Cheap gaming graphics card

Scr00ge

I'm looking for a cheap AGP gaming graphics card. I have a good knowledge of other computer components, but don't have a clue about graphics cards. There seem to be so many available, and I cannot understand how they all compare... Can anyone point me in the right direction?

It doesn't need to be the latest technology, but it needs to be better than the one built into my motherboard (nVidia gforce 4MX 128Mb). Amongst others, I am interested in playing Colin McRae Rally 2005 that says it needs Pixel Shader... Any recommendations?

webhamster

I dont know your exact motherboard but you may not even be able to add a new vga card if its vga.

tbh its fruitless to upgrade a 50 quid vga card for playing games , just about every good game in the last 12 months wont work , or will have most of its "eycandy" turned off to just work.

I would advise that you go to pc world and look at the back of a game box that your wanting to play and then check out the spec , and thats a minimum spec it reccomends , if it can handle the minumum spec then all you get is exactly that....minimum.If its running minimum then things like lag of screen will no doubt happen at intensive parts of the game.

If you want it full on then prepare to pend good money , at present my minimum reccomendation for games is what I am using just now , athlon 2500 , 1gb ram , radeon 9800.....it wokrs with most games i have played in the last year including q4 , farcry , halflife 2 on near full settings for it all.....but doom 3 was still choppy at interesting moments.

Scr00ge

Motherboard is a Shuttle one... and it has a spare AGP slot, so I assume that I can disable the onboard one. Rest of machine spec is Athlon 3000 and 1gb ram, which still feels reasonably fast, but I think the onboard gforce 4MX 128mb lets it down. I'm not someone who plays games on the machine loads, but I just fancy a dabble at a few of them. I would just like to understand how the graphics cards are rated so that I can easily compare - especially if I buy a used one from ebay.

Blackjack_Davy

With graphics cards you get what you pay for basically - cheap cards are rarely worth it. Go for a mainstream card instead, it'll cost a bit more but it'll work with games for years to come. I'm currently running an Amd 3400 1MB Ram with a Radeon X800XT graphics card and Farcry, Doom 3 and HL2 will all play with all the settings maxed out.

Take a look at these benchmark speed tests for AGP cards: anything in the upper middle range should be fine.

http://www.tomshardware.com/2005/07/05/vga_charts_vii/page4.html

Mark_LJ

Shuttles are good performing machines so an upgrade isn't a bad choice atm with the rest of the hardware you have. What monitor are you using? I appreciate that people say they're playing games with all the settings maxed but if the they're only running 1024x768 thats not too hard. The other side of the coin is that there's no point in spending so much that the rest of your machine becomes a bottleneck. I would think that you need to spend in the region of £100 for performance commensurate with the rest of the rig. I'd be thinking along the lines of a 6600GT or an X800 GTO.

StockportGerbil

Hi!
You might want to have a look at retekdirect (https://www.retekdirect.co.uk) who do a 9800 pro for £60 plus VAT, which I think was recommended above and was a year or so ago very much the top of the range.
Regards
Kevin

b0redom

What you want is an nVidia 6600. That will be reasonably cheap, and reasonably powerful.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=283839 - 62.26 inc VAT

If you're feeling like spending a bit more, the 6600GT series of cards will give you a bit more oompf, but will cost about 40 quid more.

Loads of online places/ebay will have them for sale, pretty much any nVidia 6600 by any manufacturer will perform about the same.

Cheers...

Tom

b0redom

the 6600 is the next generation along from the 9800 cards btw.

greyster

next generation doesn't necessarily mean faster. ATI and Nvidia both offer entry level, medium level and high level cards. A high level last generation card will blow the pixels off an entry level new generation card ....

However in this case:

The "old" 9800 Pro actually has 256bit architecture ... the 6600LE only has 128bit but being new has a more advanced core. So .. weighing them both up, I would go with the 6600LE but I would put money down nobody will be able to tell the difference apart from the benchmark geeks. Pick the cheapest one.

We are talking 6600LE here not 6600GL which was mentioned once. The 6600GL is faster but depends on whether you can justify the additional money.

I still have a 9600 XT from nearly two years ago (or whenever HL2 came out, cos it came with it) and I'm having no problems playing World of Warcraft or Battlefield II.

wolfman

b0redom wrote:

the 6600 is the next generation along from the 9800 cards btw.

The 9800Pro is meant to be in terms equivalent to the 6600GT, not the 6600. The 6600GT is superior though, and by quite a way on some games.

The 9800Pro is a good card, and probably worth it for £60ish. The GeForce 6600GT will give you the best bang for your buck though. They usually come in at around £100-120 though. Finding an AGP version may be tricky though (they're normally PCI-e).

The Radeon 9600 is also a very good all round card, but ideally I'd go for the 6600GT.

shaggy

wolfman wrote:

The 9800Pro is meant to be in terms equivalent to the 6600GT, not the 6600. The 6600GT is superior though, and by quite a way on some games.

The 9800Pro is a good card, and probably worth it for £60ish. The GeForce 6600GT will give you the best bang for your buck though. They usually come in at around £100-120 though. Finding an AGP version may be tricky though (they're normally PCI-e).

The Radeon 9600 is also a very good all round card, but ideally I'd go for the 6600GT.

I'm after the 9800 Radeon All IN Wonder. No one seems to be stocking them brand new, and theyre going for silly prices on EBAY. DOes anyone know any good suppliers stocking the 128Mb version of these?