£200 graphics card

[tomanders91]

Before i start, i really cant go over £200 to stretch for a GTS as my limit is £100 and that will take it way over. The cards im looking at are:

X1950pro
7900GS OC 512mb
X1950XT
7950gt

BUT... I can also get a Nvidia 7950GX2 for £194.99, are these a lot better that the ones ive listed? because in some reviews these actually beat a GTS in FEAR and Quake 4 at 16x12. Also heard you need a certain mobo for one?

Anyway what do u think,one of them or a GX2.

 

[Tute]

Out of those cards, the X1950XT is easily the best card, however the 7950GX2 is faster still.

I'd almost certainly recommend saving the money and going for the X1950 though, as the GX2 is heavily overpriced for what it is (given the price of the G80 series), and the money could certainly be better spent.

 

[Darkwave]

X1950XT is the best buy there, if you spend any more than that you might as well buy an 8800GTS.

 

[gt_junkie]

The GX2 is good - and does beat my mates x1900xt running at xtx speeds.

But, that performance is only apparent if it's going full tilt - i say that because the sli functionality can be patchy as nvidia never seem to get the drivers to work right!

I love mine and it was a very decent upgrade to my 7800gt. I run at 1680x1050 and nothing slows it down!

However, if you can afford the extra then the simplicity of an 8800gts would probably be preferable. Plus, if you wait for R600 to be released the gts will probably drop to a price much closer to £200!

gt

 

[tomanders91]

Ok, because on some reviews, the GX2 actually beats a GTS in FEAR by about 5 fps.

 

[gt_junkie]

Ok, because on some reviews, the GX2 actually beats a GTS in FEAR by about 5 fps.

It does. But what everyone will say is that the GX2 relys on SLI actually functioning otherwise at best (overclocked but in 'single core' mode) it performs like a toned down 7900gtx. Some games (granted - not too many) don't sli well or at all.

It's really up to you! If you're happy with what i said above then go for it. I'm sure you won't regret it.

One other thing to remember is that the GX2 clocks well! A 7900GTX is clocked at 650 on the core and 800 on the memory. the GX2 runs at 500/600 as standard but can be pushed further. I used ATi tool and got 580/831 and i'm sure the cores could go faster (artifact free) if i manually changed them!

At that point you'll find that you've basically got something similar to a GTX SLi in performance.

Last thing - to keep that sandwiched core cool get a spacer kit. I got mine from america and it works really well!

 

[tomanders91]

Ok thanks, i suppose its more sensible to either get a DX10 card, or just get a temporay card like an X1950pro or XT for under £165 untill dx10 cards become more affordable.

Still the GX2 does look very good.

 

[gt_junkie]

Ok thanks, i suppose its more sensible to either get a DX10 card, or just get a temporay card like an X1950pro or XT for under £165 untill dx10 cards become more affordable.

Still the GX2 does look very good.

No probs!

Let us know what you decide to get!

gt