Need a video card suggestion

Hey guys,

I'm coming back into gaming again now that I'm back from sea, but I need an upgrade to my 4 year old video card to keep up nowadays. My rig has a PCI express x16 slot (PCI 1.0), and I'm looking to get the best bang for my buck with a new video card. My price point is about $100, but if I can get something just as good for less... even better. Anyone provide any suggestions on card models or links to good deals?

Thanks,
Radgasken

There are better cards for roughly the same price, but they are all PCIe 2.1, which according to Wikipedia "Unfortunately, it breaks backwards-compatibility between PCI Express 2.1 cards and some older motherboards." However, doing a bit of looking on a couple tech sites, it looks like this one, a PCIe 2 card, would be worth looking at. (Plus it's only $64,99 after rebate) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125366

Yah, reading more into it, it looks like I can use a PCIe 2.0 card, it just runs with half the bandwidth... that seems to be the best I can do. That card looks pretty solid, thanks a lot for the suggestion.

» Edited on: 2012-03-17 20:39:27

» Edited on: 2012-03-17 20:58:38

The reality is, that unless you get into the higher end video cards (like a GTX 680 or ATI 7970), you will not saturate the PCIe bandwidth of even an old PCIe 1.0 x16 slot with a PCIe 2.0 card. PCIe 2.0 x8 = PCIe 1.0 x16 So with most cards (and definitely those in your $100 price range), you won't even come close to taking a major hit. Typically, it is only a 2-3% hit. My wife has an older Assus P5W DH Deluxe motherboard that only has a PCIe x16 slot in it and she runs a newer GTX 560Ti card just fine. Now, on to the best bang for your buck .... I'm thinking the GTX 550Ti card. That is about $129 from Newegg and has a $20 mail in rebate, for a grand total of $109. I'd go with the EVGA manufacturer. I have the EVGA GTX 580 Hydro Copper 2, and the wife and son both have the GTX 560Ti, and they are awesome for Rift. Also the EVGA warranty can not be beat.

new one just came out =) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 only $499.99 best graphics card ever i am not sure if this fits the requirements but this is the best one to have

FIVE HUNDRED bucks!!?? Oh my it must be nice to have that kind of money to spend. Wow that's my rent, right there lolol I'll be happy if I can ever play at higher than 'low quality renderer'. I don't care about max/ultra settings. It would just be nice to see at least some of the beauty the art team put into this game. (My game has No grass, pebbles, small rocks, water effects, plants, glowing effects, bright colors, in other world general blahness.) Annnnd maybe play at more than 19-22 fps might make for a better gaming experience! lol My Radeon 4xxx and Rift are not the best of friends :P The rest of the rig requirements are met or exceeded just dandy.

» Edited on: 2012-03-25 10:45:53

» Edited on: 2012-03-25 10:47:27

I bought the first suggestion, the NVidia GT 440 1GB, for $72 (including tax and rebate), installed it, and it's working great right now. I'm playing SWTOR a bit waiting on GW2. I kept an old NVidia Quadro NVS 290 installed in a secondary PCI 1X slot to run a 2nd monitor too which doesn't seem to slow down gameplay (although there is some significant alt-tab delay which isn't a big deal).

Good to hear it's working out for you. I never thought about running a different video card for running a separate monitor. Best of luck running GW2, it sounds like you should be okay with that card with the bare minimum specs, but I'd wait to find out before you buy it..

» Edited on: 2012-03-26 17:30:47

Surely if I can play Rift, I'll be able to play GW2? Windows Vista SP2 Intel quad core 2.66mhz 6 gigs of RAM ATI Radeon 45xx card Heck the Radeon card they listed on their specs thread is from YEARS ago... and everything else I've got exceeds the minimums reqs AFAIK

» Edited on: 2012-03-27 02:44:43

» Edited on: 2012-03-27 02:46:47