Associate
- Joined
- 9 Mar 2008
- Posts
- 1,039
Hi,
I am giving my current MESH PC to my parents in a few weeks to replace an aging (and frankly rubbish) old compaq. I have swapped the graphics card that came with the computer (a 7600) to an 8800GT, which i was planning on swapping into my new build until new cards become cheaper in a few months time.
Whilst my parents will not be using this for gaming, my brother occasionally plays some games, but nothing more recent than oblivion. They will also be using a 1280x1024 19" monitor. Basically, i am looking for a cheap card to put in this machine that will play recentish games at native res at medium/high detail. I found that the single 7600 didnt really cut it, particularly with oblivion, although the computer does have an SLI motherboard (Asus M2N-SLI deluxe - i think it only has 8x/8x PCI-E 1.x lanes in SLI).
I am looking mainly at the ATI cards because they seem to offer better band for buck, but i am open to suggestions. So far, i would find it difficult to choose between the following:
- ATI HD3850 Pro 256 mb
- ATI HD3650 (of some variety)
- nvidia 8600 (although i have heard these are pretty rubbish)
I dont really want to spend much more than £70-80, although i presume the price of these card will fall when the new gen is released.
Any help would be appreciated, cheers
I am giving my current MESH PC to my parents in a few weeks to replace an aging (and frankly rubbish) old compaq. I have swapped the graphics card that came with the computer (a 7600) to an 8800GT, which i was planning on swapping into my new build until new cards become cheaper in a few months time.
Whilst my parents will not be using this for gaming, my brother occasionally plays some games, but nothing more recent than oblivion. They will also be using a 1280x1024 19" monitor. Basically, i am looking for a cheap card to put in this machine that will play recentish games at native res at medium/high detail. I found that the single 7600 didnt really cut it, particularly with oblivion, although the computer does have an SLI motherboard (Asus M2N-SLI deluxe - i think it only has 8x/8x PCI-E 1.x lanes in SLI).
I am looking mainly at the ATI cards because they seem to offer better band for buck, but i am open to suggestions. So far, i would find it difficult to choose between the following:
- ATI HD3850 Pro 256 mb
- ATI HD3650 (of some variety)
- nvidia 8600 (although i have heard these are pretty rubbish)
I dont really want to spend much more than £70-80, although i presume the price of these card will fall when the new gen is released.
Any help would be appreciated, cheers
