Budget card for a friend

[SneakyStuff]

Building a new comp for a friend due to the fact that his overheated and kicked the bucket. He wants to keep the whole build under $500 and this includes everything (case, PSU, he wants new drives, basically starting over) I didn't have too much to allocate in terms of video card money but I found this on the egg, seemed like a very good deal.

LINKIE

He primarily plays games like NWN2, WoW, and wants to play SC2 and D3 when they come out. Now keep in mind his old card was an AGP 6600GT and he was completely happy and content playing games at 1024x768 with medium settings. I am curious what you all think of this as far as longevity is concerned.

 

[RamarC]

6600gt was a great card back-in-the-day. newegg has a foxconn 8600gts for $72 before $10 rebate. it would be a big step-up in performance and let your bud give newer games a try. if you can swing it, the egg also has an evga 8800gs for $110 before $30 rebate. that's probably the best $80 card available.

 

[daveybrat]

Wow, an 8600GTS for only $55? That is a great price. If he was happy with a 6600GT, he'll be thrilled with this. Don't listen to anyone coming on here poo-pooing it saying that a 9600GT would be better......duh, but it's also a lot more expensive.

I'd get it for him.

 

[s44]

No. The 2600XT for $40 is better. But really you should get the EVGA 8800GS for $80AR (shipped!).

 

[bryanW1995]

ok, we're really talking about $48 shipped for a 2600xt, $62 shipped for an 8600gts 256, and $80 shipped for an 8800gs. all 3 have pretty hefty rebates so no "I hate mir" comments. Even though he's happy as can be with the 6600gt, I don't think that you have any reasonable choice other than the 8800gs. that card is a midrange that actually competes very well vs 9600gt, the other two were low-end trash cards the day they were released.

http://www.tomshardware.com/re...hics-cards,1942-7.html

8800gs is one step below 8800gts 640 and 9600gt. it is roughly equal to a 3850. the 8600gts is ~ 7800gt or x1950gt, while the 2600xt is even worse as it compares with x800xt and 7600gt.

 

[Denithor]

$500 is plenty for a nice system these days.

AMD X2 4800+ $60
Foxconn 780G motherboard $76 AR
mushkin 2x1GB DDR2-800 $45 AR
Antec Sonata III (Earthwatts 500W PS) + Seagate 250GB combo $155 (second combo on the page)
Sony NEC DVDRW $26
EVGA 8800GS $80 AR -or- Zotac 8800GTS 512MB $129 AR

Please note several of these rebates end tonight and may or may not be renewed.

This will be a very speedy system with excellent game performance for less than your $500 budget ($442 with 8800GS or $491 with 8800GTS).

EDIT: As a faster alternative, you could also go with the memory, DVDRW, and 8800GS above along with the Shuttle SG31G2 ($241) and an e7200 ($130) for a total of $522. Note that the 8800GTS will not work with these little cases (unless you're really skilled with a Dremel).