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Graphics card for new system - How much should i spend?

champ222

champ222

champ222

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Joined
19 Aug 2005
Posts
1,562
Location
Beds, UK
Hi there, i need some advice.

i'm speccing up a new system, probably along the lines of:

6300 core duo
gigabyte DS3 or DS4
Geil 2 gig -dual channel 800MHz

although i am tempted by the 6600 Core Duo

but i dont really know how much i should spend on a graphics card, i use a TFT, so the res is limited to 1280x1024, i dont play LOADS of games, but i like a good first person shooter, halflife 2, FEAR, that sort of thing.

my budget is flexible-ish, but i dont really know how much to spend on a GFX card.

i want it to last a while, and ideally i would like to play all/most of the new, and upcoming games at the tfts native res, with plenty/all eye candy on.

but i dont want to blow a load of cash on a card thats overkill, if you get me?

i would tend to lean towards Nvidia, but i dont really know why, i would go ATI tho if that is the best option.

i'm not really tempted to go for Vista anytime soon.

so... what do you experts recon? how much should i spend???

thanks guys

Andy
 
well i deffiantly wouldnt spend more than 200quid. personally i would reccomend an sapphire 1950pro 256mb its even on special this week at £126.89. its an excellent card for that resolution i have one myself and play day of defeat and counter strike source at everything maxed, hdr off and never get less that 100fps.

how ever if you wanted more extra oomph and intend to keep yoru card for a good while then you may want to think about the sapphire x1950xt. thats £176 and is very very fast for the money.
 
yeah for an extra 100 or so over the x1950 the 8800 GTS is DX 10 so future proof (for want of a better word) and is a league in its own.

170 may sound good now but you wouldn't get me spending that much now on dead DX9 tech.

170 is a lot of money considering its already dated tech.
 
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i see what your all saying, all valid points.

i could go for the 8800GTS, but that is quite a lot of money, and am i likely to play enough games on it to justify the cash? well i dont really know.

it is a difficult one. If i had a fixed budget, it would be easier.

hmm, i'll have to give it some thought i guess.

thanks for the replies, any more suggestions are more than welcome.

thanks again

Andy
 
so moving to a gts would give me better performance than moving to a 6600 then?

i know this is the wrong part of the forum, but does the 6600 perform much better than the 6300? what does the 4mb cache do for performance?
 
Yeah, i say 8800GTS. It will do you well at that res, and you can overclock the 6300 to give it more support. With the 8800 you can then get a bigger monitor later on and still have performance to spare. The GTS rips through games at 1680x1050 with lot of AA and AF and so will last you a good while. Plus the DX10 support is worth having.
 
I say neither.
Get the 6300 & x1950 pro or x1950xt (or Nvidia Equivalent).
I'd be willing to bet you'll be more than happy with the performance they offer, especially at 1280*1024 (I play at this res myself).
 
champ222 said:
Hi there, i need some advice.

i'm speccing up a new system, probably along the lines of:

6300 core duo
gigabyte DS3 or DS4
Geil 2 gig -dual channel 800MHz
Click to expand...
The above parts & a X1950XT & you will have a really nice setup. Especially if you overclock. :)
 
ACESHIGH said:
The above parts & a X1950XT & you will have a really nice setup. Especially if you overclock. :)
Click to expand...

Agreed, x1950 XT will last for a long time to come yet, and then when you come to upgrade again much better/faster cards than the GTS will be out as you'll probs get a year or more out of the x1950. :)
 
no_1_dave said:
7900 GTO would also be a great choice ;)
Click to expand...

Brilliant card, stupid price at the moment. If you can get it for £165 then fine, otherwise the X1950XT is a better buy.
 
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