Looking to buy a inexpensive video card for decent gaming

C

Corey S

Geek Trainee
and I found the GeForce GT 430 for only 59.99.. and was wondering what your guy's opinions were.. ive seen some gameplay videos of people running this card, and it seems to be a decent card for the price.. i am currently using the GF8100 M2+ TE motherboard.. so im using the 8100 onboard graphics.. so I really think this would be a good upgrade for me.. another thing is. there are many manufacturers and I was curious if some are better then others.. For the card I was looking at there are these..

EVGA
Sparkle
Asus
Galaxy
PNY
Zotac

are any of those better then the others? and if so why.. just kinda curious as to which one I should buy.. thanks for the help.
 
Gigabyte
MSI
XFX
Sapphire
PowerColor
etcetcetc.

Just because they deliver steady quality for great prices. (:
 
okay thanks.. ive been looking at these two cards.. im not sure which one to get.. maybe you can give me some input, or justsomeone in general..

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6798384&CatId=3669

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162076

The first one has a instant rebate, which I like.. along with a lifetime warrant..
the second one is more expensive, but has a 10$ mail in rebate which would onyl make it $5 more then the first one.. so im kinda curious as to which one I should get.. or if you have any other suggestions for a card around $75.. im kinda on a low budget, and im not really needing a high end gfx card.. and like i said above, im on a onboard nvidia 8100, so honestly any card would be better.. and im kinda curious on that second card on as to what kind power supply im gonna need, or if im even gonna need power from the power supply for it.. cause im pretty sure the first card doesnt need power from the psu.. so yeah, just looking for some input before I go and spend money.. would appreciate the help.. thanks
 
If I were you, I would get neither. I would get the GV-N430OC-1GL from Gigabyte. It runs on a GeForce 430 GT GPU. Gigabyte is a great brand for starters, giving great quality for low prices, which is proved by this card too: It's only slightly over 75 dollars! I hope my advise helped you a bit. ^.^ Cheers man.
 
Well what it is the difference between that and the 2 cards I posted? Other then the manufacturers.. I was also looking at this card..The GT440 instead of the GT 430s.. only a few bucks more.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7203633&CatId=3670

The core clock and what not seem to be overclocked compared to any other GT 440s i was looking at.. Idk if those matter or not.. but yeah.. what exactly specs do I look for when I buy a card?
 
Well, first of all, you need to be one hundred percent sure that your PSU covers the needed watts that your gfxcard will need. If it doesn't, you won't be able to use your gfxcard.
Also, you need to check if you have the necessary space needed for the gfxcard in your computer case. Gfxcards tend to be huge. Now, I'm sure this one will not be that big, but do know that the 250 dollar gfxcard I just bought is 241mm x 111mm.. (LxW) I hope that's enough of a warning haha. xD
Oh, and always check if your motherboard is compatible with the gfxcard you're buying. Nowadays, that almost never poses a problem, but hey, it's better to check now than to be sorry later, right? ;)
Furthermore, my apologies for the short messages earlier. iPhones tend not to co-operate when you need them to, especially when you're in class. Not being able to open links really does suck.. :P

Now that we got that aside, lets see.. I compared all the links you've posted and the one I suggested, and it turns out that the Galaxy 44GGS8HX3BXZ with the GeForce 440 GT has the best specs, and, surprisingly, is also one of the cheapest. If I were you, I would go for that one. (:
Cheers :D
 
okay thanks for your help.. i was looking at the galaxy card, and it says it only requires a 300 watt PSU, so i think im okay there.. and it doesnt look like it requires the 6 pin connectors from the PSU as well.. so I dont think its a very power hungry card. so the PSU isnt really a problem, and as for needing the space in the case.. I have a normal size case.. nothing small nothing huge, so im pretty sure that card will fit, cause I dont have anything special in my computer that is taking up any other room.. but everything aside.. do you think that is the best card I could get for that price? (65-75$)?
 
It's not the case and the components of your PC that you need to look at, but it's the gfxcard's dimensions you need to look out for. As I said, gfxcards can be surprisingly large. When you have a normal sized case, and normal sized components, but the gfxcard is so big that it's touching the other end of your case, you're in trouble. :P
I looked up the Galaxy's dimensions, and they are 5.7" x 4.33" x 1.57". If this fits in your case, you're cool.
Also, as far as I know, the Galaxy is one of the better cards you can get for that kind of money. (:
As for the games, it should be able to run those games, but the settings will have to be pretty low.. (Playing on low resolution, v-sync/vertical sync turned off and anisotropic filtering on x4 will probably give the best results)
Cheers!
 
okay.. i have a smaller monitor.. so im not gonna be running the games at a high resolution,so im pretty sure it will be fine.. hopefully atleast.. i can honestly run black ops now on low settings, and Ihave my 8100 onboard lol.. so hopefully i should be able to run it better on higher settings at a low resolution.. thanks for the help
 
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