Graphics Card Good Enough?

NickM

NickM

NickM

Soldato
Joined
12 Dec 2003
Posts
2,588
Hi,
Would a 256MB DDR NVIDIA 7900GS PCI-Express Graphics card do justice to a Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP 24" Widescreen or should I invest in a more powerful graphics card?
Cheers
 
NickM said:
Hi,
Would a 256MB DDR NVIDIA 7900GS PCI-Express Graphics card do justice to a Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP 24" Widescreen or should I invest in a more powerful graphics card?
Cheers
Click to expand...

For gaming at native res in modern games with the eye-candy turned on no, it won't cut the mustard. You should be aiming for a 512MB+ card of 8800 or similar speeds.
 
It really depends on the game, for things like CSS/Farcry I imagine it will run quite nicely but with games due out soon (Alan Wake, Crysis, UT3) you're gonna need a much faster card.

The 8800GTS 640mb is a good card and a lot faster than what you have however I would wait a while for these new games to start coming out. The 8800 refresh and x2000 series should be out by then.
 
I am buying an new PC. The 256 7900 was the base card they offered, I have the option of picking between these:

256MB DDR NVIDIA 7900GS PCI-Express Graphics [£0.00]
640MB DDR NVIDIA GeForce PX8800GTS PCI-E Graphics [£220.00]
512MB DDR NVIDIA 7900GTX PCI-Express Graphics [£224.99]
512MB DRR ATI Radeon X1900XT PCI-Express Graphics [£279.99]
512MB DRR ATI Radeon X1950XTX PCI-Express Graphics [£304.99]
1024MB DDR NVIDIA GeForce 7950 PCI-Express Graphic [£309.99]
768MB DDR NVIDIA GeForce PX8800GTX PCI-E Graphics [£329.99]
512MB DDR NVIDIA 7950GT PCI-Express Graphics [£319.99]
512MB DRR ATI Radeon X1900XTX PCI-Express Graphics [£344.99]
2 x 256MB DDR NVIDIA 7900GS PCI-Express Graphics [£147.49]
2x 512MB DDR NVIDIA 7900GTX PCI-Express Graphics [£502.67]

the other options I have selected at the moment mean that some cards like the 640 8800 and the 512 x1900 cant be chosen because "there are not enough motherboard PCI slots available".

Would the 512 7900GTX be a better choice?

oh also is an AMD® Athlon 64 X2 processor 5200+ Skt AM2 a decent processor?

Its been a while since I bought a computer and have very little clue what any of it means any more!

Thanks for the fast replies guys.
 
Last edited:
Competitor btw, had best remove their name.

The 8800GTS 640mb would be the best from that lot but is that an extra £225 from the base price? What a rip off, they are basically charging £325 for a £250 card.

The Intel core 2 duos are the better CPUs as well now, not AMD any more.

If I were you, I would build my own... what's your budget?
 
Listen, buy the 8800GTS, anything less is silly this late in the season and so close to DX10. The 8800 series have 2x the power of the 7900 series, they're a no-brainer. Also, get Intel Core2 not AMD... they're a lot faster.

You're going to end up blowing wads on an inferior system just because you had a bad experience last time you built one. Learn from your previous mistakes and try again... building a system really isn't hard. It's a bit like lego... just make sure all the right bits are in the right place. :)
 
hmm ok. Thanks guys you just saved me from making an expensive mistake! If I didn't want to build one myself what other options do I have?
 
Last edited:
Would £1312.23 be a reasonable price for this:

+ Intel® Core 2 Duo processor E6600 (2.4GHz)
+ Genuine Windows Vista Ultimate 32 Bit
+ 2GB DDR2 RAM, 667 MHz
+ 400GB SATA 7200rpm Hard Drive with 16MB Cache)
+ 640MB DDR NVIDIA GeForce PX8800GTS PCI-E Graphics
+ 16x DVD-ROM
+ Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS (OEM)
+ Sony Multicard Reader
+ Multi Format 18x Dual layer DVD re-writer
 
