An Radeon HD 5450 is the best for the money you want to spend. The ASUS HD 5450 is out of stock so get the SAPPHIRE HD 5450

 

If you are planning on some light gaming I'd probably look at this HD 4670 128bit/1Gb card for $52 (inc postage and rebate). It's a <50w card in normal operation. If however the card is just something for the monitor to plug into then the 5450 is fine.

 

Thanks the info and links,
My old X300 used ~20 watts.
I got the info here (half way down the page, under Operating environment)
and here (looks like ~10W compared to the integrated graphics)
I checked out some other benchmarks and found that cards like the Radeon 4650/70 use up to ~50 watts, which could overload my generic Dell PSU.
Not sure if there is any overhead room left in my PSU, especially after 5 years of use.
I found that the Radeon 4350 and 5450 use about 20 and 25 watts respectively.
I don't mean to turn any one off because I sound defensive, I just wasn't sure if my PSU could support an upgrade like the 4650.

 

You'll be fine. My current desktop used to use a Dell 305w PSU with my HD4670. It ran without any issues whatsoever.

To clarify, the PSU ran the exact specification in my system specs tab, minus the Corsair HX750W which I replaced a couple of weeks ago. The only reason I replaced it is as an upgrade due to ordering a HD6870 shortly.

I would recommend the HD4670 as well, you can run medium/high settings on most games (medium on Crysis) quite happily.

 

The Dell 305W PSU has 22A combined on the +12V rails, which is more than plenty for an HD 4670, even after five years of use.

 

Thanks for the info Leeky and Rage,
Now that I know some of the other budget cards are fine I should say that my budget is about $60.
My computer has a PCI x16 slot, so I don't want to get a card that can't be utilized through the x16 slot.

$55 - SAPPHIRE HD 4650 1GB 128-bit
$59 - SAPPHIRE HD 4650 512MB 128-bit

These two cards caught my eye, and I realize that the Radeon 4670 is about 50% faster, but it is also about $70 which is ~50% more expensive.

 

@Teamwork,

I would wait it out, because you want to be aiming for at least the HD4670 for budget gaming. If it really is 50% faster than the above GPUs, your going to be severly limited when gaming.

This HIS model is the exact one I have, and thats availble from newegg.com for $69.00 It would be well worth the extra $10 investment.

 

I'd recommend this card instead. You'd simply need to use a Molex-to-PCI-E power connector and it should be dirt-cheap and easy to get hold of.

 

I second DBZ's choice of XFX 4670 it's $60.48 with 10% instant off including S&H, on top of a Mail in Rebate which brings down the total another $15 bucks. Just note the card is DDR2 instead of DDR3, if you are interested in a DDR3 version you'll have to increase your budget another $10 dollars and I'd then say Leeky's choice of HIS 4670 would be the best. Either way both should handle light gaming without much issue at 1280x1024 or similar resolution.

 

I like the performance of the 4670. But in truth, I am just looking for something to plug a monitor into and use for powerpoint, GIMP, youtube videos, etc...
nothing very intensive.
I will check out everyone's suggestions and read some some of TS's budget GPU reviews before I make my decision.
Thanks Leeky, Rage, dividebyzero, and dustin. I appreciate all the advice and links. :wave:

 

Hmm, in that case go with the cheapest card you can get from a decent manufacturer (i.e. avoid brands like Sparkle, JetWay, Jaton, Apollo & ECS). Also, get a card with active cooling, since passive-cooled cards tend to run hot, obviously.

I recommend this card BTW.