Looking for a new mid priced video card


Recommended Posts

I'm looking to buy a new mid-low priced video card. My X1600 lasted me a few years but AMD refuses to update it to good updated driver (Its old but I think NVidia at least gives still some support to older cards). So I'm looking for a new mid priced video card and I also prefer NVidia because they usually give out better and longer driver support than AMD (even if unofficial)

I rather spend less but have a video card that will last me thru the years. I play at 1024x786 so high resolutions are not a factor for me. I do not play games barely at all; TF2, the new Hitman game, PES, but besides that....nothing else

Some factors:

- I prefer a one sloted card as I think I cannot fit two slotted cards in my box

- VGA out (although I imagine that all DVI is compatible with a adapter from DVI to VGA)

- DirectX 11.1 support

- OpenGL 4.3 support

- Windows 8 support

- PCI-E (obvious but just in case :p )

- Low/Mid priced. Like I said I barely game at all and I play at a low resolution

I prefer NVidia as they usually have longer driver support than AMD. Also, VGA support. I imagine most have a adapter though. HDMI would be nice as it would be very easy to hook up to my TV but that just a plus

Thank you

by 2 slot card they mean to say it takes up 2 pcie slots at the back of the case.. not on the motherboard.. just letting you know if your unaware of that?

1 slot for ventilation and one for the output ports like VGA.

anyway if you want to just play those titles and have no interest in high fps's or maybe fps gaming, anything gtx 550ti 560ti 650 660 is for you.. u can probably pick up the 550ti for alot less now and it should play all the games you mentioned on medium or low on that resolution.

if you want a AMD here is one 6850, this card is the best value for money i have heard and my friend uses it.. he plays all the latest games on 720p which is about the same resolution as of you and he has no lags or frame skips.

hope that helps.

by 2 slot card they mean to say it takes up 2 pcie slots at the back of the case.. not on the motherboard.. just letting you know if your unaware of that?

1 slot for ventilation and one for the output ports like VGA.

Yes :) I am aware that it takes up two slots on the back of the case, not on the motherboard :)

anyway if you want to just play those titles and have no interest in high fps's or maybe fps gaming, anything gtx 550ti 560ti 650 660 is for you.. u can probably pick up the 550ti for alot less now and it should play all the games you mentioned on medium or low on that resolution.

if you want a AMD here is one 6850, this card is the best value for money i have heard and my friend uses it.. he plays all the latest games on 720p which is about the same resolution as of you and he has no lags or frame skips.

hope that helps.

Well I want to play those games but if something in the future comes out (Bioshock Infinte comes to mind) I want to be able to play it too. I have no problem either playing at medium-medium high. I mean if I buy a new card, I rather not have to play at low for 2012-mid 2013 games....I want it to last for a while at least :)

I bought the X1600 when it was around 200 as well and it lasted until now. Actually I can still play games fine, Its just I want to update it more so if it does not have any driver or future driver support.

Nvidia: 560ti, 660, 660ti

Ati: not so in the loop but a 7850, 7870 will do you also.

If your only gaming at 1024x768 I would go nvidia. I would try get a 660 or if you can afford it 660ti. I have a vanilla 660, it plays everything on high at 1080p right now. Pretty sure Bioshock infinite will run fine on any of the above cards.

The reason someone will ask for the rest of your system specs is an issue referred to as a bottleneck.

This issue occurs when specific components are less powerful than others. So let us say you buy this new card, but you have a lower end CPU. In that case then you will wind up with lower performance still.

So the question is asked to help make sure that a faster GPU will actually matter.

Make sense?

Also playing at 1024x768 does not make sense with newer systems. The reason being that you are often limited by the CPU at that resolution.

The reason someone will ask for the rest of your system specs is an issue referred to as a bottleneck.

This issue occurs when specific components are less powerful than others. So let us say you buy this new card, but you have a lower end CPU. In that case then you will wind up with lower performance still.

So the question is asked to help make sure that a faster GPU will actually matter.

Make sense?

OK, I guess it makes sense :)

Im on a E6400 and 4GB

Having said that, I wont upgrade any other part on my PC :) Just this.

Also playing at 1024x768 does not make sense with newer systems. The reason being that you are often limited by the CPU at that resolution.

No, I can turn it up a lo t more its just the optimal resolution for my monitor. I doubt my CPU is a bottleneck for higher resolutions :)

Pregen: The 660 uses a newer GK106 while the 650 uses a older GK107 (both based on Kepler though). I might have read/understood it correctly/reverse, if so sorry.

