Sub $100 Video Card Reccomendations

[MtDew]

Help... I am currently building a machine for my boys and I only have $100 left in the budget for a video card. I would spend more, but the wife is keeping close tabs on the money going in this machine.

Here is what I have

Biostar TF7050-M2 Motherboard (new)
AMD 5000+ BE (new) (soon to be overclocked)
Rosewill RCS-Z940-SL CPU Cooler (new)
2 Gig (2 x 1) AData DDR2-800 CAS 5 Memory (new)
Cooler Master eXtreeme 500W Power Supply (already had)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB (x2) Hard Drives
Benq DVD-R (x2) (already had)
Generic Case (already had, but modded for 5 80mm fans)
Echo Gina PCI recording interface (already had)

This computer will be mainly be used for a home recording studio, but it will be used for an occasional game of CS.

I looked at the local Mom and Pop computer store, but the person that waited on me had very little knowledge about video cards. He told me he had just got his A+ cert and a job there as a bench tech. I have not kept current for the last 5 or 6 years after building and repairing computers since the days of 286's, but now I decided that I wanted to build my own machine to show my boys how easy and fun it is.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[epithanatios]

I am not an expert but I looked up some guides and the best card for under 100$ was the Radeon 2600 PRO, for exactly 100$ the Radeon HD 2600 XT, or the GeForce 8600 GT, make sure you get the letters right "GT" "XT", or you may end up with a bad card.

[MtDew]

I read the same reccomendations at THG, but I wanted to get some other points of view. The review did not go into the specfics of what type of ram the cards were using or the the size. It did state not to use DDR2, but I can only find 1 card at NE that is DDR3 and 512 Meg (Full Retail and not an open box) and that is a Sapphire HD2600XT.

I the question would also be, would it be worth it to get a slower card with DDR3 or go with a faster card with DDR2. With 256 Meg or 512. All of this and stay under $100.

[epithanatios]

well, if you go to tomshardware.com they have an excellent guide with specs and comparisons up the wazoo. here is the direct link to the guide for the video cards.
http://www.tomshardware.com/2008/01/03/the_best_gaming_graphics/index.html

[Miker]

7950GT/8600GT will run CSS at 1280x1024 or higher maxed.

You might have problems with that Mobo, as Biostar is not known to be the best.

[jellyrole]

I have an 8600GT XXX edition that I will soon be selling because I am getting a 8800GT. This card is perfect for that kind of stuff.

[srpeters18]

I'll sell you a 7900GT for $75 bucks. It's a gaming card, 256MB, but will beat the 2600XT or 8600GT for performance.

[MtDew]

As I mentioned in my first post, this computer is being used for a home recording studio with minor gaming. What I left out is, this computer is also used to do some heavy photo editing in Photoshop. If you have ever worked with Photoshop, you would know that some of these files get rather large when you are working with scanned in or with an 8 Megapixel digital camera

So, I guess the question of the day is 256Meg of DDR3 or 512Meg of DDR2. Both cost about the same amount new for an 8600GT.

I am a little uneasy about buying used computer gear and want to have a good warranty and techinical support as this computer will probably have to last for at least 3 or 4 years.

[srpeters18]

Aah, gotcha. If you're doing heavy video/photo editing, I would say don't go with anything less than 512MB.

[Miker]

Photoshop uses almost no GPU power as nothing is 3D, all you need is 2GB of RAM and a good CPU.

[MrX]

Photoshop uses almost no GPU power as nothing is 3D, all you need is 2GB of RAM and a good CPU.

bingo. It uses no video power. You just need a lot of ram and a decent cpu.

I would go with a 8600gt or 8600gts. Should be under $100 after rebate. It performs better for newer games than than Geforce 7 and slight slower for older games.

[Kougar]

Photoshop does use 3D video acceleration, and it helps tremendously for large files. There is a checkbox for it under settings. I am not sure if 256 vs 512mb GPU RAM would be noticeable... you would see better results adding more system memory if the filesizes are that large.

For the price, I don't think you can go wrong with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131084 It solves the 256 vs 512mb dilemma, and has more respectable gaming performance than a 2600XT or 8600GTS. It uses GDDR2, however for the performance range it falls within it doesn't really matter.

Besides that one, the only card I would recommend closest to your price range is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150275 The 8800GS should still offer 2-3x the performance. It is more of a gaming card, however.

[Miker]

Photoshop does use 3D video acceleration, and it helps tremendously for large files. There is a checkbox for it under settings. I am not sure if 256 vs 512mb GPU RAM would be noticeable... you would see better results adding more system memory if the filesizes are that large.

You can use 3D Accel for the preview of filters and so on, but a good CPU will do it just as well.

