One of the most common fears for the potential upgrader is that shortly after paying a premium for new hardware, it becomes outdated and obsolete.
Unfortunately, as silly as it is, it’s a fear that even the most tech savvy PC builder succumbs to on occasion. In truth, its a concern that is more superfluous now than it ever has been.
A few years ago when PC gaming was the driving force behind the industry, it may have held some water. However, with the overwhelming majority of games today being coded for multiple platforms, developers simply cannot afford to get too carried away with system requirements for fear of their games being too demanding for the likes of Xbox 360 and PS3.
Until the next generation of consoles rolls out, we are unlikely to see any big steps taken in regards to visual quality. This keeps the progression of hardware requirements in check, and is great for gamers wanting to maximize the longevity of their PCs.
Of course, there is always room for gamers who want to run their titles at 1920×1200 and up with anti aliasing maxed, and for them, there exists the high end hardware sector. However, the vast majority of gamers will be more than satisfied playing on 1680×1050 or 1600×900 with medium settings enabled. For these gamers, a large budget is not required, and the prospect of hardware becoming prematurely outdated is not something to be feared.
With this in mind, we will spend the next few weeks looking at various parts of the modern gaming PC, and handpick components which we feel best hit the ‘sweet spot’ in terms of pricing and performance on a budget.
The graphics card is arguably the most important, or at least the most exciting piece of hardware in a gaming PC. There are currently numerous options available to budget conscious gamers, ranging from the outdated but still capable Nvidia 9 series, to the recently released AMD HD 5700 series.
MyGaming’s budget graphics card picks
Nvidia 9600GT R850
The 9600GT still offers great performance at under R1000, and will still run most new games well on moderate settings at 1680×1050 and below. For R250 more however, users can get the AMD HD 4850 which offers significantly improved performance.
AMD HD 4850 R1100
Gamers will struggle to best the HD 4850 at its current price point. While it is certainly getting on in years, it is still capable of delivering playable frame rates in modern games at 1680×1050 and below with medium settings enabled. It is not difficult to find this card for R1000, and with the HD 5800 series just released, it is equally easy to locate even cheaper HD 4850s on the second hand market.
AMD HD 4870 R1600
For as long as this card can be found for as little as R1600, it represents an excellent option for gamers on a budget that are looking for something a little meatier than the HD 4850. If you can stretch your budget to R1600, then the HD 4870 is the card for you, and represents an excellent balance balance between high end performance and value for money.
Other options such as the Nvidia 9800GT exist at similar price points, although, they are marginally outperformed by AMD’s offerings in this price bracket. Nvidia and AMD’s aging budget solutions – GTS 250, HD 4650 – are now overshadowed with old high end cards having their prices slashed.
Prices taken from Prophecy and Pcinternational
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