HELP Best Value Mid Range Card (if such a thing exists anymore!)

[Greebo]

Right, I have read and read and read and still can't make my mind up as to which card to upgrade my system to so time for advice.

Currently have an X800XT which has been fine for the games I have been running since I only run at 1280 x 1024 res.

However, I now have two games (splinter cell and colin mcrae dirt) which I am desperate to play but they require Shader 3.0 support so time to bite the bullet and upgrade.

Unfortunately money is tighter than it used to be when I bought the X800xt for £350 (was I mad?????) so as much as I wish I could have a 8800 GTX its beyond my reach plus would probable need a psu upgrade as well .

So the best I can bring my selection down to is as follows:

X1900 XT 256Mb - £95
X1950 XTX 512Mb - £105
8800 GTS 320 Mb - £160
2900 xt 512Mb - £185

There would appear to be no real mid range card anymore. I have already discounted the 8600 and 2600 as although their performance would be a step up from my X800XT (barely any fps with the 2600, all I would be gaining would be the shader 3 support and IQ). The directx 10 support is irrelevant IMHO as neither of these cards will be able to run the new games at any kind of playable framerate.

So my choice comes down of what used to be the old top end and what is now the bottom of the new top end.

So do I get one of the x19xx cards which would give me my shader 3 support and a very large fps gain over my x800xt and then upgrade again next year or should I stretch myself to the 8800 or 2900 now?? As far as I can tell, the 2900 would give me better image quality but no more fps than the x1950xtx whereas the 8800 GTS would still give me even more fps for my money. Also confused with the 8800 GTS 320Mb, as in certain games it's results are dire due to some problem over the memory. Hopefully, only a driver issue with the weird quantity of memory but it might be a permanent glitch and with the new drivers improving the performance of the 2900 XT all the time and 512Mb on board, it might be worth the extra for the 2900 XT

The current price difference between the 2900 and 8800 would steer me more towards the 8800 atm if it wasn't for the memory issue.

But is it worth the extra £55 for the 8800 over the 1950 in the first place???

Are there any games coming out which require shader 4.0 support? I don't want to buy a shader 3 card and then have to upgrade again just to play a game.

God, i'm sure choosing pc components used to be easier in the old days!

So give me your best advice please

 

[Greebo]

I know, I can't beleive you can get them for that price as well. It has almost made me buy it twice now! A lot of card for the money and once was top of the range and that was not a long time ago either.

But I'm trying not to make any rash decisions.

I have now read about the new beta drivers for 2000 series cards and it has made a big difference to both the 2900 and 2600 cards supposedly.

It seems to make it worth the extra money for the 2900xt over the 8800 GTS now.

Perhaps I should also include the 2600XT 256Mb DDR4 card again since I can get them for £73.

Depends on how much it has improved things on fps but if they are getting somewhere up near the 1900/1950 performance then it would save a packet load of money and mean I could get a better card in a years time.

The waters just get muddier.....................

 

[Greebo]

an x1950xtx 512 for £105?? thats excellent price. very good dx9 card, if a little power hungry. if you arent *too* concerned with dx10 get that really.

You say "power hungry". How much is that? Will my Tagan 480W with 28A on the 12v rail handle the job?

For that matter, are there any other cards on my shortlist which I need to remove because my PSU won;t handle them? I don't really want to fork out for another PSU yet.

 

[Greebo]

2900 XT 512 mb for £185 Aren't they £230

Sorry I never stated these prices were all on overclockers, some are and some aren't.

The 2900 xt is available for that price plus £8 postage but obviously I can't list where.

At £230.00 it would not be on my list and to be fair, even at £185, it's a push but I always like a bargain

 

[Greebo]

Your PSU should be able to run any of them cards fine, even the 8800GTX.

I'm running my GTX on a PSU with 24a on the 12v rails.

I think I might be pushing my luck though. My system has 2 raptors, 2 big hard drives, fan controller, water cooler, wireless pci card, audigy card, 2 dvd writers................a GTX might just kill it all!

But on a serious note does a GTS require less power than a GTX?

 

[Greebo]

Thanks for all your help but job sorted now. Managed to grab an EVGA 8800GTS 320MB KO ACS3 last night on an auction site for £147. Seemed too good an offer not to miss since the 1950xtx are sold out at that price (my fault for hesitating so long )

2 weeks old and pre overclocked to 588 Mhz on the core, 1450Mhz on the shader and 1840Mhz on the ram

I have read in reviews that with this card and cooler you can get the core to 621 and the memory to 2Ghz

I look forward to trying this weekend.

One thing is for sure, that even at stock speeds I ought to be able to notice the difference to my X800XT!

Now all I have to hope for is that after 7 years been an ATI man is that Nvidia doesn't let me down on the driver front.

 

[Greebo]

Nothing to be ashamed of there. I'm still not sure it's the right choice since the x1950xt beats it still in a lot of games but i'd rather go forward a generation than buy the last generation plus the added bonus of being able to run dx10 games if and when I ever reload vista which is sitting in a box on my shelf - good money spent there

 

[Greebo]

What brand is that X1950 XTX 512Mb ?

It is a sapphire so it is a branded name but too late now, got the 8800 GTS

 

[Greebo]

Got my EVGA GTS ACS3 KO card and got it installed with the latest drivers.

Results as follows:

X800Xt

3dmark03 12992
3dmark05 6265
3dmark06 2204

8800 GTS

3dmark03 33137
3dmark05 14214
3dmark06 9397

To say that it's a step up is an understatement! 300% + increase on 3dmark06 has impressed me.

Time to up my IQ settings and play some games