Graphics Card (Approx £100)

adam1v · 21 Apr 2008 at 10:01

im looking for a go between graphics card for £100, i was just wondering whats the best i can get in that region?

I was looking at the Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 3870 XT Toxic Edition which has very high GPU/Memory speeds compared to any other in that region.

Do you think this is a safe bet for a good card in that budget range?

Dyson · 21 Apr 2008 at 10:04

Looking into my crystal ball, I predict the following answers:

"Find the extra for a GT..."
"Get a GT second hand..."
"Maybe try a GT..."
"Have you thought about a GT..."

The bulk of the answers to this very regular question (almost daily...) is to go for the GT.

Junk · 21 Apr 2008 at 10:05

adam1v · 21 Apr 2008 at 10:23

why is that? I cant see the specs are anywhere near them?

Bare in mind, this a graphics card until I can get my hands on an ATI 4xxx range card.

Dyson · 21 Apr 2008 at 10:26

If you want an ATI card, know/think that the GT isnt as good, then just buy it. Why ask?

If you want ATI, just buy a 3850 and clock it.
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-081-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=416

J.D · 21 Apr 2008 at 12:13

Get the GT. I have the 2900Pro overclocked which is probably faster than the 3870XT at stock as well as have a 512bit interface and I see the limitations of one card. X2 3870 is a different story but it's too dear for a stop gap card.

Don't look at the Mhz and think that A is faster than B as it doesn't work like that. My 2900Pro can overclock to 850Mhz Core and 1000Mhz memory and my GTX runs at 620Mhz core, 1600Mhz Shaders and 1000Mhz memory. The GTX beats the AMD card time after time with AA enabled. Without AA then the 2900Pro is a contender but there are certain games that even without AA options the 2900Pro can't manage as well as the 8800GTX. Timeshift and Unreal Tournament 3 don't have AA options but the difference between the 2900Pro and 8800GTX is easily noticeable. The 8800GT with it's higher Core and Shader speeds really give this card a boost at lower resolutions. The 256bit interface doesn't really start to cause problems till you're at big resolutions with AA/AF enabled and even then it's title dependant.

Trust me. Get the 8800GT and wait until the 4000 series arrives from AMD. It's a better buy than the 3870XT. The 8800GT is slightly faster than the GTX at lower resolutions (I game at high res's) and the GTX is a better card than the 3870XT. So if you are running on a 22" screen with 1680x1050 then you will be hitting about GTX performances for just a little over £100. I love AMD but facts are facts and if you want a good recommendation then the 8800GT card is the one you want.

GingerNinja1989 · 21 Apr 2008 at 12:14

In case you haven't guessed yet... GT!
/close

adam1v · 21 Apr 2008 at 12:22

J.D said:
Get the GT. I have the 2900Pro overclocked which is probably faster than the 3870XT at stock as well as have a 512bit interface and I see the limitations of one card. X2 3870 is a different story but it's too dear for a stop gap card.

Don't look at the Mhz and think that A is faster than B as it doesn't work like that. My 2900Pro can overclock to 850Mhz Core and 1000Mhz memory and my GTX runs at 620Mhz core, 1600Mhz Shaders and 1000Mhz memory. The GTX beats the AMD card time after time with AA enabled. Without AA then the 2900Pro is a contender but there are certain games that even without AA options the 2900Pro can't manage as well as the 8800GTX. Timeshift and Unreal Tournament 3 don't have AA options but the difference between the 2900Pro and 8800GTX is easily noticeable. The 8800GT with it's higher Core and Shader speeds really give this card a boost at lower resolutions. The 256bit interface doesn't really start to cause problems till you're at big resolutions with AA/AF enabled and even then it's title dependant.

Trust me. Get the 8800GT and wait until the 4000 series arrives from AMD. It's a better buy than the 3870XT. The 8800GT is slightly faster than the GTX at lower resolutions (I game at high res's) and the GTX is a better card than the 3870XT. So if you are running on a 22" screen with 1680x1050 then you will be hitting about GTX performances for just a little over £100. I love AMD but facts are facts and if you want a good recommendation then the 8800GT card is the one you want.

Thanks very much for your input, thats pretty much what I wanted to hear.
I will purchased the BFG GeForce 8800 GT OC2 512MB GDDR3 later on this week.

