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Recommended Garaphics cards?

Andybtsn

Andybtsn

Andybtsn

Don
Joined
23 Oct 2005
Posts
44,274
Location
North Yorkshire
Hi,

I'm currently building a new machine and I'm also deciding what CPU to go for, but trying to sort graphics out.

Basically Hi,

I'm currently building my new machine.

So far i have a ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe MB, and two SATA2 hdd's, i want to use the SLI advantage so looking for graphics cards...

I want something that will be able to cope with the best games in a year or so still, but not silly prices.

So although I'd love 2x 512mb 7800 cards, I can't afford this.

So whats the best 'line-up' to go for? I'd like to stick with nvidia as they've always impressed me, and they must be PCI-E!

Thanks a lot



But will I be looking to upgrade right away with the FX-55, and not with the 57?

Any help appreciated
 
Will SLI'd XFX GeForce 7800GT Extreme Edition's be something that I won't want to upgrade for a while, or is the increase in price not worth it?
 
With Dx10 looming no card is going to be a good valuable upgrade.

Depedning on you financial situation you might want to just buy a lower end card now and sell it when needed and with the money saved by a DX10 compatibe card at a reasonable price.
Soemthing like a 7800Gt which has the best value for moeny/ bang for buck atm will be fine until xmas time and DX10 cards. IF you can find a cheap X1800 they are also pretty good.
 
And NVidia are releasing a new high end card which should be a good bit more powerful than the GTX 512 and X1900XTX, should be released in about 4 weeks.
 
andybtsn said:
So although I'd love 2x 512mb 7800 cards, I can't afford this.

So whats the best 'line-up' to go for? I'd like to stick with nvidia as they've always impressed me, and they must be PCI-E!

Thanks a lot

But will I be looking to upgrade right away with the FX-55, and not with the 57?

Any help appreciated
Click to expand...

Why not get 2x regular 7800GTX's and an X2-4800 (assuming you won't be overclocking) ... thats got to be the best option IMO (if you want to stick with nvidia graphics).

Or you could wait to see what the new nvidia card does when its out .. might be a tad expensive if you want to SLi though :)
 
Well if you want to stick with nvidia then you are doing a bad thing imo. A single x1900XT would be more than powerful enough and only set you back £360.

If you got two 7800gt's thats gonna cost about £60 more and be slower. Also they only have 256mb of ram compared to 512mb on the x1800/1900's.

I would go for an X1900XT and never look back - or wait for the 7900. Buying two 7800's in SLI is just not worth it compared to the new top ATI cards.

I tried out a single 7800GT just to see how the newer NV drivers are and I was impressed - but you can't ignore the price : performance ratio of the x1900 and with the newer cat drivers the I.Q and speed is amazing.

Just my 2p. :p

Edit : if you really must get another NV card - wait for the 7900 and hope its not too expensive.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the input guys, i will take allinto consideration...

The machine will be for gaming, so is the AMD X2-4800 better than a FX-55??
 
andybtsn said:
Thanks for the input guys, i will take allinto consideration...

The machine will be for gaming, so is the AMD X2-4800 better than a FX-55??
Click to expand...

Probably by about 5-10% in games that have patches/proper support for dual core like quake 4 etc.
 
Are all future games going to have support for dual core you reckon?

How much difference will i see playing a game that doesn't have dual core support?
 
D.P. said:
With Dx10 looming no card is going to be a good valuable upgrade.
Click to expand...


microsoft said they are not releasing DX10 untill vista comes out, which in itself will be at least 10 months to a year. then youve got to factor in that no games will use DX 10 for at least 18 months from today due to the production time of the game itself,

so basically your safe to buy now,


"We present the name Avalon as codename for graphic subsystem which Microsoft plans to release with Longhorn (vista)."

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=21077

possible earliest vista release date is dec 7th.
http://software.silicon.com/os/0,39024651,39151834,00.htm
 
Last edited:
andybtsn said:
Are all future games going to have support for dual core you reckon?

How much difference will i see playing a game that doesn't have dual core support?
Click to expand...

I would say a decent proportion will in future.
Difference in game without support ... theoretically none between the same clock speed CPU's.
Bear in mind an FX55 has 2.6ghz, an X2-4800 is 2.4 ... but is cheaper and has dual cores.
The FX60 is dual core 2.6ghz, but is also very pricey (understatement !).
Personally I think if you are going to spend around or over £300 on a CPU now, get a dual core. ... just IMO.

I would also back up what SpeedUK said about graphics, but didnt want to mention it as you seem set on nvidia, and thats your decision :)
If you are in no great rush, wait to see how the 7900 turns out, but currently the X1900 is cream of the crop :)
 
Have to agree on the pointlessness of SLIing 7900's... about the only SLI combination which looks on face value to have a chance of being not a complete rip-off is two of the £65 6600's...

X1800 or X1900 IMO are the cards of choice at this moment.
 
speeduk said:
Well if you want to stick with nvidia then you are doing a bad thing imo. A single x1900XT would be more than powerful enough and only set you back £360.

If you got two 7800gt's thats gonna cost about £60 more and be slower. Also they only have 256mb of ram compared to 512mb on the x1800/1900's.

I would go for an X1900XT and never look back - or wait for the 7900. Buying two 7800's in SLI is just not worth it compared to the new top ATI cards.

.... you can't ignore the price : performance ratio of the x1900 and with the newer cat drivers the I.Q and speed is amazing.
Click to expand...


Completely agree.
Surely you dont want SLI just for the sake of having SLI, why pay more for 2x cards in SLI for slower performance.

The 1800XT or X1900XT are really the best bang per buck cards out at the moment. Definitely the right cards to buy.



as far as dual core goes; more & more games (& programs) will begin to utilize this, so definitely worthwhile imo
 
What resolution are you playing at? Most people use 1280x1024 for 19inch LCDs, so one high end card would be more than enough.
Also, the card will limit performance in games more than anything else, so why not save on the processer (eg a 3800 is almost half the price of a 4800) - you'll not notice a difference and you have more cash to spend on a card.
Although if money is no object...
 
yea, the way i see it, to have a nice pc with good gaming ability while saving money for an upgrade later i'd get:

3700+ sand diego cpu, or opteron 165 ( good overclockers)
1900xtx ( over clock it)
x-fi sound card and a nice set of 5.1 surround sound speakers ^^
24" DELL monitor. ( this will outlive the rest of your components)

you may want two 1900's for crossfire for that monitor maybe, but that should play the latest games with all bells and whistles on up to 1280x1024 or beyond.
 
I advise you purchase a low end PCI-E card (whatever brand it doesnt matter), complete bottom of the range and cheap as you can find (also check 2nd hand). Maybe pay ~ £30 for this.

This will enable you to continue to use your new PC while you wait a few weeks for the NVIDIA Geforce 7900 GTX 512 to arrive. We are looking at a release date of around March 14th so not long now.

Gibbo posted that this new 7900 series card will cost around the same as the 7800 GTX 512 costs now and the 7800 will go down in price.

Stay clear of any of the ATI offerings, they are cheap and cheerful but don't perform well and are very loud.
 
ROFLMAO ... what planet did you come down from Testa ? :D
Cheap, Don't perform well and Very loud indeed :rolleyes:

Unbiased advice that is ......... not :p
 
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