Decent Video Card on a budget?

[vikenk]

Hello everyone,

Well, it's time to retire my old Nvidia Ti 4200 card (OK...stop laughing!) but I can't afford an expensive gamers card. I'm looking on Newegg.com for cards in the $50-$75 dollar range. It looks like these are my choices:

Nvidia 6800XE
Radeon 9600 Pro
Radeon X-1550
Radeon X-1050

Of these, which is regarded as the best choice? I've never heard of this brand "HIS" - any good? I'm likely to buy a Diamond / Sapphire / Biostar.

My computer specs
Intel D865PERL mobo
P-4 / 2.8Ghz
1 GB RAM
AGP 8x

Not into gaming as much as I used to be. Mostly playing Lego Star Wars II with my young kid. Not likely to be buying any cutting-edge games any time soon.

Thanks in advance for any replies!

 

[spikoman69]

x-1550 best choice out of those.

 

[phucng_10]

Neither of those.

This would be the best choice since it is in your price range.
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100175L Radeon X1650PRO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail

 

[900RR]

quadfire 3870's

 

[Jorsoft]

I'd go for one of those x1650 cards myself. The x1550 ones, from what I've seen, are really underpowered.

 

[phucng_10]

The X1650Pro should be better then all for just a couple more bucks. It's in his price range as well which is $50~$75.

 

[vikenk]

Neither of those.

This would be the best choice since it is in your price range.
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100175L Radeon X1650PRO 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X Video Card - Retail

WOW...I don't know how I missed that one? Thanks for the tip. I'll order it tomorrow.

Any tips on removing my old Nvidia drivers? I know I can always run the uninstall from within XP, but is there a special utility that will wipe all traces of the drivers off my computer? I don't want to get into any hairy situations...

 

[phucng_10]

Try Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. That's how I deleted my old nVidia drivers and installed new ones.

 

[gurusan]

Do the Add/remove programs thing....then run driversweeper

Get it here: Guru3D - Driver Sweeper

Then reboot and install the new ATi drivers

 

[veedubfreak]

Actually i think there was a 1650pro on newegg for 40 bucks after rebate. Makes me sad to know i paid almost 200 for my 1650pro like a year ago when my 9500pro died and i needed a card immediately.