Ok i want the cheapest graphics card you can get but is still capable of running Orange Box. On the minimum requirements it says i need level 8 DirectX.

I just want to play some TF2. I will buy it alone for $30 dollars. And a graphics card for up to $70 dollars. Does anyone have any suggestions.

Oh yeah, and i have Vista. So primarily i need help from a gamer with Vista.

Thanks in advance.

For <$70 (US) you can pick up an nVidia 8500GT powered card, 256MB, DVI out, etc. Decent card, supports DX10, OGL 2.0, SLI.

Any of the component manufacturers like XFX, MSI, Visiontek, Gigabyte, etc.

Of course you can keep upgrading incrementally, a 8600 will be a little more $/a little faster, 8800, etc., but those cards in the $100-200 range I believe. Moderate rez, a few more exotic features turned down and you should be in decent shape.

If you can swing it, maybe try to squeeze in a 8600GT, faster memory, decent overclocker, should be able to score the 256MB model < $100.

I'd shop www.newegg.com or www.mwave.com - used them both for several years with outstanding success (MWave even replaced some one year old components NQA, and just took back for full credit our Netgear Powerline without the complete packaging for a full credit).

Thanks. But will it crash on Vista?

no i gots an 8600 GT and Vista.

runs very well overclocked.

At Jake196

But 8600 GT's are $100>.
And whats overclocked?
Do you run games like Team Fortress 2?
I have a 32 bit 1.70 GHZ Pentium 4 processor with 512 Ram and virtually no graphics card.
Will that be a problem?

i don't know much about pc gaming myself but it's prbly not worth u getting an 8600 with that comp. overclocking is making ram, graphics cards, cpu's run faster than they are made too. It wouldn't be a bad idea if u could overclock that proccessor but u need a pretty decent PSU.

just get a 8500 or something.

oh yeah make sure ur psu is good enough to handle the g card or it will go boom.
don't ask me how to find out took me forever to figure out my psu could handle mine.

The 8600 GTS/GT & 8500 were not one of Nvidia's best investments really. Those cards are still a good card for vista but didn't have great performance improvement as 8 series cards.

The eVGA Nvidia 8800GT's are great for overclocking. You can buy the lower end version like the Stock or Superclocked models. The reason why is do to the fact that eVGA put all the same coolers on all 4 versions. (Stock, Superclocked, KO, Super Superclocked [SSC]) They are rated for 100 degrees Celsius. You would be better off buying say the "Superclocked" version and overclock it to the SSC card specs. Just up the fan speed on the graphics card. I have done this myself and works great. I used RivaTuner 2.06 and Driver 169.21 w/ Windows Vista Home Premium. Check my blog for the "Latest Overclock Project" for additional information including benchmarks.

If you would like to try this "DO YOUR RESEARCH!". Don't rely on me.

Price is the main factor here, but its worth it IMO.

That WILL be THE problem. Who's (hp/compaq/Dell/etc) PC do you have and what model is it? 1.7 P4's are 4+ years old.

We really need more info. Like does it have AGP 1x, 2x, 8x or is it one of those hybrids with PCI express.

Here's the facts. Vista REALLY needs 1GB of RAM to run smoothly. 512MB isn't enough. Not even XP would game well with 512MB and newer FPS's.

Now, if you do get another 512 or even upgrade to 2GB (really suggested), you'll be fine playing any HL2 based game (that's HL2, CSS, TF2, Portal, etc.) with any graphics card having 128MB of ram or more.

Only thing is, you'll likely need to lower the resolution to 800x600, cut back on the Anti-aliasing and Anostropic Filtering (that's AA and AF settings).

Post what the make/model of your PC is and if it has AGP or PCIe (doubtful for the likely age). Then we can get you accurate info.

Or, you can go to Tomshardware and look at the VGA chart and suggested video card based on cost.

Depending on how old your computer is too can be a factor, I recently found out that if I were to get a new graphics card, all the circuits would need to be changed as it was 'old' technology (about a year old). So I'm gonna buy a whole new computer...in DDR 3...Not entirely sure on all of the specs. but all in all...Just think about if it would be better to buy a new computer...because 512RAM will struggle...I know that's gonna be over $70...but in the long run, it will be cheaper for better.

This person doesn't know what over clocking is, i'm pretty sure you just completely lost them

Hahahahahaha

*wipes eye*