Ikeness

My motherboard's not great. It has no AGP slots. But I would still like to kinda play some games on it. Please give some suggestions for what to get or what to look for in a gfx card.

What I would like/need:

PCI Slot
OS: XP Home
Price Range: $50-80
Games to play well: UnrealTournament2004 - HalfLife2

I figure something like this should be affordable by now. I just don't know what to look for. Kinda worried it does not exist for PCI, though.

Thanks

mrscottydog

Is that in american or candian prices or what?

zaknafein72

Fastest PCI card ever produced was the ATI Radeon 9250 with 256MB of memory. Make sure to get the card in PCI, though, as it was produced for AGP as well. These type of cards are disappearing, but newegg has it for only 52$:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ATI-_-14102434

For other suggestions, refer this page:

http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=97798

HL2 and UT2004 should be playable on this card, however use low resolutions and don't expect to use any anti-aliasing or HDR or any other graphical doodads. Despite its maxing out of the PCI bus, it is limited by the low, low speed of that bus: 16 or even 32 times slower than a PCI-E slot. Quite honestly, this card, or any other card available for the PCI bus, will be unable to play games that have come out in the last 2-3 years. If you want to be able to play anything newer, you will just have to get a new motherboard with an AGP or PCI-E slot (at this point, there's no reason not to get PCI-E.)

If you don't plan to upgrade your whole computer soon, snap this card up from newegg: PCI cards are disappearing from the market, and soon it will be difficult to find one. I've seen this card listed for upwards of 90$ in other places.

Good luck!

emosun

Actually this isn't quite correct. The fastest pci cards ever made were the radeon x1300 and x1550, both are a generation ahead of the 9 series. These cards how ever are out of your price range. If you would be willing to save up a little more these would be much faster then the 9 series. here's a few links

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...314&CatId=1603

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...644&CatId=1603

These cards also support newer technologies such as directx 9 and shader model 3 which the 9 series do not support. Also both card use ddr2 ram which runs faster and consumes less power. Both these cards will play games that have come out in the last few years, not perfect but will play them nicely.

zaknafein72

Sorry for the incorrect info, I was not aware they were still making PCI cards--did not know any existed which were DX9 and SM3 compatible. Thanks for the correction, emosun.

emosun

No problem, video cards are in my particular interest so I try to find the best for each type of slot or system.

mrscottydog

Oh emosun, I'm thinking of getting a 3870 card, and since you're interested in graphic cards I could use your opinion :P

I was thinking of getting one in the future (not now, too poor) But should I get the regular one or the 3870 X2? And which ever one you suggest, is a 450 PSU enough? or would I have to get a new one of that too?

I'm not the best with these kinds of things so, can you help? thanks =]

emosun

The 450 watt psu would not be enough for either of those cards, however a quality 600W should be able to power both, and like always, I would recommend the fastest card you can afford so long as you have a good psu, and the 3870 x2 is very very fast.

mrscottydog

All righty, cause I was gonna get a 750W Modular eventually anyways. But again... Still too poor :P

emosun

Make sure the power supply is a quality brand such as antec or thermaltake and not a cheap off brand. A 750w should cost over at least 100$.

mrscottydog

Well the one I was looking at just went out of stock :S

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...443&CatId=2496

But that's the same one except 400W version, on the 750W it's got 2 extra PCIE 6 thingys, can't remember the correct name right now, and the 750W is 89 bucks I think cause of a mail in rebate. And that's Canadian

emosun

I never was to fond of those ultra psu's. They always seemed too cheap for the wattage. If you can try to get a thermaltake or antec but if you can't then I guess ultra would be ok just don't expect it to be as good.