Best GPU for £50-£70

mrochester · 12 Feb 2009 at 21:04

Hi all,

I'm a bit out of the loop with graphics cards. Anyone got any recommendations for the best card for £50-£60? It'll be driving a 17" TFT for fairly 'mainstream' gaming (Sims 2, Sims 3 when it arrives, etc).

Thanks!

Michael.

chuck990 · 12 Feb 2009 at 21:11

urm.... are you able to up the budget? wont get that much for that... especialy not sims 3

SoundsGood · 12 Feb 2009 at 21:15

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Gibbo_GTI · 12 Feb 2009 at 21:18

HD4670 is a very good 'budget' card. I have no probs with max settings in my games at 1680x1050 res.

littlepuppy · 12 Feb 2009 at 21:23

9600gt, £10 more / £20 more 9800GT? on offer this week here..

Adrianr · 12 Feb 2009 at 21:39

Second hand 8800GT?

reflux · 12 Feb 2009 at 21:43

4670, or 9800GT.

mame · 12 Feb 2009 at 22:21

Adrianr said:
Second hand 8800GT?

mrochester · 13 Feb 2009 at 16:34

Thanks, stretching to the 9800GT might be possible.

LoadsaMoney · 13 Feb 2009 at 18:08

mrochester said:
Thanks, stretching to the 9800GT might be possible.

If you can, go for it.

littlepuppy · 13 Feb 2009 at 19:38

Speed · 13 Feb 2009 at 19:45

If you can stretch to around £80 you should be able to get a 2nd hand 8800GTX, which will blow anything else mentioned out of the water.

james.miller · 13 Feb 2009 at 20:05

i wouldnt be buying a 2nd hand gtx in this day and age, id sooner save another tenner and buy a new 4830 thats runs cooler and is far more power efficiant and trades blows with a 9800gtx+

Speed · 13 Feb 2009 at 20:12

The 8800GTX would out perform a 4830, it's still a very good card, that's why they still fetch good money these days. But I do agree that it will be more efficient, but that's because the 4830 is quite low end.

It's worth pointing out that Sims 2 is a CPU intensive game and I expect Sims 3 will be as well to a lesser extent. Due to the mid to low end market The Sims games are aimed at, they have to scale well.

What CPU do you have mrochester?

james.miller · 13 Feb 2009 at 20:15

it most situations it doesnt. i sold my gtx and bought a 4830 and i didnt regret it at all. in any games that didnt run like crap @ 1920x1200 (crysis *cough*) anyway i noticed no real difference and i had the added bonus of a fully working HDCP card and a 7.1 pcm output over hdmi. for the £20 it cost me to sell up and buy the 4830 it was certainly a no brainer. but anyway this is nearly double the OP's original budget so it isnt really helping.

Id probably go for a 4670 or a 9800gt, i wouldnt buy a 2nd hand card at all

Speed · 13 Feb 2009 at 20:20

What's wrong with buying a second hand card? I've owned loads, if he is willing to go 2nd hand then he can get much better value for money. A 8800GT could be had for £60-70.

james.miller · 13 Feb 2009 at 20:25

Speed said:
What's wrong with buying a second hand card? I've owned loads, if he is willing to go 2nd hand then he can get much better value for money. A 8800GT could be had for £60-70.

and a 9800gt can be had for ~£80. ~£10-£15 for vendor support and full warranty?

Speed · 13 Feb 2009 at 20:28

Point taken!

Still a bit over the OP'ers budget however.

Rezident · 13 Feb 2009 at 20:41

4670 seems to be the best performance in that price range. Should be fine for 17".

neon.uk · 13 Feb 2009 at 20:44

On a 17", there shouldn't be anything troubling a 4670 really (except maybe crysis and FC2)

I'm on a 3850 Pro (around performance of 4670) with a 17", and can run pretty much all the games I want maxed out.