Video Card!

[Squaggleboggin]

I'm trying to build a budget gaming PC, and I've heard that this video card is a good one for gaming:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=14-131-232&depa=1&section=3
The only problem is the price; I would really rather not spend so much on the video card - it's the most expensive thing on the whole computer! Does anyone know if I can get a different video card for a better price without sacrificing much performance? If so, what card and where do I get it? Or should I spend more on a mobo that has onboard video? If so, which mobo will give me good enough graphics for gaming? Where should I buy it? I need some help with this, so any input is appreciated, thanks.

 

[Rey_Nemaattori]

You wanted a Game PC. So you shouldn't go easy on things like GFX-cards or system memory. A 9600XT is a good choice for a budget Game-PC. I have one(not this XT) and i'm very happy with it in terms of framerate / quality. My processor basically sucks. It's a 1800+ which i overcloacked a bit to get better performances. Best result i see in windows though, not in games. It's a cheap one, you can get it or something similar for $50 or so.

Also 512 Mb of RAM is recmmended. Many games eatut up to(and somethimes even above) 260MB of memory. Since Windows(especially XP) tends to eat away about 1/4th or ur ram anyhow. you got some room left incase the game needs some extra memory... You DON'T want your pc to start swapping when you're on a killing spree....

 

[Demalii]

agreed, the lowest i would go with a video card would be the 9600xt, i think the sapphire one's are cheapers, still a good quality card, and as for the ram, please please! don't go below 512, you'd be building a computer that won't even run well. the kingston hyperx is cheap and the timings are great i think (2-2-2-5)? wow... anyways, i haven't heard much on how long the chips last, etc.. but i think it's only 95 bucks for 256x2 pc2700.. not bad