Please help in choice of GFX card - Budget £320

aries2580 · 7 Jun 2009 at 19:10

Hi all,

So, I'm at my wits end about choosing a card.

My 4850 was rma'ed there, and I got my refund.
Now I'm a bit cautious about ATI cards now. As that is the second ATI card to die on me...

Anyway, I'm playing my games at 1680x1050 on a T220.
ATM my main game is crysis wars, and will be for a long time. Other games I own/are yet to play/will be getting very soon - Far Cry2, DOW2, Assassins Creed and Mirrors edge.

The rest of my setup is

x48 blackops
Q6600
4GB OCZ Extreme - 1600MHz

I was thinking about the GTX285 OCX (from a site that has free delivery on everything) for £320...

But i'm reluctant to spend any more than £320, after some talks with family members which brought my sky high thinking down to earth...

Anyway some suggestions would be greatly appreciated

siumatfung · 7 Jun 2009 at 19:16

nah do not worry about ATi cards you were just unlucky

but the top 3 bang for buck cards are

1. ATi 4890 1Gb @ 159.99

2. ATi 4870x2 2Gb @ 234.99 ( warning card runs really hot only buy if you have a very well ventilated case)

3. Nvidia GTX 285 @ 234.99

siumatfung · 7 Jun 2009 at 19:18

edit :the GTX 285 is 229.99

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-190-AS

aries2580 · 7 Jun 2009 at 19:41

Well, that asus GTX one is tempting me...

Although I have never been anygood at overclocking graphics cards lol

I know you say I'm unlucky lol but if i get an X2 or 4890 Blackedition and it freaks out on me... I will actually kill something

aries2580 · 7 Jun 2009 at 19:42

siumatfung said:
2. ATi 4870x2 2Gb @ 234.99 ( warning card runs really hot only buy if you have a very well ventilated case)

I have the Silverstone fortress, so I think it should be fine if i decided to get one.

manic111 · 7 Jun 2009 at 19:45

To be honest a single 4890 should deal with everything you throw at it at that res...save yourself some money

aries2580 · 7 Jun 2009 at 19:48

manic111 said:
To be honest a single 4890 should deal with everything you throw at it at that res...save yourself some money

*thinks about savings* yay! lol

I'm sure you can imagine though, that i'm a bit worried due to the problems i have had with ATI in the past :rolleyes:

How does the GTX285 OCX stand in everyones eyes? (£320)

Jono8 · 7 Jun 2009 at 19:58

single 4890, then get another one if you want more performance?

siumatfung · 7 Jun 2009 at 20:17

lol yeh 4890 tbh mines fine idles at 50c load 70s nothing to worry about but would advise you to leave the fan on 30% all the time

psychas · 7 Jun 2009 at 20:22

aries2580 said:
How does the GTX285 OCX stand in everyones eyes? (£320)

why pay 100£ more for the same card. asus 285gtx same card overclock it your self

aries2580 · 7 Jun 2009 at 20:24

siumatfung said:
lol yeh 4890 tbh mines fine idles at 50c load 70s nothing to worry about but would advise you to leave the fan on 30% all the time

lol noisy otherwise?

aries2580 · 7 Jun 2009 at 20:24

psychas said:
why pay 100£ more for the same card. asus 285gtx same card overclock it your self

I had though that, but I have always been unlucky with graphics card overclocking lol.

anyway who is to say mine will reach that high?

siumatfung · 7 Jun 2009 at 20:30

aries2580 said:
lol noisy otherwise?

best of both worlds its cool and not too loud the fan can spin up to 4500rpm lol imagine how loud that would be on a 60mm fan lol

aries2580 · 7 Jun 2009 at 20:31

siumatfung said:
best of both worlds its cool and not too loud the fan can spin up to 4500rpm lol imagine how loud that would be on a 60mm fan lol

*ears bleed*

Jono8 · 7 Jun 2009 at 20:32

psychas said:
why pay 100£ more for the same card. asus 285gtx same card overclock it your self

well, no garauntee his will clock even 10mhz more but £100 for prob 5-10% fps increase isnt worht it.

psychas · 7 Jun 2009 at 20:33

aries2580 said:
I had though that, but I have always been unlucky with graphics card overclocking lol.

anyway who is to say mine will reach that high?

it will reach 702 core without a doubt will go to 730 easily memory should be easy reachable to 3000mhz and shader should pass 1600 without a swear maybe more. it takes like few min to do it in rivatuner

mame · 7 Jun 2009 at 20:36

I would just get a GTX 260 for £133.99 here and save yourself £186.01. The gap at the moment between mid-range cards and high end cards is quite close. at 1680x1050, thats going to be a very good card.

manic111 · 7 Jun 2009 at 20:46

aries2580 said:
*thinks about savings* yay! lol

I'm sure you can imagine though, that i'm a bit worried due to the problems i have had with ATI in the past

How does the GTX285 OCX stand in everyones eyes? (£320)

To be fair, as long as the RMAs have gone smoothly, it shouldn't be that big a worry. Plus every GPU I've ever installed myself has been ATI (all 2 of them!) and I've never had a problem...both have been running considerably longer than a year now, so I'm bound to be biased towards ATI!!!

If you really don't want to go with ATI, why not have a look at this Nvidia 275
. Similar performance to the 4890, and only a shade more expensive...

aries2580 · 7 Jun 2009 at 20:48

manic111 said:
To be fair, as long as the RMAs have gone smoothly, it shouldn't be that big a worry. Plus every GPU I've ever installed myself has been ATI (all 2 of them!) and I've never had a problem...both have been running considerably longer than a year now, so I'm bound to be biased towards ATI!!!

lol fair enough

manic111 said:
If you really don't want to go with ATI, why not have a look at this Nvidia 275
. Similar performance to the 4890, and only a shade more expensive...

Ohh, that looks sexy, and its kinda a halfway house between the GTX285 and the GTX260...

*read reviews*

Jono8 · 7 Jun 2009 at 21:20

aries2580 said:
lol fair enough

Ohh, that looks sexy, and its kinda a halfway house between the GTX285 and the GTX260...

*read reviews*

would recommend the 275 personally. Loving mine