Getting a new graphics card..

Greenlizard0 · 21 May 2009 at 18:58

..possibly down the line when I get more funds.

The thing is - I'll be playing the latest games (on an unregular basis); the last one was Mirror's Edge, so a card will still need some oompf in it.

I will be connecting it up to a 22" CRT @ 1600x1200 with as much AA as possible, and that's probably going to be a constant in the forseeable future.

Am I right in thinking with just the one monitor as above, I don't really need to be looking at the cards with more memory, less will suffice. That is - will an e.g. 4870 512MB suffice and its larger 1024MB brother be excessive?

Are ATI/AMD's cards the way to go? They seem to be cheaper (more bang per buck?) than Nvidia's offerings atm unless I have it wrong.

I currently have an 8800GTS 640MB which I noticed e.g. with the game above that I could barely have any AA on. Will this new card give me a significant wow factor improvement?

Are there also problems with switching over chip makes like that? Would it be a case of just uninstalling, turn off, plug in new card, switch on and install new drivers?

cmndr_andi · 21 May 2009 at 19:01

A 4850 will probably get you by quite happily. However an investment in a 4870 will allow you to play most games at high or very high for a while to come.

Greenlizard0 · 21 May 2009 at 19:04

Sorry another question - considering my setup will a 4850x2 512MB be better than a single 1024MB card?

cmndr_andi · 21 May 2009 at 19:13

Yes - Crossfire 4850 will be significantly faster than a 4870 1GB at your resolution. However, the price of 2 x 4850s is closer to the 4890 level.

Ninja Please! · 21 May 2009 at 19:14

I have seen some 285's going for a decent price over here in states, not sure about here though. That has the fastest single gpu, and 1024mb. It shreds Modern warfare at 1680x1050 with 8xAA and max settings on everything. I know it's a biased opinion though because I have one, but one is all you will ever need.

ATI is the cheaper option for sure though.

Greenlizard0 · 21 May 2009 at 19:23

cmndr_andi said:
Yes - Crossfire 4850 will be significantly faster than a 4870 1GB at your resolution. However, the price of 2 x 4850s is closer to the 4890 level.

Sorry I didn't mean two cards, I meant the 4850x2 cards, which are way more than the 4890's....weird. I can't fit two cards into my system as I have a sound card and a few other things in there too.

cmndr_andi · 21 May 2009 at 19:25

285 is a very nice card, but they can't be had for less than £250 over here. AMD are about to launch a 1000MHz version of the 4890 1024MB. i can;t find any reviews yet - but it could beat the 285 as the single fastest gpu and cost less at £227.99.

To greenlizard: Probably not a good idea to go for a 4850X2 card, they are more expensive than the two cards on their own and with the intro of the 4890 I think they maybe End-of-Life. If you want a single beast of a card - the ASUS 4890 is amazing and it overclocks itself to 950MHz (covered by warranty). At the moment its the card i'm going to get to replace my 9800gtx

Ninja Please! · 21 May 2009 at 19:29

I would think that would be a good choice then as far as trying to future proof and seeing how the OP only has room for a single card he might as well get the best single card he can. I was going to get a 295, but was told that 2x 285's are better and I would have had my second 285 if the economy wouldn't have crapped all over me.

Greenlizard0 · 21 May 2009 at 19:35

Aye, I did have a gander at Nvidia's offerings, but they're seemingly so much more expensive for the same "class" of card if that makes any sense.

That Asus card does look pretty sweet. I'd be interested in noise levels tbh as that's a really important factor for me.

Speed · 21 May 2009 at 19:38

Greenlizard0 said:
Sorry I didn't mean two cards, I meant the 4850x2 cards, which are way more than the 4890's....weird. I can't fit two cards into my system as I have a sound card and a few other things in there too.

4850x2 cards are basically crossfire 4850s on one board. The thing to bare in mind however is dual GPU cards like this tend to have more issues than single GPU cards. Certain games really just don't get on with them.

Graphics memory rarely makes a huge difference unless you get to very high resolutions.

What's your budget? Personally with my recent poor experiences with AMD/ATI cards (4890) and their drivers, I'd stick to Nvidia unless you are going to go for a sub £100 card at which point the 4850 looks good at around £80. At £135 the 55nm 216 core overclocked GTX 260 is a very good buy and should beat most budget cards up to but not including the 4890.

user1453 · 21 May 2009 at 19:54

one other thing to bear in mind if you are mainly playing mirrors edge is phyx, currently an nvidia only option which gives you extra eye candy in mirrors edge, but only if you are have an appropriate nvidia card in your system.

In theory it should be possible to run physx on an nvida gpu and have an ati 4890 doing your graphics uunder windows 7 but to my knowledge no one has tried this out yet

TheRealDeal · 21 May 2009 at 20:06

Do not worry about people saying they have had bad experiences with ati as there will be the other people that could come in here and say the exact same about nv. None of the 2 company's are perfect. Just get the card that best suits your budget and performance requirements. If it were me the 4890 at its current price is too good an offer to pass up.

Ninja Please! · 21 May 2009 at 21:02

I would buy the best one you can afford

icey_haj · 21 May 2009 at 21:10

What's your budget Greenlizard?

Speed · 21 May 2009 at 21:22

TheRealDeal said:
Do not worry about people saying they have had bad experiences with ati as there will be the other people that could come in here and say the exact same about nv. None of the 2 company's are perfect. Just get the card that best suits your budget and performance requirements. If it were me the 4890 at its current price is too good an offer to pass up.

I agree, even if I did make such a statement, best advice is to read up on reviews and get the card that has the best "bang for your buck". There are some good reviews out there, Bit-Tech are always very good and do round ups of the cards at set budget. It's wise of course to pay special attention to the resolutions you use and the games you currently play or will purchase in the future.

Greenlizard0 · 21 May 2009 at 23:36

Cheers for the pointers people, I'm not utterly serious about buying one yet, as there doesn't appear to be a game round the corner that really takes my fancy. It was something that had crossed my mind though, COD5 had to be toned down a fair bit, and so did Mirror's edge. I'm a visual person and that's a strong aspect of how I enjoy games.

My budget isn't really set, but looking at the 4890's at £165 would be my ceiling limit.

cmndr_andi · 21 May 2009 at 23:40

The 4890 is a great card for a great price - just make sure you get the ASUS one if you do take the plunge

Greenlizard0 · 21 May 2009 at 23:45

cmndr_andi said:
The 4890 is a great card for a great price - just make sure you get the ASUS one if you do take the plunge

Is that the one that's rated as having two settings? I've never overclocked a card before, do you know if it can be done automatically (aka modes of some sort) within Windows?

cmndr_andi · 21 May 2009 at 23:49

Yea - the ASUS card does it in the software called "SmartDoctor" whcih boosts the voltages up to 1.4V and allows you to increase the clocks by up to 100MHz (950MHz maximum), looks pretty darn simple to do. Best of all - its all within the ASUS warranty, unlike other cards if you overclock them.

z3r0 · 22 May 2009 at 09:27

A 4770 would be my recommendation. Although you might aswell wait for a bit for the next generation to come around.