[MtDew]

I think I have a decent CPU for the price. I got an AMD 5000+ Black Edition. I currently have it OC to 3.1GHz (200*15.5) with out any voltage adjustment. I have not tried anything higher yet as I am running a stock heatsink and fan off an AMD socket 939 3700+. This cpu runs cooler running Prime (OCed to 3.1G) than the 3700+ did at idle. I bought a Rosewil CPU Fan/Heatsink, but the arm to attach to the MB will not hold the heatsink in place. Rosewill is sending me a new arm.

I am currently running the onboard graphics until I get a video card.

Like I said before, this is a low buck upgrade. The wife has limited me to 300 clams, as she claims that we can go to Wallyworld and buy a new computer for that price. I only have $200 in the upgrade so far. MB (Biostar TF7050-M2) for $50 (this was an open box special from New Egg. CPU (AMD AM2 5000+ Black Edition) for $99. 2GB of ram (AData) for $43 (plus I have a $10 mail in rebate) and a generic flash card reader for $7. This only leaves me with $100 (including shipping/taxes), so I am looking for the best bang for the buck.

[dumdum]

if ur kids play CS, then 8600GT should be ok. I mean under that could be ok too. You could get a 8600GT for exactly 100$ without shipping and i'm sure ur wife would be ok with few dollars on shipping. Also, you may overclock ur 8600GT about 100mhz. I tried that and it was really stable on that.

P.S I have a used 8600GT.. I don't need it anymore but hmmm...

[DemonicDerek]

If you ask me, $100 isn't a lot to spend on a video card...

[MtDew]

That may be true, but I only have a $300 budget for the whole upgrade. I'm lucky that I got the $300 to do this upgrade with two boys in High School (One just got his drivers license and the other is getting ready to start drivers ed) and I know that my wife is going to make me pay for it, if you know what I mean. She is already talking about the family taking a vacation in the most ungodly place (DisneyWorld - this not my idea of having fun)

Maybe I will get lucky this month and win the contest so I can put the $100 I have left in the upgrade into a larger HD.

My boys are getting excited that their machine is up and running (with onboard video) and they cannot believe how much faster it is compaired to their old system. They were running a AMD 2700+ on an Abit MB, 1Gig Ram and a generic GeForce 5200 AGP video card running XP Pro. They are trying to talk me into buying Vista to load on their machine, but the recording hardware and software they use is not supported by Vista.

[Pablo 54]

I will reiterate what has been said several times in this thread already: an 8600 GT (which is in its final days in my computer) hits the price/performance point squarely on the head. By and by, I did the same with my son and daughter (years ago) with an Asus board, Athlon chip, an ATI card and a bunch of spare parts. They had a blast. Both kids had games that plugged into the Serial port. Preaching to the choir I know, but, IMHO, basic computer building/repairing and simple trouble shooting skills should be a required course for high school students.

[MtDew]

I finally did it. I bought a XFX 8600GT 512Meg GDDR2 last night. I know that the 256Meg with GDDR3 may be faster, but we are going to be working with some large raw photos in photoshop.

I was going to install it last night, but my brother-inlaw dropped off his computer last for me to install Vista. He is taking some sort of course in college that requires him to run Vista. This is my first install of Vista and I can already tell you I hate it. He made the mistake of buying the CD full version instead of the DVD. What a pain!!!

I will update again after this weekend to let you know how the Video card is doing in the system. I was even able to talk the local Mom and Pop Computer store down on the price as the box was obviously open and had the drivers disk gone. This was the last one they had on the shelf and I was able to talk them down to $90 including tax.

[Miker]

With my PC I can run PS and FW at the same time, with all sorts of stuff open with no problem, yours should run great.

[Dragon_CPU]

i know you already bought one but this would have been a better choice you could have had 512 and gddr3. LOL

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814134039

or this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127319

both are good brands the MSI being a little better though

[MtDew]

I saw these cards at NE, but I decided to buy from the local Mom & Pop Computer store. They cut me a decent deal, plus I did not have to wait to get the card in.

I final got the system all together and I started off with a fresh load after burning in the system with a base load of XP and running prime95 over the weekend. This is by far the fastest system that I have ever played around with. It took me less than an hour to load XP Pro, All requied Drivers, NIS, Office 2003 Enterprise (5 cd's), Adobe Acrobat and my son's recording software. This also included doing all of the live updates to XP and NIS.

I have the CPU running at 3.1GHz stable (15.5x200) without a voltage bump. I am going to work on OC the system more (including the Video Card) next week when I have a little more time to work on the system.

[Dragon_CPU]

Sounds good your son should enjoy it then