YAWVCSACALMGT

[QueBert]

here's my setup

C2D 6550
p34 MB
2 gigs DDR2
7200.10 HD
8600GT
Corsair HX520 PSU (520? 540? whichever one lol)
Windows 7

I don't have much of a PC budget right now, I am planning on building a new PC. But not even realistically going to start thinking about until Summers almost over. So maybe even October or November or December before this box gets built. I'll xfer the HD & PSU over. I'll want a NICE video card for this build. But for now I'd like something newer than my 8600 to hold me over. I'm on Newegg and saw a 9500GT with DDR3 for $66. Googling for comparison it looks to be semi marginally faster. Maybe 15%'ish. Which isn't bad for the price. I don't expect to play Crysis on max settings. Right now the main game I play is TF2, which pays nicely on my 8600. But with a newer card I could max out the AA settings and maybe crank up the rest too. I do want to get some newer, more demanding games. Googling more lead me to discover the 9500 is an all around poor choice, so I started to look at 4870's and 9600gt/gso's

To make a long story short(er) I think I may want a 9600. One of my main concerns is sound, while I'm not anal about it, I would like something that's relatively quiet. My 8600 has a hummmmmmmm which is pretty hard to ignore when I'm not gaming. My budget is about $100'ish shipped. My 8600 still technically plays every game I throw at it. So anything would be a pretty massive upgrade, even if it's only 50% faster lol. I'm not an Nvidia fan boy, in fact prior to this 8600 my last Nvidia card was a GF4. I'm open to ATI cards too if the price fits my budget.

thanks to whoever decides to help me out here.

 

[Sylvanas]

For $100 the 4770 is the only card that matters. Read ATs review

 

[Soccerman06]

4850 take the one with the game you like for only $95 AR.

 

[cbn]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...ame=Radeon%20HD%204830

Some of these 4830s look like a good deal too. (The Free Game can make the deal even more attractive in some cases)

P.S. Any of these 4830s will be much faster than the 9500 GT you mentioned (for literally only a few dollars more)

 

[brblx]

all of the above suggestions are good and should best any nvidia card less than a 9800gt/gts250.

the 4850 is the best bang for the buck, 4830 is nice for a good chunk less. the 4770 is nice but i find it hard to recommend over the 4850 for a single card setup.

 

[MrK6]

The real battle is between the 4770 and 4850. For budget gaming, no other cards even come close in bang-for-your-buck. The 4850 is about 5-10% faster, but uses much more power to run.

 

[QueBert]

thanks for the reply all, I think I have decided to go with a 4850. this one looks pretty nice

XFX Radeon HD 4850 - looks nice and the few reviews that touch on the fan say it's pretty quiet.

 

[brblx]

that's a good pick. cheapest one with the nice dual slot cooler.

you should be looking at about double the framerates over that 8600gt if not a good bit better.

 

[QueBert]

Originally posted by: brblx
that's a good pick. cheapest one with the nice dual slot cooler.

you should be looking at about double the framerates over that 8600gt if not a good bit better.

Nice, I play TF2 & FC2 and both run very smooth. I know it doesn't take much of a card at all to max out the settings in TF2 but I could maybe get away with turning on 4xAA in FC2 which would be awesome. Newer games choke with a 8600 when you try to turn on AA or filtering or set details & shadows to very high. If I can get the exact same frame rate I do now and have the graphics looking a lot better (which they will) I will be totally happy. Then come October or so I can upgrade to whatever is in the $200'ish range then and donate the 4850 to my EX's son who currently has a Radeon 9550.

$110 for a card that will last me 5 months isn't really bad at all.

 

[Sylvanas]

I wasn't aware you could get a 4850 so cheap! Then indeed 4850 > 4770.

 

[ajaidevsingh]

4770 OC is the way to go. I tried the 4770 and it worked very well with a few games i had on my pen drive crysis and COD4 mw.

 

[nemesismk2]

The 4770 performance is close to the 4850 so I recommend the 4770.

 

[Leyawiin]

Originally posted by: QueBert

Originally posted by: brblx
that's a good pick. cheapest one with the nice dual slot cooler.

you should be looking at about double the framerates over that 8600gt if not a good bit better.

Nice, I play TF2 & FC2 and both run very smooth. I know it doesn't take much of a card at all to max out the settings in TF2 but I could maybe get away with turning on 4xAA in FC2 which would be awesome. Newer games choke with a 8600 when you try to turn on AA or filtering or set details & shadows to very high. If I can get the exact same frame rate I do now and have the graphics looking a lot better (which they will) I will be totally happy. Then come October or so I can upgrade to whatever is in the $200'ish range then and donate the 4850 to my EX's son who currently has a Radeon 9550.

$110 for a card that will last me 5 months isn't really bad at all.

I usually suggest the HD 4770 as many others do, but that particular HD 4850 is a great choice. Nice dual slot cooler, XFX warranty, a bit faster than the HD 4770. You might be satisfied with it enough to delay your new PC build longer than you expected.

 

[cbn]

Originally posted by: ajaidevsingh
4770 OC is the way to go. I tried the 4770 and it worked very well with a few games i had on my pen drive crysis and COD4 mw.

The 4770 OC cards are supposed to be faster than the 4850 OC cards.........trouble is AMD knows this and won't let companies like ASUS release their TOP (Voltage tweak based) versions.