range and you go off recommending $400 cards. My suggestion? The best you could get for around $60 would probably be this 9600 for $66. Increase the budget to around $140 and you can get a 9600XT which will offer great performace in todays games. The 9600XT has a very good price to performace ratio. Get the 9600XT and your son will love you forever.

That 9600 has 64bit memory interface. That's basically 9600SE card which is terrible and even worse than FX5200. Ti4200 will crush that card.

9600XT is good but for $140 you can get 9700pro or even 9800pro used from the forum.

Geforce4 Ti4200 still decent budget gamer card and the best card in his price range.

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: SonicIce
Jeeze people! The guy said a card in the $50-$60 range and you go off recommending $400 cards. My suggestion? The best you could get for around $60 would probably be this 9600 for $66. Increase the budget to around $140 and you can get a 9600XT which will offer great performace in todays games. The 9600XT has a very good price to performace ratio. Get the 9600XT and your son will love you forever.

...if forever is about 6 months, sure.

Do you really think

42.8 FPS @ 800x600
27.7 FPS @ 1024x768
17.6 FPS @ 1280.1024

are acceptable for playing Doom3? Not to mention, that is average FPS, I can't even imagine what minimum is...

http://graphics.tomshardware.c...20040809/doom3-04.html

Granted the 9600 XT does a bit better in HL2:

~65 FPS @ 800x600
~55 FPS @ 1024x768
~45 FPS @ 1280x1024

http://www.teamhardware.com/reviews/00015/4.php

To the OP, here is link to a video card roundup conducted by Tom's Hardware, this may help you make up your mind.

http://graphics.tomshardware.c...ic/20041004/index.html

You will most likely notice when looking at the benchmark charts that there is a pretty big jump in performance right about where the Radeon 9800 series cards are to the GeForce 6800 series, this coincidently is the $200-300 pricepoint. In most cases where the jump is not present, all of the higher performing cards are about equal. This is happens when the benchmark is CPU limited as opposed to video card limited. In these cases, you are not seeing the true potential of the cards. While this isn't really good for comparing cards, it is good in the fact that you know that any video card in that group is going to play that particular game extremely well provided you have a decently powerful system (which you do).

 

[RussianSensation]

nitromullet you are kinda harsh on the framerates there. I have 8500 and it plays very smoothly at 800x600 in HL2 and Doom3 and Far Cry. Sure all the DX9.0 effects are missing, but... Mind you those 3 games look better at those resolutions and Medium details than any games on xbox, PS2, N64, Dreamcast, etc. So getting something like a Geforce 4 4200 right now for $60 is not so bad. He can later save more money and buy a better card in 1 year. By that time 6800Gt should be roughly $220. Maybe in the future he'll get him an A64 system with PCIe graphics card and just transfer the ram he already has. In that case spending a lot of money now on a graphics card is a waste.


If anything you could see if your son is satisfied with the system. If he is not, seriously think about upgrading to a faster cpu/mobo and graphics card in 1 year. For now I am sure it'll work for him. I mean lets be realistic here. 9800Pro isnt going to give you anything above 1024x768 either in Doom 3, but costs 4x as much as a geforce 4 4200. Except for HL2, 9600xt cards are not much faster than 4200 card either without AA/AF.

Your other option would be to just put down $200-250 on 6600GT/6800 and let your son use it for another 2 years easily. Either of those cards are very fast without AA/AF enabled and will allow gameplay at 1600x1200 in any game right now at high detail settings.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: WT
ATI 9600 gets my vote. They can be found for $110+ if you get lucky.

You can do even better I bought a used one just now (9600xt, top of the line 9600 line) for $85 shipped. From newegg, the refurbs you can have a 9600 pro for around $90, and a non pro 9600 for maybe 60 or so).

 

[modedepe]

I vote ti4200 or a 9600 pro if you can swing it. Too bad you already bought the mobo and cpu, there definitely could have been some savings there.

 

[LoneWolf15]

With no offense intended, $50-60 will not purchase a new graphics card capable of playing today's games, and may not purchase a used one either.
Unfortunately, it would have been far better to purchase a less expensive processor such as the Athlon XP 2500+, as systems are a balance; a fast processor will be hamstrung by a poor video card in games. As that's water under the bridge, here is the advice I can give based on ten years of experience.
You could purchase a "get by" card for that price right now, but the best bet would be to try and find a way to afford a little bit more than what you were looking to spend; it will last longer, and you won't end up buying another video card in 6-10 months. I looked really hard on my price search engines to see what I could find, knowing you're probably on a limited budget. Every card even at the $100 level still has at least one compromise that will probably result in you getting a card that is limited in one way. I also didn't look at refurbished products; enthusiasts like us may be willing to gamble, but I wouldn't recommend it to someone who is still new to the scene, and I also stayed away from a lot of the cheaper less scrupulous vendors; I saw some who charged a really low price, and then wished to charge a customer extra for the heatsink/fan on the video card.

