Which Card?

[fraps]

I want to get a new graphics card for around £150 maximum, and I was looking at these two:

ATI Radeon HD 3870

or

GeForce 8600 GTS

Which is better, and are there any others I should be considering?

Also, my motherboard module says I have 2 x PCIe x16 - is that PCIe 2.0 or what?

3870 by a mile!!! Stay away from 8600gts - overpriced 128 bit crippled cards

3850 512mb version is a good deal at 130

 

[Danger Phoenix]

I'd avoid XFX because their customer service is the most dire thing ever, and I've heard bad thing about Asus' too.

Pretty much any other brand is a good one.

Any recommendations on another brand?

 

[Kobrakai]

is the 8800gt much faster than the 1900xtx?
thanks

Miles faster!

 

[Darkwave]

is the 8800gt much faster than the 1900xtx?
thanks

Miles. I went from an X1900XT clocked to XT-X to an 8800GTS, and this is faster.

 

[THC_SsSsSnake]

crikey,its almost 2 years since I bought the 1900,things moved on eh?

 

[Final8y]

I'm sorry but www.anandtech.com and www.hothardware.com disagree. Anandtech even say the HD3870 is 85% the speed of the 8800GT on average and on this site the cheapest 3870XT is only £20-25 less than the cheapest 8800GT. Not trying to burst your bubble, it's just that the 8800GT is faster, and worth the extra.

I was replying to the OP ATI 3870 V 8600GTS

 

[fraps]

Any recommendations on another brand?

HIS

 

[THC_SsSsSnake]

if you had unlimited funds, what would you get now if you were me.wait for the next gen ,arent they just round the corner?

 

[Darkwave]

Any recommendations on another brand?

Aye. BFG and EVGA are your AAA brands.

Zotac, Gainward, Gigabyte, Leadtek, Galaxy, HIS and the like are your "cheaper but WOW" brands.

Point Of View and the like are your cheapies that do well, would still recommend them.

Asus and XFX I wouldn't recommend to my worst enemy.

 

[TheRealDeal]

The 8800gt is faster but for the price you pay its a damn good card. Also are you buying a crossfire motherboard if so i would get the 3870 as you could add in another one at a *** date if you needed more performance and by then they should be even cheaper.

 

[MoRT489]

The 8800gt is faster but for the price you pay its a damn good card. Also are you buying a crossfire motherboard if so i would get the 3870 as you could add in another one at a *** date if you needed more performance and by then they should be even cheaper.

Problem with doing that is that by the time u come to buy the second card stock will have dried up because it will have been replaced by the next best thing

 

[Darkwave]

Problem with doing that is that by the time u come to buy the second card stock will have dried up because it will have been replaced by the next best thing

Cards take quite a while to go EOL and they still continue to sell until remaining stock runs out.