How to handle video card shopping for cheap people...

[Nobahar]

I'm putting this here cause it could be up for discussion. So, not all of us can afford or "waste" (as some people would put it) over 200 dollars on any single piece of hardware that isn't a motherboard or a cpu.

Some of us are extra frugal and don't believe in spending more than 60 dollars on a video card (me). So how to handle this problem without buying the wrong thing or paying more than you should?

Well, obviously you don't care about impressing others- what you want is a functional video card. Something that will survive long enough to run games in 4-5 years, albeit at the lowest graphic settings possible.

First step is to find out what games you want to play and know what their system reqs are. Never buy a new video card that is under recommended. If you buy a recommended video card for a newish game (Oblivion), it will probably survive to meet minimum system reqs for a game in the future (Elder Scrolls V).

The actual speeds of the card are not as important as what it supports. For example, the Radeon 9800 Pro and the Geforce 6800 are comparable cards that are in the 100 price range- but will probably be down to 60 within 6 months to a year (my bet). Of the two, I find the Geforce to be the obvious pick because of its support for pixel and vertex shader 3.0, whereas the ATI card only supports 2.0 (note, these are agp cards- haven't dealt with switching motherboards to a pci-e one yet).

When shopping for a card it helps to look for the price range above the range you're interested in buying, and then comparing cards in that range and finding the one that can support more (priority 1) and then speeds (2)- which depends on whether or not you want to OC it too.

Some people ask me why I limit myself to a 60 dollar card when I can pay 3 times that and get a card that not only lasts 3 times as long for games, but gives you higher quality graphics in the meantime. If you find a really good deal on a card, then it might be worth a stretch. But a more expensive card is a gamble. You don't know how quickly it will lose value and paying less decreases that risk. Or say something happens and in two years your card stops working (don't pretend like this never happens ;p)- you have much less protection under a higher cost investment than the lower one.

All in all, you have to ask yourself what type of man you are. Do you prefer a high-maintenance 20 year old wife with the risk that she'll stop putting out within a year or two, and that she might start aging faster than had hoped.... Or would you rather get two 28 year old wives in the same time period and have the freedom to keep or dump one depending on how satisfied you are with the marriage, supposing that by 28 her aging rate is known and that it's far less likely that she'll get gangrene (lose value by 50% or more) than the 20 year old...

I know most people here are looking for one-night stands with 18 year olds [those of you buying those 400 dollar cards and then selling them months later for the next new one... you know who you are]... money-wasters ;)

(Note: the views expressed here are that of testosterone-laden 21 year male and shouldn't be taken as a serious analogy)

[stev]

I got a 35 year old wife with mid-range maintenance. However, she thinks I'm a 70 year old in the balistic-range maintenance.

My boys and I hear what you're saying about the graphics cards. Running NFSUG required a certain level of video card. We went one level higher of a card to run it. When NFSUG-MW came out, our choice did well to keep the card without spending more $$.

LR has a system guide on the main page. Most of the time it's very good for picking out a low or mid range card that will keep going as more games and software progress. Right now, the eVGA GeForce 6800GT (256 MB) for $95 is listed as the low end card. It's a shade higher than the 6600GT, but either card would do the job. So, the 6600GT price wise may be the ~$60 answer for today.

[Bio-Hazard]

I've been lucky and haven't paid a penny of either of my last 2 vidoe cards. I just spent a lot of free time online entering contests and won the last one (7900GT) and I traded older stuff for the one before that (X800XL). The 9800Pro I had before that I got for nothing because it was broke due to a bad bios flash I I fixed it and it's still working to this day.

[Sovereign]

I'm the Anti-Cheap Videocard person....always want the settings on the highest they will go. Played Battlefield 2 last night with all settings maxed and AF @ 16x, AA @ 4x (must try 8x). It was glorious, even at my midrange resolution of 1280x1024.

My non-budget card? Cards, plural, two 7900GTXs that ran me about $1000. Budget =

[kenc51]

no comment...........

/I have "electronics envy" and a semi-disposable income

[DMB2000uk]

Prehaps your views would be different if you had the income to burn
Im in the same state of electronics envy at the minute, i just hope i can get a high enough paid job when i graduate uni.


Dan

[kenc51]

Prehaps your views would be different if you had the income to burn
Im in the same state of electronics envy at the minute, i just hope i can get a high enough paid job when i graduate uni.


Dan

My problem is I still spend the money.....and then some!

[Antonik]

slick deals ( google it) will help you out a bit too.

[Immortal]

Guys, i donno if this is evident in the US, but here in the UK PCI-E cards are so much cheaper than their AGP counterparts that it actually in some cases makes sense to change the whole setup

example, Radeon X800 Pro AGP costs £145, i have seen an X800 pro PCi-e for £45 brand new, thats £100 saving.

If looking for a cheap buy, always try ebay, best place to look!

[Sovereign]

Just make sure the seller is reputable....otherwise you get burned.