Looking for a Video Card...

[Torahteen]

and I need your opinions. I have a Dimension 3000 desktop from Dell with 2.8ghz, and 512mb of RAM, but I have a POS onboard video card by intel. It truly just plain sucks. So I'm gonna buy a new one.

I have to stay in the $0-$50 range, since I'm a bit low on cash. Doesn't matter, anything's better than what I have now . So I looked around (ok, I looked on newegg, maybe I'll look elsewhere later), and have found 4 that looked ok:

Code:

Name                      Mem.  Core    Price   DirectX  OpenGL   Type     GPU
+------------------------------------+-----+------+---------+-------+--------+-----+--------------+
|eVGA Geforce MX4000                 |128mb|250MHz|   $39   |  7.0  |  1.3   | DDR |Geforce MX4000|
+------------------------------------+-----+------+---------+-------+--------+-----+--------------+
|eVGA Geforce FX5200                 |128mb|250MHz|   $46   |  9.0  |  1.3   | DDR |Geforce FX5200|
+------------------------------------+-----+------+---------+-------+--------+-----+--------------+
|HIS Hightech Radeon 9250            |128mb|240MHz|   $49   |  8.0  |  1.4   | DDR |Radeon 9250   |
+------------------------------------+-----+------+---------+-------+--------+-----+--------------+
|POWERCOLOR Radeon 9250              |128mb|240MHz|   $50   |  8.0  |  1.3   | DDR |Radeon 9250   |
+------------------------------------+-----+------+---------+-------+--------+-----+--------------+

So I ask you... do any of you have any experience with these cards... these GPUs? Personally (just from the user reviews really), I like the eVGA Geforce FX5200, but I really have no clue what to look for. 128mb is as much memory as I'm gonna find for a PCI card at that price, so I picked those. If you think I should look at some 64mb or maybe even 32mb cards, let me know. Thanks guys!

[Nixon]

I've got a PCI(PCI not PCIE) 128mb GeForce FX5200, it runs pretty nice for what I use it for. My system is 800mhz, 256mb ram, windows XP Pro. This is able to run Halo, battlefield 1942, FireWarrior, GTA III, Neverwinter Nights, and other games. The only things letting me down are the CPU speed and RAM. So I recommend it, though I have not tried any of the others.

[Torahteen]

Anyone else?

[NovaProgramming]

I would go for the FX5200 as well. When you look at cards, the most important thing is clock speed; and so that has a pretty decent one. Normally I don't like them all that much, but if you're willing to spend a little bit more, http://www.tigerdirect.com has some cards that are under $50 that are better than the ones you've listed (but after a $15 mail-in rebate... so I don't know if that matters).

[yetifoot]

I've used a few GeForce cards before (mainly the budget ones) and they've seemed quite robust. I haven't used any on your list though.

[Kevin_theprogrammer]

Skip the Radeons. ATi makes shitty drivers. Go for the Nvidias.

[Plasma]

I'd go for a used Ti4600 instead of the FX5200. It'll be faster and cheaper.

[Torahteen]

Plasma, I can't find the Ti4600 anywhere for less than $200. I'm sorry, but I don't have that kind of money :-? .

My only problem with the FX5200 is wether or not eVGA ships a DVI-RGB converter with it, considering it only has a DVI port on it. If anyone knows the truth about this, let me know.

[Plasma]

Used is the key. Ti4600's been discontinued for some time now, so any store that still has new ones in stock will be charging outrageous prices.

[SJ Zero]

No contest. Go with the FX5200. The MX card is an MX without any pixel shaders, and the 9250s are stripped down 8500s, making them pathetically old and underpowered cards. The 5200 isn't perfect, but it's the absolute best you can do.