Low cost upgrade

MayoForSam

I want to upgrade the graphics card on an old-ish machine (E6600 dual core 2.4 GHz, 3GB RAM, Windows 7) on the cheap to tide me over for a few months and allow me to play some not-too-recent titles (e.g. Civ 4, L4D2, Dragon Age) at a maximum resolution of 1280 x 1024.

Card is currently a 7600 GT. Which of these two would be worth the upgrade - X1950 Pro 256MB or an 8800 GTS 512MB? Or should I look at spending a bit more? Budget €40-50.

Solitaire

The latter card is far superior. And unless you find a HD4850 or better going for <€50 second-hand it'll be the best you can get. Just be wary of power requirements - both the 8800GTS and the HD4850 are a fair bit thirstier than the 7600GT so make sure you have a bit of PSU overhead!

kfish2oo2

The X1950 Pro isn't even remotely worth considering. Its far too many generations old to handle new content. Find a 4850 or 4870 second hand (usually between €40 and €80) and you'll be set for a good while.

lmimmfn

kfish2oo2 wrote: »

The X1950 Pro isn't even remotely worth considering. Its far too many generations old to handle new content. Find a 4850 or 4870 second hand (usually between €40 and €80) and you'll be set for a good while.

8800GTS 512Mb performance is between the performance of a 4850 or 4870 so hes good with that, roughly 8800GT=4850 performance

Solitaire

lmimmfn wrote: »

8800GTS 512Mb performance is between the performance of a 4850 or 4870 so hes good with that, roughly 8800GT=4850 performance

Very small differences between them but on average:

8800GT ≈ 9800GT < HD4830 <<< 8800GTS (512MB) ≈ 9800GTX < 9800GTX+ < GTS250 ≈ HD4850 <<< HD4780

lmimmfn

Solitaire wrote: »

Very small differences between them but on average:

8800GT ≈ 9800GT < HD4830 <<< 8800GTS (512MB) ≈ 9800GTX < 9800GTX+ < GTS250 ≈ HD4850 <<< HD4780

yeah, 8800GTS (512MB) == 9800GTX( except the latter has slightly higher default clocks, but the cards are effectively the same only 9800GTX supports tri SLI whereas the 8800GTS( 512MB ) card only supports SLI )

Also 9800GTX+ == GTS250 ( http://www.anandtech.com/show/2731 )

So its:
( 8800GT == 9800GT )< HD4830 <<<( 8800GTS (512MB) == 9800GTX ) < ( 9800GTX+ == GTS250 )≈ HD4850 <<< HD4780 ≈ 260GTX < HD4790 < 260GTX( 216SP )

However the GTS250 generally performs between the ATI4850 and 4870( mainly in TWIMTBP games though )

Gotta love Nvidia branding

Solitaire

It performs like a lump of ****e in other games though so it averages out around the HD4850. And another mention of The Way It Was Meant To Be Paid (Off) and I will beat you with sticks!

of RAM :pac: