Graphic Cards

[Buckaroo]

I would like any advice that I could get concerning which graphic card to buy for my computer. Here is the situation! I have a low end computer that is three years old. It only has two empty PCI slots and I would like to know if it is worthwhile to buy a PCI card for gaming which is limited at best! The HP rep said he would suggest a Nvidia card over a Radeon for it is more stable. With these choice I think I am limited to something like a FX5200, 5500, 5700, or 4000. Would it be a waste of money to buy one of these cards or is there something better? I did buy and install a geforce FX5200 from Tigerdirect and it worked fine for ten days then quit working and I had to send it back. This leads to another question. Does the manufacturer matter? I had a evga that I sent back, but I am wondering if PNY or some other company makes better cards. I will say while the card worked I could play Men of Honor which is pretty high end and it worked ok. I would appreciate any input. I have thought about scrapping the idea and getting a PS2 instead but that is much more expensive and I have a limited budget. What about refurbished cards . Is this a good idea or not. Thanks

 

[micro]

I bought a very high end refurbished video card from newegg.com I saved about $100.
It came in its origional box with the driver cd and cables.
You are taking a chance on gettting the cd box and cable if you buy refurbished.
But that is why i keep recomending newegg over any other company.

My friends and i have spent almost three thousand dollars at the newegg site and have had very little problems with them. They ship sooner, they are easier to deal with if something need returned and for the most part they have the lowest prices, or with in a couple of dollars.

Even if something is listed as more expensive the lower cost of shipping makes up for the price. If you order a part on sunday night they ship it on monday. It takes most other sites an extra day to get it sent out.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814139166R $50 fx 5700 128mb
You can get both the ati and nvidea with 256mb for about $100

So yes you will notice a little preformance increase going to the 5700 over your 5200. But not $100 difference. You can buy a card that will preform 5 times better than these cards listed for $100 but of course they are in the agp slot instead of the pci slot that your computer takes.

That is why i had also posted a link to an upgraded mother board but same model that you had. It would cost about $150 to get 5 times the preformance that you have now.

The main difference between brand names is just that some come with better preformance than others because they are slightly overclocked at the factory Also some have better cooling.But as far as quality and stability you wouldnt notice between brands.

Also i would stay with your pc. I find the games to be a lot more involved on pc over console (mabey not the xbox 360 though)

 

[Psalms34]

hmm... ebay link
I don't think I'd pay $100 for a pci card... but that's me. Should be able to pick one up for $10 or less on ebay. Best to get an ATI ot Nvi but I don't know if it matters with pci that much, their all bottlenecked pci anyway.