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Best card for under £200?

SamG

SamG

SamG

Associate
Joined
28 Nov 2004
Posts
950
What is the best card I can get for under £200?

My current spec is

AMD 3000+ @ 2.1
A8N Sli Delux
480W PSU
 
If you want the absolute best for under £200 then the 8800GT is it, however I'd probably agree with oweneades and go with the 3850 as an 8800GT is likely to leave the system a little unbalanced. :)
 
Cheers all.

The PSU is a Tagan. I'll get a ATI HD 3850 and an X2 CPU but the only one I can find at a reasonalble price is the 3800. The one OCuk sell is a bit overpriced.
 
Depends on your monitor. If 20" (assuming TFT @ native resolution) or above I'd go 8800GT 512MB or HD3870. If 19" or below 8800GT 256MB or HD3850. If prices are equal for either choice get the 8800GT.
 
As has already been said go for a 3850 and an duel core cpu upgrade.

As for duel core ignore the Athlons and go for an opteron if your mobo suports it. An opteron 180 is basicly a 4800+ with a different name and half the price tag. The reason for this is they are still making opterons I believe and have a responsability to continue doing so to support the server side of there business.

HD3850 £105ish
AMD Opteron 180 £105ish

I went from a 3000+ @ 2.7ghz to an opteron 180 at either stock or 2.6ghz depending on my mood (lol) and its a big difference especially if paired with 2gb of ram under xp :)

Remember just check that your mobo supports them and do any bios updates before you take your old hardware out. If you need any. :)
 
mishima said:
I'd go for a HD3850 or even a X1950 Pro. I think an 8800GT would bottleneck that current setup!
Click to expand...

You mean be bottlenecked by that current setup!

Just realised that the OP hasn't said how much RAM he's got. That will make a big difference.

Regarding GPU vs CPU bottleneck - the two are separate issues. There are still a lot of games where an A64 3000+ is not a significant bottleneck and it can still provide playable framerates. Who cares if your CPU means you are getting 90FPS instead of 120? In more physics heavy games and most new RTS games it may well be dragging things down though. When I upgraded from an A64 3000+ I was getting fairly obvious CPU bottlenecks in Oblivion and Rome@ Total War.

If you find that you can lower the resolution or details in a game and your framerate increases it's a GPU bottleneck.

If you find that you can lower the resolution /details and still get framerate drops it's a CPU bottleneck.

And remember - it's minimum framerates that are most important!
 
Sorry I should have said, I have 2GB RAM and I play at 1900x1200. My current card is a 7800GT.

I only really play WoW but I would like to play FPS like COD4 and BF2.
 
I have the 3870 and a 480W Tagan and have no probs. If you can find one I'd recommend the 3870 for those higher resolutions though a 512mb 3850 would also be good.
 
If you're playing at 1920x1200 then 8800GT 512mb all the way. COD4 will want a CPU upgrade to avoid some nasty jitters. 939 X2 or dual core Opteron is your easy option but check the cost of it against a Core 2 plus motherboard and RAM. Don't forget to factor in prices for the sale of your components. The prices of the X2s especially are far too high at the moment.
 
your CPU is a bottleneck, but your playing at high rez, so your GPU is as well. In fact you're underpowered currently on both CPU and GPU IMO on new games! however at that rez, under £200, all spent on the GPU - get a 8800GT, but an X2 or opteron plus a 3850 might well be a more balanced (but still short term) upgrade (but still short term) - difficult one.
 
oweneades said:
Not for his system it isn't.
Click to expand...

Care to explain why?

The cpu will be the bottleneck but the 8800 GT is still the card to get.

Its the best card under £200.

And that cpu will not effect gaming that much.

At his res he is more Gpu bound than cpu bound.

So a 3850 for gaming at 1900x1200?

Don't make me laugh.lol
 
oweneades said:
Not for his system it isn't.
Click to expand...

It's a tough call. He games at a high resolution, so the 8800gt will provide a good benefit. But let's say he can get a dual core X2 3800 ish for about £45 & combine that with the cheapest ATI 3870 he can find (£155 ish ?) I think that's a better £200 spent than buying an 8800GT. So, I tend to agree with you.
 
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