Temporary Graphics Card Recommendations?

I have most of the parts for my new PC on order. I need a temporary graphics card – I plan to buy an 8800GTX, but this will have to wait until next month, or even the month after.

I therefore need a very low cost PCI-E graphics card to build the system with and get it going and bedded in for the next few weeks. The focus must be on low cost with no concern about performance – that will come with the new card.

I guess it should be nVidia rather than ATi so that at least the drivers will be the same for both which will save later hassle. Will any low cost card do, or is there a minimum GPU I should get? I will stick to everyday Windows, Browsing, Word & Excel for the time being, Photo-editing will be a pain, and there will be no flight sims, but I can live with that for a few weeks!

Should I get a new cheapie from SCAN, or buy second hand from eBay (or HEXUS Bargains might be more reliable)?

Opinions please.

The GeForce 8800GTX uses a specific driver set so it really won't matter as to what card you get to fill in until you can afford the 8800 as you'll have to install new drivers anyway. As for a fill in card i'd recommend a 256Mb Sapphire Radeon X1600Pro PCI-E card which costs £54.57 from Scan, it'll have enough performance to play games and suchlike in the mean time and doesnt exactly break the bank, and in the sub £60 bracket you won't find anything better, its certainly better than the GeForce 7300GT which is similarly priced.

If you just want a cheap temporary graphics card then may I suggest this one

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/martprd/sto...m=null&tm=null

It's only £30 and should last you a few weeks and ideal for fault finding too :mrgreen:

Cheapest on scan that I could see is £22.31

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=396319

Should last a month or two for normal windows.

Get the cheapest ATi or nV which doesn't nick system RAM - the ATi TurboCaches do - I know nV have a system to do the same, but I'm buggered if I can remember what it's called.

//edit: OK... I got that the wrong way around... nV uses TurboCache, and I don't remember what ATi's is...

//edit2: HyperMemory! AVOID.

Personally I think money thrown at low performing new cards is a waste, either try to pick up a good used card, a card that will do you in between upgrades, a card that can game at a decent fps/res or buy a new 7300gt 8 pipe 128 £58, 256 £68 or if you want to push the boat out a bit more pick up a 7600gt from the bargain section link £60+del

The ATi cards that nick system RAM are called "Hyper Memory" the nVidia ones are referred to as "Turbo Cache", avoid both like the plague as they are just cheap rubbish that despite thier fast sounding names are slow and $hite.

Thanks Guys, spending £60 on a reasonable card, for me, will be a bigger waste of money than spending £30 on a lesser perfoming card, once I get the 8800 it will just sit on a shelf as a 'trouble-shooter'.

Or I could get a 'better' card, and then sell it on after.

Or blag a PCI cheapie rather than a PCIE?

But I am beginning to consider an x1950Pro to give me a really usable GPU for a few months, then get an 8800GTX when they should be a bit cheaper, and sell on the 1950Pro. The new ATi GPU looks a beast, and a hot power hungry one at that, co I don't thing it will figure, rather than maybe helping the 8800 price to come down a but.

A 7300GT DDR3 offers performance similiar to a 7600GS and would be a good choice for a temporaray graphics card!

Alternatively you could pick up a second hand 7900GS for under 100 quid and this will play most games well.

iiiiiiiintegrated graaaaaaaaaphics

get a 128MB 6200 ish as they are very good for their price :)