Best Graphics for under £200

4870, able to handle most games at 1920x1200

for nvidia fans, i would have said gtx260 216 core was equal in prefornance but i couldnt find one on OCUK that was less then £200
 
Agreed, go for the Powercolour 512Mb 4870 (£190), or if you can stretch there is a 260 for £212, the Zotac Geforce 260 896Mb. These are 2 of the best cards avaialable at present only bettered by the 280 and 4870x2, which are much more expensive. The 260 slightly shades the 4870 but is a touch more expensive also, both are very good cards though
 
Don't get a 512MB 4870... as new games come out in the next 6 months, the lower memory amount will start to tell.

At least get a 4870 1GB, or spend an extra tenner to get a GTX 260 216.
 
Stu, the memory (512Mb or 1gig) affects the resolution you're able to game at, which is restricted by your monitor size (less than 24" and 512Mb will suffice) Its the available clocks that actually process the graphical information, and these are the same in both the 521mb and 1 gig cards, so both are equally able to handle games now and in future so long as your resolution isnt too high (over 1900*1200)
 
Stu said:
Don't get a 512MB 4870... as new games come out in the next 6 months, the lower memory amount will start to tell.

At least get a 4870 1GB, or spend an extra tenner to get a GTX 260 216.
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Thinking the same myself, the more gfx memory you have the better your card will cope with new games.

I have a 4870 x2 2048mb and it can run far cry 2 on 1920x1200 DX10 with everything maxed out @ 40 to 130 fps, so imo the 4870 1024mb or the 260 896mb is definitely the way to go on your budget.

Very similar performance, so the choice is, ati or nvidia.
 
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Just dropped 189 notes on the Sapphire 1GB 4870 (inc del) unfortunately it was at a competitor so I can't say where - plus the deal was a "flash sale" with only about 30 minutes left.
 
95thrifles said:
Stu, the memory (512Mb or 1gig) affects the resolution you're able to game at, which is restricted by your monitor size (less than 24" and 512Mb will suffice) Its the available clocks that actually process the graphical information, and these are the same in both the 521mb and 1 gig cards, so both are equally able to handle games now and in future so long as your resolution isnt too high (over 1900*1200)
Click to expand...

It's my understanding that the size of texture files will also play a part in overall performance... large textures at 1680x1050 will benefit from a card with > 512 MB memory... GTA IV is a good example of this.
 
Not according to ATI, also re your 4870x2 2gig card, technically speaking theyre misleading you, it is just 2x1 gig cards strapped together in a self built x-fire mode, so you do not get the benefit of 2 gigs, it may as well be 1 gig. Just like in x-fire, like my system has 2x512mb cards, I only have 512Mb memory avilable tho, not 1 gig
 
95thrifles said:
Not according to ATI, also re your 4870x2 2gig card, technically speaking theyre misleading you, it is just 2x1 gig cards strapped together in a self built x-fire mode, so you do not get the benefit of 2 gigs, it may as well be 1 gig. Just like in x-fire, like my system has 2x512mb cards, I only have 512Mb memory avilable tho, not 1 gig
Click to expand...

Dunno where you got that info from but what I was reading the other day certainly contradicts it. Tomshardware did a very thorough review of the X2 and the single GPU card, they explained the X2 is 2 GPUs on the same card (not two cards strapped together in crossfire) and that all 2GB of GDDR are used.

They also explain that for large displays a 512MB card is going to struggle at higher resolution. Which is why I went for the 1GB given I used a 24" display.
 
As I said I got it from ATI's site direct, go to their forum and check it out if you want
And re second part, that is what I was saying, large displays (and therefore resoutions) ie 24" and up then 1 gig will help, but below that it wont
 
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