Which CHEAP pci-e graphics card

Horlock

I want a really cheap pci-e graphics card. I ordered one a while ago at a bargain price (misprice) and they cancelled the order now I want a cheap one.

Story is I have a new dell 5150 and want a graphics card because the onboard doesn't have dvi out to use with my dell monitor.

I don't play games - at least I rarely play games and certainly not the "best" games so I don't really care how good it is. But when I look - there are so many cards available.

Essentially I'm looking for advice on:

NVida or Radeon (at the bottom end of price range - ie approx £30-£40)? Is the most important thing the size the memory? Confused because companys like scan sell same numbered products with same size memory for very different prices? Would I be better not bothering and just using the d-sub instead?

Xio_2

Hi,

If you dont play any medium/high end or graphically demanding games, or don't care about antialiasing/filtering etc, I don't think its worth the hassle or cost just to upgrade for the sake of a DVI connection. Having used both dsub and dvi-i on several monitors, I think you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the two in terms of picture quality. Only difference is that you dont have to use the adapter

Having said that, any (more or less) 'budget' card will be be better than onboard graphics solution in terms of graphical power. Take a look at ATI's X300/X500 range or nVidia's 6200/7300 series for examples in your budget.

Regarding memory, if you dont game, then higher memory (>256MB) will serve no purpose unless the card intended to be kept long term (ie for vista). The only advantage memory wise from getting a dedicated GPU is that it will release the system memory being shared for graphics on board (as long as you stay away from TurboCache and HyperMemory models).

Hope that helps.