Video Card Recommendations

[ghettochild]

i got my 9600se for about 70 bucks or so

[REDREAD]

Originally Posted by pahster

Right. If you buy a seperate video card you don't have to worry about it leeching off of your system memory.

You're probably more up to date on this than me. When I was shopping around, I found out that they made some "plug in" cards that were cheaper because they used system memory... But perhaps I got bad information.

[pahster]

Ah, yes. A few are like that. Don't bother with them. They're pretty much useless.

[REDREAD]

Originally Posted by GAC

Thanks. Then what kind of specific card should I be looking for then?

I ended up getting the ATI 9600 with 256 MB. What I liked is that it already has Direct X 9 support. IMO, you don't save that much if you buy less memory, ($20-30). I figure things are going to start demanding more and more video memory. I'd probably buy one with 128 MB of memory at bare minimum so I'd have room to grow a little.

If you end up upgrading your PC, you can always move the video card into the new PC, so I think it's worth the investment of $80 or so to get a better card.

But, I think you can get a used ATI 9600 off ebay with 64 MB for around $40-50 shipped.
I think it also has DirectX 9 support as well. The speed is slightly slower, if I recall on the lower end 9600.

The GE Force cards are probably fine, but I've never owned one, so I don't know. ATI has always done me right, so I stick with their brand.

[pahster]

The processor is only 866mhz. A card with 256 MB of RAM would probably be overkill unless GAC is planning on signifigantly upgrading the system in the near future. 64MB is probably good enough. 128 is better. It'd be great if you could find one in your pricerange.

[GAC]

Thanks for the input guys. I'm gonna look for a 128 MB card. The games they luv to play are those SIMS games, and my son likes Halo. Thats about all they play.

[REDREAD]

Originally Posted by pahster

The processor is only 866mhz. A card with 256 MB of RAM would probably be overkill unless GAC is planning on signifigantly upgrading the system in the near future. 64MB is probably good enough. 128 is better. It'd be great if you could find one in your pricerange.

That's an excellent point. I forgot his initial specs.