Recommend a Good but cheap Video Card

[Solo-Wing]

I am not looking for anything elite. I just want something that can play something like Portal 2 with medium/high Quality at about 30-40 frames a second at my screens full resolution. That should be more then enough for all my games in my steam library.

My Current specs:
Intel Pentium D CPU 2.80GHz
2 GB Ram (Will be upgrading to 4GB eventually)
2 Harddrives. 500GB and 320GB each.
And my current Graphics is ATI Radeon Xpress 200

So anybody know any cards that I could get?

I would also prefer it if it had a VGA output. I really do not want to get a new monitor. I am happy with my 1440x900 screen.

 

[ResonanceSD]

What's your PSU?

 

[Solo-Wing]

What's your PSU?

No idea. But the side of the Power Supply says 300W max.

 

[ResonanceSD]

What's your PSU?

No idea. But the side of the Power Supply says 300W max.

Radeon 7750, go go.

because it's cheap, powerful (for the money) and draws all it's power from your PCIEx16 slot.

 

[Solo-Wing]

What's your PSU?

No idea. But the side of the Power Supply says 300W max.

Radeon 7750, go go.

because it's cheap, powerful (for the money) and draws all it's power from your PCIEx16 slot.

Sweet thanks man. Though it is over $100 :/
Anything a bit cheaper? [sub]Just curious...[/sub]

Site says I need 400W for it. So it is a no go...

Plus I nee VGA output. I can't shell out the cash for both this AND a new monitor...

 

[Solo-Wing]

Anyone know if this would be any good?
http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-507.shtml

 

[ResonanceSD]

Anyone know if this would be any good?
http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-507.shtml

I haven't had much experience with video cards that cheap for a long time. You should be fine with it though.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Anyone know if this would be any good?
http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-507.shtml

http://www.techspot.com/review/244-ati-radeon-hd-5450/page10.html

Thus far AMD has hardly shocked us with their sub-$100 Radeon HD 5000 graphics offerings. The Radeon HD 5670 that we reviewed a few weeks back was able to put away the GeForce GT 240 in most tests, but the performance margins were close. The bigger issue surrounds the fact that the GeForce GT 240 is a horrible product in itself, not to mention it's seriously outclassed by the older and slightly more expensive GeForce 9800 GT and Radeon HD 4770.
What makes these cards different to the Radeon HD 5450 is that you shouldn't expect to play games with a card in this price point. It wasn't possible before and that hasn't changed today.

 

[Solo-Wing]

Anyone know if this would be any good?
http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-507.shtml

I haven't had much experience with video cards that cheap for a long time. You should be fine with it though.

Yeah I am not going for anything elite or expensive. I just want cheap yet effective. I basically just want a steady frame rate. I don't care if I have to sacrifice quality.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Anyone know if this would be any good?
http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-507.shtml

I haven't had much experience with video cards that cheap for a long time. You should be fine with it though.

Yeah I am not going for anything elite or expensive. I just want cheap yet effective. I basically just want a steady frame rate. I don't care if I have to sacrifice quality.

Yeah read post 8 in this thread and the article I linked to. -_-

 

[Solo-Wing]

Anyone know if this would be any good?
http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-507.shtml

I haven't had much experience with video cards that cheap for a long time. You should be fine with it though.

Yeah I am not going for anything elite or expensive. I just want cheap yet effective. I basically just want a steady frame rate. I don't care if I have to sacrifice quality.

Yeah read post 8 in this thread and the article I linked to. -_-

Ok but the Radeon HD 5450 is still better then the Radeon Xpress 200. Something I can already play Team Fortress 2 on! SO it will still be an upgrade for me.

 

[ResonanceSD]

Anyone know if this would be any good?
http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-507.shtml

I haven't had much experience with video cards that cheap for a long time. You should be fine with it though.

Yeah I am not going for anything elite or expensive. I just want cheap yet effective. I basically just want a steady frame rate. I don't care if I have to sacrifice quality.

Yeah read post 8 in this thread and the article I linked to. -_-

Ok but the Radeon HD 5450 is still better then the Radeon Xpress 200. Something I can already play Team Fortress 2 on! SO it will still be an upgrade for me.

Whatever man, it's your $30. If it works, good stuff, if not, w/e really.

 

[octafish]

Good lord a Pentium D! That thing would have to be at least six years old. Don't upgrade to 4Gb, it is time to start saving for a new system.

 

[Solo-Wing]

Good lord a Pentium D! That thing would have to be at least six years old. Don't upgrade to 4Gb, it is time to start saving for a new system.

Yeah but I got no money T.T
I need to make this last as long as I can...

 

[ResonanceSD]

Good lord a Pentium D! That thing would have to be at least six years old. Don't upgrade to 4Gb, it is time to start saving for a new system.

Yeah but I got no money T.T
I need to make this last as long as I can...

Considering that developers are starting to make 64bit necessary for games, you might not have that much time left in terms of new games.

 

[Solo-Wing]

Good lord a Pentium D! That thing would have to be at least six years old. Don't upgrade to 4Gb, it is time to start saving for a new system.

Yeah but I got no money T.T
I need to make this last as long as I can...

Considering that developers are starting to make 64bit necessary for games, you might not have that much time left in terms of new games.

I don't want to play new games with it. Just some TF2, L4D and maybe Portal 2. I got my Xbox for new titles.

 

[DazZ.]

Plus I nee VGA output. I can't shell out the cash for both this AND a new monitor...

You're not going to get anything worthwhile with a vga output, you will however be able to pick up a cheap £2 vga converter.

 

[CrazyJew]

AMD Radeon HD 6670

Perfect budget card, have been playing all the newest games on at least Average to high average. Of course, my i7 processor is part of that too, but that's card has a great power to price ratio.

 

[godofallu]

I don't think an actual graphics card is possible on 300w.

 

[Treblaine]

My Current specs:
Intel Pentium D CPU 2.80GHz

Ahem, sorry, just a bit surprised there. Whoa, is it 2012 already? Ahh - awkward - um, I don't know how to delicately put this but you might want to consider upgrading that as well, as almost every graphics card on the market will be CPU limited with modern games.


"I would also prefer it if it had a VGA output."

I got bad news for you, VGA is hugely being phased out. Anything I suggest will not be supported in the next few years so you may be left high and dry. The ultra-low end micro-computer the Raspberry Pi, that doesn't even have VGA out, only HDMI/DVI out.