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Looking for a cheap video card
Moco
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Alright, so i just ordered a new computer from Dell. Money is tight and the computer is not coming with a video card. I was wondering what's a really good card for under 100 dollars. I really won't be playing graphic intensive games. I haven't had a new computer for about five years so I haven't even played games like Warcraft 3 yet 
The only new game I'll most likely be playing is Dawn of War and even then I don't need to play it at the highest settings.
Ok so the system specs for the comp are
Athlon 64 X2 Dual core 3800
1 GB of RAM
160 GB hard drive
all that other stuff
The motherboard has a PCI-e x16 slot too
the only thing that sucks about it is that the power supply is only 305 watts so...yeah
The only new game I'll most likely be playing is Dawn of War and even then I don't need to play it at the highest settings.
Ok so the system specs for the comp are
Athlon 64 X2 Dual core 3800
1 GB of RAM
160 GB hard drive
all that other stuff
The motherboard has a PCI-e x16 slot too
the only thing that sucks about it is that the power supply is only 305 watts so...yeah
Moco on
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Thats a ATI Radeon x1650, it's got 512MB, it's DirectX9, however it is a VERY new GPU (it was released just 2 or 3 days ago) The MSRP is $150 in the US (Futureshop is a Canadian site, but if you can find BestBuy they'll price match them)
305? or 350? I dont think theres much in terms of PCI-express you can power on a 305...
Newegg is out of the cheap eVGAs so if you have to get one now you'd have to either get a Biostar or stretch your budget an extra $5 or $10 and get either a Foxconn or a different eVGA.
eVGA cards have lifetime warranties, and Biostar seems to be using cheaper capacitors.
If you don't want to bother with the rebates then it would still be a good idea to stretch the budget by $20 and get a GT as they are about twice as fast as 7600GSes.
If you can't spare that much then a 7600GS will have to do. They are still +$5 overbudget though. You should also look out for cards with lower-then-standard clock speed (for 7600GS they are 400MHz for core and 800MHz for the memory).
X1600XT or X1650Pro cards (they are the same thing) perform similarly to the GS, in case you find them at a low price, but again - check the frequencies, they should be around 600/1400.
edit: Wezoin is totally wrong, the X1650Pro is the same fucking thing as the X1600XT with +10MHz on the core and +20MHz on the memory and you the 512MB is fucking useless in such a slow card.
editedit: the 7600GT needs about 36W, 7600GS <28W the X1600XT/X1650Pro about 42W; from xbitlabs
At night, the ice weasels come."
I checked the Dell site and it says
"305 Watt DC Power Supply
* Backup battery: 3-V CR2032 lithium coin cell"
Is it really hard to put in a new PSU?
also, I was kind of looking this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814143049 card and was kind of wary of getting it since it said the requirement for it was a 350 watt power supply.
I also just like to point out that I won't be playing games that are too graphic intensive. Anything that could run Warcraft 3 at max and could play Dawn of War with ok settings is good enough for me
Replacing power supplies in regular computers is pretty straight-forward - disconnect a able or two from the motherboard and some from the drives, unscrew the PSU and pop in a new one, reconnect everything and that's it. Just make sure you have it set to the right mains voltage if it has a switch for that on the back.
If the computer uses a normal motherboard, that you could buy yourself, then the PSU obviously has to be standard also.
Video card manufacturers usually assume the worst scenario (ie. some inefficient PSU and lot's of other power-hungry components) so it might still work. The worst that could happen is that the PC won't boot with the card, more probable is that it might freeze when playing games.
At night, the ice weasels come."
Althought PC Magazine was advertising for a company that sold uber Dell PSUs... Found a link for ya: http://www.pcpowercooling.com/home/ Though since you were looking to do this cheap, it might not be an option.
I'm getting the Dell Dimension E521 and i can't find it on that list anyway.
The Dell site says that they use an NForce 430 chipset...don't know if that helps any.
The PSU connector does seem to be a bit different than ATX (pins 10, 11 and 20 should be +12V (yellow) +12V and -5V (white) respectively).
At night, the ice weasels come."
I wouldn't recommend it... You could damage your system this way... I have a cousin who Futureshop installed some parts even at the minimum requirements in terms of power supply... It fried his whole system... Luckily since he had them install it they had to replace the system, but since you're trying to do it on the cheap you would be liable for it yourself.
this makes me feel a bit better. so, yeah, I guess I'll go for a Geforce 7600 GT at New Egg.
I found this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130062 for $130. What do you guys think?
Otherwise it looks OK.
At night, the ice weasels come."
Thanks again.