Scougar · 21 Apr 2008 at 12:24

I've got a 3870 and I can say without a doubt... get the GT (512mb). It is too good a deal to pass up right now, and any price advantage the 3870's or 3850's had has been pretty much neutralised with the cheap gt's out there. Should give you about a third (33%) extra performance compared to the 3870, well worth the couple of quid extra

so... GT

Oh.. point to note... I only got the 3870 as my motherboard (Asrock 4CoreDual) wouldn't natively support the GT without it using the ASUS GT bios flash, hence why I went for the cheaper and working option of the 3870, otherwise I would have bought the GT.

Matthew

J.D · 21 Apr 2008 at 12:41

adam1v said:
Thanks very much for your input, thats pretty much what I wanted to hear.
I will purchased the BFG GeForce 8800 GT OC2 512MB GDDR3 later on this week.

No problem at all. You've picked an excellent manufacturer with a brilliant warranty as well as great customer services. You won't be disappointed

.

What card are you using now?. I'd like to know how much of a jump you're actually making here

.

willhub · 21 Apr 2008 at 12:43

Dyson said:
Looking into my crystal ball, I predict the following answers:

"Find the extra for a GT..."
"Get a GT second hand..."
"Maybe try a GT..."
"Have you thought about a GT..."

The bulk of the answers to this very regular question (almost daily...) is to go for the GT.

Thats because its the best card, surely it does not annoy you that much?

If you are a die hard ATi fan I'd suggest a 3850/3870 they really aint much slower than the GT and it seems when you really push the settings in Crymark07 at 1680x1050 the 3870 kind of wins.

gurusan · 21 Apr 2008 at 12:51

For 110 quid the 8800GT is a much better buy than that Toxic 3870 thing
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp...cat=1008&utm_source=forums&utm_medium=banner3

Also the clock speeds aren't MUCH higher on that 3870...lol. 23 mhz on the core and 25mhz on the memory.

Most 3850s can almost hit those clockspeeds

J.D · 21 Apr 2008 at 12:52

willhub said:
Thats because its the best card, surely it does not annoy you that much?

If you are a die hard ATi fan I'd suggest a 3850/3870 they really aint much slower than the GT and it seems when you really push the settings in Crymark07 at 1680x1050 the 3870 kind of wins.

So drop a resolution for Crysis then as nearly every other title prefers Nvidia (8800GT, GTS and GTX) with AA and even some titles prefer Nvidia without AA

.

adam1v · 21 Apr 2008 at 12:53

Well, in my PC at the moment, im currently using an ATI X1900 XTX, which has served me well, i’ve had it for sometime now.

Ive been offered a good deal on my current PC from a friend, so i’ve taken him up and put the cash towards a brand new system. I now have everything except the graphics card:

Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme Edition QX9650 "LGA775 Yorkfield" 3.00GHz
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Reaper HPC
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular
Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU
Abit IP35 Pro (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
A few noctua fans and a zalman mushroom.

I don’t really know whats in store for the nvidia next gen card, but from what i’ve read the ATIs are really set to be something special (dual cores running over 1ghz each, 1024 ram running exceptionally fast, extra pipelines/stream processors etc), really makes me want one of these.

gurusan · 21 Apr 2008 at 12:55

Well if you just want a stopgap card then on price I would suggest:

8800GT, 3850 512mb, 9600GT in that order

willhub · 21 Apr 2008 at 12:56

J.D said:
So drop a resolution for Crysis then as nearly every other title prefers Nvidia (8800GT, GTS and GTX) with AA and even some titles prefer Nvidia without AA .

DROP THE RES!!?!?!? eww I cant do that :eek:

J.D · 21 Apr 2008 at 13:27

adam1v said:
Well, in my PC at the moment, im currently using an ATI X1900 XTX, which has served me well, i’ve had it for sometime now.

Ive been offered a good deal on my current PC from a friend, so i’ve taken him up and put the cash towards a brand new system. I now have everything except the graphics card:

Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme Edition QX9650 "LGA775 Yorkfield" 3.00GHz
OCZ 4GB (2x2GB) PC2-8500C5 1066MHz Reaper HPC
Corsair HX 620W ATX2.2 Modular
Antec P182 Super Midi Tower Case - No PSU
Abit IP35 Pro (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard
A few noctua fans and a zalman mushroom.

