Upgrading my video card?

[MPTech]

I'm building a new PC.

I've had these components for awhile:
Phenom X4 9950 Black AM2+ 2.6ghz (quad, 64-bit)
OCZ DDR2 PC2 6400 RAM
Seagate 10k SATA HDD
500w PSU

I just bought:
Asus M3A78-CM Motherboard
LG 22X DVD-RW SATA

I'm going to install Win7 64-bit.

I bought a used video card awhile back, Saphire Radeon x800 Pro, PCI-E, that I was planning to use, but I was wondering if there is anything currently available for about $50 that would be better?
I believe this card is 256mb of DDR3 memory.
I saw this one:
Sparkle GeForce 8400 GS Video Card - 512MB DDR2, PCI Express
with 512mb for $40

or this one:
EVGA GeForce 9500 GT Video Card - 1GB DDR2, PCI Express 2.0
with 1gb!! for $70

how does the DDR2 compare to the DDR3?

I want to be able to run Need for Speed - Shift.
minimum requirements are:
AMD x2 3600 or better
video card 256mb or better

do I need to upgrade? (I'd prefer to be above the minimum)

[Steve R Jones]

The best thing to do is to go to www.TomsHardware.com and find thier Comparrison Charts for video cards.

Course you know a 50 dollar card is a LOW End card and probably won't run the high end graphic that Win 7 and produce.

[steve_83]

You get exactly what you pay for MPTech.

I kicked almost $500 for an evga 1792MB, DDR3 card.
Not much support from evga....but I've never needed that after 1/2 a year.

I get more entertainment out of that than any television I can afford.
My experience buying low end graphics is that you'll inevitably be disappointed.

Furthermore:
I wouldn't touch another ATI product after standardizing on them for 10 years once I switched to Nvidia products as well.

It makes PC gaming something close to terminally awesome again.


Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is worth every bit of 2) months of watching even my favorite TV shows.

It also makes my 'puter in general fun again.

Was the hassle of a custom build still worth it?

For me: you betcha!

The old saying:
"Buy the best and only cry once" has served me well.



Steve J's advice is sound.
Tom's still has nice hardware reviews.

Specmanship?
All I know is what I see in graphics and monitors.


Steve_83

[SuperSparks]

As Steve says, $50 is pretty low end. But if you are prepared to go up to £100 then you can get a decent card which should be fine with all except the most extreme games:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...5%20-%20%24100

[steve_83]

The customer reviews on newegg.com (and the quality of images too) are of articular usefulness to me when I'm shopping for 'puter hardware MPTech.

They're from people who actually own these.
Newegg is one of the best online computer hardware places.
Always close on the price, but not necessarily the least expen$ive.

Here's a typical one, and (my experience), newegg has some really decent daily buys.
I'd temporarily subscribe to their newsletter.
You can opt out with no spamming going on.


You get 1) per day, and sometimes the discounts are ...enormous.
Right now, before Xmas I'm spotting some really nice deals.

I also use http://www.pricegrabber.com/.
You can set up price alerts and shop when deal$ are available via email alerts or feeds.
They plant a cookie that some of my security programs view as tracking cookies, so delete em after you have exited that site.
Not dangerous...just annoying.

One more shopping tip guy:
I have recently noticed that if you shop from bing (duma** name), clear your cache and cookies, and paste the same product info into msn's shopping site.
You get a lower price on the same products.

Why ?:
Some vendors allow a discount IF you go in thru msn shopping.
Must be some kickbacks going on.
Marketing these days amazes me.

Steve_83



Post back after you bought used the card.

It's helpful in forum searches for Vdr Community members.

[steve_83]

MPTech, Greetings again.

A friend who helped me build my latest desktop sent me a nice link about reviews on PCIe graphics cards.

I thought you might be able to use this:
http://gizmodo.com/5422706/the-graph...at-every-price

Since I (personally) would immediately eliminate any ATI cards, the one I have still comes out on top.


I'm not suggesting that you necessarily need to kick for that many $$.
You might find one that fits you better for less.

Have fun!
Happy Holidays too!

Steve_83

If you're a gamer, I'd say this as well....If Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 doesn't win hands down in Game of the Tear for 2009, then someone's palms were crossed in the voting.
Activision has a PC game classic with this one.

[Train]

This would really help out.
http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...43#post1309043

[steve_83]

Take my advice Train.

Heaven knows I never use it.



Steve_83

Spam posting for seniority.