Cheap upgrade?

I have an old custom-built desktop computer that I recently upgraded with a new CPU/mobo/RAM after the motherboard died.

The specs are:
Mobo - GIGABYTE GA-MA78LMT-S2 AM3 AMD 760G Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
CPU - AMD Athlon II X2 250 Regor 3.0GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor
RAM - Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory w/ Blue LEDs Model
Graphics - EVGA 256-P2-N761-AR GeForce 8600 GTS 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16
O/S - Windows XP Pro

While the graphics card was good for it's time (3-5 years old) I suspect it's probably now my weakest link for playing better games. So I was flicking through my local Craigslist and found this listing for just $25:
Visiontek 400614 HD 5450 Video Card - 1024MB DDR
The specs for that card are here:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6932251&CatId=28

Is it reasonable to assume that upgrading the video card will make the biggest performance change ahead of getting another GB of RAM (remember, I use XP)? Is that possible replacement card an upgrade, and if so would it be a large one?

 

I'm probably going to pick this up tomorrow unless anyone has some opinions on it?

 

I'm a little skittish about buying PC parts off Craigslist. Although most sellers are honest, there are some scammers who will attempt to pawn off a defective item as "perfect". If you go the Craigslist route, it's an "as-is" gamble.

With a new-in-box card you get at least a one-year warranty. Here are a few highly rated, budget-priced models at NewEgg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161315

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162067

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131342

Hope this helps.

 

Hey there, thanks for the suggestions. I agree with the Craigslist comment, but I am mostly interested if it's an upgrade on paper. I imagine the RAM on the graphics card makes the biggest difference, but are there any other aspects I should be wary of?

 

Going from 256MB to 1 GB will make a big difference by itself. Although I don't know the exact benchmark scores, I believe the 5450 is also a faster GPU than the 8600.

 

Thanks!

Having trouble getting ahold of the guy so it may all be a moot point anyway

 

If you can't get the Craigslist video card, there may be other improvement options for only a few bucks more (esp. if you can deal with rebates).

Even something decent with 512MB memory (such as an NVIDIA 210 or an ATI 4300/4400 series or higher) will be a major improvement over what you have now. If you don't do extreme gaming, it should do the trick.

If you have a Fry's nearby, I've purchased NVIDIA 210 cards (512MB) on sale there for as little as $25 after rebate. Checking Newegg, here are a few other options:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131339

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130536

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150390

Good luck on the upgrade.

 

I don't really play hardcore games any more, but occasionally I like to and recently bought The Witcher - hardly hardcore, but it's hungry enough that I had to tone down my graphics settings to run it smoothly. I'd also really like to play the next Elder Scrolls (the sequal to Oblivion) when it comes out. It seems unnecessary to blow money just to play a handful of games, but it's also a pain to keep having to resort to my laptop when I find a game that crawls on my desktop.

This card you mentioned looks perfect:
XFX HD-435X-ZAH2 Radeon HD 4350 1GB 64-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Low Profile Ready Video Card

One of the feedback comments mentioned that it was 'barely better' than their onboard graphics. I very recently bought a new mobo and it has the ATI Radeon 3000 chipset. Do onboard graphics borrow memory from the computer's RAM, and if so would I be better off buying extra memory and just using the onboard graphics?

 

On board graphics do reduce the amount of RAM available for the OS (Windows) and programs. As an example, if you have a total of 2GB of memory and the BIOS allocates 512MB to on-board video, XP and your software end up working with a maximum of 1.5GB (If you have a video card installed, it will not use any system RAM unless your board is running a "Hybrid" Crossfire or SLI setup - unlikely given that you're using an AGP card).

I just rechecked Newegg and found this one (5 Stars) for about the same price:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131360

This Power Color model also has an active cooling fan (not just a heatsink) so it should be less prone to heat issues.

 

Thanks for all your posts and suggestions! I'm probably going to pick one of the cards you linked, but will do a little research and budgetting before I know which.