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Biggus Doggus

Biggus Doggus

Registered
‍
Joined
May 13, 2007
Location
New Zealand
Hey all...

I currently have:

80GB IDE HDD
1gb DDR 333 RAM
1.8ghz P4 CPU
Asus 9550ge video card (256mb, AGP 8x (but only working @ 4x because of my cruddy mobo)
Asus P4S533-MX mobo

I am looking to upgrade to:
160gb SATA HDD
1 gb DDR2 800 RAM
AMD Athlon 3600 Dual core cpu
ASUS M2N-MX MicroATX mobo

And here, finally, is my question. What card to get? I will be on a very tight budget, so just looking for one to see me through until I can afford a higher spec one.
I am looking at:

GeForce 8400GS
GeForce EN7300GS or
Radeon HD 2400Pro
(all PCI-E)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but any of these cards is far superior to what I have now.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
Velocity said:
Why not a HD2600? Also 2GB of ram should be standard in you new system.
Click to expand...

HD2600 is outside my price-range. They go for around $NZ150.00 ($112 US). I'm talking *very* limited budget!!

To give you an idea about the prices:

8400GS = $NZ100.00 ($75 US)
EN7300GS = $NZ80.00 ($60 US)
HD 2400 Pro = $NZ95.00 ($71 US)

Thing is, I don't neccessarily want to pay extra for DirectX 10, when really I only need DirectX 9.
 
Last edited:
what will you be using this card for?

If you want pure gaming performance, you should really take a look at some older and cheaper DX9 cards that will outperform any of the ones you've listed above. you probably won't need the DX10 compatibility just yet, because with that kind of budget you can't afford a good DX10 card that will handle upcoming games anyway; you'll probably have to upgrade to a newer and more expensive card later.

If this card is for a HTPC or the equivalent of one, you'd want a HD 2400 for its full h.264 and vc-1 acceleration.
 
shirker said:
what will you be using this card for?

If you want pure gaming performance, you should really take a look at some older and cheaper DX9 cards that will outperform any of the ones you've listed above. you probably won't need the DX10 compatibility just yet, because with that kind of budget you can't afford a good DX10 card that will handle upcoming games anyway; you'll probably have to upgrade to a newer and more expensive card later.

If this card is for a HTPC or the equivalent of one, you'd want a HD 2400 for its full h.264 and vc-1 acceleration.
Click to expand...

Nope, not for a HTPC. It will be for gaming, but not very "hard-core". Company of Heroes, Medieval Total War 2 kind of thing. As far as games soon to come, World in Conflict...

You're dead right - I don't need DX10. Just a good solid DX9 that will see me right for the next year or so. For around $60 - $70 US. Not to much to ask for, is it? ;-)
 
Last edited:
AzAzEl656 said:
Why go for an AMD X2 3600? With the price drops in AMD processors I would expect more people would buy the 5600 and up.
Click to expand...

It's all about budget, and the wife factor. I want to get something that's better than what I have, for as little as possible. Thus, a 3600 (or maybe a 3800).

Another thing - would I necessarily be losing much by getting a 128mb card rather than 256mb?
 
Depends on which resolotion you game at.


i'm pretty sure the 7300GT is an okay card. The GS isn't (has one)
 
JamesXP said:
Depends on which resolotion you game at.


i'm pretty sure the 7300GT is an okay card. The GS isn't (has one)
Click to expand...

When you say the GS isn't, it would surely still be better than what I currently have?
 
Biggus Doggus said:
When you say the GS isn't, it would surely still be better than what I currently have?
Click to expand...
no doubt about that. it's just that the 7300gs performance is absolutely dismal compared to even cheaper cards
 
Biggus Doggus said:
What about the LE?
Click to expand...
not even sure what card you're talking about. Where will you be buying your parts from? If you have a website in mind, someone here can easily find a good card for your particular budget. it's much easier than back and forth questions like this ;)
 
Biggus Doggus said:
It's all about budget, and the wife factor. I want to get something that's better than what I have, for as little as possible. Thus, a 3600 (or maybe a 3800).

Another thing - would I necessarily be losing much by getting a 128mb card rather than 256mb?
Click to expand...

Don't let the wife rule you. Your the man of the house, and if I want a high end gaming pc then god dammit, thats what I'll get. Besides the pc you want will be old in a year with those spec. spend a G and get something kool.
 
shirker said:
not even sure what card you're talking about. Where will you be buying your parts from? If you have a website in mind, someone here can easily find a good card for your particular budget. it's much easier than back and forth questions like this ;)
Click to expand...

It's a 7300LE.

http://www.tastech.co.nz/details/100454.htm

But thanks for the advice shirker - there's a number of sites I'm looking at and once I settle on one I'll post it. cheers
 
Biggus Doggus said:
It's all about budget, and the wife factor.
Click to expand...

LIE TO HER!

:p

Just kidding.

For the gfx card, hunt around, go second hand for a 7600-7800. For the system you're building, anything better is going to be slowed down by the rest of the build. But for nvidia cards, anything lower than a *600 card is a waste of time, as they are really only built to display office and play films. 8600 is the exception to this rule, they just suck.
 
True, it's not that bad, but in comparison to the rest of the 8*00 range, the *600's are very poor offerings. There seems to be a trend with nvidia cards on what was previously a decent card now gets developed as a budget card outright. Remember 4600's being the top range? 6600's being fairly decent, and on.
 
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