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Gaming at 1680X1050 - What graphics card.

Prophet

Prophet

Prophet

Soldato
Joined
5 Oct 2004
Posts
7,395
Location
Notts
A 22" Wide Screen will be my main monitor for the next couple of years. What graphics card can I get away with for the time being. As I'm buying a new PC the graphics card is my main worry as it really bumps the price up. I was thinking about a X1950 Pro 512MB until a decent DX10 card comes out next year but I'm not sure if I should go for a 640MB 8800GTS and pay a bit more initially.

The system will be:

e2180 clocked to 3GHz or there abouts
Tuniq Tower 120 Cooler
2GB OCZ 6400 C4 RAM
Gigabyte P35 DS3P Motherboard
250GB Samsung SATA HDD
Samsung DVD SATA Burner
Lian-Li PC7 Plus II Case
Corsair 620W PSU
Belinea 22" WS TFT

If I went for the 1950 Pro I'd save some money and not take as big hit on resale when the newer cards come out and I upgrade. If I have the 8800GTS I'll have better overall performance but lose more money on resale. So will the 1950 Pro handle games at 1680X1050 for the next 6 months or is the 880GTS the option for me?
 
You could go for the option "in between" and get a 2900 Pro.

It's identical to the XT version, but is £50 cheaper. Speeds are around the same as the 8800GTS - faster in some, slower in others, but never a lot of difference. :)

Another option is to wait for the 8800GT and 2950 Pro.
 
Tute said:
You could go for the option "in between" and get a 2900 Pro.

It's identical to the XT version, but is £50 cheaper. Speeds are around the same as the 8800GTS - faster in some, slower in others, but never a lot of difference. :)

Another option is to wait for the 8800GT and 2950 Pro.
Click to expand...

I didnt think about the 2900's. Something to think about.

I can't wait as I need to decide on a card ASAP. Going to be ordering the system in the next few days!
 
i would also be tempted to get the 1950pro 512mb version it will give you good but not great performacen adn will allow you to save up for the newer cards end of year and still be able to sell it on for a good price.


how ever if you ater a bit mroe go then 2900pro is a good prive :) and perfroms great
 
Sorry for the hijack, but can anyone tell me how they think my existing setup would cope with a 22" monitor at 1680x1050? Is my 7900GTO hopelessly inadequate? I can't afford to upgrade right now, but my monitor might very well be on its last legs and necessitate a purchase soon.

I can't overclock my CPU or memory anywhere near its potential due to a faulty motherboard that keeps losing the custom settings. :(
 
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RichDuffy said:
Sorry for the hijack, but can anyone tell me how they think my existing setup would cope with a 22" monitor at 1680x1050? I can't afford to upgrade right now, but my monitor might very well be on its last legs and necessitate a purchase soon.

I can't overclock my CPU or memory anywhere near its potential due to a faulty motherboard that keeps losing the custom settings. :(
Click to expand...

Sounds like your CMOS Battery needs replacing.

You need a new CPU, the AMD one was awsome in its day, I had it was really fast, you need to upgrade to 2GB ram and possibly a new graphics for that res like an 8800GTS woul be good.
 
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Agree with Willhub, although I think you could get away with the same motherboard no problem.

You could add an Athlon X2 (Dual core) processor - the X2 3800 is a shade under £60 and would give a good boost, with more and more games supporting multi-cores.

Also, DDR is quite cheap - the GeIL 2GB kit at £70 is a steal.

Maybe consider waiting and trying that card on that screen though - see if you're happy with the performance. Those 7900GTO's were damn fast cards (pretty much a GTX IIRC?). Then upgrade if you need to.
 
Tute said:
Agree with Willhub, although I think you could get away with the same motherboard no problem.



Also, DDR is quite cheap - the GeIL 2GB kit at £70 is a steal.

QUOTE]

DDR cheap? 70 quid for it aint cheap :eek:, my Ballistix 2GB DDR2 was cheaper than that.
Click to expand...
 
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) (£49.34)
Samsung SH-S203BEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM (£19.96)
Tuniq Tower 120 CPU Cooler (Socket 478/754/939/940/AM2/LGA775) (£32.89)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 LGA775 Conroe 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 Duo E2180 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.00GHz (800FSB) - Retail (£58.74)
Gigabyte GA_P35_DS3P (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard Gigabyte (£88.11)
Samsung SpinPoint S 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD161HJ) Samsung SpinPoint S 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (HD161HJ) (£34.06)
Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS II Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS II Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black (£58.74)
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 2900 Pro SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (£176.54)

Total in VAT/Del £529.77
 
willhub said:
DDR cheap? 70 quid for it aint cheap :eek:, my Ballistix 2GB DDR2 was cheaper than that.
Click to expand...

LOL, I guess "Cheap" is subjective - when I bought a 1GB kit of that GeIL value it was close to £200!
 
Graphics card wise, I'd get the 2900 Pro. It's peformance is on par with the XT if clocked to the correct speeds.
 
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