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Best 1280x720 gaming card for under £70?

jmp_78

jmp_78

jmp_78

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Joined
2 Mar 2009
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612
Location
Nottingham
Looking to add some dedicated graphics to my new HTPC for 720p gaming. Can anyone please recommend which would be the best card to get for under £70, and can be powered by my Corsair 400w PSU (with upto 1 x PCI-E connector).

I'd like to be able to play a few recent-ish titles (no, not Crysis) at this resolution with all ideally all graphics options set to max.

Thanks in advance :D
 
Last edited:
RavenXXX2 said:
Or this..

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-051-OK&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1833
Click to expand...

Power hungry, not running cool or quiet, long so perhaps not for an HTPC case, only 3 months warranty and refurbished.

Note: This card is 275mm in length so make sure it fits in your case! Also the cards require PCI-E x16 slots, they will not function in a x8 slot so for SLi you need dual x16 mainboard. Finally 500W minimum for PSU and 600W+ is recommended.
Click to expand...

Not that it means a lot though. The card is about equal in performance with Radeon 4850, in this case the choice is pretty obvious IMO.

gwr3850 said:
I think these may be a good bet though they are slightly over the £70 mark, not sure how much willing you would be about going over

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-096-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1576

Or for DX11 interest
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-164-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1699
Click to expand...

The advice couldn't been worse. GeForce 240 performs as good as GeForce 9600GSO, it's really a low-end card and not advised for gaming. Radeon 5570 is just a miss.
 
Just to throw a curveball, in addition to my original question...

As you will see from my sig, my main desktop PC currently uses an HD4870 1GB - I am thinking of upgrading this soon though, and so could 'hand it down'.

My only concern with this is that the 400w Corsair won't handle it, plus I'd have to buy and use 1 x Molex to PCI-E converter (which I've been told to be wary of). Not sure if this move would be wise therefore...

It would be the cheapest option (sort of!), the easiest option, it's just that I'm not sure if it would be the safest :confused:
 
i bought a second hand 4870 for my htpc was only £65 and i must say it plays most games on full at 1080 was pritty shocked tbh so yer i would say its a good idea if your worried about you psu lower the volts in 2d and 3d modes as the card will run on stock clocks at lower than the standard volts which found really usefull as it droped the temp's loads
 
I think a 4870 would be fine on a 400w PSU. The worst thing you could do is just give it a try, it'll cost you very little, and there's no reason why it'll be unsafe, PCI-E connectors draw off the 12v rail, and the adapters only use the 12v (yellow and black) cables from it.
 
Mr. May said:
i bought a second hand 4870 for my htpc was only £65 and i must say it plays most games on full at 1080 was pretty shocked tbh so yeah i would say it's a good idea if you're worried about you psu lower the volts in 2d and 3d modes as the card will run on stock clocks at lower than the standard volts which found really usefull as it droped the temps loads
Click to expand...

People have a bad memory when it comes to old gen cards. I'd probably still be on my 4850s if I didn't play games over 3 monitors.
 
It might work huh? Good news! Wanted a card with direct HDMI Out and 4870 doesn't have that, but do have DVI to HDMI converter. Will the final on screen picture look the same if using converter, without any quality loss?
 
jmp_78 said:
It might work huh? Good news! Wanted a card with direct HDMI Out and 4870 doesn't have that, but do have DVI to HDMI converter. Will the final on screen picture look the same if using converter, without any quality loss?
Click to expand...

It's digital signal, no way you'll have any loss of quality :)
 
Excellent stuff :p

Just run an online PSU CALCULATOR for my HTPC (inc the HD4870) and it topped out at 360w at full 100% load. Therefore, I will assume that quality 400w PSU should be fine.

Thanks very much for everyone's help... better start looking for a new video card for the main PC now, seeing as how the HD4870's gonna get pinched!
 
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