Best card for under $100

[yogi_berra]

I'll get the gtx 650!

Just be sure to get the 2gb ddr5 configuration.

[Panix]

Both cards are not for gaming at all. If you want to use vdpau for xbmc or so go for nvidia. Also you get more often driver updates with support for new kernels and xservers. If you intend to play get something faster, maybe gt640+.

Ah, should have known! I always forget that! About the support for new kernels and xservers. It's worth going Nvidia just for that. Yep, it will be gt 640 or if I can budget $100, I'll get the gtx 650!

[Kano]

Both cards are not for gaming at all. If you want to use vdpau for xbmc or so go for nvidia. Also you get more often driver updates with support for new kernels and xservers. If you intend to play get something faster, maybe gt640+.

[Panix]

Ya passives tend to be more expensive then others but I haven't found Zotac's regular offering anymore expensive then the other brands. In fact they are usually on the cheaper end. Either way for just media playback purposes the GT-610 aka GT-520 will do fine. Great media playback support in linux with vdpau.

Is this the best card if you want something cheap that has hardware decoding, passive, quiet and compact/low profile?

I read on the OSS (ATI/AMD) radeon thread that those drivers are still iffy although I only read of one post in which the thermal features weren't working (integrated hardware on a laptop).

However, with an AMD card, I guess having hardware accleration is out the window (meaning no option for it), right? Even for the proprietry drivers. My current Nvdia card will be legacy driver status or it is already. The GT 610 is $20 with rebate and the Radeon HD 6450 is around $30.

I don't need the card for gaming as I won't have time for that. Which is the better choice for watching videos/movies/htpc and having a quiet card that has less video issues and more (most?) options? I'd like to go open source but AMD refuses to support hardware decoding and many other features in Linux.

[JS987]

GT730 is most likely a rebadged GT6x0. Nvidia loves to rebadge its low-end products and does so shamelessly (God-damned soulless marketers). For example, if I buy a GT630, am I getting a Kepler or Fermi card?

GT730 should be 28nm card unlike retail GT630, which is rebranded GT440.
Nvidia is already producing 28nm GT630, but it is OEM only.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Nvidia_graphics_processing_units#GeForce_600_Series

[DanL]

I would wait for passively cooled Geforce GT730
http://videocardz.com/nvidia/geforce-700/geforce-gt-730

GT730 is most likely a rebadged GT6x0. Nvidia loves to rebadge its low-end products and does so shamelessly (God-damned soulless marketers). For example, if I buy a GT630, am I getting a Kepler or Fermi card?

[LinuxID10T]

You have Intel 2000HD? How does the rest of your setup look like? Which distro are you using?
I have the Xorg Edgers ppa, Mint 13 KDE 64bit with the latest kernel, I did dist upgrade. Before that Amnesia wouldn't work at all, in Serious Sam everything was black and white, out of whack basically and I didn't try Team Fortress, so I can't comment on that. But after upgrades situation is much better. Or maybe I don't have Intel 2000HD, I'm pretty sure that when I was buying components for my rig that It was Intel 2000HD on Celeron G530.

$ lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)

I'm on edgers as well with Ubuntu 12.10 (gnome-shell not unity.) Anyway though, Core i3 and nothing else that would really matter.

[Zoran]

You have Intel 2000HD? How does the rest of your setup look like? Which distro are you using?
I have the Xorg Edgers ppa, Mint 13 KDE 64bit with the latest kernel, I did dist upgrade. Before that Amnesia wouldn't work at all, in Serious Sam everything was black and white, out of whack basically and I didn't try Team Fortress, so I can't comment on that. But after upgrades situation is much better. Or maybe I don't have Intel 2000HD, I'm pretty sure that when I was buying components for my rig that It was Intel 2000HD on Celeron G530.

$ lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09)

[LinuxID10T]

I have no idea about KMS, I'm not a particularly advanced user, I just read what @Vincent wrote about KMS console and I thought I should ask what he meant by that.

Like I said, on 2000HD, Team Fortress works fine, Serious Sam is relatively OK to play, Amnesia runs but there's flickering. Maybe I'll postpone upgrade until Steam matures more, or drivers perhaps....Thanks everyone for your input.....

That's weird, I have the same card and I can't even get Team Fortress to start... That was even after upgrading to the latest Mesa etc.

[Zoran]

I have no idea about KMS, I'm not a particularly advanced user, I just read what @Vincent wrote about KMS console and I thought I should ask what he meant by that.

Like I said, on 2000HD, Team Fortress works fine, Serious Sam is relatively OK to play, Amnesia runs but there's flickering. Maybe I'll postpone upgrade until Steam matures more, or drivers perhaps....Thanks everyone for your input.....