I'm going for a budget card, spending no more than $50 on it. I'm currently looking at two cards, trying to determine which I should go with. I'm leaning towards one, but I'm not entirely certain. Help me decide.

MSI 9400GT 512MB RAM PCI Express x16

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127412

or

Galaxy 9500GT 512MB RAM PCI Express 2.0 x16

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162019

I don't even know if my mobo is PCIE2.0 capable, but I think I heard that PCIE2.0 cards can work in a normal PCIE slot, just without the added performance. Am I wrong? Either way, which of these should I get? Or do you know of a better card I can find for the same/less cost?

Biggest differences between these two are that the Galaxy isn't a low-profile card, which means it's less compact and therefore less prone to overheating, especially since it has a bigger fan and bigger heatsink. Additionally, the Galaxy has twice as many stream processors, but I have no clue what that means.

However, the MSI has a higher rating and is a more reliable brand... but that's about all it has going for it.

I'd rather stay with nVidias for this specific generation of cards, I prefer ATI usually but nVidia seems better for this specific generation. Also, I'm running TinyVista (basically just a stripped-down version of Vista Ultimate), if that helps.

System is running a 2.2GHz AMD x64 4200+ dual-core processor, 2GB DDR SDRAM 400MHz (soon to be upgraded to 4GB though), and a 160GB IDE HDD (soon to upgrade to a 250-500GB SATA 7200RPM HDD).

Help me out.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161262

This one!

Sorry the one I posted is a lot faster for the same $$$ as the Nvidia example and its made by a good brand.

Oooh, that IS a good one, Squilliam. Faster speed, many more stream processors. It has more negative reviews though, so I'm not certain about it.

Squilliam said: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161262 This one!

Definitely pick this. Don't look at the reviews, most of them are BS anyway.

ATI/AMD cards almost always have a higher stream processor count, but that doesnt automatically make it better. Same with clock speeds, they don't necessarily mean better performance.

Right, I know. That's why I definitely haven't made a decision yet.

However, the ATI 4650 cards are closer to the performance ability of the nVidia 9600s, so I think this is a slightly better card. I'm still not certain, though. Whichever card I go with, though, I'm planning to order it by midnight tonight, Eastern.

It is $20 over your budget, but it does come with twice the memory, COD4 & COD5 for $69.99 after rebate.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150340

That HD 4650 from HIS has more 5 egg positive reviews as a % and its a better brand than Galaxy.

Otherwise this powercolor one would be good as well, only two reviews but it comes with the faster GDDR3 memory. But they're both 5 egg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102838

Or this one is $65 but has a $15 MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814140095

At that level of the market, extra performance is important. AMDs new GPUs are really quick from the top to the bottom. I use an HD 46 class GPU for my HTPC.

@Squilliam - That last one, the HD4670 from Apollo. Looks really nice but I'm not comfortable with the only 256MB RAM. I LOVE the RAM speed, but with only 256MB, that's got me a bit uncomfortable with the card. However, I've read some of the reviews and some have stated that it's actually got 512 MB DDR-1800 not 256 MB DDR-2000 (900 MHz instead of 1GHz), and if that's the case, I'm DEFINITELY comfortable with it. Also, another person pointed out that DDR4 can outperform twice the amount of DDR3 in every test, so that's also got me less worried about it.

Right now, I think I'll probably shell the extra $15 for the HD4670 since I can get that cash back with a refund. Still not certain though. Have to convince my wife that the $15 is acceptable for us to pay.