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What card to go for...

Tiberia

Tiberia

Tiberia

Associate
Joined
28 Apr 2007
Posts
54
Location
Cornwall, UK
I am in desperate need to build a new system now, as mine has just died. I have been planning one for a while now anyway. It is going to be mainly for gamming and i can only afford a 19" monitor (one of those £120 tft's) and was just wondering whether or not on this size monitor (the resolutions they are capable of) whether it is worth getting a gtx, or just stick with a gts (or X1950) as the differences in performance at that resolution prolly wont matter.

Whats everyones opinions???
 
Tiberia said:
I am in desperate need to build a new system now, as mine has just died. I have been planning one for a while now anyway. It is going to be mainly for gamming and i can only afford a 19" monitor (one of those £120 tft's) and was just wondering whether or not on this size monitor (the resolutions they are capable of) whether it is worth getting a gtx, or just stick with a gts (or X1950) as the differences in performance at that resolution prolly wont matter.

Whats everyones opinions???
Click to expand...

Not worth buying more than a 320MB GTS for that size/res monitor.
 
thanks for the quick reply, thats what i was thinking, still unsure as i have seen that GTS's end up struggling in some circumstances such as some outdoor seens in oblivion, all though couldnt remember the resolution, also didnt know what sort of card i would be able to get away with to play the upcomming crysis.

would the GTS generally be able to play games well at native resolutions on this monitor?
 
8800gts 320mb should be fine for general high settings, if you want to crank it to the max in the latest games get a gtx however. (from experience)

Or

Get a HD2900XT :D
 
just wondering whether it would be worth while considering the 640mb edition? where would i see a performance difference and is it worth the difference in price? (ie, would it allow me to put image quality up in games?)
 
Is it only me that says get the 640Mb version? :)

I mean, we've seen games such as Doom3 and Quake4 specifically need cards with 512Mb+ for the Ultra settings. And yes, maybes the IQ difference is neglible, but it's a valid point nevertheless. I would not be happy if I bought the 320Mb version.

But that's just me! :D

Some examples, taken from, http://www.digital-daily.com/video/stalker_test/

Stalker with Full Dynamic Lighting, no AA/AF.

www.digital-daily.com said:
Interestingly, the video memory usage has gone up sharply, which at 1600х1200 reaches about 460 MB.
Click to expand...

Granted you'll be gaming at 1280x1024 but games are starting to use more and more memory. With 640Mb your nice and comfortable, and I would have thought with AA and AF the demand will only increase. Add in ever increasing view distances within games then who knows!

Here is xbit labs, http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gigabyte-foxconn-gf7950gt.html

All be it a review for the 7950GT, it compares 256Mb against 512Mb. Taken from the conclusion at the end,

xbit labs said:
You will really need 512MB of memory if you are going to play such games as Call of Duty 2 or Company of Heroes with enabled full-screen antialiasing.
Click to expand...

I'm not trying to knock the 320Mb card or it's owners. For 90% of the games it'll be fine. I'm thinking for down the line a little bit, or if like me, you're contemplating upgrading your TFT then I think the 320Mb card will be a poor choice.

Up to you though, which ever you can afford. :D
 
Firegod said:
Is it only me that says get the 640Mb version? :)

I mean, we've seen games such as Doom3 and Quake4 specifically need cards with 512Mb+ for the Ultra settings. And yes, maybes the IQ difference is neglible, but it's a valid point nevertheless. I would not be happy if I bought the 320Mb version.

But that's just me! :D

Some examples, taken from, http://www.digital-daily.com/video/stalker_test/

Stalker with Full Dynamic Lighting, no AA/AF.



Granted you'll be gaming at 1280x1024 but games are starting to use more and more memory. With 640Mb your nice and comfortable, and I would have thought with AA and AF the demand will only increase. Add in ever increasing view distances within games then who knows!

Here is xbit labs, http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gigabyte-foxconn-gf7950gt.html

All be it a review for the 7950GT, it compares 256Mb against 512Mb. Taken from the conclusion at the end,



I'm not trying to knock the 320Mb card or it's owners. For 90% of the games it'll be fine. I'm thinking for down the line a little bit, or if like me, you're contemplating upgrading your TFT then I think the 320Mb card will be a poor choice.

Up to you though, which ever you can afford. :D
Click to expand...

Running at GTS 320 on my 2407 @ 1920x1200. ;)

By the time this card struggles in the majority of game so will the GTX.
 
The Asgard said:
Running at GTS 320 on my 2407 @ 1920x1200. ;)

By the time this card struggles in the majority of game so will the GTX.
Click to expand...

Hey, that's nice to know. I was just going on what I've read. :)

So can you play most games with all the eye-candy, AA/AF at that resolution?

CoH with the KMod bogs my PC down, so I'd hate to try it on the 320Mb card. :eek:
 
Firegod said:
Hey, that's nice to know. I was just going on what I've read. :)

So can you play most games with all the eye-candy, AA/AF at that resolution?

CoH with the KMod bogs my PC down, so I'd hate to try it on the 320Mb card. :eek:
Click to expand...

Only been playing with it since friday but so far can't tell that much difference from my GTX.

Although not stressful in anyway WOW @ 1920x1200 8XS 16AF Everything on.

Rainbow 6 Vega's 1600x1200 everything on in game. Smooth similiar to the GTX.

Quick play with SuperCom @ 1920x1200 everything on 4X. Never tried higher.

C&C3 1920x1200 Everything on Max AA in game.

Oblivion quick play 1920x1200 not sure of detail settings but super smooth. Never tried playing with AA.

Stalker at 1920x1200 cant remember settings. Very smooth.

Very impressive little card. Low temps and high FPS.

My advice would be to buy something like this and wait for the games to catch up before spending money on top end cards.
 
Running mine at 1280x1024, struggles with absolutely nothing maxed out, even Oblivion outdoors is amazing, i have it maxed with 2xAA/16xAF + HDR on, blows my old x1800 XT 512mb away, and i downgraded in memory, my x1800 XT's maximum frame-rates are below my GTS's minimum in Oblivion, for 1280x1024 they are ******* awesome. :cool:
 
Last edited:
I stand corrected. Looks like the 320Mb can hold it's own! :)

Lodsa, is 2xAA the most you can put on the card. i.e can you not run 8Q?
 
Come on , you can wait 5 more days for the reviews to come in :)

R2900 ones that is.

On the other forums i frequent. people are already selling their old 320 MB 88GTS
 
is the ATI competition comming out on the 14th of May for definate, or could it yet again be delayed???

(ps. thanks for all the replies, i find everyones point of view useful, hopefully ordering system on monday hopefully)
 
Don`t know if you guys know a new gpu group called Zotac but they`re doing their Nfire 8800gts 640 mb edition for less than a 320mb gts now :eek:,Gibbo get on the case lol
 
Jihad said:
It doesn't "need" 512MB at all though, loads run it on Ultra with 256mb.
Click to expand...

Well I tried it on my old 7800GTX. Noticed stuttering on that. Yeah you could play it, but I'd still take what most people say is acceptable with a pinch of salt.
 
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