Recommend New Graphics Card

Lister1

I'm looking to upgrade my computer and am looking for recommendations on a new graphics card.

My current system is as follows...

XFX GeForce 8800GTS

Corsair QUAD2X 6400C5DHX DDR2 4096MB CL5 ,Kit w/four matched 1GB E.P.P DHX Dimm's

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600

Corsair Powersupply 620W

Creative SB X-FI Xtreme Gamer

2 x Samsung SpinPoint T166 500GB SATA2

LG DVD±RW burner

EVGA nForce 680i LT SLI


Are the new nvidia cards(GTX 260/280) worth the dosh or would the current power supply support one of the 9800GX2 cards? What about ATI these days? Worth considering?




Also the motherboard supports PC2-4300, PC2-6400, PC2-5300 memory? Which is the best to get? I'm looking to upgrade this to 8GBs.

Appreciate any comments/advice!

PogMoThoin

What resolution do you game at?

The Ati HD4870 is the best value for money gpu ATM. Its only 15% less performance of the Nvidia flagship GTX 280 and available for around €215 Here, not on komplett yet but should be in a day or 2. More info in this thread

partyatmygaff

eh for the money get pc6400 for the best speeds and in the graphics department myself i would choose two 9600gt in sli or for a single card a 9800gx2

Lister1

PogMoThoin wrote: »

What resolution do you game at?
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Gaming at 1440x900.

Would my current psu support the Ati HD4870?

cian1500ww

Lister1 wrote: »

Would my current psu support the Ati HD4870?

I'd say it could be close.

You should wait it out and see what nvidia's response is the the 4870, they may lower prices or bring out a new card.

Sqaull20

cian1500ww wrote: »

I'd say it could be close.

You should wait it out and see what nvidia's response is the the 4870, they may lower prices or bring out a new card.

Close my ass, that psu would take 2 of them, huge overclock, couple of hard drives and more, its one the best power supplies around.

You game at a low resolution, I would get a HD4850 or absolute max HD4870

Sli is pointless at the best of times, never mind at such a low resolution, good single card will do.

Lister1

Sqaull20 wrote: »

Close my ass, that psu would take 2 of them, huge overclock, couple of hard drives and more, its one the best power supplies around.

You game at a low resolution, I would get a HD4850 or absolute max HD4870

Correction: Usually use 1680x1050. As far as I can see its the max the monitor can take.

Good to hear the psu will be able to handle the new cards. Any idea when nvidia will respond to the ATI cards?

AlmightyCushion

They already have, they are dropping the prices of their new cards.

Sqaull20

Lister1 wrote: »

Correction: Usually use 1680x1050. As far as I can see its the max the monitor can take.

Good to hear the psu will be able to handle the new cards. Any idea when nvidia will respond to the ATI cards?

That res makes a difference

1680x1050 needs something like 35% more power to max out a game than 1440x900 needs, looking at HD4870/ GTX 260 then.

Even when the price cuts come,the nvidia gtx 2xx series will still be overpriced compared to the 48xx's.

Lister1

partyatmygaff wrote: »

eh for the money get pc6400 for the best speeds....

Is this good advice? Anyone able to explain the difference between the different types to me? Also whats is there a big variance pricewise?

Joeface

http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php

use this to decide on a gfx card....Best site on the next for GFX cards.

Anti

I dont see why yoru bothering, your screen is to small to take advantage of a more powerfull graphics card. There is no point going for a 280 9800gx2 unless you have a 22" or bigger screen and plan on running with full aa and af.

OK-Cancel-Apply

Lister1 wrote: »

Gaming at 1440x900.

Would my current psu support the Ati HD4870?

Have you been experiencing power problems with your 8800GTS?

Lister1

OK-Cancel-Apply wrote: »

Have you been experiencing power problems with your 8800GTS?

Nope, current card runs fine...

partyatmygaff

Lister1 wrote: »

Is this good advice? Anyone able to explain the difference between the different types to me? Also whats is there a big variance pricewise?

PC-6400 is the fastest ram your motherboard supports,

Without going too much into depth(Fast or slow ram hardly makes a difference unless your an overclocker)
Your q6600 is a Quad-Pumped CPU meaning The FSB which is 1066MHz is actually 266.5MHz x 4

Now DDR2 ram is Double Pumped meaning that 800MHz speed on pc-6400 is 400MHz x 2

Now the only real benefit of having the pc 6400 is that its speed is 400MHz(before its double pumped to 800mhz) and that would allow you to run your Ram and FSB at a 1:1 divider if you ran your CPU at 1600MHz FSB.

But if your not about to overclock your cpu there is no real benefit of having faster ram except incase you want to upgrade or overclock later on.

But in reality the price difference between pc-6400 and pc-5300 is so small it hardly makes any sense to buy slow ram(you'd save a fiver max)

So in short:

eh for the money get pc6400 for the best speeds....

Lister1

Thanks for the explanation on the memory. I might look at overclocking at some staged in the future. In the end I went for 8GBs of OCZ Reaper(first link below) which I believe will do me fine. There seemed to be other memory on the DABS.ie site which cost twice as much(second link). I assume the prices on these are outdated or did I bag myself a bargain?


http://www.dabs.ie/productview.aspx?Quicklinx=4RPG&CategorySelectedId=11150&PageMode=1&NavigationKey=11150,4294959063,4294955011

http://www.dabs.ie/productlist.aspx?&NavigationKey=11150&NavigationKey=4294959063&NavigationKey=4294955011&CategorySelectedId=11150&PageMode=1&PageOffset=0&RecordOffset=0#Paging