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Which graphics card for under £100?

Brumboy

Brumboy

Brumboy

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11 Jan 2011
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I'm looking to upgade my computer, I currently have a cheap GeForce 8400 GS graphics card.

I don't want to spend a lot of money, I would like to run games like Call of duty: Black ops at a decent frame rate (for online play).

I'll be running this graphics card with:

Motherboard - Asus P8P67-M mATX Intel P67 Express Socket 1155
Processor - Intel CPU Core i5 2500K Unlocked Sandy Bridge
Memory - Corsair Memory XMS3 4GB DDR3 1600 MHz

So which graphics card would be good enough for this? I'm assuming the new i5 processors & motherboard would pump up the graphics?

I would like to spend around £50 - £70 really!
 
If you didn't mind buying a 2nd hand card, you could probably get a 4870, Gtx 260 or maybe a 4890 for about £70-£75.

All of them are much faster than a 5570 or 5670.

What resolution will you be playing at ?
 
For under £100 this is definitely the best card.

for £25 less this is the best you will get, but the 5770 is considerbly faster in games and worth the extra imho, here is a review that compares the performance of the two in a range of games.

I'm assuming the new i5 processors & motherboard would pump up the graphics?
Click to expand...

Not really - what the a nice motherboard and CPU like that will do is not bottleneck performance. However, if you put a poor performing card in the system then it will still be poor and limit your framerates and gaming enjoyment.
 
Resolution will be 1280 x 1024.

I would also be watching HD films and some video rendering too if that makes any difference.

My budget is tight though. So I'm looking at the £80 price range for what I want to play?

And where would I buy 2nd hand cards from and is it safe to buy them?
 
So I've done a little research on cards under £100 here is what I've found:

GeForce GT 430 - £65
GeForce GTS 250 - £90
GeForce GTS 450 - £92

Radeon HD 5770 - £96
Radeon HD 5670 - £80
Radeon HD 5570 - £60

What's the best for playing games like black ops at 1280 x 1024 and watching HD films?
 
This review shows how a range of graphics cards run Black Ops. None of the tests go down to 1280x1024, however it does show the 5770's average framerate is 56% higher than the 5670's at 1680x1050.
 
Rossuk89 said:
So I've done a little research on cards under £100 here is what I've found:

GeForce GT 430 - £65
GeForce GTS 250 - £90
GeForce GTS 450 - £92

Radeon HD 5770 - £96
Radeon HD 5670 - £80
Radeon HD 5570 - £60

What's the best for playing games like black ops at 1280 x 1024 and watching HD films?
Click to expand...


5770 is good
 
Thanks for the links to the reviews.

Seems like the 5770 is a good choice. But for £20 extra I could get the GTX 460 768MB card.

Is it worth spending the extra £20 or is it not worth it?
 
If you can find one, a new NVidia GTS 250 or a Radeon 4770 (slightly slower than a 4850) shouldn't cost more than a 5670, and both are quicker than the 5670 if you look at the benchmarks that have been posted.

Ok, they aren't quite as up to date as the 5xxx series, but they are faster, with the gts 250 being faster than a 4770.

If you plan on playing Crysis, Bad Company 2, Metro 2033 & other first person titles, the 5770, or even a GTS 450, would be a much better choice as cmndr andi pointed out.
 
Ignore my last post.

If you can stretch to a 768mb 460 then go for it.

Much faster card than the 5770.
 
The GTX 460 768MB is certainly the faster card - this chart shows this in a broad range of games.

In Black Ops specifically the difference is not massive (certainly nowhere near the jump going from 5670 to 5770).

Personally I would go for the GTX 460 - as in many non-COD games the performance jump from a 5770 is pretty good and worth the extra money imho. However, the 5770 is still a great card and one of the very best in terms of bang-for-buck.
 
Thanks a lot cmndr_andi and everyone else for the help.

I'll see if I can stretch my budget and go for the GTX 460 for £116, hopefully it lasts a few years at that price!

Much appreciated everyone!
 
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