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Cheap cheap graphics card?

rs83

rs83

rs83

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Joined
13 Aug 2006
Posts
14
Hey guys -

Im about to get the 19 inch haasg widescreen monitor and thought i may aswell upgrade my graphics card too.

im currently running some very old ledtek 64mb nvidia device,

the thing is - im cheap, very very cheap and i cant afford to get a decent card at the mo, so I guess my question is - is it worth buying say a ati 9550 256 card thats on this site for around 35 quid until i can get something better, or will it not improve the preformance that much?

at the mo i can run HL2 in low/med low settings alright, WOW runs fine and can just about get away with playing doom 3

would the new card be alright for games such as BF2 and oblivion ?

cheers :-)

as another point - does DVI input make a big difference at the levels of preformance im talking about?
 
Look for a second-hand 6600GT or something, they should be going at around £50 at the moment and will easily tide you over in games like Half Life 2 and Doom 3 until you can buy something better. :)

As for DVI, it doesn't make a difference to performance, but it does give sharper picture quality.
 
I would look for a secondhand 9800 pro for around 35 quid.

They are still nice cards in all honesty.

I loved mine
 
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Although I had a 9500Pro which modded and OC'ed great and I loved I think you would be better off with an Nvidia 6200 for about the same money.

See the 9550 is a pants version of the card I had and is based on a really old design but the 6200 is much newer and should clock well and if you're very lucky could unlock to 6600 spec using Rivatuner.

One word of worning though, avoid the TurboCache models. These are more "Turdo" than "Turbo"
 
cheers guys,

also im a complete novice when it comes to technical details,

say i was going for a 9800 would a 128mb 256bit card be better than a 256mb 128bit card? (not sure if these 2 cards exist - just wondering about bits and mb in terms of gaming)

just had a quick look at 9800s, is there a big difference between the normal one, SE, and the Pro?

sorry for the newb questions :s

thanks :)
 
Oops, I read £35 as £50 somehow. :eek: Yeah, I would agree with the above. The 9800 Pro is and always was a cracking card, and they can be had for very cheap second-hand. :)
 
rs83 said:
cheers guys,

also im a complete novice when it comes to technical details,

say i was going for a 9800 would a 128mb 256bit card be better than a 256mb 128bit card? (not sure if these 2 cards exist - just wondering about bits and mb in terms of gaming)

just had a quick look at 9800s, is there a big difference between the normal one, SE, and the Pro?

sorry for the newb questions :s

thanks :)
Click to expand...


Go for the 256bit card with the 128 mb ram.

Get an R360 core if you can(flash it to an 9800 XT)

Stay away from the SE
 
ok cheers - looking on ebay at the mo, looks like may have to up the budget a little bit...

if i was to spend upto 50 would the 9800 still be the card of choice over the nvidia?

you guys all reply quickly tho, much appreciated :D
 
hey,

sorry last question, honest :P

theres the
Leadtek GeForce 6200 128MB DDR TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - Retail (GX-063-LT)
on the site for 38 quid,
1) is this worth getting and worth the price as an upgrade from my card
2)better than the 9550
3)"not good enough to buy, put some more money into it and get a better card you cheap get"

cheers
 
Úlfhednar said:
If you're planning to spend £50 then the 6600GT is a good option, but TBH it's not a huge amount ahead of the 9800 Pro in pure gaming.
Click to expand...


you must be the biggest fool on this forum to make a statement like that and not back it up:

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only a fool would buy a 9800 card when the 6600gt is the same price. the 6600gt is also far more reliable than the 9800 series which has an even worse track record than nvidia 7900 series for reliability.

coupled with the fact that the 6600gt supports shader model 3.0 and purevideo video processor, it really is the only sensible option to go for.
 
Get a 9800pro with an R360 core and if you feel confident enough then upgrade the firmware so it turns into a 9800xt

Very good cards
 
fatmas said:
Get a 9800pro with an R360 core and if you feel confident enough then upgrade the firmware so it turns into a 9800xt

Very good cards
Click to expand...

yea good if that flash gives it shader model 3.0 support and boosts its speed by 40% so it can rival the 6600gt and also unlocks a hidden video processor so it has hardware video decoding capabilities like the 6600gt.

either way you look at it, only a noob or a fanboy would recommend a 9800xt over a 6600gt when the prices are the same.

9800pro/xt is not worth more than 30 quid. and 6600gt is worth paying the 50 quid for.
 
I agree the 6600 GT is definitely the better choice at this price range. I'd only get the 9800pro if its significantly cheaper and you're not too worried about playing the very latest games at low detail.
 
If your very patient I have seen 6800GT's go for not much more than £50 on the bay. Look for ones that end at silly times during the night or early morning.
 
well cheers for all the help guys,

the cheapest ive seen a 9800 pro go for so far is 50 quid ish, and the 6600 gt is an extra 20 on that on ebay. think i'll just wait till i upgrade my whole build and get a PCI-E card.

unless any1 here is selling 1? :P

on a positive note i should get my new monitor tomo :D
 
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