Is this a good price for a 7950 gt 256mb?

[Kenshin112]

$40 shipped, new

the downside is obviously the framebuffer (256 instead of 512) and it's also it's a generic brand, AOpen.

I'm buying this card for my friend as a gift, his old computer has an nvidia 4200 LOL!

I know that i shouldn't be wasting time buying a card 4 generations old, but from what i've heard this performs on par with a 8600 gts/9500 gt. That is still a significant step of from what he has, and at a fairly low price. He won't be playing many games on the rig, just things like Left4Dead, HL2, COD4, WC3, and maybe Diablo 3 when it comes out (if his computer can handle it). I'm not too worried about it being DX9 because he'll be using XP 32-bit and won't be doing anything CUDA-related or stuff like that.

Anyways, i'm not asking for opinions on this card, I already know it has overheating problems and that it's old. The question being asked here is whether or not it's good for $40 shipped.

Thanks very much

EDIT: Other specs are Athlon X2 5600+, 3gb ddr2, generic dell micro-atx motherboard, 585watt PS.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

If you want to consider spending a little extra, grab a 4670, or maybe a 4650.

If you get the 4650, here's this guy for 50 bucks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102838

A 4670 for 65.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102820

Personally, I have a 9600gt. According to the reviews, it trades blows with the 4670. I've also got an Athlon x2 5200, and 2gb ddr2. The 9600gt is a good match. But if you are spending 40, consider the 4650 for 50 shipped, and it's new with a warranty.

 

[Kenshin112]

i found a recertified 9600gt on newegg for $67 after shipping. According to tom's new charts, i think it might be worth it:

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/gaming-graphics-cards-charts-2009-high-quality/Sum-of-FPS-Benchmarks-1680x1050,1470.html

According to those benchies, a 9600 gt performs about twice as well as what a 8600gts or 7950 gt would. These are at high resolutions though, and with AA and AF. For playability i don't know if that much power is necessary because his monitor is 1280x1024 or something like that.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

The only thing to be concerned with is his power supply. Even though it's listed as 585 watts, if it's cheap, it may in actuality not be that strong. The nice thing about a 4670 is that it's a low power card, no need for an external power connector. But should still give good performance at that resolution. If you are going with much more than that, you might as well pick up a 4850 or something to that effect.

But the 9600gt if it's a good working card, should make him very happy as well. I have one and it's not the greatest card, but it's not bad either, it's a solid mid range card imo. I would suggest to him to grab a pci slot cooler fan to go under it to keep it cool. I have one under mine, and it runs nice and cool.

 

[Kenshin112]

yeah it's a generic power supply which worries me also. we had to return the last one because it was underpowered and too screwed up to even run his fans correctly (they ran when the molex pins were turned around though, wtf?)

so after the RMA this thing has been sitting here yet untested.

I'm going to post some numbers from the PSU and see if anyone thinks whether or not this thing is capable.

It reads:

AC - | 115 / 230~ | 10 / 5A | 60 / 50Hz
I/P__|_________ |_______ | ___________
DC-- |+3.3 | +5V |+12V|-12V|-5V |+5VSB
_ O/P| 32A | 40A | 24A |1.0A |0.5A| 2.0A



+5V &+3.3V Combined Load 250W.
+5V +12V & 3.3V Combined Load 460W.
Total Output is 550W Max.


Sorry that diagram looks so crappy but it's the best i could do.