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Finally.. upgrade...! Vid card?

Solari

Solari

Solari

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Joined
14 Nov 2002
Posts
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Location
Kent
Due to this snap decision, I'm buying a NEC 24WMGX3. I meant to do this a few months ago but dentist bills and other unexpected expenses stopped me :(

Now the question is, which vid card to get..

Current spec is a bit old but should be capable... Gigabyte 956P-DS3 Mobo with
Core2Duo E6300. I'm guessing I can get a lot more bang for buck than when I was last looking at a video card upgrade :p
 
For 1920 x 1200 you'd need an ATI 4870 1Gb at least or nVidia GTX260 core 216 I would say - anything above those would be great too.
 
Great - one final question... is there much between the different manufacturers, or any I should avoid? :) I'm looking at the Sapphire HD4870 1GB GDDR5 or the XFX Radeon HD 4870 xXx 1024MB GDDR5 TV-at the moment...
 
If you can, id get one of the non reference coolers, better at keeping things cool and a fair bit quieter! Might aswell go for 4890 now aswell they're not that much more!
 
There's a number of full retail GTX280's in the Clearance/B-Grade at the moment for £210 inc VAT. Thats a bargain and would beautifully suit that new screen!
 
mpj88 said:
If you can, id get one of the non reference coolers, better at keeping things cool and a fair bit quieter! Might aswell go for 4890 now aswell they're not that much more!
Click to expand...

Good point, Sapphire ATI Radeon 4890 1024MB it is, then :p Ta! Any particular recommendations on cooler?
 
4890's use the ATi reference cooler at the minute which is loud, and they are not worth it, as they are only slightly faster than the 1gb 4870's (only a couple of frames or so), yet they are £50/£60 more.

Id either get the Sapphire 4870 1gb with the custom cooler as its a cracker, very cool and quiet, or the 260-216 which is slightly cheaper, but on par with it, paying £50/£60+ more for a couple of frames is madness, Nvidia and ATi are taking us for mugs, lets stop em as enough is enough now.
 
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Meh, I'll see how loud it is... if I don't like it, I'll fit an aftermarket cooler :)

Looking forward to this now, even though I know I'll be tearing my hair out trying to get some stuff working on Vista64 :)
 
I do agree with Loadsa the refrence cooler will be quite noisy! Same cooler as on the 4870 but with hotter hardware! You do the maths!
 
mpj88 said:
I do agree with Loadsa the refrence cooler will be quite noisy! Same cooler as on the 4870 but with hotter hardware! You do the maths!
Click to expand...

I'm not that bothered as I usually either have music on, or wear headphones/turn the sound up. :) Fair point, though :)

Is the layout the same as the 4870, ie: will aftermarket coolers that fit the 4870 fit the 4890?
 
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