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General discussion

Best pci-express card for under $100

Mar 22, 2005 12:15PM PST

I just got a new dell dimension 4700 and need the best pci-express card that i can. any suggestions? links and specifics would be great!

Discussion is locked

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PCI-Express
Mar 22, 2005 12:41PM PST

The only PCI-Express Video card available for under $100 is the ATI X300, which is really junk, i know this because i have this card and am currently planning to upgrade to the Nvidia 6800GT. If you are not playing any games, i suggest you at least get the X800XL, which runs for $300-400. Not many PCI-EXPRESS cards are that cheap.
Roger

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PCI-Express
Mar 22, 2005 12:47PM PST

The only PCI-Express Video cards available for under $100 is the ATI X300,Nvidia 6200, and FX5790, which are really junk, i know this because i have the X300 and am currently planning to upgrade to the Nvidia 6800GT. Beware, the majority of Nvida 6200 share memory with the system, so they are not so good. If you are not playing any games, i suggest you at least get the X800XL, which runs for $300-400. Not many PCI-EXPRESS cards are that cheap.
Roger

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Reply again
Mar 22, 2005 12:53PM PST

Also the X600PRO, original equipment manufacturer version is also available for $96. I think the near you budget FX5250,not5790 is the best buy, followed by the 6200 and finally the X300
Roger

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get model names right, and get facts right...PLEASE!!!
Mar 25, 2005 6:36AM PST

it's GeForce PCX 5750
there is no PCX 5250

there is however a PCX 5300, which is a value card

the 5750 is a 5700nU on PCIE
the PCX 5900 is a 5900nU on PCIE

the 6200 is not a bad card
the 6200TC is the one that shares it's RAM, the non-TC has it's own RAM

also
you don't need an X800XL if your not gaming
the X800XL is 6800U level of power

stop preaching that PCIE is over priced and under powered

it's actually under priced

for PCIE you have to buy in the $100-$200 range

for just $105 you can get the 6600nU, which is 9800XT level of power

for $160-ish you can get a 6600GT which is nearly 6800nU performance

for just around $300 is the 6800nU

it depends where your buying in the market

for you, i'd suggest the 6600nU PCIE, as it's only around $105

and will give superior performance to any card suggested here

please stop saying PCIE is over priced, and please stop saying you need an X800XL for non-gaming

the X800XL is an amazingly fast card

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Some Cards to look at....
Mar 22, 2005 1:31PM PST
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Sorry about the bad link...
Mar 23, 2005 9:53AM PST

The 2 cards I was trying to show are a Sapphire 590L or a Powercolor R38-PD3C. Both are ATI Radeon X600 Pro, 256MB DDR, 128 Bit Cards from Newegg. The Sapphire Card is $128 and the PowerColor Card is $144.
A PCI Express is much better than a Standard PCI card or even better than AGP cards, so they say.

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Video card questions....
Mar 23, 2005 2:31AM PST

how much difference would i see if i bought just a basic x300 card ($80) and a x600 card ($200) if the only kinds of games that I play are Age of Mythology etc., basic video editing, and an occasional movie? will it make much difference? how about just a pci card?

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Video Card Questions
Mar 25, 2005 1:28PM PST

For what you are using your system for, the X300 will do the job. Just keep in mind, that if you decide to install a more demanding game or do higher level of video editing, you'll probably wish you had bought the better card.
Do not buy a regular pci video card. You would be going back to video technology of a number of years ago and introducing a bottle neck into you system.
Larry

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not true
Mar 26, 2005 3:03PM PST

um, just because PCI has been around since the 80486 doesn't mean that it's bad...there are current gen cards on PCI (NV3x and R3x)

also
for PCIE

the only cards i will suggest in the value line are the:

X600Pro
X600XT
6600nU