I have to admit, I'm completely stumped on what makes a good graphics card.
Anyone know where there's a good guide to cards or can tell me what I should be looking for?
I'm building a PC with some parts I've picked up cheaply and I need a card, but don't really have much clue which is the best available for the money I'm looking to pay out. (realistically don't want to spend more than £50, which I realise won't get me much, but that's my budget anyway...)
I've been looking at the Asus ATI Radeon 9250 256Mb AGP 8x available from Discount Computer Warehouse site for just over £40. Is this as good as I can realistically get?

Which is better, AGP or PCI? What else should I be looking for? My MoBo doesn't support PCI-E as far as I know, so that's no option.

Please feel free to suggest some good models/brands, and I'd be really grateful if someone could explain why certain elements are good and/or bad.

Cheers

I have sent this thread to one of our staff who has a good deal of knowledge in this area...hold tight, an answer will be on its way.

Hi there,

Well, agp is better then pci, and since your mobo doesnt supports PCI-E, we'll have to look out for agp cards.

Some importants specs:

- At first, make sure its agp 4x/8x (supposed your mobo supports 8x)(2x/4x is much slower)

- The memory, this doesnt tells everything, but more is better.

- The memory/core speed, higher is better

- The version of direct x/open GL it supports, higher versions means newer card.

You might want to check out the Sapphire Radeion X1600PRO 256MB GDDR2 AGP OEM EDITION,

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?N=2010380048+1069609639+4027+10683 09611+1067918889&Submit=ENE&SubCategory=48

that one costs you 95 us dollars, wich is just above 50 pounds, but this card is quite new, and fast. It has 256MBs of memory, and GDDR2. The big but is that this one is a OEM edition, wich means you dont get a nice box, you dont get any handy manuals, and you dont get any added software. If you really want to go for speed, this is a nice option to consider. If you find any other card, just check the specs for the explanations I gave you, and dont forget you can always post a card, and We'll check it out for you!!!

The card you mentioned is nice, it has 256MBs of memory, and average memory/core speeds. The card mentioned above, is faster, but its OEM. So if you want to go for raw speed, get the X1600PRO, but if you want to go for better software/manual support, go for the 9250. Also, if you want the X1600PRO OEM Edition, you'll have to find an engelish shop who sells it, or let newegg ship it.

Hope I helped you a bit further!!!!

Please be free to post any other card recomendations.

Greetz,

RubenTC

This is a fantastic card that actually keeps up with the 7800gtx at 800x600 and just looses a few fps on the higher rez apps.

http://www.firingsquad.com/hardware/nvidia_geforce_7600_gt_performance/

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E168141

Very nice card!!!

but the price is 189 dollars, so no good deal for betterspud.

Greetz,

RubenTC

@RubenTC

Thanks for all your advice. At least now I have some idea what I should look for. As yet I have not found a UK supplier for the OEM card you mention, but I'll keep looking and I'm trawling through eBay listings as well armed with some understanding now.
I've also found a few other cards within my budget that are fairly comparable to the Radeon 9250 that I first looked at, so if I don't find any incredible bargains, I will likely pick up one of those...

Thanks again to everyone for their help!

well if your looking for a place to shop for a great price on computer parts try www.newegg.com