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Thread ID: 79540 2007-05-23 03:19:00 Sub $100 AGP graphics card Morgenmuffel (187) Press F1
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552392 2007-05-23 03:19:00 Sub $100 AGP graphics card, title says it all

I really want best bang for my buck, I have $100 to spend and that is all

I have looked at pricespy and the only vaguely decent cards for under $100 seem to be ati based

there appear to be 2 main types

9250 256MB AGP8X

or

9550 256MB AGP8X (does the higher number mean this one is faster?)

Also they seem to have letters after them that i don't get
TD = ??
GE = game edition??


all of the different variants of each of the above 2 cards seem to be much of a muchness, so any help would be appreciated especially about the ?bit rate? as apparently from my readings some versions of these cards use 64bit while others use 128 bit

as usual any help is greatly appreciated 		Morgenmuffel (187)
552393 2007-05-23 04:16:00 I had a 256bit ATi card at one time. To my knowledge ATi was the only one to provide such budget cards with 256bit. The bitrate is more important then the memory in budget cards. The higher memory will generally not improve anything over the 128mb to 256mb. But 128bit to 256bit will.

Would you consider buying second hand? Buying a AGP video card I wouldn't suggest buying new as AGP is a nearing its end so retail price may rise.

But when talking numbers the higher the better usually. But there are times when when a lower model with a XT, GT etc. is actually better then higher numbered models.

Ones I can suggest for $100 are: (6600GT and 9800XT being the best)

Geforce:
Ti4200
Ti4800
6600 } GT

ATi:
9600 }
9700 } XT
9800 }

There is a 9600XT on TradeMe at $50 which I'm sure wont go over $100 ;)

Umm also TD means 'Turbo .....' something which actually uses system ram which you do not really want.

If anything else comes to mind I will post it up :D

EDIT:

Oh man this is confusing but here is a run down:

ATI: XTX > XT > XL > Pro > GTO > Vanilla > GT > SE > Hyper Anything
nVidia: Ultra > GTX > GT > GS > Vanilla > LE = XT > VE > TC / TD(6200)

Vanilla is just a general card with no suffix's.

Suffix's thanks to NWNForums. 		trinsic (6945)
552394 2007-05-23 04:33:00 I would suggest Geforce 7300 GT 256MB AGP (around $160)

I know that is a bit out of your pricerange, but I would say it would be at least 3x faster than your current selected cards 		mejobloggs (264)
552395 2007-05-23 04:54:00 I definately advise the 7300GT if you want to play any games.

I would say the 9600XT on Trademe could possible go over $100. I have seen crazy things happen on old hardware on trademe.

I heard of one guy that sold his Athlon XP system on Trademe for more than he bought it new!! 		mejobloggs (264)
552396 2007-05-23 06:26:00 Yeah i am a bit dubious about trademe for graphics cards as i watched quite a few go for ridiculous prices (well ridiculous to me), and there is normally no warranty on the cards which if anything goes wrong is always handy to have, and quite frankly i don't trust that half the sellers there aren't just trying to flog off faulty old cards that they've screwed up

$100 is my upper limit, I am not intending to play any of todays games, the games I am interested in playing were released 2 - 3 years ago so the budget cards should be fine for these, (I hope) 		Morgenmuffel (187)
552397 2007-05-24 00:36:00 I'm back with another question about cellar dweller graphics cards.

For some reason the 9250 seem to be dearer than the 9550 which seems odd if the 9550 is a better card

and yes i know I'm ignoring everyones advice, but I need to keep under $100 and I would only buy second hand if it was from a reputable source (not trademe, as there is no comeback)

Although if you can find a better card for sub $100 NZ then by all means post a link and explain to me why it is better

I Understand that ram speed is important and the bitrate addressing thingie but also to my mind 256Mbs of ram is better than 128Mbs of ram 		Morgenmuffel (187)
552398 2007-05-24 01:00:00 For some reason the 9250 seem to be dearer than the 9550 which seems odd if the 9550 is a better card No, it is not really odd... it is a simple example of the economics of the world... according to Pricespy (www.pricespy.co.nz) there is only 4 Radeon 9250 256MB cards in NZ and there is 50 of the 9550 256MB cards, it is all supply and demand... and seeing as there is less of the 9250s that are able to be supplied, they increase the price to encourage people to buy other things such as the cheaper and faster 9550 which is more readily available for supply :nerd: :2cents: The_End_Of_Reality (334)
552399 2007-05-24 02:42:00 Yeah i thought that might be it, are there any real differences between the brand of the card as in asustech and powercolor and whatever else Morgenmuffel (187)
552400 2007-05-24 04:06:00 There is no real difference as in performance, unless a brand overclocks their card, the real difference is software that comes with the card, warranty, and just overall quality of the card IMO The_End_Of_Reality (334)
552401 2007-05-24 04:30:00 Get a 9550 then.

What games are you looking to play? 		mejobloggs (264)
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