Ah, I understand what you mean now. The correct term is "last generation/gen." :)

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • If Valve refused to let them make the case, I wonder if they've already partnered with someone else to do it? The fact that they didn't seek permission/licence before diving straight in is incredible though
    • OpenClaw now has native mobile apps on iOS and Android by Karthik Mudaliar OpenClaw, the viral open-source personal AI agent, now has its own mobile app, available on both Android and iOS. Users can pair the app with an existing OpenClaw gateway and can start using new mobile-native features that are now available on the app. The app supports all the existing features you'd already have seen on OpenClaw's TUI, as well as some more, such as real-time and background Talk mode, action approvals, sharing from iOS, and optional access to device capabilities such as camera, screen, location, photos, contacts, calendar, and reminders. These features are available on both the Android and iOS versions of the app. What's important with these apps is that they don't run OpenClaw on your phone, but are actually just companion apps that require a running OpenClaw Gateway on an existing device, on macOS, Linux, or Windows via WSL2. To pair the app with your existing OpenClaw gateway, users need to run the command "/pair qr" on the TUI or existing chat interface, which brings up a QR code. Users can then scan this QR code to pair it up with the mobile app. There's also an option to manually pair the app by entering the host and a port. Previously, OpenClaw had been available on phones via WhatsApp, Telegram, Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, Matrix, and others. Now, with a native mobile app, the interface is much cleaner and more focused on just the OpenClaw, of course, with the added support for camera, screen, location, and more. It's important to note that OpenClaw comes with its own security warnings. There's always a chance of prompt injection with these tools, so users are recommended to double-check authentication, tool policy, sandboxing, and execution approvals rather than prompts alone. For users well-versed with the AI harness, a native mobile app makes it easier to approve an automation, share a link, use voice, or let an agent react to phone-side context.
    • Google pitches Spanner as one database for all AI agents with these new featues by Karthik Mudaliar Google Cloud is introducing new features within Spanner, its distributed database, as a place where enterprises should keep their data, using which AI agents could make smarter and better decisions. In a detailed blog post, Google highlighted quite a few features coming to Spanner, including relational data, graph relationships, vector search, key-value access, full-text search, and operational analytics together in one database architecture. Google says that today's systems aren't well-made for AI agents. There could be data that is present in one system, search indexes in another, embeddings in a vector database, and relationship data in a graph database. This fragmentation isn't great for AI agents to do their jobs because they don't have access to all of this data in one place. This is where Google is positioning Spanner as a solution. Spanner is already a globally distributed relational database with strong consistency, and Google wants its customers to see it as a broader data layer for AI applications. The company introduced something called Spanner Graph, along with integrated vector search, full-text search, a Cassandra-compatible key-value endpoint, and a columnar engine for analytical queries on operational data. Google also added that its ScaNN-powered vector search can support indexes with more than 10 billion vectors, while the columnar engine can make some analytical scans up to 200 times faster. All of this isn't just exclusive to the Google Cloud Platform, and there's support for multi-cloud as well. This comes via Spanner Omni, which Google says is a downloadable, containerized version of Spanner that can run on Kubernetes and in environments outside Google Cloud, including Microsoft Azure and AWS, and even on-premises infrastructure as well as edge deployments. Google says that customers who are interested in the full-featured edition should contact the company, and there's no word on commercial availability or separate pricing. Those interested can read the full blog by Google Cloud, which details these features individually.
    • Kalmuri 4.2.5 by Razvan Serea Kalmuri is your all-in-one, portable screen capture and recording solution designed for speed, simplicity, and flexibility. Whether you need a full-screen snapshot, a custom area, a scrolling webpage, or smooth video recording, Kalmuri delivers with ease. Capture text instantly from images with built-in OCR, keep floating images on top for quick reference, and use the precise color picker for perfect design matching. Customize hotkeys to work your way and share results instantly with built-in upload options. Kalmuri runs without installation, making it ideal for USB use, and offers an intuitive interface that’s easy to learn. Kalmuri key features: Video recording support (designation of whole screen and area) Whole screen, active program, window control, area application Extract text from images using optical character recognition (OCR). Support for PNG, JPG, WEBP, BMP, GIF file formats MP4 video recording powered by FFmpeg for high-quality results Full web page capture Share the captured image on the web Color extraction function Printer output Hotkey settings Adjustable via keyboard for area capture (Arrow key, Ctrl+Arrow key, Shift+Arrow key) File name format (sequential, datetime) Free to use it at work, at home, in government offices, at school, etc. Using Kalmuri portable for video recording Kalmuri’s portable version doesn’t include FFmpeg, which is required for video recording. Without it, you’ll get an “error FFmpeg.exe not found” message. To fix this, download FFmpeg from the provided link, extract it, and place FFmpeg.exe in Kalmuri’s folder. Kalmuri will then recognize it automatically, allowing you to start recording in high quality instantly. Kalmuri 4.2.5 changelog: Fixed an intermittent crash when using Area Capture Improved stability for Area Capture and screen recording Resolved a capture issue that could occur right after startup Download: Kalmuri 4.2.5 | 24.2 MB (Freeware) Download: Kalmuri Portable 4.2.5 | 2.1 MB View: Kalmuri Website | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
  • Recent Achievements

    • First Post
      rosiecharles earned a badge
      First Post
    • Reacting Well
      Juan Dela earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • Week One Done
      Collagen Project earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Reacting Well
      Wakeen1966 earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • Rookie
      Almohandis went up a rank
      Rookie
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      516
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      273
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      143
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      98
    5. 5
      macoman
      54
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!