The need for lower-end graphics cards
Universal Electronicz is an online eCommerce retailer enabling you to buy computer games online and videogame hardware.
There are many reasons someone might choose to purchase a non-integrated graphics-card for their PC, however these days it’s all too common to have to shell out big money for simple smoother GUI functionality. Are manufacturers and retailers forgetting that hardcore-gamers aren’t the only people who need graphics hardware? A little extra RAM for their machines graphic drawing capabilities?
There are a whole host of individuals such as graphics designers, web designers, animators and more who all benefit greatly in terms of output from having a graphics card which can process their creativity at a higher rate. But not all of these people require $1200 cards which would allow them to play graphically intensive games such as Oblivion on their maximum, fully tweaked, draw-distance extended settings.
A quick look around the web will show that most entry to mid level graphics cards are priced from $60-$230. That’s not the kind of money you want to throw away for what should be basic functionality. So what options do you have as far as buying lower end cards go? One well known card brand is the Geforce brand.
A good way to start looking for a graphics card (or indeed any videogame hardware) which is cost-effective considering your needs is to start looking at cards which came out 2-3 years ago. One such card is the Geforce 8400 GS (256MB DDR2 onboard memory).
As far as low budget cards go, this one is pretty good. It’s perfect for a graphics or web designer who is using packages such as Photoshop CS4 and Illustrator – helping the various applications to run more fluidly boosting creativity and efficiency. The Geforce 8400 GS is also able to play some recent (but not the very newest) PC games smoothly at a resolution of 1024×768. One such game is F.E.A.R, which is fairly graphically intensive.
It’s not a top of the line graphics card, but it could meet your needs spectacularly and for $28.42 why pay more? The specifications for the card and card package are as follows:
XFX GEFORCE 8400 GS 256 MB DDR2 PCI-E. Includes: Installation CD, User Guide, S-Video Cable. Bus Type: PCI-E, GPU Clock: 450 MHz, Shader clock: 1200MHz, Memory Bus: 64-bit, Memory Type: DDR2, Memory Size: 256 MB SUPPORTING UP TO 512 MB, Memory Speed: 800 MHz, Thermal Solution: FANSINK, Minimum Power Supply Requirement: 300 Watt. Outputs: HDTV, (0) VGA, (2) DVI, Dual-LinkSupport – DUAL, HDMI: NO, Max Supported Resolution (DIGITAL): 2560 x 1600 (ANALOG) 2048 X 1538.
My name is Brandon Heathe, I write many articles and tend to specialise in articles about technology and electronics.
