Better Value AGP

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dw0095

n00b
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Jan 22, 2006
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4
Hi guys, I am having trouble convincing my brother that the ATI Radeon 9550 (AGP) 256mb is not the card for him to get. He was trying to play SIMS 2 and his onboard graphics are not enough to run it smoothly. Best Buy has this 9550 card for under $100 which is what he is looking to spend. I think his board only has 512mb Ram also. Any ideas on a better card around that price range?
Thanks,
 
If you went used, you could slam a 6600GT for just a few bucks more than that. Otherwise, the 9800Pro Would work, if you NEED to be ATI
 
ATI brand is not important at all...I personally just put a Sapphire radeon x800gto PCIe in my system and it is great...I was debating on the 6600gt or the x800 for a while. He is very fixated on the fact that the 9550 is 256 mb, but the card is not for gaming and is only DDR. Where is a good place to find a cheap 6600gt?
 
Go to newegg or mwave. He could get the BFG 6600GT for about 200 which is a bit faster, due to OC and has a great warranty. He will find that for some odd reason the agp 6600gt is more than the pcie. I have an eVGA 6600GT and really like it.
 
The best bet to find used cards is in the for sale/trade forums. I've gotten some good stuff there.
 
The egg also has sapphire's X1600Pro for agp, here. I have yet to find any decent reviews on it though. For 140, though, it seems nice.
 
I almost got that card. But I found a 6800oc for $15 more. Go Figure. Man, if you can get him to raise up to $150-ish, you could easily find him a 6800. Just up to him though, really.
 
For $135 I say go for that 6600GT linked above. That will be a decent upgrade.
 
a 6600 GT will kick the SHIET out of a 9550 - the 9550 is nothing more then 9200 series no?

i dont recall the 9550 being based off the famous 9500 line.... or something,


the 6600 or a low priced 9800 would be a MUCH better purchase - sims 2 is an INTENSE game to say the least.
 
agreed, 6600gt or 9800 pro if you wanna get away with 75 dollar range used on one.
 
MrGuvernment said:
a 6600 GT will kick the SHIET out of a 9550 - the 9550 is nothing more then 9200 series no? i dont recall the 9550 being based off the famous 9500 line.... or something,
Click to expand...
The 9550 was based on the 9500 series, but it's been so castrated that my old trusty 9500 Pro that still serves me well in my HTPC would eat the 9550 for lunch.
 
doox00 said:
agreed, 6600gt or 9800 pro if you wanna get away with 75 dollar range used on one.
Click to expand...
Whoa. You can find a $75 6600GT? Cheapest Used I could find is about a c-note, around his max budget. good luck to ya. You'll find something man

6800
6600GT
9800pro
6600

As stated in above posts. Use pricewatch to find some good prices.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions, I forwarded this thread to him and he is still determined to buy(try) the 9550 from Best Buy. Just hoping they will refund his cash when he finds out it is junk for what he is buying a card for.
 
dw0095 said:
Thanks for all the suggestions, I forwarded this thread to him and he is still determined to buy(try) the 9550 from Best Buy. Just hoping they will refund his cash when he finds out it is junk for what he is buying a card for.
Click to expand...

That is so incredibly stupid..
Remind him that the 9550 will only be a moderate (at best) improvement over his onboard.
:rolleyes:

I mean, its like having $20,000 and having the choice between a corvette or a pinto... your friend is going to buy a pinto.

also remind him that they are so unwanted and low-end that its hard to sell them brand new on ebay for more than $20..
 
bLaCktIGErs91 said:
Whoa. You can find a $75 6600GT? Cheapest Used I could find is about a c-note, around his max budget. good luck to ya. You'll find something man

6800
6600GT
9800pro
6600

As stated in above posts. Use pricewatch to find some good prices.
Click to expand...


no, was saying get a 6600gt or a 9800 pro for 75 dollar range.
 
The best onboard graphics solutions have, at best, perfomance equivalent to a Radeon 9250. But average is closer to like Radeon 9000...

A 9550 wouldn't even be able to use the full 256MB of ram because it'd never be able to handle such large textures without throwing up... I doubt there will be very significant improvement over the onboard graphics... :(
 
dw0095 said:
Thanks for all the suggestions, I forwarded this thread to him and he is still determined to buy(try) the 9550 from Best Buy. Just hoping they will refund his cash when he finds out it is junk for what he is buying a card for.
Click to expand...

Your brother must be out of cash and has $100 left on his Best Buy credit card. Why go that route if he plans to game? He could go over to Newegg and get so many better cards in the $100-$120 range.

Look at the VGA CHARTS for SIMS 2. Look at the Radeon 9600 PRO(Better than the 9550) then look at the GeForce 6600GT. Not a smart decision to get a 9550 to play SIMS2!

Here ya go! there is a rebate now.
eVGA 6600GT $114 after $20 rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130220
 
As an alternative to the 6600, an X700 would serve you quite nicely as well if you can find one for a good price.
 
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