Graphics card advice.

[CorbinDallas]

Hey everyone, first time post.

So I recently bought a Titan Krypt, but I didn't have the cash to bundle it with a graphics card upgrade. I'm a motion graphics designer and graphics cards arn't as important as RAM and CPU for me. However I have a bit of cash now and was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of a suitable card upgrade up to around £60 - £150. The onboard card is nvidia geforce 7025 I believe.

Its my first desktop in a long long time so I'm not too clued up on components.

I hadn't intended on using it for gaming too much but It would be great to be able to run games like the witcher 1 and 2.

 

[Daniel C]

I no I'm a bit biased because I own one but the 5850's are great value for money

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-259-SP

I run all my games on max settings, Bad Company 2, crysis, run nicely. Thats well under your £150 budget as well.

 

[Cleeecooo]

Welcome to the forums!

I would get the 5850

There aren't many other cards in the price bracket that will come anywhere near. It may be worth spending a bit extra and getting the XFX 5870

 

[Daniel C]

2 votes for the 5850.

Also forgot to add that you should have no worries playing the Witcher + Witcher 2 on max paired with the Phenom II X4

 

[CorbinDallas]

Thanks for the advice guys, would it be hard to install the 5850? As the onboard card is nvidia would I have to remove that somehow ? Or just fix in the 5850 and let it install the drivers and get going?

 

[hanluc]

Being a Nvidia fan I'd go for this

 

[tommybhoy]

^^All you need to do is uninstall the nvidia drivers, switch off pc, install your new card. Switch on and install amd drivers.

Any of the two above cards would be great, heres a comparison:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/295?vs=313

Stock for stock the 5850 looks a bit better, but if you want to get your hands dirty and do some overclocking, the 460 may be a touch faster if it's a good clocker.

 

[hanluc]

Easy to OC with MSI afterburner, most of them do 800+ Mhz I've found.

 

[CorbinDallas]

Thanks for the really good advice fellas, I just placed an order for the 5850. Hopefully it should be a good little boost for some of my work software, and I'll finally be able to play the copy of the witcher thats been sat on my desk for the last month!