Cheap 1gb graphics cards?

Design_Dude

Hi there, im looking for a cheap but relatively decent 1gb pci-e graphics card. On ebay i can see ones like the ATI HD2400 and HD3450 for €45-60 range. They have 256mb ddr mem but if you have 2gb of ram or more, theyll give you 1gb. Ill have 8gb ram in my new pc, so would they be any good?? Im not too mad on gaming, just play COD4 and UT, but would do video editing and converting etc, and would like something quick.

Design_Dude

or the NVidea GT8500 Super. That has 512mb with 1gb hypermemory. supports sli, hdcp and DirectS 10. Its cheap, but is it good?

uberpixie

Design_Dude wrote: »

Hi there, im looking for a cheap but relatively decent 1gb pci-e graphics card. On ebay i can see ones like the ATI HD2400 and HD3450 for €45-60 range. They have 256mb ddr mem but if you have 2gb of ram or more, theyll give you 1gb. Ill have 8gb ram in my new pc, so would they be any good?? Im not too mad on gaming, just play COD4 and UT, but would do video editing and converting etc, and would like something quick.

Why do you want a 1 gig graphics card?

For video conversion a fast CPU and Ram have more of an effect than a gfx card.

You can use codecs that utilise a gfx card's power to convert video.
i.e. http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_purevideo.html

Ram size of the graphics cards have nothing to do with this, unless you are doing some crazy 3d modelling and are using very powerful workstation Nvidia quadro /ATI FireGL cards that have 1-2 gig of ram.

Design_Dude wrote: »

or the NVidea GT8500 Super. That has 512mb with 1gb hypermemory. supports sli, hdcp and DirectS 10. Its cheap, but is it good?

Cheap nasty muck. Hyper memory if found on the weaker cheap gfx cards, it "steals" the ram in your pc and alocates it for the graphics card. Waste of time.


Cheap 1 gig cards are there to fool idiots/the ignorant into buying cheap muck. You want a fast gfx card, the cards listed below ONLY have 512mb of memory but are MUCH faster that any of the cards you listed. It is the "horse power" of the cards you should be looking at not the engine/fuel tank size.....

1)what is your budget?

2)What size screen do you game on?

For gaming I would look at:

1) Nvidia 9600GT 512mb (circa €119)
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=347774

2) 8800GT 512mb (circa €150
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=346501

3) 4850 512mb (circa €170)
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=357345

If you are gaming on a 24" monitor that is a different story and a high end 1 gig card would be a good idea.

Design_Dude

thanks mate, id like somthing under under 100 on komplett if possible. Ive a 17" screen, but may be adding another of the same soon. What would u reccommend for uner €100? Thanks

Fusion158

From Komplett and for under €100 Id recommend the Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 256MB GDDR3(Link) Good card for the price and would easily power 2 17" monitors

uberpixie

Fusion158 wrote: »

From Komplett and for under €100 Id recommend the Sapphire Radeon HD 3850 256MB GDDR3(Link) Good card for the price and would easily power 2 17" monitors

+1.

Best card in the sub €100 price bracket bar a 8800GS which some people have found for €90.

Design_Dude

Thanks mates

Design_Dude

Just bought a 1gb ATI HD2900pro card there. Its supposed to rival the 8800gt What do you think?

chump

Design_Dude wrote: »

Just bought a 1gb ATI HD2900pro card there. Its supposed to rival the 8800gt What do you think?

They saw you coming

PogMoThoin

Design_Dude wrote: »

Just bought a card there. Its supposed to rival the 8800gt What do you think?

Supposedly its slower than the 512Mb one

TerrorFirmer

Design_Dude wrote: »

Just bought a 1gb ATI HD2900pro card there. Its supposed to rival the 8800gt What do you think?

Ahhh.....not a great choice to be honest, unless you got it for about 80-90 euro...

It's nowhere near the 8800GT...it rivals the old 8800GTS 320mb, tit for tat in benches...and it can't make any use of 1gb either...

You would have gotten the same performance with better overclocking ability in the 8800GS for about 90 euro.

Design_Dude

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Ahhh.....not a great choice to be honest, unless you got it for about 80-90 euro...

It's nowhere near the 8800GT...it rivals the old 8800GTS 320mb, tit for tat in benches...and it can't make any use of 1gb either...

You would have gotten the same performance with better overclocking ability in the 8800GS for about 90 euro.

i got it for €70 incl postage:)

Kirby

Well thats very cheap and If you are happy with it then its all good. Personally, I woulda spent more as you are gonna be pretty limited with what you can do with it.

p2p2p

If you got it for that price it's good.

You mentioned you wanted a 1GB card. 512bm is good for most things. The only reason you'd need a gig would be if you're using very high resolutions. Other than that the extra mem isn't really used.