El cheapo video card

[TimoBlastem]

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-Details.asp?EdpNo=3738465&sku=E145-8510&srkey=e145-8510

Deal runs until xmas and you can get two rebates, so you're good to go if you want SLI.  I'd buy it early, seeing as there's no guarantee it'll be in stock in a couple of weeks.  Happy shopping.   

[Tiger842]

That card is trash. Even the 8600 struggles running Crysis.

[TheANIMAL]

Indeed: unless you like to play at low or medium graphics or at low resolutions there is no point in using that card. And to use 8500's in SLI is just plain silly.

[Masakari]

That is not a good deal.

[TimoBlastem]

$40 video card with 1 gig memory isn't a good deal?

[AoP]

$40 video card with 1 gig memory isn't a good deal?

The chip itself is the weak spot on that thing. The RAM actually seems wasted on with that chip.

[KorJax]

9600GT:

Max's the mod+crysis rather well, only about $100 (or less).  Get the 512MB version.

You might have to do a tad bit of tweaking or sacraficing on SOME visuals if you want to run at higher FPS (25-35 FPS usually on max), but it's not bad.  I run at 1320x780 widescreen resolution.

And yes, 1GB of video-memory is a waste.  Remember that cards with lots of video memory don't mean shit... what's most important is the amount of processing power, the pipes, etc in the card NOT the memory it has.  You'll want atleast 512MB of video memory but any more than that is a waste, especially since many games won't even use the full 512MB and can even rune fine on 256MB (which is decent as well but not reccomended as higher textures or higher resolutions will stutter on it due to the more limited space).

[TimoBlastem]

I see.  I can get two of the cards I linked for the price of one 9600gt 512.  Should I get the 9600gt instead?

[TheANIMAL]

Yes with a 9600gt you will get more stable and better frame rates. Sometimes with SLI you can get mico-stuttering, i've never fully understood why.

[ToeBall]

http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?p=MSI-96T5OC&c=pw
$101.17 with free shipping for a 9600GT OC 512 MB.

Personally, I could easily justify the extra $30 and get a 9800GT 1GB, it's also an OC
http://www.partspc.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProdID=8441

[TimoBlastem]

^See, thats out of my price range.  I'm not looking to max the game, I just want it to play reasonably smoothly for under $100.  Tax on that card will put it around $112.  Besides, my single-core processor and 2 gigs of pc3200 ram are going to be the real bottleneck in my system, so I won't see the performance increase of a nicer card anyway.

[Tallen]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130412

^ I spent more on both of mine (each) and it's a great card.  Definitely worth the extra few bucks over 100.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130380&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL112808&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL112808-_-DesktopGraphicsVideoCards-_-L2D-_-14130380

^ A little cheaper (enter promo code EMCBBCJBE before checkout and it will drop to 94.99 after mail in rebate), just make sure you do it fast cuz I don't know how long the black friday sales last.  Also unsure about 9800gt performance compared to the 8800gt, it's probably on-par.

Either of those cards will last you a long time and are worth the investment.

[ToeBall]

Don't worry, you won't be in danger of maxing out the mod with that, Kami's 9800GX2 can't do it with the AA turned up... Also, no tax on mail order, so $101 is it.

You could go with an 8600GT, http://3btech.net/xfxge8651pci.html but I'd personally at least cough up the extra $30 for the 9600. It gives close to the same level of performance and the 8800GT I'm currently running and you shouldn't have trouble feeding it. As it sits on my system now, crysis only uses a 40% load on my cpu but my video card is oc'ed by 15%.

In fact, a quick search turned up http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500019 so now you're out of excuses...

[KorJax]

Don't worry, you won't be in danger of maxing out the mod with that, Kami's 9800GX2 can't do it with the AA turned up... Also, no tax on mail order, so $101 is it.

You could go with an 8600GT, http://3btech.net/xfxge8651pci.html but I'd personally at least cough up the extra $30 for the 9600. It gives close to the same level of performance and the 8800GT I'm currently running and you shouldn't have trouble feeding it. As it sits on my system now, crysis only uses a 40% load on my cpu but my video card is oc'ed by 15%.

In fact, a quick search turned up http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500019 so now you're out of excuses...

Well Crysis AA is horribly optimized.  I can rather max the mod/Crysis out at 20-35 frames (depending if the map is optimized or not lol) not uisng real AA on a comfortable resolution (1360x780 or similar) on my single 9600GT.  Getting a second one would yield me an 80-90% performance increase in SLI seeing as the 9600GT is one of the most scalable dual-card combinations you can get.

[ToeBall]

We must have differing definitions of maxing out a game. Running on high at native is nice but not maxing out. Not dropping below 20 fps during explosions with every setting on the highest quality possible however, that's maxing out a game. My laptop, for example (actually my desktop too) run half-life 2 at around 200 fps with everything as high as it goes on native monitor resolution... that's maxing out a game.