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Budget Graphics Card Roundup

Posted by samzenpus on from the looking-good-for-less dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "Not all of us are prepared to drop $500 for a killer graphics card. Generally, the sweet spot in price and performance is in the budget category of GPUs. Joel Durham Jr. over at ExtremeTech reviews nine current graphics cards, all of which are below $250, some below $150, to determine which cards are worth the time and money for the gamer on a budget. In the sub $150 category, the ATI Radeon 4770 performed the best for its price. Spend a little more and Joel recommends the GeForce 260."

8 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. Wrong... by Schnoogs · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...the sweetspot is in the mid range. The budget cards are only good for playing those 2-3 year old games you've been putting off forever. The midrange cards allows you to play the current games at modest framerates without having to break the bank. For $200 I can get a card that will play Crysis, STALKER Clear Sky, etc at a reasonable resolution. Try doing that with a budget card.

    1. Re:Wrong... by jeffmeden · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No problem, take two Radeon 4770 cards ($100 each) on a crossfire motherboard and they will run circles around cards in the $200 range. Together they will use less power than the $200-$300 cards, too. See this for more info.

    2. Re:Wrong... by feepness · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The summary mentions cards below $250.

      I think the problem is the definition is changing. $200 used to be in the lower quadrant. Now it is definitely mid-range. The high-end has dropped out as there is no point to be pushing X trillion pixels.

    3. Re:Wrong... by Itninja · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Yeah that works. But the money you are saving on the card(s) will be more than eaten up by the need to a crossfire compatible board (i.e. one with 2+ PCI x16 slots). Mobos with only a single slot are less than half the price.

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      I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
    4. Re:Wrong... by iamhassi · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "For $200 I can get a card that will play Crysis, STALKER Clear Sky, etc at a reasonable resolution. Try doing that with a budget card."

      RTFA Crysis, high settings, 1680x1050... 32.7 fps from the $100 Radeon 4770. Anyone want to argue that 1680x1050 isn't a "reasonable resolution"? And remember this was a benchmark, so no doubt there were 100 guys on the screen moving and shouting and explosions and all that stuff that never really happens when you're playing normally, crouching behind a tree trying not to be sniped.

      If that's not enough, spend another $100 and run 1900x1200 at 43fps

      And we haven't even touched the 20% fps gains from overclocking: "At 1680x1050, with 4xAA, you're looking at a greater-than 20% boost - nothing short of incredible."

      Yes, I bought one and it's amazing for $100. Wonder what I'll be buying in 2-3 yrs? A $70 card?

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      my karma will be here long after I'm gone
  2. All on one page please.... by Itninja · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's the single page link: http://www.extremetech.com/print_article2/0,1217,a%253D240530,00.asp

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    I judt got a nre Kinesis keybiartf so please excusr ant egregiou typos.
  3. Re:Wait for the good deal... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    3) Your current card fails.

    My budget card from 2005 recently started producing artifacts during light use and failing in bigger ways during heavy use. It had served me well. I was unable to play some modern games (e.g. BioShock) but there are so many interesting older games that I still haven't had time to play. It seems like what I gain from the price of a video card diminishes as the selection of games grows.

  4. Budget? by sc0ob5 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Maybe I have a different opinion on what budget is.. Less than $100USD.. Here I was thinking that I'd read a hardware review on slashdot that may actually be useful to me. Alas no.