As point of principle I keep a list on excel of what I would upgrade if I had the money. I may have come in to some cash now. Basically last time I looked the 8800 gts 320mb would be the best card I could get for maxing out my monitor (19" wide 1440x900). But for like £50 more I can have the HIS ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail. ATI's flagship card with oodles of features.

What do people think? I would love to have a top notch card, but what would be best for my setup?

*awaits the normal responses that normally appear in threads like this*

Anyway personally I own a 8800GTS 320mb and game at 1440x900 and the card rocks.

Performance wise as with the 640mb 8800GTS at this resolution the cards win or lose in terms of raw fps when compared to the HD2900XT.

Read some reviews out and base your purchase on which card performs better in the games you play.

In generalisation both cards are very good although make sure your PSU is good enough for the 2900XT (ie 450 - 500w and above with strong 12v rails)

In conclusion both cards good however I would say the HD2900XT is not £50 better for the resolution you play at.

This is why I didn't get one.

Playing at 1440x900 on 19" TFT myself, and I plan to get a 2900XT. Mainly because I wanted a change from Nvidia. I'm personally wouldn't really get a 320MB version of the 8800 GTS if you are playing at that res, and it's mainly because of future proofing a little bit more. Sure 320MB is going to be fine for now, but when September comes and we see HL: Ep2, Crysis and Bioshock, I doubt you'll be able play at 1440x900 and enable as much of the eye candy with some AA/AF as you would be able to too with a 2900XT or a 640MB 8800GTS.

In respects of a 2900XT or a 8800 GTS 640mb, it's personal preference. You will not go wrong with either of those two cards.

oweneades:
A very level and balanced response, thank you! I like to hear from people that have one or the other and have reasons for that. I am hoping for a complete system overhaul soon anyway, and if I do, the cpu will be fine. Does anyone have experiance playing these two cards on Supreme commander dual screen? Ie 1440x900 and 1280x1024/1024x768. Atm that is the main game I have trouble with. All the rest run fine with my x800pro.

Flibby:
Thas the thing I want futureproofing a bit, but I accept that what I buy wont play everything uber. The difference between the 320 and 640, how much would that effect stuff at my res? I have been led to beleive you need more gfx ram the higher the res?

I honestly think you should check the numerous and I mean numerous threads on this very topic and base an opinion from that.

I think i would get the 2900xt as randomly this is the area of res that its actually very good at.

found some benchies on another thread. The gts is really below the gtx or the hd2900. atm I am leaning more for the 2900 as I read good things about their drivers.

on another note. Why doesnt someone 3rd party release a board that can have both ati and nvidea working together instead of one or the other! Then yuo can have the strengths of one helping the other.

oxygene said:

Flibby:
Thas the thing I want futureproofing a bit, but I accept that what I buy wont play everything uber. The difference between the 320 and 640, how much would that effect stuff at my res? I have been led to beleive you need more gfx ram the higher the res?

Click to expand...

Yep, the higher the res the more you benefit from the extra VRAM. But also the higher your anti-aliasing settings go, and also how detailed textures are in games comes down to the VRAM. The more you have, the better, but at the moment in games you would be able to get away with 320MB. But in a few months time when newer DX10 games come, you will without a doubt see the 640MB 8800 GTS and 2900XT pull away from the 320MB 8800GTS.

As I've mentioned I've gone for the 2900XT, I just like the idea of monthly driver updates, I think the ATI driver team is superb and have hopes for the card. Plus I wanted the change from Nvidia since I've had Nvidia cards for a few years now

Thats correct, rule of thumb was 256MB cards are good upto 1600x1200, above that 512MB cards are suited, now this gen of Nvidia we have odd sizes with 320 / 640 and 768 lol. (obv other settings like AA+AF come into it, a low end card may not cope at high res.

Both are great cards, but id agree with the above, if your looking for a bit of future-proofing and plan to keep the card when the likes of Crysis etc... hit, then i wouldn't get the 320mb GTS, id go for either the 640mb GTS or the 2900, id only buy the likes of the 320mb GTS if you only want it to tide you over till those games appear, when there will be some newer cards due to, and also if the card you have now is struggling.

Both are great cards, but id agree with the above, if your looking for a bit of future-proofing and plan to keep the card when the likes of Crysis etc... hit, then i wouldn't get the 320mb GTS, id go for either the 640mb GTS or the 2900, id only buy the likes of the 320mb GTS if you only want it to tide you over till those games appear, when there will be some newer cards due to, and also if the card you have now is struggling.

Click to expand...

yes thats what i did will keep 320 until late this year early next but will proberly wait until dx10 games are out to see how the refresh cards do.

Oops wrong thread, deleted, im off back to bed.

19" wide 1440x900 for this 8800 gts 320mb for 175 quid.

Nothing else is needed.

By the time the crysis hits upgrade then.

Buy for the moment.

And upgrade when its needed.

Afterall speedwise the 2900 will be out of date by the time crysis is here.

So buying one now for that res is not really worth it.

320 MB beats that card in many benchmarks anyway so save the money and upgrade when you need to.

Look for a second hand 8800 GTS for around 150.

Bargaintastic!

I agree with Easy buy for the moment get the 8800GTS 320 which will do fine, there going as cheap as 140 second hand now which is an utter bargain imo

Tom|Nbk said:

I agree with Easy buy for the moment get the 8800GTS 320 which will do fine, there going as cheap as 140 second hand now which is an utter bargain imo

Click to expand...

"Passes out in shock"

This man is a devotee of the 2900XT.If he says get the 8800GTS then damn well buy it

that is quite scarey! Just a shame that if I buy the card now I wont be able to upgrade for years. Thas the main problem atm. so I cant buy the 320 now and get something else later.

I would get the 2900xt then if you cant upgrade later on.

go for xt

Definately an xt then.