I don’t really know whats in store for the nvidia next gen card, but from what i’ve read the ATIs are really set to be something special (dual cores running over 1ghz each, 1024 ram running exceptionally fast, extra pipelines/stream processors etc), really makes me want one of these.

Looking like a beast of a system

. You'll certainly be pushing the most out of games with that hardware.

X1900XTX is a great card. I had the X1900XT and overclocked it past XTX speeds and I totally loved the card as it ran everything brilliantly at the time.

I noticed a good jump from the X1900XT to the 2900Pro. Very noticeable in fact. It's just when I plugged in the GTX and whacked up the AA on games it just didn't flinch as when I tried the same with the 2900Pro it just crumbled with AA compared to the GTX(not crumbled lol a bit severe, but not smooth FPS/unplayable at times). It was then I started to enjoy my gaming without the use of AA and the graphics and playability were superb and made me forget about having straight lines

. Then you come across a few games with no AA options and the 2900Pro would make you lower your resolution to get a smooth experience when compared to the 8800GTX.

With you going to the GT from the X1900, it is a decent jump up in performance. The 8800GTX is comparable with 2x X1900XTX's in crossfire and the 8800GT is comparable to the GTX so you'll certainly enjoy the extra oomph you get with this card.

willhub said:
DROP THE RES!!?!?!? eww I cant do that

You geek lol

.

Well that's what happens with LCD screens unless it doesn't rely on the native resolution to produce a brilliant picture

.

I went from a 17" CRT office reject to a 22" BenQ screen with 5ms response time and I absolutely hated it. I paid £220 odds from here for it and sold it for £30 two months later to a good friend. I hated the screen that much. Apart from that, I bought a 22" CRT for gaming and 79Hrtz @ 2048x1536 and never looked back. Amazing screen.

adam1v · 21 Apr 2008 at 13:34

Thanks JD, im deffo looking forward to finishing the system myself.

Do you know much about the up and coming ATI/Nvidia graphics card, do you have any plans to upgrade yourself?
To me, the new next gen cards seem to have the biggest jump in technology then we've ever seen in the last few years.

man this is so hard, its really knowing where to draw the line, because for an extra £30 I can get the XFX GeForce 8800 GTX Extreme 768MB GDDR3 .

I will take a look at my media center PC i think, if it takes PCI-E i might spend the extra money and swap it out.

LoadsaMoney · 21 Apr 2008 at 13:40

Id just get a cheapo 3850 or something to tide you over till the 4000 series, as Junes not that far away now, only a matter of weeks.

J.D · 21 Apr 2008 at 13:54

adam1v said:
Thanks JD, im deffo looking forward to finishing the system myself.

Do you know much about the up and coming ATI/Nvidia graphics card, do you have any plans to upgrade yourself?
To me, the new next gen cards seem to have the biggest jump in technology then we've ever seen in the last few years.

man this is so hard, its really knowing where to draw the line, because for an extra £30 I can get the XFX GeForce 8800 GTX Extreme 768MB GDDR3 .

I will take a look at my media center PC i think, if it takes PCI-E i might spend the extra money and swap it out.

Well the upcoming cards will be interesting but as far as information goes we're all pretty much in the dark. One things is clear. AMD need to sort out AA performances and if they can then the new cards will be pretty special. If they show the same limitations as the 2900/3870 when AA is introduced then it's going to struggle I think if Nvidia have used the extra time they've had to produce something pretty tasty. With DDR5 being implemented as well as crazy core speeds then it might be plausible that this card will cope but we all seen the 2900 specs and thought this card will be the bomb and it never quite turned out the way we hoped.

The next round might not fall to AMD but I think they have a much better chance of competing this time. If Nvidia have been sitting on a monster while waiting for AMD to play catch up then next round might already be over though. Sorry I can't be much more help in that regard.

The GTX would be a great buy but why waste more money for a stop gap card?. Also if your media centre PC is hooked up to a screen that displays lower than 1920x1200 resolution then it might be slightly wasted. What resolution is your screen that is hooked up the media centre?.