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So whats going on with graphics cards?

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
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Unusually I've been totally satisfied with the performance of my PC for the last few years and have not really kept up with the upgrade fever as I have in the past.

But, I've not bought shiney new cool stuff for ages and figured it was about time so I've been looking around at replacing my GTX280 clocked to 285 speeds which I've had for 2 years or so now. I paid about 250 quid for it and it's offered fantastic performance.

From reading reviews though it seems that unless I wish to spend 400 quid on a graphics card, nothing offers a noticeable performance increase.

Whats with that? I've always been able to spend about 250 quid-300 tops on a car every 2-3 years and experience a big performance upgrade each time. From looking at Tom's VGA Charts only a GTX480 or ATi equivilent will give me the noticeable boost I'd want and these are obscenely priced.

Whats happened?
 
Bear in mind the exchange rate Fox. It's hammering the pound against the dollar :-( (and parts are dollar based).
 
There hasnt really been a need to increase the power of a graphics card, Due to 99% of games been ported from xbox ps3 ect.
Where cards have improved is in both power Efficiency, and features such as dx11. According to bench mark results a gtx460 will beat your card is some areas and they can be had for as little as £120.
 
ATIs 'mid life face lift' of its 40nm process comes out later this month and early next. Rumours of part shortages and high prices, but I wouldnt spend >£200 now on the brink of the 6000 series release.

A £115 460 758 is nigh on as fast as your 285. The £400 you are quoting must be from the 480s price? Yeh, its been disappointing. Ati won this round. See what their 6870s have to offer early next month, if were you.
 
Inflation, exchange rates, more features, physically larger more expensive components (die size/vram).

Obviously the Free-Masons and the Nazi's have something to do with it too.
 
Crossfired 5770s would be a huge leap up from your 280 for £200ish (provided your mobo is up to it)
 
The GTX460s clock obscenely too so look at 1GB versions of those. I replaced my OCd GTX260 with the Asus Top edition and it's a big difference in games and DX11 games (bad company 2) at 1920x1200 run flawlessly.

It also cost £180.

It will also comfortably ease away from a GTX280 any day, not by a huge amount but still be faster in DX11 and the upshot is it will use less power and generate less heat and be a shorter card so less space consumed.
 
£250 for a 280? I'm guessing you were a little behind the times when you got it? (or second hand?). But honestly, prices are just high at the moment for the reasons mentioned above. The 5870 is more expensive now than when it came out!

Personally, if you want the best, either get the 480 or wait for what ATI releases very shortly. (the 6xxx series).

Also, you don't seem like the type of bloke to rush into things so, just wait and see what your research turns up, and how the 6xxx series pan's out.
 
How about a 470gtx Fox? If not then a 5850? Both offer good, high end performance for not a too ridiculous amount of cash. Otherwise as others have said a 480gtx for around £330 - 340 is a great card if you wish to spend a bit more.
 
GTX470 clocked to 800MHz (possibly the Gigabyte SoC for quieter/cooler performance) would offer the best upgrade right now for that money IMO short of waiting to see what happens when the ATI 6 series is released. The 5870 is another possibility.
 
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