Is the ATI x300 the best HL2 card for cheap?

[Skoorb]

I need a card for no more than about $70. Please don't even start talking about cards that cost much more I see that Anandtech claims the X300 will run HL2 in dx9 at 800X600. I'm pairing this with a barton 2500+/512 ram. I need to keep it CHEAP. Is this the card to buy? TIA!

[IAIHMB]

The ATI X300 is a PCI Express card, unless you have a PCI Express compatible motherboard and power supply you cannot use it.

[Skoorb]

That aside, is it probably the best bet?

I am not sure if I can support it. I have an Abit nf7-s v2, and I have a power supply that was bought around 6 months ago - is the power supply hookin for this card the little white thing - maybe an inch across (more rectangular than the PS used for harddrives/optical drives)? I have one of those things and didn't know what it did

If I can't run this card, what's the next best bet for a similar price?

Oh is it one of these tiny little slots? http://www.gdm.or.jp/photo/2004/0310/01.jpg I don't think I have those Poor skoorb!

[mujahid7ia]

No, I would not say it is the best bet. It is a severely limited version of much better gfx cards. 2 pipelines!??!?! that's just anemic.

I'm not really sure what's good for 70 these days... maybe someone else?

[mujahid7ia]

O nm you do not have PCI-E

[Skoorb]

I'm thinking of trying to squeeze in a 9600PRO. Perhaps I can find a used one. Otherwise I may have to go with a normal 9600. Should I go with a 128bit version of the 9600? That's not the LE, or Pro, or XT or anything, but for abotu $78 I can get a 9600 128 bit AGP. I just wanna play HL2 *wha wha*

[mujahid7ia]

You can try looking at newegg.com; input you price range and see what video cards are available.

EDIT: and I would not recommend 128 bit for today's games with crazy memory bandwidth and size dependence.

[glockjs]

you could probably find an bfg fx5500 for around that price

[studtrooper]

EDIT: and I would not recommend 128 bit for today's games with crazy memory bandwidth and size dependence.

I don't think you can get a sub-$100 card that has decent HL2 (or any other DX-9 game) performance. You might be able to get away using the mega-cheap Radeon 9600 if you don't mind it running like ass on anything but the lowest settings. It sucks, but as nearly all PC gamers know: You gotta have the dough to play the latest...

For me? It isn't worth playing unless I can max the bitch out

[mujahid7ia]

http://anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=2281

9600 and other mainstream cards don't do too bad, but yeah, as studtrooper said, you're not going to be running on high.

[glockjs]

for some reason my aiw 9800 pro looks glitchy with hl2 and counterstrike source. im not the only one. but talkin to the other people in the game the 9600xt does well. i wasnt the only one that 9800pro was given probs. so if your lookin just to play this game only for a somewhat budget card look at the 9600. on the other hand my 9800pro looks bad ass for ut2004

[d_unbeliever]

my friend is playing hl2 using gforce 2 mx400 64mb...and it is still nice to look at.

[d_unbeliever]

great game...im now at ravenholm

[mrtristan]

Yeesh. I feel like a dinosaur with my ATI AIW Radeon.

[Skoorb]

Apparently my geforce 3 will in fact play HL2, but in dx7 mode, and the difference between 8 and 9, though significant, is nothing compared to 7 vs 8 - which is foul! I have found some used cards and one in particular I like is a 9800SE for $90. Still waitingo n the guy now. He says it won't softmod, though. Otherwise I can probably squeeze into a used 9600XT. It's interesting to note that my price keeps going up, but I think now that a 9600pro/xt, or a 9800SE is what I'm going to target.

I'm hesitant to buy HL2 now, however, after reading about the tons of bugs people are still experiencing with it, most notably the memory unreadable error.

[Heywould3]

but I think now that a 9600pro/xt, or a 9800SE is what I'm going to target.

i just got the 9600pro for 78$ delieverd from newegg


this is a "made by" ATI card.
but i put it in kids computer and it plays everything with great FR

[Skoorb]

but I think now that a 9600pro/xt, or a 9800SE is what I'm going to target.

i just got the 9600pro for 78$ delieverd from newegg


this is a "made by" ATI card.
but i put it in kids computer and it plays everything with great FR

That isnt' a pro though, is it? If you do a search on newegg their pros start at $106, and they say "9600 pro". However, i don't know if yours perhaps has the same features/speed; just lacks the name...

[Heywould3]

it has the same specs as the pro. and it registers as a pro.. but your right.. it doesnt say it right out

[Skoorb]

OK I ordered my card. I found a fellow selling a used vistiontek 9600XT for $85 shipped. That's about as good a deal as I can get right now.

I don't think you can get a sub-$100 card that has decent HL2 (or any other DX-9 game) performance.

I found one

I also ordered another 512 stick, so my 2500+ which I'm now going to see if I can get into the 3200 range, with 1 gig memory (pretty fast memory actually), and my 9600xt I'll be good to go. I was playing HL2 yesterday on my gf3. Single is not bad but I don't want to ruin it by going through it with poor graphics, so I'm going to hold out nutil the new card comes. CS Source runs very very fast at 640X480 on the lowest settings, although it gets "jumpy" when I'm next to people fighting. It can't be latency (it's around 50), so I guess it's possible it's the video, but going from 110+ down to this low seems kidn of not video-like. Anyway, it will tide me over until the xt comes, and I'll see how much I can OC it.

[glockjs]

sweeter than peter. for a dx9 card that should hold you over for awhile