Need help deciding upgrade for a xfx 8800GTX XT, budget £110

[pete_agreatguy]

Hi all,

I need help upgrading from a XFX 8800GTX 768ddr3 XT Edition PCI-E card. I've done some basic research and am probably looking at either AMD's 6850 or nVidia's equivalent (not sure what this is???).

I looked at XFX and they only do AMD cards now which I'm a bit puzzled at; yet I also noticed there warranty in the UK is now only with the retailer.

Can you help me out find (a) an upgrade and (b) what brand has the longest warranty? I also want to consider after sales support, performance and rma process. I'd be willing to give AMD a try because I'm impressed with the prices offered (the warranty puts me off though with XFX).

What would the nVidia option be? Focused on warranty, after sales support, performance and rma process.

My budget is up to a maximum of £110 (including P&P). Would prefer to buy brand new (hence the warranty query). I am not interested in crossfire or sli at the present time; I did consider it but my FS2004 which I prefer doesn't support duel graphics cards.

I do not tend to overclock (try to avoid it anyway). Monitor resolution I'm not fussed about as I tend to use what comes with (plus most GPU's do support a wide range). I do have a HDMI 1080p LCD Samsung monitor though.

Thank you in advanced,
Pete

PS: I have the following system (below) and my gaming is mainly Flight Sim (75%), but I also play games like LA Noire, F12012, Mafia 2 etc (25%):

Custom built (links provided for main components)
Currently use Windows XP Pro (x86 due to software issues if running with Win 7 x64 or Win XP Pro x64)
Antec 900 gaming case all fans on low; can get a side fan if I need it
Antec High Current Pro 850W
Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor QX9650 (12M Cache, 3.00 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO Rev. 2 (CPU cooler)
Asus P5Q PRO TURBO motherboard (ATX Crossfire)
4GB (2x 2GB) Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM (running @ 5-5-5-12)
2 x Western Digital 500GB Blue sataII hard drives & 1x Samsung 2TB barracuda sataIII (all installed on bottom rack so graphics card gets a 120mm front fan to itself)
1 x Sony DVD-ROM drive x16
1 x Sony DVD-RW DL x16 / CD-RW combo drive

 

[rolypolyman]

You cannot link to competitors friend, read the rules before posting.

 

[pete_agreatguy]

Ooops! My apologies. Will read the rules and re-edit my post. I just been posting everywhere (toms hardware etc and they haven't helped so far after a week) so just copied and pasted without realising.

 

[mickyflinn]

Best card for your money is a 7770

YOUR BASKET
1 x msi hd 7770 ghz edition 1024mb gddr5 pci-express graphics card £79.99
total : £88.69 (includes shipping : £7.25).



best graphics cards for the money: november 2012

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/gaming-graphics-card-review,review-32571.html

 

[Marvin]

1GB 7850s can be had for ~£115 if you look around, and this would be your best bet.

That or a GTX480 if OCUK do the refurbs again.

 

[Bacon?]

Someone correct me if I am wrong but does flight sim work much better on Nvidia than ATI? If this is the case look at for less than £100:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-175-MS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=2392

 

[arc@css]

Brand new within budget : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-184-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1699

As mentioned, if you look around for a cheap as possible 7850 1gb, then that might be your best option.

Alternatively, the OcUK gtx480 refurbs (if they return) would be the fastest card and by far the best bang for buck. The draw backs, aside from being a refurb, would be the power consumption and possibly the noise at load.


I strongly suggest you overclock your cpu. It'll take about less than five minutes.

If the flight sims you play run better on Nvidia, which they may well, then the 650 (non-ti) with an overclock will equal of pull slightly ahead of the 7770.

 

[shadow_boxer]

I would definately look to overclock your processor. Although its getting on a bit once overclocked its still a pretty capable one, paticularly once paired up with a reasonable video card. Microsoft's flight sims are very cpu dependent and you'll see a decent boost in performance by just overclocking.

Next for the GPU, yes the likes of FSX used to be much better with NVIDIA cards due to the lack of shader problems (although there were work arounds). But, from what I've read on flight sim forums the later cards from AMD do perform pretty well. Not looked into it in detail recently but work having a look at some dedicated FSX forums.

The 7850's offer great value for money but there isn't much from the green team at that level. You could look at second hand cards such as the GTX 570 for example.