APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 7-10 days
BUDGET RANGE: $100 after rebates
USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: E-mail/internet, Gaming (TF2, plus older games like Civ4 & SupCom2)
CURRENT GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 7200 GS
CURRENT POWER SUPPLY: IBM/Lenovo 41A9684 (280W)
MOTHERBOARD: G31T-LM2 Lenovo ver: V1.0 with 1 PCI slot and 1 PCI Express x16 slot (prob. PCIe Version 1.1)
PROCESSOR: Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200
RAM: 4 GB DDR2
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com, or the Micro Center not too far from home
PARTS PREFERENCES: I prefer to stick with NVIDIA since I have read about driver difficulties switching from GeForce to Radeon
OVERCLOCKING: No way!
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No thanks.
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1440 x 900 @ 75 Hz
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I know I will need a new power supply, so I am hoping to spend $50 on a video card and $50 on a power supply. I'll have to read the power supply forums next, because I have no idea what to look in a power supply other than Watts.
I read the Graphics Hierarchy Chart and compared it to the current deals on NewEgg and at Micro Center. Two cards really piqued my interest because they are high up on the list and only cost $50.
The first is the NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT 512MB GDDR3 PCIe 2.0 x16
The second is the XFX HD-485X-ZNFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support
Are these deals too good to be true? Are these good choices for my system? And will I really get a good performance upgrade over my current GPU, since I only have PCIe version 1?
Thanks,
Reknaw
BUDGET RANGE: $100 after rebates
USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: E-mail/internet, Gaming (TF2, plus older games like Civ4 & SupCom2)
CURRENT GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 7200 GS
CURRENT POWER SUPPLY: IBM/Lenovo 41A9684 (280W)
MOTHERBOARD: G31T-LM2 Lenovo ver: V1.0 with 1 PCI slot and 1 PCI Express x16 slot (prob. PCIe Version 1.1)
PROCESSOR: Intel Pentium Dual Core E5200
RAM: 4 GB DDR2
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com, or the Micro Center not too far from home
PARTS PREFERENCES: I prefer to stick with NVIDIA since I have read about driver difficulties switching from GeForce to Radeon
OVERCLOCKING: No way!
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No thanks.
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1440 x 900 @ 75 Hz
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I know I will need a new power supply, so I am hoping to spend $50 on a video card and $50 on a power supply. I'll have to read the power supply forums next, because I have no idea what to look in a power supply other than Watts.
I read the Graphics Hierarchy Chart and compared it to the current deals on NewEgg and at Micro Center. Two cards really piqued my interest because they are high up on the list and only cost $50.
The first is the NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT 512MB GDDR3 PCIe 2.0 x16
The second is the XFX HD-485X-ZNFC Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support
Are these deals too good to be true? Are these good choices for my system? And will I really get a good performance upgrade over my current GPU, since I only have PCIe version 1?
Thanks,
Reknaw