The best deal I found was a BFG Asylum GeForce 4200 Ti 128MB for $72.00 + shipping (should come to $81.00 total) from this site:
http://www.logicalplus.com/bfgasti128xa.html

The BFG cards have lifetime warranties, a big plus. This card is two generations old, and I have never ordered from this vendor, but if your budget is firmly fixed, it is the best you will find for under $100. It should run today's games reasonably well.
Should you decide you can stretch your budget a bit further, the best video cards for low dollars really start around the $140 range, where you can find Radeon 9600XT-based cards. As an example, I found this card for $132+shipping from a site I have ordered from before and trust:
http://www.gameve.com/gve/stor...ils.aspx?sku=VC-VT-004

Admittedly this card is double the budget you stated; however it will last longer before upgrading and will enable additional graphical features to be turned on in his games. These are the two best choices I could find; I hope you will find the links useful.

 

[Pohemi]

Originally posted by: bradyapba
As a huge gamer, you are doing him and that system a huge diservice by only spending $50-$60 on a video card. the Video card is the #1 important piece to a gamer, its probably the most expensive part of any gamers system. a 50-60 Video card is not going to take advantage of that system, and is going to struggle to run current games at any decent level.

You really need to spent in the $200 dollar range for a VC.


I completely agree. I think if you spend $50-60 on the video card when he's going to be gaming with the computer, then you overbought the rest of the system w/o considering this first. I think your best bet is finding a used card for $100-150. Good luck with your decision and your search

 

[perillo34]

TI4200 I just sold mine, it was an excellent card, played LOTR Return of the king decently, cant go wrong with that card for the money.

 

[Zebo]

Originally posted by: magster97
My son is a big gamer and wanted a new pc for xmas. We are building one together I'm ordering parts, and will be showing him how build the pc however, I'm not a big gamer and I'm in need of help purchasing a decent video card to get him started in his budget of $50 to $60 with the system below.

Mother Board - Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
K7 Flagship Motherboard NVIDIA® NFORCE2 Ultra 400 + MCP-T
Chipset
400 MHz FSB
Dual-Channel DDR400 Memory
Dual LAN with Gigabit
ASUS Wi-Fi slot
Dolby® Audio
SATA RAID

CPU - AMD Athlon XP 3200 + 2.2 GHz Barton Core 400FSB 512 OEM

Memory 2 stick of - 256 DDR 400 PC3200

Would a GeForce FX5200 made by Chaintech be a good choice? Any suggestion on other video card in the $50 or $60 would be great I need to order and have before xmas.

Now thats just throwing your $ away. Almost $300, and that's not even including memory yet, for old Althon XP and old nforce2 mobo which will get whipped by a athlon 64 cheaper.

Get a athlon 64 combo here http://www.mwave.com/mwave/Pro...ard+Bundles+By+AMD+CPU

Add


Processor- AMD ATHLON 64 2800+ RETAILED 64-BIT BUNDLE
Motherboard- CHAINTECH VNF3-250
Memory- CRUCIAL 512MB DDR400

total= $267

As for videocard: 9600 128-bit which can trivially be overclcoked to pro levels for $80 here:
http://www.newegg.com/app/View...=14-164-022&depa=1

For $347 you have a complete system which will put the screws to any Athlon XP setup.

 

[vshah]

OP, find out what games your son hopes to be playing, then we can be much more helpful with specific reccomendations

 

[Gamingphreek]

Originally posted by: vshah
OP, find out what games your son hopes to be playing, then we can be much more helpful with specific reccomendations

Do that but:
Stay away from the 5200 at ALL COSTS. Also stay away from anything with a lower number than 5700 or 9600 EXCEPT if your desperate Geforce 4 Ti 4x00 series.

-Kevin

 

[iversonyin]

Instead of buying him a game system, you should really try to make him get away from computer gaming addiction. Once its start, its hard to stop.

If you get your son to addicted to gaming, you'll be spending hundreds of dollar in the future upgrading this machine.

anyhow, since you've already purchased the CPU/mobo. and only with $50/60 spare on video card. the best choice is a used GF4 Ti4200

so another vote here for the beloved GF4 Ti Series.