Yo-

For a fast video card with very good graphics and 112 pipelines of video for text and surfing - here's an extremely well priced card with 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 memory for $100 + $7 shipping - minus $30 Mail In Rebate for $77 shipped here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125089

Good price, but still waiting for a steal on a 512MB version.

Yo-

Agree - but this is an excellent card for the non-gamer -eh!!

When I saw the title I thought it was the 512MB version of the same Zalman cooled Gigabyte which I got 2 months ago for 265$ here in Egypt

Thank God it is the 256MB

Yo-

I opted for the Gigabyte ATI 3850 512mb with the Zalman cooling - got it for $199 shipped - and like it very much-eh!!

I bought this card for my roommate, came with a free game. I thought it was a pretty sweet deal for him. Factory overclocked, memory falls a bit short for me (24" 1920 x 1200), but seems to be working great for him (19" 1440 x 900). Now should I tell him it came with a free game?

Has anyone here played Neverwinter Nights 2, is it worth keeping? j/k I'll give it to him.

I was kicking around the idea of picking up this 256MB version, but your post got me curious. I'm running a 24" Samsung monitor, 1920x1200. I'm not much into gaming, but watching videos and potentially Blu-ray. Should I hold out for the 512MB version?

Yo BeatCrazy-

With that monitor - I would strongly suggest a ati based card with the 3870 chip - gives ya 320 pipelines and built in HDCP Ready capability for the same or cheaper than the nVidea based 8800gt cards with only 112 pipelines-eh!!

This would be an excellent card for only $100 shipped AR:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125086

Or better yet , an HD4850

Awesome gaming and video quality

Interesting.....

How is that card compared to this:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/06/26/a...-in-wonder-hd/

This is HD3650 , the old lower mid range GPU from ATI

HD4850 beats even 9800GTX hands down

160$ AR

Or this :

100$ AR

Yo-

Fully agree that the 4850 is one awesome card for not too much $ -eh!!

(the second one - I had already recommended)

Uh oh. Now I'm starting to wonder if my PSU is not big enough to handle any of these cards.

I have a 375W PSU (Dell) with E6600 dualcore 2.4Ghz running with 2x320GB HDD and 2xS183L Samsung DVD drives.

That leave enough juice for one of these cards? Current card is ATI Radeon X1300.

Yo BeatCrazy-

That is a VERY valid concern-

Suggestion - open up your case - measure the HxWxD of your Dell psu - then go shopping for a bigger (over 500 watts) psu - carefully checking the size BEFORE you buy-

Reason for this = many manufacturers of computers will use psu's with smaller cases (so you have to buy replacement from them) -eh!!

Fully agree

I myself got the HD4870 and upon recieving it , I will be forced to upgrade to 550+ watt PSU instead of my current 420 watt

Well, that's no good

I have a big case, so finding the right size replacement won't be a concern. The biggest challenge is just re-routing all of the existing power cables. Not a fun project that I would be looking forward to.