A bit of advice for buying a gfx card

mikeruurds

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

DonkeyRhubarb

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wolverine_1999

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

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

Yep you're right there Mikeruurds...

Ah well, the EVGA comes with a lifetime warranty

123

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

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

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.