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I'm trying to decide on a new graphics card - Help needed!

SkScotchegg

SkScotchegg

SkScotchegg

Soldato
Joined
4 Nov 2002
Posts
2,982
Location
England - Leeds
Hi there, please can you give me some advice, I'm looking at the OCUK shop for buying a new PC and so far I have been looking at the graphics card section because am going to build it myself.

Is this graphics card ok:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showp... GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail

or can you suggest better AND do you see any problems with me buying this card? (is there anything wrong with is)?

Thanks in advance,


SkScotchegg
 
I would get the 4870 and that's exactly what i've done, if you can live with some very unstable drivers for now you get a fantastic card for a very nice price, the 280 is really not worth it unless you need specific Nvidia features. The 280 is the fastest card though, so if you can justify that investment, by all means go ahead :D
 
Well I've always been on ATI and for a change I'm now wanting to switch to Nvidia so I was just wanting to know if the card I choose is good and has a good spec and will run my games sweet.

I currently have a really old PC like 6 years old, maybe more, but it has an ATI x1950 512mb saphire at the moment which runs cod4 sweet but cant really run crysis, not even on low settings. I have 1 gig of ram and an AMD 64 2000mhz cpu lol.

And over the years whenever I have seen other peoples graphics with an Nvidia card they have always looked better then on my ATI cards. Before the card I've got now I had a radeon 9800 aswell.

The colours seem more vibrant and just overall better on an Nvidia so I seriously dont want to go back to ATI ever again.

So I really just wanted some assurance that this card is a good choice for me.

Thanks for your replies,


SkScotchegg
 
To be honest i cannot tell the difference having just moved Nvidia -> AMD yesterday, colors basically the same and the 4870 is a cracking card, but you'll love the 280. You could wait until the 55nm version is released later this month though.
 
Also (£264.36) is around my price range that am willing to spend, but are you saying I am wasting my money because the card is new and over priced?

How long have these cards been out for?

I dont want to waste money but I do want a good card, an amazing card in fact, I havent had a new PC for so long, like 6 years or more, so its worth it to me.

But if you dont think I should get the 280 version of Nvidia cards then which other Nvidia card would you suggest?

Thanks in advance,


SkScotchegg
 
SkScotchegg said:
Also (£264.36) is around my price range that am willing to spend, but are you saying I am wasting my money because the card is new and over priced?

How long have these cards been out for?

I dont want to waste money but I do want a good card, an amazing card in fact, I havent had a new PC for so long, like 6 years or more, so its worth it to me.

But if you dont think I should get the 280 version of Nvidia cards then which other Nvidia card would you suggest?

Thanks in advance,


SkScotchegg
Click to expand...
No you shouldn't definitely get the 280 of any Nvidia card, it's fantastic. If that's your budget and you want one now, go for it! You're not gonna regret it, it's a fantastic card and it's fallen to a very nice price now. Just saying that if these are only your first considerations and it will be a while before you order the lot there is also the 4870x2 on Monday from AMD(probably not an option) and the die shrink of the 280 rumored to arrive later this month. If i were you, i'd order the GTX 280 right now, it will absolutely serve you well. Get this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-018-PV
For a good week only offer and a fine game included :D
 
Thanks for your replies, what did you mean by "die shrink of the 280 rumored to arrive later this month." ?

And what did you mean when you said: "you could wait until the 55nm version is released later this month though." whats that?

by the way, I get paid on the 22nd august so I cant get it untill then, are you guys saying the prices of these cards might be going down later this month?

Thanks in advance,


SkScotchegg:D
 
SkScotchegg said:
Thanks for your replies, what did you mean by "die shrink of the 280 rumored to arrive later this month." ?

And what did you mean when you said: "you could wait until the 55nm version is released later this month though." whats that?

by the way, I get paid on the 22nd august so I cant get it untill then, are you guys saying the prices of these cards might be going down later this month?

Thanks in advance,


SkScotchegg:D
Click to expand...

The 55nm there talking about is a die shrink. Basically means the cards run cooler, therefor can be clocked higher, and thus run faster

Though, it may not be as fast as the new 4870X2 (I'd be suprised if it is). If you religiously stick to the nvidia card, the 280+ will bring down the price of the current 280.

Martyn
 
Its nvidia, being nvidia you are allways going to be months away from better versions of the card you allready want/have, and i was under the impression that mass oppinion was that nvidia's trait was raw number crunching, ie: huge FPS while AMD were more for picture quality and shader detail or is this old ways of thinking?
Really you cant base a 4 generation old graphics card as an earmark for any qualitys from the new cards so dont be compleatly closed off to the idea of an AMD product as your only limiting your own choices. I own nvidia and think they are a decent product but i ony own nvidia because they offerd me the best choice for the most reasonable money, i have an 8800GT, the "ex" 4870 Also known as the best card produced for 4 or 5 years just because of its price for power ratio, the 4870 is its market replacemant and rightly so, nvidia dropped a bomb dont you drop one aswell!
 
I assume as your cpu/ram are a bottleneck and a 280 or 4870 would be a huge waste of money you are also upgrading them?

tbh if you thought your friends nvidia cards looked brighter or better, I would check monitor differences first, rather than think ATI colours aren't as good as nVidia's!
 
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Agree with above poster.

ATI cards have generally had superior image quality and with the new 4800 series cards this appears to be the case agan.

I dont think the GTX 280 is worth the extra money for the small performance increase over the HD 4870. Considering you posted "I dont want to waste money but I do want a good card, an amazing card in fact" then the best card is the HD 4870, which can be had for £182.11 or less for any of the Powercolor, Gigabyte or Gainward cards.
 
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