A bit of advice for buying a gfx card

mikeruurds · 07-12-2005 11:03AM #1

Could you please give a little advice. I have a 6600GT 256MB card at the moment which is, in my opinion, a little underpowered when playing BF2 and F.E.A.R.

I'd like to upgrade, but I'm only going to be playing at LCD 1280x1024 resolution. What do you believe would be a best bang-for-my-buck card that'll allow me to run at high quality (AA and AF) and keep up decent FPS at that resolution?

Thanks for your help!

duridian · 07-12-2005 07:35PM

You don't specify whether or not you have PCI-Express, but if you do have PCI-E then I would say X850 XT on Komplett for €319 seems like a decent card for the money.

Fanny Cradock · 07-12-2005 07:39PM

give us a price range as well

i was going to suggest something along the lines of duridan's advice, but the agp version.

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=313321&cks=PRL

mikeruurds · 07-12-2005 08:22PM

Thanks for the response guys.

Apologies for the vagueness... I have PCI-e and the price range is not that much of an issue. I can afford one of the new 512MB 7800GTX's, but I don't want to rush out and get it if I only intend on playing at low resolutions and if another card will run high quality settings with a reasonable framerate for half the price

.

I really appreciate your input.

Mike

duridian · 07-12-2005 08:58PM

Well in that case maybe a 7800GT would be a best of both words sort of card to consider as well. Not as expensive as the 7800GTX but has most of the power. I think you will find this POV 7800GT for €336 hits the middle ground between price/performance nicely as well. (I am amazed that I hadn't spotted it sooner).
You missed out on a great chance to pick up a slightly used XFX 7800GTX at a bargain price on the for sale boards just a few days ago. A fella called Striker was flogging 4 of them for around the €330-340 each.

mikeruurds · 07-12-2005 11:05PM

Thanks Duridian

Yeah... I noticed Striker's post just after he sold the last one. Pity :rolleyes:

I've decided to get a 256MB 7800GTX... I think that it might be worth it to get the extra bit of power to add a little longevity.

Much appreciated guys

Kenny_D · 08-12-2005 02:11PM

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=314836&cks=PRL

That card gets fantastic reviews and should run any current game at full res with all settings on

Do a google search on it. Seems good for the price. Gonna pick one up myself after xmas

mikeruurds · 08-12-2005 06:30PM

Looks pretty sweet... the XFX cards have a lifetime guarantee too which doesn't hurt

DonkeyRhubarb · 09-12-2005 12:58AM

I have a 19" LCD that runs at 1280x1024 @ 75Hz. My XFX 7800GTX runs both those games beautifully, though if you want perfection out of fear, you kinda need 2 GB RAM too. Good choice on the 256MB version. I was going to get the 512mb, but it really is overpriced. There are no games that a 7800GTX 256 wont do beautifully anyway.:v:

mikeruurds · 09-12-2005 07:28AM

I bought an extra 2GB of RAM today on top of the 1GB I already have (good deal on ebay)... hopefully after this upgrade I should be okay for at least a year

Wolverine_1999 · 11-12-2005 02:31PM

I got a 7800GT from Germany for €330. Has clock speed of 470MHZ and Memory of 1,1GHZ. Performs nearly as good as the GTX. It's the EVGA one.

duridian · 12-12-2005 06:24PM

Wolverine_1999 wrote:

I got a 7800GT from Germany for €330. Has clock speed of 470MHZ and Memory of 1,1GHZ. Performs nearly as good as the GTX. It's the EVGA one.

I think that means it is about 40MHz beyond the Nvidia reference speed for the core in a 256MB GTX. Only the ram is a bit slower but it probably balances out that anyway. You may be able to get the bit of extra speed out of the ram as well with Coolbits.

mikeruurds · 12-12-2005 10:05PM

I've also gone with an Evga but I got mine from the USA and it's a GTX... the Evgas are supposed to be pretty good cards... if you believe the online reviews

.

Thanks again for all the pointers

Wolverine_1999 · 13-12-2005 06:59PM

mikeruurds wrote:

I've also gone with an Evga but I got mine from the USA and it's a GTX... the Evgas are supposed to be pretty good cards... if you believe the online reviews .

Thanks again for all the pointers

The GTX is really not worth the extra €200 though, when you take the performance into account...

mikeruurds · 13-12-2005 09:36PM

Only paid €360 for my GTX... now all I'm waiting for is to get stung €70 for VAT :eek: *fingers crossed*

Wolverine_1999 · 14-12-2005 12:30PM

mikeruurds wrote:

Only paid €360 for my GTX... now all I'm waiting for is to get stung €70 for VAT :eek: *fingers crossed*

Ears and toes too i'd say

mikeruurds · 14-12-2005 07:05PM

I asked the seller (Ebay) to mark it as a gift, but after a discussion we decided to mark at full value for insurance purposes... even at €430 it's still a good price for a Evga 7800GTX... but it's a lot nicer at €360

It's in customs at Portlaoise at the moment, but all USPS packages go through there regardless (or so I'm told)... I could still get away with it. I'm just a bit cheesed off that I paid $36 for Global EMS for 3-5 days shipping and it's already day 8 (including the weekend) and I still haven't got it.

I hope you enjoy that GT Wolverine... pity that other seller didn't come through with his €350 offer for the XFX on "FS Computer Hardware" (Wolverine and I were both trying to get the deal done on that one)

Wolverine_1999 · 15-12-2005 01:48PM

Yep you're right there Mikeruurds...

Ah well, the EVGA comes with a lifetime warranty

22-12-2005 04:08PM

get this one its perfect
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=315786&cks=PRL its 512mb for 125.01 at komplett.ie gonna get myself one too

mikeruurds · 22-12-2005 04:26PM

123 wrote:

get this one its perfect
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=315786&cks=PRL its 512mb for 125.01 at komplett.ie gonna get myself one too

I'm no expert, but isn't 512MB going to be a little useless in a 6200 card? Wouldn't you be better off getting a better GPU with 128MB ram?

BadCharlie · 22-12-2005 04:53PM

123 wrote:

get this one its perfect
http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=315786&cks=PRL its 512mb for 125.01 at komplett.ie gonna get myself one too

Jee thats allot of ram for that video card. I don't know if there will be any improvment over a 128mb or 256mb of the same card type.

P.S DoH someone beat me 2 it.

A bit of advice for buying a gfx card

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