Which graphics card should I get?

Phony Scott

Sorry for asking the usual question, but I'm looking to buy a mid range graphics card. My budget between €150 - €200. I have a 680w power supply and I have a HDMI monitor, but I don't know what to get. I'm fairly new to this. Do you know what would be a good mid-range card to get and where? Thanks.

ShadowHearth

6850/6870

Bargain at this stage. Your psu will be more then enough.

Phony Scott

Thanks ShadowHearth. I've looked around and figure I'll go with this one which is well within my budget. I may have a question about it later when I get it into my hands. Thanks again.

ShadowHearth

Word of advice. Those german fellas went balls up lately. Customer support is horrible unless you know german. Check build and upgrade forum. There is thread about it. I suggest finding that card on more trustable website, pay a bit more, but less hassle.

I am getting that card too on Friday

Phony Scott

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Those german fellas went balls up lately.

Duly noted. Another place recommended to me was scan.co.uk. I checked their price; and including delivery along with insurance, it comes to €173 in total. That's twenty quid extra excluding the cost of delivery on the other site.

ShadowHearth wrote: »

I am getting that card too on Friday

Do you mind me asking where? I'm trying to hunt down the best deal. Thanks again for the great advice and let me know how you get on with the card if you get it before me.

ShadowHearth

173 with delivery included from trustable supplier is very very good price.

Atleast you will know your goods are coming, you can track them and if some problem you can contact them.

My one is coming from Austria ( lol irony ) . My misses is there for holidays, so she picked it up in one of the shops. She is back on Friday.

Happy to help with what I know, bud.

old_aussie

Does your power supply have the two 6 pin power plugs for that card?

ShadowHearth

old_aussie wrote: »

Does your power supply have the two 6 pin power plugs for that card?

That wont be a problem. He deffo got one atleast. Then he can make anather 6 pin from 2xmolex or 2xsata or mix and match.

Phony Scott

old_aussie wrote: »

Does your power supply have the two 6 pin power plugs for that card?

No it doesn't even have one! I guess when you buy cheap... Thankfully I bought it on Saturday and can return it and get one which does have two six pin connectors. Thanks for pointing that out Old Aussie.

ShadowHearth

680w and has no 6 pins?!

Is it some branded psu m8? Where did you get it?

Make sure it is 680 psu and not some fake yoke. These are quite popular on eBay these days. Or will be some 200w with 700w stickers on it.

If it's genueny then you can make as much 6 pins as you want m8.

Phony Scott

It's this one from Maplins. I have 'orrible habbit of impulse buying and saw it for €40 and figured it was a bargin. I guess not.

ShadowHearth

Phony Scott wrote: »

It's this one from Maplins. I have 'orrible habbit of impulse buying and saw it for €40 and figured it was a bargin. I guess not.

weird yoke...

still cant get over it... no 6 pins... cheap thought. did you tryed googling this psu?

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/680w-g7-power-extreme-atx-psu-was-4/618831 they dont like it.

deconduo

Phony Scott wrote: »

It's this one from Maplins. I have 'orrible habbit of impulse buying and saw it for €40 and figured it was a bargin. I guess not.

You'll be lucky if it doesn't explode, its a horrible PSU. If you try and put anything near 600W on it expect it to shutdown/catch fire/blow your computer :P

marco_polo

deconduo wrote: »

You'll be lucky if it doesn't explode, its a horrible PSU. If you try and put anything near 600W on it expect it to shutdown/catch fire/blow your computer :P

Fortunately for the Fire Brigade anybody would be doing well to load 600W on it with 3 molex and 0 pcie connectors :pac:

Kintarō Hattori

Supports systems with multi-core CPU and GPU technologies

http://www.maplin.co.uk/680w-g7-power-extreme-atx-psu-345571

How the hell can it support multi GPU systems if it has no Pci-E leads!

ShadowHearth

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

http://www.maplin.co.uk/680w-g7-power-extreme-atx-psu-345571

How the hell can it support multi GPU systems if it has no Pci-E leads!

i have to say its quite idiotic psu.

op, any update on your upgrade?

ShadowHearth

So what's the story op? I got my card today. Works like a charm! Unreal jump in performance from 8800gt!

Phony Scott

deconduo wrote: »

If you try and put anything near 600W on it expect it to shutdown/catch fire/blow your computer :P

The graphics card is 500w. So 600w is too low a power supply then? I realise I need to run other things on the computer, such as the motherboard etc. Is there any way for me to determine what wattage I should be aiming for?

