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What graphics card for £150 - £200?

sastusbulbas

sastusbulbas

sastusbulbas

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Joined
26 May 2008
Posts
1,840
Hi all, just wondering what PCI-E graphics cards are recommended for around £150 to £200 ? I am thinking with 1gb of memory instead of the 512mb.

And what is compatible with my Hyper Type R 580w modular PSU? It has one 6 pin PCI-E connetor and a two molex to 6 pin PCI-E adaptor. No 8 pin connector.
It has four seperate 12v molex outputs, plus the P4 and PCI-E, I know it's two seperate molex rails to the molex, PCI-E six pin adaptor, but can either of these run a modern 8 pin card, OC does not state what connection the GPU's require.

I currently have an AGP HIS 3850 IceQ card in an Asrock board (PCI-E too, but limited to 4X but will do until a new mobo is bought) which has an 8 pin PCI-E? which is running of the 6 pin without problems, looking at either a graphics card OR new PSU if required this month, plus 4Gb of memory.
A new motherboard maybe next month or so.

If the Hyper 580w PSU is not suitable I will probably get a BeQuiet this month instead of a graphics card.

Cheers
 
Last edited:
Hi,

I currently play titles like C&C3 and Red Alert 3 with everything on max, sometimes just below at 1680 + 1050 on a Samsung SyncMaster 2032.

I would like to maybe use a bigger monitor in future, maybe 1900 with a 24", and will probably play with it through a 1080 plasma tv at some point for fun? So I guess a little future proof may help?
 
4870 or 260. As you can see from my sig i have a 260 as i prefer the NV interface over CCC but TBH each is pretty much as good as the other - plus the 4870's cheaper.

gt
 
Yeah, I agree with gt_junkie, both good cards, but I've always preferred nvidia interface over ATI, so I guess just which ever you are used to, or as Loadsamoney said, if you would prefer to save £30 go for the XFX 4870.
 
Chong Warrior said:
Agreed.

Given all your specs I'd buy the 4850 and get a new P35/P45 motherboard with the rest. Pointless spending all that on a 4870 1gb now and then crippling it in that motherboard.
Click to expand...

Seems a little pointless buying a card I may not want in a few months? What do I do when I get a decent P45 motherboard with an E8400 and a 24" monitor? Will I regret it then? :)

Like I pointed out the motherboard and monitor are not going to be long term partners, I would rather not buy a card suited to this monitor and mobo, and later find I would have prefered a better card. The Asrock is only in use to get the most out my HIS agp card, and play with Windows 7m, and build a small collection of components.

This motherboard is a stop gap, it will either end up sold or delagated to a second system later, maybe with the HIS AGP card and old DDR400 XMS Pro.

I am in no hurry to buy a new mobo, as I would rather make sure I am happy with the PSU, maybe look at another case, and have as many parts ready to get it started. If I stick with 775 I will probably spend £100 - £150 on a P45 board, use PC-6400 with the E5200, and can later upgrade the monitor, memory and CPU.

I am hoping to add a few upgrades to my current stop gap that I can pass on and end up with something like below,

BeQuiet PSU
BioStar (or similar) p45 mobo
Intel E8400 or E7400 processor
Corsair Dominator PC-8500 4GB
decent graphics card
24" monitor
better case
 
What you aren't considering is how fast graphics cards depreciate in value, especially latest generation. Why pay a premium for a 4870 1gb and when it will only perform about as fast as a 4850 in the motherboard you have?

If you wait until you upgrade the motherboard before spending £200 on a graphics card then you'll get a much better model. For example ATI are releasing a new range of cards next month and there's a reported price drop coming very soon.
 
Probably, no hurry for either I guess.

I guess its the same with processors and motherboards too, no point buying a Biostar T Power I45 as something better may be out later, same with the E8400 as it will probably be surpassed by some AMD chip anyway.

Besides, four weeks is a hell of a long time.

I won't bother, after all I am under the impression I will not see that much of a performance over my HIS IceQ 3850 AGP even with a PCI -E 4850 stuck an a X4 PCI -E slot anyway.

The main problem I have with this Asrock rig is pausing/stuttering during teh C&C 3 Rome level when I rush the Nod with a bucket load of troops and tanks, I am hoping 4Gb of DDRII may help this.
 
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