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[divideByZero]

Im in the process of upgrading/rebuilding a system that i have. Right now its a pentium d 950 (d0) on an old ass hp ati xpress200 board, with 2gb ddr400 and an ati hd4350 512mb. I indend on getting a gigabyte mATX board (intel g41) and 4gb of ddr2-800 and keep the 950, but i dont know what to do for a gfx card. Its been a really long time since ive shopped for video cards, so im not really sure what i want to do.

Im thinking about a refurb 9600gso on the newegg for ~$75 which is right at the top end of my budget. This comp wont be for serious gaming, and it will drive a 19" crt at 1280x1024 so no crazy high resolution action here. But it needs to be able to support 10+ hr WoW binges for my wife.

Ill be running win7 x64 so dx10 is a must but i dont know if the 9600 cards support dx10.1 or CUDA, or if it even matters. id like CUDA support as i do alot of video encoding, and ive seen that there is work on a CUDA accelerated h.264 encoder.

[urgannagru]

9600 would do well. (or 8600... basically anything y600 where y is greater than should support CUDA I believe.
A 9800 can be had for around $100 (or less after rebate. man they've gotten cheap.) and will give you much, much more bang for that buck for a mere $25 more. Of course for an 800 you have to have a slightly beefier PSU than for a 600. Also its easier to find a passively cooled 600.

I ran 600s for years, but after buying my first 800 I wouldn't go back.

granted, I understand that a budget is a budget, but an 800 will feel fast longer than a 600 will, and therefore you'll have it for longer.

[divideByZero]

i just may go with a 9800gt, it will be intresting to see how this stacks up aginst my 6 year old 6600gt sli rig.

[blafrisch]

There is an AMD 4670 card for $40 after MIR as the NewEgg Shellshocker deal today.  I have one of these cards (not the same brand, but same everything else) and it is very competent in newer games.

[bliq]

You probably don't have  a Frys near you but I was there this week and they had 9600GTs for $59 (after rebate probably)

[divideByZero]

i bit the bullet at picked up an xfx 9800gt 512mb refurb from newegg for $79. has a 1-year warranty, so i have no qualms about it being refurb. (most have only 90 day) Ill post up some info on teh whole system when i get it together.