ShadowHearth

Phony Scott wrote: »

The graphics card is 500w. So 600w is too low a power supply then? I realise I need to run other things on the computer, such as the motherboard etc. Is there any way for me to determine what wattage I should be aiming for?

500wat recomended. on box i got it says it will work with 400. i am running this card on high load 1650x1050 on 375 dell PSU.

card itself draws only 150watt m8.

have a look m8:

http://www.hwcompare.com/6103/geforce-8800-gt-512mb-vs-radeon-hd-6870/

uberpixie

Phony Scott wrote: »

The graphics card is 500w. So 600w is too low a power supply then? I realise I need to run other things on the computer, such as the motherboard etc. Is there any way for me to determine what wattage I should be aiming for?

Google "psu calculator"

There are plenty online, will give you a rough idea as to what power you use up/need for the setup you have.

A GOOD QUALITY 500W-600W is more than plenty for a gaming rig.

Seriously though... get a new psu! That thing you have is a death trap....

Jonny7

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Word of advice. Those german fellas went balls up lately. Customer support is horrible unless you know german. Check build and upgrade forum. There is thread about it. I suggest finding that card on more trustable website, pay a bit more, but less hassle.

I am getting that card too on Friday

Huh, they went balls up?

Buying a pc? get it from hwv

buying a part? get it from pixmania.ie or amazon or wherever price/shipping is cheapest, the last 6870 I saw was 140 euros on pix

ShadowHearth

Jonny7 wrote: »

Huh, they went balls up?

Buying a pc? get it from hwv

buying a part? get it from pixmania.ie or amazon or wherever price/shipping is cheapest, the last 6870 I saw was 140 euros on pix

Go to biuld and upgrade forum and check threads about them. They are good price wise, and if they got parts it's grand, but if you will need some sort of customer support... Good luck...

There are plenty of websites there which have better rep. Better pay a bit extra, but you will have a peace of mind.

P.s. I still don't get the point of your post m8. As you just repeated what I said in first place...

Jonny7

I've had great customer service from hardwareversand more than once.

I think its just the fact that hundreds from the b&u forum use them theres bound to be a few stories

Anyway, I'd recommend amazon as well, some nice-ish deals on there, and free delivery with most

ShadowHearth

Jonny7 wrote: »

I've had great customer service from hardwareversand more than once.

I think its just the fact that hundreds from the b&u forum use them theres bound to be a few stories

Anyway, I'd recommend amazon as well, some nice-ish deals on there, and free delivery with most

Yup amazon is good, just make sure you get super saver delivery. Not all items got it.

They wanted to charge me 24 pounds delivery charge for 2 connectors worth 5 quid.

Phony Scott

uberpixie wrote: »

Google "psu calculator"

I tried that and it reckoned I'd need a 540w PSU, so I'm going to go with the one I mentioned already. I'm ordering the PSU tomorrow, but am putting off buying the graphics card until later. Thanks everyone for the help.

TerrorFirmer

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

http://www.maplin.co.uk/680w-g7-power-extreme-atx-psu-345571

How the hell can it support multi GPU systems if it has no Pci-E leads!

Well, you can always use molex adaptors. I used a PSU before that didn't have any either but it powered two cards fine with adapters. Maplins special offer PSUs are nearly always atrocious though. It seems ludicrous to buy a new PSU that doesn't even support pci-e out of the box...lord knows how old the psu itself is.

Phony Scott

Well, it's almost a year on and I still haven't gotten the card! Had my heart set on getting a Radeon xfx 6870 black edition card, but they seem to have disappeared off the face of the earth. I now have a Corsair TX 850 psu and it has 6-pins coming out of the ying yang. So, I'm back to square one.
What graphics card should I get now? I have a budget between €200-250. Is there any difference between the current crop of Radeon xfx cards and the old ones? I take it they are better?

Skylinehead

Go for a 7850.

Unknown Soldier

Howdy!

Have a Dell xps 710 here with a single 768MB NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8800 GTX in it.

Was thinking of getting into a bit of gaming again and was wondering if it was still ok or is there a decent reasonably priced upgrade I could consider? I am not looking for the best of the best. Just a decent card.

I have been out of the loop for about 3-4 years

Thanks in advance!

The spec/tech of the 710 is here... http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/xps710/en/SM_EN/techov1.htm#wp1052309 Tis a tiny scroll down for the PSU stuff. Not that I understand it.