Best Video Card for $75

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xTrident

Limp Gawd
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Jan 20, 2011
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Friend has an Athlon 64 x2 CPU with 3 GB of ram. I know most video cards today would all be bottle necked by that setup. Luckily the budget for a GPU in this machine is 75 bucks.

The biggest limiting factor might be the PSU though... It's only a 350 watt and he doesn't want to upgrade anything but the video card.

Below are a few of the cards I was looking at.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102930
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161315
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150485

I know that all those cards require more than a 350 watt PSU. I also know that 350 watts really isn't going to cut it now a days. But given that information, is there anything that you guys can recommend?

Oh, there is one more thing, and I'm not even sure the PC itself will do it, but he's also looking to play a game as intensive as Supreme Commander 2. Everything else doesn't require as much as that.
 
The more I think about it, the more I think he might be better off trying to get a card for 50 bucks and trying to upgrade that PSU...
 
Or spending a bit more and upgrading both.
5670 would be your best bet with the current psu I would think.

Which psu does he currently have?
 
I don't have exact specs on the PSU. But honestly, my guess would be it's just some generic brand getting the job done. I'm afraid he's just going to have to spend a bit more myself.
 
5670 is probably the fastest, but I would honestly look at the 6570. Its only a few FPS slower (not really a meaningful difference I don't think from what I've seen) but uses a bit less power, not that his PSU couldn't do either.
 
Looking at prices, if he went with the 5670 he could get one for $59.99 after MIR and then get this PSU.

With that deal, he'd only have to spend 20 bucks more than his original budget to get a decent PSU that would allow for a lot more upgrade-ability later on.
 
lloose said:
I would personally go with a new 5670 for the warranty alone.
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I just looked at some of the cards I'd be interested in recommending on ebay and they all tend to sell to high. I looked between the 4850, 4870, 5750, and 5770. I even checked out the 3870's to see what they had and they were all selling awfully high. 5670 will probably end up being the way to go.
 
Avoid ebay. I have seen people try to sell 9800pro's for $300. Also, some companies wont even honor warranties unless they are purchased through a real retailer. The only vendors I would use are Amazon and Newegg.
 
lloose said:
Avoid ebay. I have seen people try to sell 9800pro's for $300. Also, some companies wont even honor warranties unless they are purchased through a real retailer. The only vendors I would use are Amazon and Newegg.
Click to expand...

Gotcha. I actually bought a VisionTek 4870 512 MB card few months ago. Got it for 63 dollars, which after looking at the prices now seems like a darn good deal. Installed it, and had no problems. I thought the card was running fairly hot on idle but after doing some research realized that's just how hot that card ran.

I've also purchased a CPU and had no problems. But I generally buy from high rated sellers. I do notice how most of the sellers want to rape money from people though.
 
Thanks guys. I just got done talking to him on the phone, and he realized the PSU is only a 250-watt... He has to get a new PSU, no if's and's or but's about it. I think his plan will be to up the budget to around 100 bucks for a PSU and a video card.
 
I would probably just get a 5670 as there would be no need a for a new psu with that.

how about listing the exact cpu he has and resolution he wants to play at though because that can make a huge difference here?
 
I'd be more than happy to list the exact specs of that current 250-watt PSU, except I don't know what they were. It doesn't matter anymore anyway, because he ordered that Corsair yesterday too.

I know it's his wife's PC, and it'll just be a backup for him in case his i7 machine takes a dive. He's had problems with it ever since he's built it now. I'm sure the resolution wouldn't be anything to demanding. And if he got some lag he'd probably lower it a bit. He's running a 5770 in his i7 right now. He just RMA'd the mobo and RAM for his i7, so once he gets that back and if everything is good he plans to upgrade his GPU and put the 5770 in his wife's machine.

At this point, he's got a lot of financial things going on so he's jumping all over the place on what he wants to do. He looks to me for some advice on what to do PC wise. It's fine with me because I can jump all over with him. Not as easy when I post what I'm looking for to you guys though as it understandably needs to be narrowed down on just what you are looking for.

Thanks for all the help though.
 
zer0gravity said:
Your just reposting what has already been said.

I would avoid the rebate. IMO
Click to expand...

oops, sorry, skimmed the thread and didn't see it mentioned.

on another note, rebates chap my buttocks - i hate waiting for my money.

i do have a powercooler hd5770 1gb card i'm trying to unload for $60 + shipping if you're interested. unregistered and still 10 months left on the mfg. warr.
 
I just upgraded my PC replaced an EVGA GTX 260-216core + 550W PSU,
I can probably let both go for around $100 :) before I unload on the fleebay, drop a PM if interested.

The above combo runs solid for runs most today's games at high setting.
My new rig is a GTX570 + 650W PSU.
 
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