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66R-00765) Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66R-00765) £104.99
(£123.36) £104.99
(£123.36)
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £97.99
(£115.14) £97.99
(£115.14)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £173.99
(£204.44) £173.99
(£204.44)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 400GB ST3400620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 400GB ST3400620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - OEM Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£19.96) £16.99
(£19.96)
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £219.99
(£258.49) £219.99
(£258.49)
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1 Soundcard - Retail Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1 Soundcard - Retail £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Akasa Ultra Quiet 500W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.2 PSU - Black Nickel Akasa Ultra Quiet 500W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.2 PSU - Black Nickel £46.99
(£55.21) £46.99
(£55.21)
Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
Sub Total : £900.90
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
Vat : £159.57
Total : £1,071.42

£250 less and you probably get better quality components(motherboard, RAM, case, PSU), more overclocking headroom (if you want to) and you can choose what case you want.
 
Wow, thanks for finding out those specific components for me! And for £250 cheaper I will probably end up building it myself.
Thanks again for all the tips!
 
to run games at 1920 x 1080 (native res of a 24 inch monitor) with AA and AF you're talking at least X1950 XTX or if you can stretch to it, an 8800 GTS.
 
Raikiri said:
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66R-00765) Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 32-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66R-00765) £104.99
(£123.36) £104.99
(£123.36)
OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £97.99
(£115.14) £97.99
(£115.14)
Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 DUO E6600 "LGA775 Conroe" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - Retail £173.99
(£204.44) £173.99
(£204.44)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 400GB ST3400620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 400GB ST3400620AS SATA-II 16MB Cache - OEM £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - OEM Samsung SH-S182D 18x18 DVD±RW ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£19.96) £16.99
(£19.96)
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 640MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £219.99
(£258.49) £219.99
(£258.49)
Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1 Soundcard - Retail Creative X-Fi Xtreme Gamer 7.1 Soundcard - Retail £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Akasa Ultra Quiet 500W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.2 PSU - Black Nickel Akasa Ultra Quiet 500W Paxpower Active PFC ATX2.2 PSU - Black Nickel £46.99
(£55.21) £46.99
(£55.21)
Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black Lian-Li PC-7 PLUS Aluminium Midi-Tower Case - Black £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard Asus P5N-E SLi nForce 650 (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard £69.99
(£82.24) £69.99
(£82.24)
Sub Total : £900.90
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
Vat : £159.57
Total : £1,071.42

£250 less and you probably get better quality components(motherboard, RAM, case, PSU), more overclocking headroom (if you want to) and you can choose what case you want.
Click to expand...

Only problem I see there is maybe the PSU... i'd probably change it for an OCZ, Corsair, FSP or Enermax.

And add a 2nd hard-drive fpr games/utilities/downloads too, having one sucks. Best to get a 120GB as a main windows partition, and a 320GB for everything else. :)

Oh yeah, and i'd also lay off Vista for the moment... install XP Pro instead and let Vista mature for a while.
 
Is there an A04 version of the Dell 2407WFP? OcUK seem to be selling A03.
Rich, I already have a 400gb SATA I can take from my current PC. :)
 
Richdog said:
And add a 2nd hard-drive fpr games/utilities/downloads too, having one sucks. Best to get a 120GB as a main windows partition, and a 320GB for everything else. :)
Click to expand...

Whats wrong with partitioning? It'll be quieter with the one drive.
 
fobose said:
Whats wrong with partitioning? It'll be quieter with the one drive.
Click to expand...

Because if you lose the drive... you lose everything. People who can't afford two drives partition. People who can play it smart and buy seperate drives.
 
NickM said:
Is there an A04 version of the Dell 2407WFP? OcUK seem to be selling A03.
Rich, I already have a 400gb SATA I can take from my current PC. :)
Click to expand...

yes there is but due to the competition rule... i cant post it. though i think that seller has now sold all his A-04's he had about 40, and they went fast ;)
 
::: CooliceT :: said:
yes there is but due to the competition rule... i cant post it. though i think that seller has now sold all his A-04's he had about 40, and they went fast ;)
Click to expand...

I'm not surprised for less than £500 apiece!
 
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