My current card is an Nvidia 7600 GT. It came out in 2006, making it 12 yrs old. I have a Hewlett Packard computer with an AMD apu (A8-3800 apu, Radeon HD 6550D integrated graphics). The apu is actually better than the card, but because of a bizarre mobo flaw, I can't use it. Apparently, if my comp is attached to certain monitors over 19" in size, resolution locks at 640x480. So I have to use the inferior card as a result.

Recently someone suggested an Nvidia GT 710 card. Looking it up, I see they go for about $50. Oddly, the 1Gb and 2Gb cards are the same price. Further, it seems the 2G cards also have GDDR5, vs DDR3 for the 1G cards. I'm guessing this card is so low on the rankings that that's why the price is the same?

I'm poor and will almost certainly remain poor. I shouldn't be spending any money on a card, but I've decided fuck it, I'm gonna get something from at least this decade. I don't generally play new games (can't afford 'em), but I would like to play some of the newer games I've gotten in humble bundles, which I think the 710 would handle. I was disappointed I couldn't play Warlock of Firetop Mountain for example, which I thought would have low specs.

Reading the web I've seen comments that cards are vastly overpriced right now and I should hold off, but they don't explain why they're overpriced, or how long to wait. I was looking at this card, I think it might be nice to have a fanless card (never had one before).

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Last year I bought Gtx 750 TI for $100 and it's well worth it. Like you I don't have fancy game, but a friend is generous and give me Quantum Break which is game with the best graphic in my steam library and it runs smoothly on low at 1366x768 monitor resolution. My system isn't great either, i3 3.4ghz, 4gb ram, and normal hdd. Even then people were asking why I bought such an old card when 1050 TI already in the market

These day people seems to refer to Gtx 1030 as the low end card. I don't know the price but probably worth a look.

Well, according to this website, that new GPU is 900% faster than your old one:
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GeForce-GT-710-vs-Nvidia-GeForce-7600-GT/m77649vsm8028

But, the new card has basically the same performance of your integrated graphics if you could use it normally:
http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Nvidia-GeForce-GT-710-vs-AMD-Radeon-HD-6550D/m77649vsm9223

The problem with this new card is it is a low profile card, that has only 64-bit memory interface/bus width, those are not meant for gaming. Like you see above it has performance of integrated graphics. You can of course play games, but you will be very limited with what you can play.

You didn't go much into detail what games you play, I'm guessing at 720p resolution you should be able to play AAA games up to 2010 on it. I played some "newer" games on my HD 3650 like Q.U.B.E and Serious Sam 3 and that was even less powerful card. Best you look up some benchmarks on YouTube to see what people can play with it.

The 710 is half the power of my 10 year old 4850... Don't put any money into that.

Do surveys, paid offers, microsoft rewards, and enter hardware giveaways. If you need specific links to valid ones then pm me. As long as you're 18+, have a computer + internet, and are in the US you're good to go on some free cash/pocket money.

Microsoft Rewards for example is an easy and guaranteed $60 a year. In 2 years you have $120, enough for a gtx 1050 level card or some peripherals. The survey sites I do can be anywhere from $45-$100 a month. Slower methods would be something like Amazon's mturk for money. Too much work to effort ratio for me though.

Basically the ideal solution is for you to find more ways to make money and reduce your overhead rather than settle and/or harm your economic situation with "splurges". You're clearly in a bad situation if a $40 or under graphics card like a 710/740 or whatever it is will be too much for you. You also can't be too busy irl to be so poor or worse, to be some student that thinks his degree will get him money in the long run.

And don't "I never win any giveaways" me. You lose 100% of the giveaways you never enter. Persistence is the important part and people who give up lose out. :)

The GT 710 is the cheapest graphics card sold here (less than $40 including tax) and supports Windows XP but one really should aim for the newest generation's second lowest cards at least, if there is no driver problem (your OS is new enough) when buying new.

The memory low that has been affecting supply of graphics cards and other things is getting slowly better but the mid range and high end cards are still in low supply and crazy expensive even if it is better than in January.

Is there no way to get a used card? I got my current GPU from someone who had bought a new card and just gave the old one to me for free and the GPU I had before that I bought for peanuts from someone I know. That one would probably do you nicely except I am not willing to send it overseas to someone I do not know.

Along with the site posted by antrad88, Videocard Benchmark is another good one to see the performance for various cards.

Is second-hand hardware completely out of the question? There are plenty of decent GPU's around for little money as people upgrade to newer models. I recently upgraded, but truth be told, the GTX560 Ti that I used to have would probably have sufficed for another year or two in a pinch, so if you're not terribly demanding, something like that would probably last you half a decade or more.

Long as the hardware isn't too ragged i don't see why not. Refurbished or used hardware should run nearly the same as new. Just a matter of knowing someone who plans on upgrading...

If no one you know is upgrading anytime soon, I would check tech forums with Buying/Selling sections (or eBay/Craigslist or such). Most people there have a reputation to uphold and wouldn't sell anything that isn't working.

Perhaps.

Although i've seen plenty of cheap video cards on NewEgg of $60 or less that look decent enough...

That more then depends on what slots you have.

Oh, you too :-) That was what I still used in January.

GPUs are currently overpriced because of the cryptocurrency madness.
Maybe the prices will go down when the bubble bursts ?

I wouldn't go with a GT710. It's cheap but it's really weak. Very low-end cards don't have a good performance per price ratio. Go for a GT1030 if you can afford it, it will perform much better. Or even better, a 1050 would have an even better performance for the price, but maybe it's already too expensive for you ?

New GPUs will come out soon (in a month or two I guess) so you could consider waiting a bit.

Saw somewhere that Ethereum was crashing, and a ton of decent used cards are flooding the market... So not sure. Prices could be dropping dramatically and quickly.

wish.com has what you need.

haha, no, don't actually go that route. I like the earlier suggestions of finding a good used / refurb'd model. Craigslist in your area?