I need to preface this tip with the fact that I am not a gamer. My computer uses an integrated Intel graphics engine and this is fine for my needs.
If you ever go through the PCMech forums here and read about the newest gaming machines people are putting together, usually there is a (and in some cases 2) pretty powerful and, of course, expensive graphics card included. If you aren’t looking to drop top dollar for a top of the line card, then consider either a second generation or a budget card.
I came across an interesting article which puts graphic cards costing less than $100 to the test. The article goes into some really intricate details, but the author draws the following conclusion:
If you have a monitor that’s 1280×1024 or smaller, a very affordable graphics card like the $80 Radeon HD 4670 will allow you to play many of the latest games with ease. Even at 1680×1050, in fact, the Radeon HD 4650 and GeForce 9600 GSO can produce acceptable frame rates. You may have to compromise a bit, dialing back features like antialiasing or in-game image quality settings, in order to get acceptable performance in the most demanding of today’s games, but the compromises probably won’t be too terrible.
Of course, if you are a gamer, the card will not be future proof by any means. Think of this though: in about a year or so the cards which currently sell for $300+ dollars will probably drop to the $100 range and, most likely, would be good enough to play the current games at that time. This way you have only spent ~$200 (instead of $300 to begin with) and you may even be able to sell your old card on eBay.
Like what you read?
If so, please join over 28,000 people who receive our exclusive weekly newsletter and computer tips, and get FREE COPIES of 5 eBooks we created, as our gift to you for subscribing. Just enter your name and email below:
